The Last Car from Woolwich ..... Manchester .... Rouken Glen and pretty much everywhere ……. the story with a sad ending

Now this delightful picture postcard was posted by Tricia recently and it is an exact copy of one I have, only the names have been changed to advance the profits of the postcard company.

And to add to the story she addded another from Rouken Glen in Glasgow.

Not that there was anything odd about this. 

All the companies had a batch of general picture postcards which will have been over printed with the names of towns and cities across the country.

So, as such its connection to Woolwich or Manchester is only part of the story and instead the real story is the The Cynicus Publishing Company Ltd of Tayport in Fife, who published our cards. 

It was established by Martin Anderson, who according to one source was “better known by his pseudonym Cynicus, was a Scottish artist, political illustrator and publisher”.*

His early working life involved producing illustrations for a variety of publications, before setting up in his own business in London in 1891, and from there setting up a postcard company publishing his own designs in 1902.

After a promising start his business like many suffered from a fall in the popularity of such picture postcard and the company went into liquidation with his stocks of prints and original work were sold for a fraction of their real worth.

A further attempt at a similar business also met with failure when the market for seaside picture postcards declined with the outbreak of the Great War.

Mr. Martin produced a series of anti war posters and cards, which got him into trouble with the authorities. 

“In 1924 his Edinburgh shop was destroyed by fire, everything inside it was lost, and he did not have the funds to repair and restock it. He retired to his castle-like mansion in Balmullo to live in increasing poverty. A final edition of The Satires of Cynicus was published in 1926.”*

He died in 1932, and was buried in an unmarked grave, without a tombstone, and the final indignity was that his home was extensively vandalised after his death.

So a sad story for what was a very happy looking picture postcard.

Mr. Martin produced a series of anti war posters and cards, which got him into trouble with the authorities. 

Location, Woolwich, Manchester and pretty much everywhere, circa 1902

Pictures; The last car from Woolwich, courtesy of Tricia Leslie, and The last car from Manchester from the collection of David Harrop, circa 1902

* Cynicus, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicus