Messages from Le Harve ..... a woman called Gertie ....... and an address on Oxford Road

 I like this picture postcard which was sent from Le Harve in the August of 1915.

And what I particularly like is the way the name has been adapted to include pictures of the town.

Now my Wikipedia tells me that Le Harve “is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine” *

So, it is not surprising that many of the individual photographs inside the letters are of ships, the port, and the sea.

And it reminds me of the images that were produced in the 1960s which are a bold mix of lettering with an imaginative way of showing off the images of the town.

In fact, when I first saw it, I assumed it was from that “swinging decade” and here lies an interesting observation in what attracts us to such a picture post card.  For me it was that 1960s connection but for David Harrop who recently acquired it I suspect it will be the Manchester address, which was 1 to 3a Oxford Road.

David has a fine collection of picture postcards, and many are linked to the city.

So having clocked that link I went looking for what I could about 1 to 3 Oxford Road, and the firm Parkinson’s where the card was sent.

Given that the sender omitted his surname I wondered if I could discover his identity by looking for clues to the firm.  

It followed that if Stanley was a serviceman, then he might well have enlisted at the start of the war and could just possibly get a mention in the Book of Honour which was a list of the men who volunteered for the Manchester Pal’s Regiments in 1914.

The book records the men, the companies, battalions and regiments they were assigned to and has a list of the businesses for which they had worked.

Alas Parkinson’s is not there and nor is it listed on Oxford Road in 1911.

All of which leaves me with Gertie Whitehead who was the recipient of the card.

There was a Gertie Whitehead on the 1921 census who was a "Children’s Costume Finisher" employed by Clarkson and Hurst Children’s Costume Manufacturer.

A decade before the firm were based at 43a Granby Row. and she was living on Rochdale Road, who ten years earlier had been a boarder in a house in Chorlton Medlock.

There are other Gertie’s but she seems closet to the fit.

Leaving me just to continue to look for Parkinson’s which if it was in anyway connected to the garment trade may fix our Miss Whitehead.

And that is about it.

In 1922 aged 28 she was living with her family on Rochdale Road, while ten years earlier she had been a boarder in a house in Chorlton Medlock.

As for Stanley he remains an enigma.  His message to Gertie spoke of fine weather and the expectation of a letter from her, and was signed “Love Stanley X”

But I doubt that we can read too much into that.

Location, Le Harve and Manchester

Pictures; from the Le Harve picture postcard, 1915 courtesy of David Harrop.

*Le Harve, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Havre