“Many happy returns of the day,” December 9 1930

Now this is another of those birthday cards from earlier on in the last century.

It was sent by Nellie to Edith in the December of 1930, and I think I may have found Edith in the census records.

In the same collection of cards is one to Edith on her 21st sent in 1920 which means that she was born in 1899 and there is an Edith on the 1911 census living in Birkenhead.

Here she is listed as the step daughter of Thomas Aldred along with her sister and brother and four half sisters.

Tracking the family back her mother married her father in 1893.
He was Miles H Parkinson, a postman who died in 1903.

Two years later Rose Parkinson remarried and by 1911 had had four more children.

And that for the time being is all there is, but there will be more.
Edith was still unmarried at 31 and it may be possible to turn up her life after 1911.

We shall see.

Picture; courtesy of Suzanne Moorehead

“Many happy returns from William” dated 1915

Birthday cards are one of those things we take for granted and most do not survive the day they are received.

They are displayed in a prominent place and then carefully put away or end up as tomorrow’s rubbish.

All of which is a shame given the care, thought and feeling that often goes into selecting the card.

So with that in mind I am going to share some that have been given to me by Suzanne.

All date from the early decades of the last century and are a delightful comment on what people sent as birthday wishes just a little under a 100 years ago.

This one dates from 1915 and was sent by William.

I don’t have the name of the birthday person but in the same collection there cards to a Dorothy and also an Edith and with a bit of time and some detective work I might get closer to a name.

Picture; courtesy of Suzanne Moorehead