This is the first home I purchased. Back in the heady days of the low property prices of the 1980s.
All Saints Court, Wimbledon
It was a converted flat – converted from an old Victorian school built in 1896 (so the date plaque on the right entrance states).
When it was built, Wimbledon was in Surrey – the inscription over the left entrance “S.C.C.” marking that it was a school under the governance of Surrey County Council. But without the building moving an inch, it’s now in the London Borough of Merton.
I was in my very early 20s and fell in love with the flat the minute I set my eyes on it.
I knew I had to have it.
I first saw it literally as it was being converted from a school to a block of one-bedroom flats. I wish I’d had a camera back then to record the renovation’s progress!!
When I bought the flat in 1986, it cost £41,500 – then an arm and a leg. Other nearby one-bedroom flats were all between £35,000 to £38,000. The jump to £41,500 was massive. Well, it was in those days! I had to take on a massive mortgage at stupid interest rates to pay for it.
But I was obsessed with it.
I had started genealogical research when I was just 18. But until this point, I hadn’t dipped my toes into local history. However, when I saw this building, I not only fell in love with the building, but also the local history of the area.
And the idea of living in an old Victorian school.
The converted flats kept the 2 original entrances either end of the block; one for girls and the other for boys. The developers also added a new central entrance for those of us whose front-doors were in the middle. To this day, I can still recall the noise of the buzzer and door-release.
The central large-oval window in the block was the massive window on the landing leading to the front-doors of all the central flats. The small window to its right (top floor) was my bedroom. Immediately above my bedroom’s ceiling was a massive full height loft that I always intended – but never did – investigate.
To its right – and the last huge window on the right of the building – was my living room. Not a massive room – conversions were very lacking in space in the 80s!. But it had a massive 20+ foot high ceiling.
A high living-room ceiling is an obsession that I’ve always had – dating from this wonderful flat. My current living room – many miles (in more ways then one) from my first flat – is also 20+ foot high. That’s despite my home today not being a Victorian converted property, but a house purpose-built in 2000.
My living room in my flat was part of the old school’s hall. Sometimes at night, I used to lie in bed, imagining the noise of the children in their school hall. In fact, on the night of the Great Hurricane of 1987, I thought they’d all come back to pay me a visit. Until I realised that it was Mother Nature conjuring her wrath on my road – not the ghosts of small children.
I spent three very happy years there. I never did research its history as a school. I bought every single local history book that was out at the time. There were a wide range of local history books even then, and those books are today still on my overflowing bookcases. When I’m long gone, my children (all born and bred in Essex) will wonder why I have countless books on Wimbledon and Merton (unless they read this post!).
I moved out reluctantly (but happily) in September 1989 when my eldest was on her way. No room for a baby in a 2nd floor one-bedroom flat – no lift and no storage (even if there was a massive loft!).
When I lived in there in the late 80s, there was no parking restrictions. I can see from Google’s StreetView that there is now.
The fun I had parking on that road! First come, first serve to the few parking spaces back then. But in those days, it was only one car per flat – and 9 flats. With most homes today having at least two cars, it must be mayhem now…
But I moved to Essex, and the rest, as they say is history (at least, for my family). Once I was a Surrey girl, now I’m an honorary Essex girl!
My obsession with local history started in this building and I look at it with fond memories.
I regret that I didn’t take photographs as they changed the building from being Victorian school to a modern luxurious block of flats.
And I will always regret that I never did research its history when I lived there.
Since the 1980s, plenty of Victorian red-brick schools across the country have been renovated into houses and flats.
❓Do you live in a converted school? ❓
❓Or do you live (or once lived) in a home that has been converted from another use – such as a hospital, workhouse, mill or a pub?❓
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If you are fascinated about the history of your home, then you’ll be interested in my new online course
🏡 If Walls Could Talk… Uncover the secret history of your home🏡
Make you note in your diary… signup starts from 19 September 2019.
Course commences on Monday 30 September 2019
Keep an eye on my blog throughout rest of September for more news.
I’m also doing regular posts on my Facebook page about how to
🏡🏡 Uncover the secret history of your home🏡🏡
I hope you’ll join me and take part in this fascinating course. Learn how you can trace the history of your home.
As this is the first pilot version of my course, it’ll be offered at a very special low price that will not be repeated.
Resources for tracing the history of your home
I’ve written a short pdf listing some of the resources that you can use for researching the history of your house.
Download 25 online resources for uncovering the secret history of your home…
By giving us your details, you are agreeing to join our email list to receive emails and offers on our services. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails, or from this website. For information about our privacy practices, click here. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices here.
Have you ever wondered who once lived in your house?
Do you wonder….
👉Who built it and why?
👉What were their names?
👉Their occupations?
👉How did they live their lives?
Tracing the history of your home is a fascinating and all absorbing hobby.
But where do you start?…..
Roughly speaking, house-history research can be split into two large (massive!) themes:-
👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦 The people who lived in your house. 👨👩👧👦👨👩👧👦
🏡The building itself.🏡
So there’s two broad questions to ask about your home…
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a) Who lived in your house? 👨👩👧👦👨👧👦👦👧👨👩
A variety of records can be used to discover the stories of your home’s occupants – from Census Returns and 1939 Registers, to tithe apportionment records and parish records.
A busy street scene in Edwardian Heybridge, Essex
~~~~~~~~~~~
b) Your house 🏘️🏚️🏡
You may be able to guess a lot about the physical building. Its building material – such as brick, flint, stone, timber-framed.
However, you will want to research other information such as when, why and who built your home. The date of your house – the era/century/decade.
Finding out information about the house itself is often the more complex of the two broad themes connected with house-histories…
Sometimes records will exist about the construction of your house. But not all the time…
Certainly, for older homes, records will be far more sketchy. You’ll need to use all sorts of detective work to pin down your house’s full story!
Tracing the history of your home is a fascinating and all absorbing hobby.
But where do you start?…..
Roughly speaking, house-history research can be split into two large themes:-
The people who lived in my house.
The building itself.
So there’s two broad questions to ask about your home…
a) Who lived in your house?
Have you ever wondered who lived in your house before you?
What sort of life did they lead?
What jobs/occupations did they have?
How many children?
What was their family life?
What were their tragedies and triumphs?
Children pose for the camera in Lavenham – early 1900s
Sudbury early 1900s
A variety of records can be used to discover the stories of your home’s occupants – from Census Returns and Registers, to tithe apportionment records.
Even eBay and Facebook can be used to discover the stories of people who once lived in your home!
Georgian/Victorian Cottages built for local workers- Lavenham
Formerly workers’ cottages, now pretty homes in Lavenham
b) Your house
You may be able to guess a lot about the physical building that is your home. Its building material – such as brick, flint, stone, timber-framed.
However, you will want to research other information such as when, why and who built your home. The date of your house – the era/century/decade.
Finding out information about the house itself is often the more complex of the two broad themes connected with house-histories…
Sometimes records will exist about the construction of your house. But not all the time…
Certainly for older homes, records will be far more sketchy. You’ll need to use all sorts of detective work to pin down your house’s full story!
That’s all part of the fun!
Step-by-step, peeling back the layers…until you find the true story of the history of your house…
Timber-framed thatched cottage at Kirby Quay, Essex
Resources for tracing the history of your home
I’ve written a short pdf listing some of the resources that you can use for part b) of the conundrum of researching the history of a house – When was my house built
Download your FREE eBook 25 online resources for uncovering the secret history of your home…
By giving us your details, you are agreeing to join our email list to receive emails and offers on our services. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails, or from this website. For information about our privacy practices, click here. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices here.
Yesterday, my brothers and I – along with our families – went ancestor hunting in Spitalfields Market in the east end of London.
A lovely family get-together but with an ulterior motive…
To meet our Cole and Parnall ancestors.
It’s always a strange – but very familiar – place for me to visit. I used to work nearby on Bishopsgate – when I was still in the corporate world. I often visited Spitalfields market for my lunch.
But its main pull for me is that Bishopsgate is a place where 7 consecutive generations of my family have worked at one time or another since the 1830s.
From my youngest daughter – all the way back in time to my great-great-great grandfather, William Parnall. At least one member of every single generation – without a break – has worked on Bishopsgate.
Just round the corner from Bishopsgate is Brushfield Street – on the very edge of Spitalfields Market.
This is where my family’s past hurtles its way forward to meet the present.
Or rather where we can race back through time and space to meet our Cole ancestors.
All thanks to a chance discovery I made 30 years ago…. A plaque with my great-great grandfather’s name – R A Cole – sunk into an 18th century building in Spitalfields.
Robert Andrew Cole and his wife Sarah Cole. Churchwarden of Christchurch Spitalfields, and also Victorian grocers and teadealers of Spitalfields market.
Following our beloved Dad’s death 3 years ago, we three, his children, swore we’d get as many of our family as possible together. And celebrate our unity and strength – after some incredibly tough years – together by the Cole plaque.
Not all our family are here. But we still managed to get 3 generations into our photo. All descendants (or married to descendants) of Robert Andrew and Sarah Cole.
Nearly 150 years ago, in exactly the same place where we stood, our ancestors (and their surviving children) watched the unveiling of their plaque.
Yesterday the youngest descendants walked, for the first time, in the steps of their ancestors.
A spine tingling moment.
150 years after the Robert Andrew and Sarah Cole lived here, three of their great-great-great grandchildren (one also called Sarah Cole), posed with the youngest family member – a great-great-great-great grandson.
Try explaining to a 4 year old that this was where his great-great-great-great grandparents once lived and worked!…
If you want to read the whole story about our Cole ancestors and the Victorian grocer of Spitalfields Market then follow the link below – to my story I originally wrote on my blog 7 years ago.
Click the picture below – an 1860s photo of my great-great-grandfather – Robert Andrew Cole – to read more about the Cole family of Spitalfields Market.
There were lots of Victorian Cole and Parnall ghosts tapping our shoulders yesterday. I think our late Dad was watching over us too.
Do you believe in coincidences and synchronicity? Or do you believe that strange forces are sometimes at work and might bring together events, people and stories in an unbelievable way that can’t only be mere chance? Are some things are just meant to be?…
I’ve written several local history books based around the towns and villages of the East of England. During my research into these books, I’ve often had strange coincidences which have led me to piecing together the jigsaw puzzles of my research. However, none have been more strange then my discovery and research into two incredible women, Clara Emily Mary Woolnough and Gertrude Unwin. These two young women from Suffolk volunteered as nurses with the British Red Cross and were sent to a large British military hospital to nurse the wounded of the Battles of the Somme during the First World War in 1916. (Note the plural “Battles” – there were many many battles and attacks which comprise the British Army’s participation in the fighting in the Somme region exactly one hundred years ago in 1916. Some still say “Battle of the Somme” whereas other call it “Battles of the Somme”).
Clara and Gertrude’s story is two of many such stories I have written about in my new book Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919. My book recounts the stories of men and women from Britain who served in the First World War through their eye-witness accounts detailed in their messages sent home.
Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919
The nurses’ story is so incredible that I was able to devote an entire chapter to them. I was able to use hospital War Diaries, the British Matron-in-Chief’s War Diary, and other contemporary resources, along with Clara’s own postcards she sent back to Britain, to tell the story of these two unsung heroines.
Postcards sent home by Clara during the Battles of the Somme. Her message “All leave stopped. Don’t expect me this year” was sent on a postcard to her mother during the Battles of the Somme
The Nurses’ Story: Part of the story of Clara and Gertrude, told through the eyes of Clara in her postcards home during the Battles of the Somme
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What became so extraordinary was the strange sequence of events which led me to be able to tell their story. There was not room to detail the discovery of Clara’s postcards in my book, so please indulge me whilst I tell you on my blog about how I came into the possession of Clara’s postcards. And how Clara herself finally stepped out of the shadows.
At the tail-end of 2013, I was commissioned by Amberley Publishing to write a book called “Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919”. I always had the title, and I always had the rough content: the messages written on postcards sent from the battlefields of the First World War. My book idea (and title) was very loosely based on a blog-post I had written in 2012 about the postcards that a soldier from Leyton (East London) had sent home to his mother and father – Postcards from the Front: from your loving son. I thought, and fortunately Amberley Publishing agreed, that I could turn this type of story into a full-scale book which would interest readers.
There I had it. A complete book title. A rough idea based on one blog-post. But nothing else. Certainly not enough to fill a book.
After panicking for a few months, I decided I needed more material for my book. I already had a large postcard collection from the First World War in my own personal collection; but a quick glance through it told me that I really did not have enough to turn it into a coherent book. I started to sift through eBay to see if there was anything of interest on there. There was. But still not enough material to fill a book!
I started to pour over catalogues from various auction-houses who specialise in postcards, stamps, postal history and paper ephemera. I have often bought items from Lockdales in Ipswich and I turned to their catalogue. Just before the tail-end of 2013, I placed a bid on one of their lots which was described as “Small white shoebox housing a small bundle of WW1 Censor Marks on postcards” . That was it! No other description and certainly no pictures. A total shot in the dark on my part. I couldn’t even make it in person to the auction. It was a postal bid. Sold unseen!
Lockdales’ auction catalog entry
To my utter surprise, I won my lot for the princely sum of £20. The auction-house had estimated that it was worth between £20-£25 – I had bid the absolute minimum price. There was no other bidders so my tiny bid of just £20 meant that this unseen shoe-box was now mine…
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Once I received my box of postcards (which by now was about £27 by the time commission plus postage had been added on), I was totally underwhelmed. It was exactly as described. A box of postcards and envelopes which appeared to have been collected together because they had all been posted in France and so all had census marks/postmarks from, mainly, the First World War. It was a box of discarded and unwanted stock from an unknown postcard dealer.
It didn’t look at all interesting. I put the box away and forgot about it. And got on with my life.
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Some months later, I knew I had to knuckle down and concentrate on my book and start working on it. By this time, I’d bought quite a few postcards from eBay – but I still didn’t know where my book was going. The endless blank pages and my deadline loomed ever large…
I got out my shoe-box of postcards and started to sort them. Over the span of an entire weekend, I sorted them all on my living-room floor into piles of postcards, with each pile consisting of all the postcards sent to one address. I had about 10 to 15 piles of postcards – some were single-postcard piles; others were 10-20 postcard high. It would appear that within that job-lot were several collections from several different people; all from the Western Front.
Two piles puzzled me considerably. The handwriting appeared to be different and the signature/name was different on each pile of postcards. But on the front of the majority of the postcards were pretty pictures of the same French village, and many postcards in both piles had messages referring to someone called “Unwin”. I then had the first (of many) eureka moments, and I realised that the sender was the same person on each pile of postcards, but with a different signature/name. This person was writing to a woman in Levington (Suffolk) and another woman in Plumstead (London). The language in all the postcards was strange; slightly personal and, as such, implied a close personal relationship to both women. For a few wild moments, I thought I was reading the postcards of a soldier with two sweethearts! But then it dawned on me that I was reading the postcards from a female writer; the personal language I’d detected in the messages was that of a woman.
I also realised that there were many postcards missing from the collection. My unknown writer had obviously been a prolific sender of postcards. But there were large gaps of weeks and months in the collection. I can only assume that when the collection was in the unknown postcard dealer’s hands, s/he had sold some of the postcards which had more interesting pictures.
A couple of the postcards had the text “No 6” and “25th General”. Another postcard had the abbreviation “N.S.” in the text of its message. The penny dropped. I was looking at the postcards from a female nurse.
This is the postcard that made me realise that I was reading the postcards from a female nurse in France
I now knew that I had a collection of 21 postcards sent by a female nurse working in France. A quick google on the “25th General” quickly led me to a British military hospital which was based in Hardelot, Pas des Calais. This was the same town whose pretty street and seaside photographs were on the majority of the postcards. I had found “my” nurse’s hospital. From the dates on the postcards, I also knew that this nurse was probably nursing casualties from the Battles of the Somme.
Afternoon tea at Hardelot. On the back of this postcard, “my” nurse had written on 22 June 1916 that she had afternoon tea here. This was just mere days before the opening infantry attack of the Battles of the Somme
But where to go from here? An unnamed nurse. Qualified nurse? Unqualified nurse? British?
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
I started to go through census returns and other records on Findmypast for the two recipients of the postcards – an Evie Cripps of Plumstead and a Peg Woolnough of Levington. I quickly found both women and as able to establish that Evie had a connection to Levington as it would appear that her mother had been born in this tiny Suffolk village. Better still, Evie herself had very kindly and thoughtfully (for my research purposes) been staying with her Grandmother in Levington’s almshouses for the 1911 census. Also in the almshouses was Peg Woolnough’s grandmother. So there was my connection between the two recipients. But who was the sender?
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Exactly a year ago, I posted a question on the Great War Forum originally requesting information about Number 25 General Hospital. As the thread progressed, I quickly started to exchange messages with First World War nursing expert, Sue Light of Scarlet Finders. To my absolute shock, within minutes she and I had managed to identify the sender of “my” postcards. The sender was Clara Emily Mary Woolnough. A mixture of her unusual combination of Christian names, along with her equally rare surname meant that there was absolutely no doubt what so ever that I had in my hands the postcards from British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse Clara Emily Mary Woolnough from Levington Suffolk!
It was a total eureka moment. I now had a name. I also had the name of her hospital and also the hunch that she was nursing the injured from the Battles of the Somme. I had gone from a “small white shoebox” with a dozen of so of her anonymous postcards to finally knowing her name.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
My next stop was Kew and The National Archives to consult the War Diaries of Number 25 General Hospital. Last year, these diaries were not online and could only be consulted at Kew; they were only placed online earlier this year. So I had an enjoyable day out at Kew, spent researching hard, but also meeting up with my fellow historians from my Open University days and eating cake with them. Who said research has to be boring and relentless!
I had been warned by Sue Light that I was unlikely to find “my” VAD explicitly named in the War Diaries and that I might find very little detail. However, what I did find thrilled me. Clara was not named anywhere, but the Colonel in charge of the hospital had written extensive entries about the running of his hospital. The entries were incredibly detailed and, as I read them, it became increasingly obvious that the hospital was taking vast numbers of casualties from the Battles of the Somme.
I knew I finally had the start of my book. And Clara and Gertrude’s story could be a chapter in it. I started writing my chapter. Unfortunately at this time, both women’s service records were not online on the website of the British Red Cross. I had to piece together their story from a mixture of Clara’s postcards and the hospital’s War Diaries. I thought I had a reasonable and interesting chapter…
How wrong was I!
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In June of last year, I was in the area of Levington and was at a loose end. I decided to pay a visit to Clara’s village of Levington. I visited with my husband on a gloriously hot summer’s day and we pottered around her village and, of course, had a lovely lunch in the local pub. The hot summer’s day, set in a beautiful quintessential English village overlooking the River Orwell, was in stark contrast to the horrific war I had been reading about in the war diaries of Number 25 General Hospital. Clara, a country girl, had left this rural beauty of Suffolk, to nurse seriously injured men in a war zone
The River Orwell from the churchyard of Levington’s parish church. The contrast between this beautiful idyllic scene and the horrors of a military hospital in France was staggering.
I took many photographs, and saw the name of Clara’s brother, George, on the village’s War Memorial.
Levington village’s War Memorial
Levington’s War Memorial – George Edward Marwen Woolnough’s name
I also went into the Church to take some more photographs where I found, to my great surprise, a beautiful stained glass window commemorating Clara’s family.
Stained glass window commemorating the Woolnough family
Stained glass window in Levington parish church commemorating the Woolnough family. George was killed in action in April 1917 during the Battle of Arras. Alan died in childhood.
On my way out, almost as a last minute thought, I decided to write in the Church’s Visitors’ Book. I wrote a fairly cryptic and short comment about Clara Woolnough being a VAD and left the church…
Unknown to me, Clara’s great-great nephew also visited the church at roughly the same time as me, in his search for his great-grandfather, George…
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Are you still with me? No-one ever said that historical research is easy or quick! Same for this blog post! But the story of Clara and her postcards just has to be recounted in full.
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About six weeks after I visited the church, I received an email from Levington’s Village Recorder, Louise. She had seen my cryptic comment in the church’s visitor’s book and tracked me down using some remarkable detective work on the internet (which just goes to prove that no-one has anonymity and everyone leaves a foot-print on the internet!)
We arranged to meet-up in Levington, although the meeting didn’t take place until a very wet, wild and windy November morning. We met in the local pub (where else!). And during the course of a very interesting morning, I learnt about the Woolnoughs of Levington.
The family had been the village’s postmaster/postmistresses since the 1840s and Peg Levington (who Clara’s postcards were sent to) carried on the family tradition and was the postmistress throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Louise indicated to me that George’s descendants had been in touch with her (I now know that Clara’s great-great nephew had visited the church just weeks after I did and on seeing my comment in the visitor’s book, decided to write his comment underneath!). Louise passed my details on to them.
All I could do was sit and wait for their email…. Although, at this stage, I still thought I had completed my chapter on Clara, and the rest of my book was slowly rolling into place…
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Still with me?
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In November, Clara’s great-great niece, contacted me. A flurry of extremely excited emails passed backwards and forwards between us. Her family, the Eversons, also had more postcards from/to Clara including a postcard to Clara from “Dick” and a postcard of a soldier in a uniform. The family and Louise had already worked out that the soldier in the picture was wearing the cap badge of the Machine Gun Corp – which George Woolnough had not served in. But, by this time I had researched Evie Cripps family and discovered that her brother Richard (also known as Dick) had been in the Machine Gun Corp at the time he was killed in action in 1916. Everything fitted that this was a photograph of Richard.
It was incredible to all of us, that this unnamed soldier in the Everson family’s collection had finally been given a name. Between us all, we had brought life back to a young man who had been killed in action a hundred years ago in 1916. He is not forgotten.
Richard Henry Cripps of Plumstead. For nearly a hundred years this photograph was of an unnamed soldier. Now he has a name and is no-longer forgotten. (Photograph courtesy of the Everson family)
The Everson also had in their possession a postcard from Richard “Dick” Cripps to Clara where he had cheekily asked if her fellow nurses looked like the nurse on the postcard.
Postcard sent to Clara Woolnough by Dick Cripps in 1915. He cheekily asked her “Are any of your comrades like this? With black hair?” (Photograph courtesy of the Everson family).
Things were slowly starting to slot into place.
Clara was stepping more and more out of the shadows.
The Everson family also had her war service record from the British Red Cross; which they had requested back in the early 2000s. Up to this stage, I had been unable to gain access to her service record as her surname was at the end of the alphabet and the British Red Cross Society were slowly putting records online in alphabetical order.
Having her service records from the Everson family was another eureka moment because I could now piece together even more of her story and also had some more postcards – including the photograph of Richard Cripps to interweave with my story.
But still no photograph of Clara. The family didn’t have any photographs of her or her brother, George.
I rewrote my chapter and thought that was it.
Wrong!
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Shortly after New Year, I was in the final stages of my book and everything was practically ready to go off to the publisher. I received another email from the Everson family. This email nearly made me fall off my chair in absolute jaw-dropping amazement at the attachments. The Everson family had found a photograph of Clara nursing at her hospital in Ipswich during the Christmas of 1915!!!
The Eversons didn’t realise at first that it was Clara, but her writing on the back – demonstrating that this was a Christmas card sent to her mother back in Levington – absolutely shows beyond reasonable doubt that Clara herself was in the photograph.
Clara Woolnough’s postcard home to her mother. It was sent to her mother on Christmas Eve 1915 and proves that she herself was in the photograph.
Here she is, VAD Clara Emily Mary Woolnough, when she was nursing at a tiny 40 bed hospital in Ipswich just months before she was sent to France and the Battles of the Somme.
Clara, whilst she was nursing at Broadwater Auxiliary Hospital in Ipswich in 1915. She is one of the 3 young nurses standing up towards the left of the postcard. (Photograph courtesy of the Everson family)
I wrote my chapter once again and at last, could tell the full story of one of the many unsung heroines of the Battles of the Somme who had nursed wounded men throughout the battles; Clara Emily Mary Woolnough. Known as “Babs” to her family in Levington, and “Darl” to her best friend in Plumstead; Clara had finally stepped out of the shadows..
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This time a year ago, I was sat at my desk, staring at “my” postcards saying to them – “Who are you”. This time this year, the story of a brave VAD who looked after men wounded during the Battles of the Somme can finally be told.
Do you believe that strange forces are sometimes at work and might bring together events, people and stories in an unbelievable way that can’t only be mere chance? I do.
Lest we forget
Postscript 1: May 2016
On Saturday 28 May 2016, almost exactly a hundred years since Clara sent her first postcard home to her family in Levington in early June 1916, I will be meeting the Everson family in the village of Levington to give them a copy of my book with the story of their courageous aunt, Clara Emily Mary Woolnough and her nursing friend Gertrude Unwin.
Postscript 2: January 2017. Sadly First World War nursing expert, Sue Light, passed away in July 2016. I will always be grateful to her for helping me to identify my postcards from Clara Woolnough. Thank you, Sue, RIP.
My dad, John Cole, who my book is dedicated to, also died last year – he died on 25 August 2016. He was very ill in the final year of his life and confined to bed in a nursing home. Despite his increasing frailty, he spent a great deal of my visits to him discussing the First World War and the postcards I was using in my books. Without him, my book (and my love for vintage postcards) would never have happened. Rest easy dad.
I am absolutely delighted to say that my new book Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919 has been released today is available from places such as Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smiths etc.
Postcards from the Front – Click the picture to purchase your copy from Amazon
This has been two years of painstaking research and writing so that I could retell the stories of a handful of men and women, in their own words and pictures, through their postcards home to their loved ones.
There are many stories in my book, all derived from the postcard collections sent by men (and women) from all over Britain. My book includes the story of two VADs, Clara Woolnough and Gertrude Unwin, who nursed at Number 25 General Hospital in Hardelot (Pas des Calais), told through the eyes of Clara’s postcards (along with the hospital’s war diaries) during the Battles of the Somme.
Postcards sent home by Clara during the Battles of the Somme
I have also written about two brothers; Reg and Charles Pullen. Reg fought during the Battles of the Somme; and sent home postcards from places such as the Battle of Albert during his rest periods. He was seriously injured during the first day of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge (part of the 3rd Battle of Ypres) and his heroic actions won him a Military Cross. His brother Charles, entered the Royal Flying Corp in 1917 and was shot down by the enemy during the Battle of Amiens in August 1918. Both brothers stories are told through their postcards home, along with accounts from various war diaries.
Entry from 1/5 Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment’s war diaries, sent against a backdrop of the Pullen brothers’ postcards
My book also contains extensive appendices on how to research your own First World War postcards from your family, and how to discover your ancestor’s war through their postcards home. For example, how to identify postmarks, censor marks, censor signatures, and how to use First World War postcards as historical documents to squeeze as much info as possible out of them.
Page from the extensive appendices on how to analyse a postcard from the First World War
Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919
My first review on Amazon has called my book:
“A beautiful book. Evocative and eloquent,
but ultimately still relevant.”
If you are interested in the First World War, then this book will be of interest to you. I hope you enjoy it!
You may also be interested in my three other books:-
To celebrate my forthcoming book, Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919 (due out next Spring), each day from now until Christmas, I will be posting on this blog, postcards from the First World War with their messages home. Click on the picture to be taken to an external website which will be of First World War interest. Each day, the link will take you to a different website and, hopefully, help you discover resources new to you. Just like a traditional advent calendar, you’ll not know what you’ve got until you’ve opened (or clicked) the door.
My Advent Calendar is my Christmas gift to you. Happy Christmas!
What’s behind the door?… Click on the picture above. When you’ve finished viewing the external website, come back to my blog and, in the comments, tell me what you think of the website you’ve just visited.
Dear Maggie, I am very pleased to hear you enjoyed your holidays & had a good time. I have never received the card you sent me. I am afraid it has got lost. With a bit of luck I may be home sometime next month so don’t be surprised if I come into the shop. Yours sincerely Bert.
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This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe by using the Subscribe via Email button. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the “Like” button or Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.
Thank you for reading this post.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
My books
You may be interested in purchasing my local history books. They make ideal Christmas presents!
To celebrate my forthcoming book, Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919 (due out next Spring), each day from now until Christmas, I will be posting on this blog, postcards from the First World War with their messages home. Click on the picture to be taken to an external website which will be of First World War interest. Each day, the link will take you to a different website and, hopefully, help you discover resources new to you. Just like a traditional advent calendar, you’ll not know what you’ve got until you’ve opened (or clicked) the door.
My Advent Calendar is my Christmas gift to you. Happy Christmas!
What’s behind the door?… Click on the picture above. When you’ve finished viewing the external website, come back to my blog and, in the comments, tell me what you think of the website you’ve just visited.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe by using the Subscribe via Email button. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the “Like” button or Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.
Thank you for reading this post.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
My books
You may be interested in purchasing my local history books. They make ideal Christmas presents!
To celebrate my forthcoming book, Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919 (due out next Spring), each day from now until Christmas, I will be posting on this blog, postcards from the First World War with their messages home. Click on the picture to be taken to an external website which will be of First World War interest. Each day, the link will take you to a different website and, hopefully, help you discover resources new to you. Just like a traditional advent calendar, you’ll not know what you’ve got until you’ve opened (or clicked) the door.
My Advent Calendar is my Christmas gift to you. Happy Christmas!
What’s behind the door?… Click on the picture above. When you’ve finished viewing the external website, come back to my blog and, in the comments, tell me what you think of the website you’ve just visited.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe by using the Subscribe via Email button. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the “Like” button or Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.
Thank you for reading this post.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
My books
You may be interested in purchasing my local history books. They make ideal Christmas presents!
To celebrate my forthcoming book, Postcards from the Front: 1914-1919 (due out next Spring), each day from now until Christmas, I will be posting on this blog, postcards from the First World War with their messages home. Click on the picture to be taken to an external website which will be of First World War interest. Each day, the link will take you to a different website and, hopefully, help you discover resources new to you. Just like a traditional advent calendar, you’ll not know what you’ve got until you’ve opened (or clicked) the door.
My Advent Calendar is my Christmas gift to you. Happy Christmas!
What’s behind the door?… Click on the picture above. When you’ve finished viewing the external website, come back to my blog and, in the comments, tell me what you think of the website you’ve just visited.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
This blog
If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe by using the Subscribe via Email button. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the “Like” button or Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.
Thank you for reading this post.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
My books
You may be interested in purchasing my local history books. They make ideal Christmas presents!
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