Sunday, November 6, 2011

Identifying an Army Postcard - A Detective Story

  
This very faded post card, with no title, shows an army camp and I recently purchased it on ebay. I decided that I would use it to demonstrate how even an apparent "dead loss" post card can tell an interesting story. The questions that came to mind after a quick look at the card are:
  • What army unit is shown?
  • Where, when and why was the camp being held?
  • Why was the card posted in Watford?
  • Who was "M" (Miss M Rowe) to whom the card was sent?
  •    ... and why could she not be found in the census at the address given?
  • Who was "J" who sent the card?
  •   ... and how was he related to the lady in question?
  • Was Watford Football Club playing at home on Saturday, 20 November, 1909?
Click here to see how I set about trying to answer these questions. To confirm my finding I still need to look at some records (perhaps you can help) but the clincher evidence that ties everything together may be in the Watford Observer newspaper at the end of August 1910!

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