More about Hertfordshire Wrench Cards

Allen Warren has written from Canada to say that he is compiling a catalogue of all the post cards by Wrench from the early years of the last century He has provided a list of all the Hertfordshire cards and I have used this to update my Wrench page. He has also provided a copy of this view of the Gates on Cassiobury Park, in Watford.

There are a number of Hertfordshire cards which he has not identified:

Bishops Stortford Nos 6289 and 6291

St Albans 6300 and 6306

Barnet 7757

Hitchin 8835 and 8836

If you can identify any of these cards please let me know (ideally with a digital copy) and I will forward the information to Allan.

A Berkhamsted postcard link between Raphael Tuck and Wrench ????

Over the past year or so I have been taking a close interest in Wrench postcards of Hertfordshire because they are normally of very good quality and can be dated accurately to about 1903/4.

The card on the right was a problem as the title is "Beckhampton Place"  and I was looking for evidence that this was simply a printing error for "Berkhamsted Place".

A few days ago the card on the left came up for sales (I was unfortunately outbid so only reproduce a cleaned up thumb). The image on the left is from the same negative as the Wrench card and is clearly labelled "Berkhampstead Place." The other image is Edgerton House (also in Berkhamsted). This not only identifies the location but strengthened the case for a picture of "Woodcock Lane" actually showing Woodcock Hill, Berkhamsted.

The problem is that the card is labelled Raphael Tuck & Sons, "County" Postcard No 2275 and was posted in 1901. This clearly predates any known Wrench view postcard of Hertfordshire. It seems a little unlikely that a firm as successful as Raphael Tuck would have allowed the upstart Wrench to use the same negative - so was there some industrial espionage - or did a Berkhamsted photographer take the picture and sell it to both the rival companies?

If you know of any other early Raphael Tuck or Wrench cards which might have been duplicated in this way please let me know.

Early Post Cards of Hertfordshire - by Wrench

Bishops Stortford

Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench (1882-1966) was actively interested in the unity of the British Empire and his post card activities only occupied a few years of a very active life. As a teenager he founded a post card publisher which expanded in a couple of years to become one of the biggest British publishers - and then went bankrupt because it had expanded too fast. He published a number of Hertfordshire view cards in 1903/4, all but one example seen so far having being printed in Saxony. All cards carry a negative number and those recorded so far are:

• 2195 The Parish Church, Watford
• 2196 The Fig Tree Tomb, Watford
• 2198 The Footbridge, Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 2199 The Swiss Cottage, Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 2664 Woodcock Lane, Hertfordshire (location uncertain)
• 2665 Beckhampton Place, Hertfordshire (location uncertain)
• 4919 Church [Interior], Kings Langley
• 4920 The Old Ruins, Kings Langley
• 4921 Church, Kings Langley (wrongly labelled)
• 4922 The Castle Ruins, Kings Langley ("Wrench" name/logo omitted)
• 4923 The Mill, Kings Langley ("Wrench" name/logo omitted)
• 4924 The Mill Bridge, Kings Langley (pub W. Baldwin)
• 5197 Pound House, Kings Langley (pub W. Baldwin)
• 6288 High Street, Bishops Stortford
• 6290 On the Stort, Bishops Stortford
• 6292 South Street, Bishops Stortford
• 6294 The George Inn, St Albans
• 6295 St Michael's Church, St Albans
• 6296 St Albans Abbey from S.W.
• 6297 St Peter's Church, St Albans
• 6303 French Row, St Albans
• 6304 Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans
• 6307 Town Hall, St Albans
• 7758 Congregational Church, New Barnet
• 7760 Hanley Church, Barnet
• 7762 Church & High Street, High Barnet
• 7765 Wesleyan Church, New Barnet
• 8584 Grand Staircase, Hatfield House
• 8586 View from N.W., Hatfield House
• 8587 South Front, Hatfield House
• 8631 Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 8632 The Chalet, Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 8638 Waterfall, Cassiobury Park, Watford

> > > See Pictures of Cards, etc.

If you know of other Hertfordshire cards in the series please let me have details.

I would be particularly interested if there were any on undivided backs, or cards with a style and number which suggests they were in the Wrench series but which do not carry the Wrench name/logo