If I've inherited my love of collecting things from anyone, it must be from my Great Uncle Fowler Beanland. Uncle Fowler - whose name was always pronounced "Fooler" within the family - was an avid collector of picture postcards during the early years of the twentieth century. His collection of cards was housed in a … Continue reading Fowler’s Cards : John Bright
Category: Vintage Postcards
Roadworks On Salterhebble Hill
I have just added a new vintage postcard to my collection which shows "St Luke's Hospital and Salterhebble Hill, Halifax" The card was posted in May 1917, but I suspect that the photograph dates from at least a decade before that. St Luke's Hospital was the original name for what later became Halifax General Hospital, … Continue reading Roadworks On Salterhebble Hill
Nuts And Sweets And A Trip To The Dentist
Here is another of those wonderful old picture postcards of Halifax from the turn of the twentieth century, which provides an insight into both the public persona of the town and, at the same time, the private persona of its citizens. The public persona is provided by the front of the card, posted in May … Continue reading Nuts And Sweets And A Trip To The Dentist
Wainhouse Tower And The Sea Of Truth
Jacob D Saddleworth in his seminal book "The Principles And Practices Of Pointlessness" stated that the abandonment of objectives need not necessarily lead to the rejection of purpose; especially in the context of linear progression. He used the memorable example of a river in its progress towards the ocean - an example I couldn't help … Continue reading Wainhouse Tower And The Sea Of Truth
My Dearest May
I have been collecting old picture postcards for the best part of forty years. What attracts me to them is that they represent little nuggets of history, brought to life through, not only the picture, but also the brief message that they contain.. This postcard of the River Danube in Budapest is one of the … Continue reading My Dearest May
CELEBRITY LOVE
We tend to think of "celebrity culture" - and all the tissue-paper thin emotions and over-dramatic excesses which accompany it - as a recent phenomenon. But as any self-respecting elephant will tell you, few things are new in this world of ours. Step forward into the limelight Miss Mabel Love. Born in the English seaside resort … Continue reading CELEBRITY LOVE
ROMEO REMEMBERED
The Edwardian actor, Harcourt Williams, As Romeo (1905) The absence of Instagram and the like back in Edwardian times meant that celebrities had to turn to other methods of "getting themselves out there". Luckily they were able to climb onto the great postcard craze bandwagon. Ernest George Harcourt Williams (1880-1957) began his career playing Mr … Continue reading ROMEO REMEMBERED
Fowl Deeds In Bean Land
The gateway to my investigation of the convoluted world of the Fowlers and the Beanlands was a picture postcard of Skipton Castle Gateway, which was part of my Great Uncle's collection. The picture is pleasant enough and is typical of those hand-coloured photographs of the first decade of the twentieth century. As with so many … Continue reading Fowl Deeds In Bean Land
Brighouse Lives On
What better way to start the new year than with a puzzle? I acquired this old picture postcard of Brighouse recently, and set about trying to identify where the original photograph must have been taken from. Some prominent landmarks such as the river and canal are hidden from the view, whilst others - such as … Continue reading Brighouse Lives On
