Narrative
Found by Keith Williams 2013 among his mother's effects.
Narrative
I wrote this email to Mike Buxton 2013-09-06 :
Our cousin Keith very kindly sent me some pictures he'd discovered among Doris's effects. I sent poorer copies of these last week to Margaret and forgot to copy you, for which I can only blame my state of feverish excitement! Sorry.
Anyway, here are the best copies that I have at the moment. This will be spread across several emails because of the file size.
The attached images are all from the same postcard, sent by John Thomas Williams to his aunt, Miss E Williams, in Cefn Coed. I'd be happier if I knew who she was!
I think this is the only time I've seen any of JTW's handwriting, so this is very precious. His DNA is probably on the postcard! Very similar images exist, allegedly from 1908.
Here's a table of the family with birthdates and age on 1 June 1908:
Who DOB Age on: 1908-06-01
JTW 1871-03-07 37.3
Annie 1873-06-29 34.9
May 1891-11-16 16.6
Wella 1893-12-05 14.5
Gwladys 1895-02-10 13.3
Peg 1898-06-04 10.0
John 1900-03-13 8.2
Brenda 1901-08-09 6.8
Ivor 1903-04-05 5.2
LCW 1905-02-17 3.3
Aneurin 1907-05-25 1.0
Haydn 1909-06-15 -1.0
Owen 1911-11-07 -3.4
Hywel 1913-02-08 -4.7
Dougie 1916-10-28 -8.4
I'm guessing 1 June because the garden looks quite green. I'm guessing 1908 because...
I think the people are (right-to-left)
May
JTW
Annie
Wella (compare her 1913 wedding photo, when she was 19)
which leaves Gwladys (aged 13) or Peg (aged 10) on the left. Any guesses?
I thought for a moment the boy was my father, based on no more than the cricket bat. However, I think it has to be John. I compared it to May's wedding photo and to John's army photo and the sullen refusal to smile is common. Dad, on the other hand, always seems to be smiling in photos. The boy looks every inch the 8-year-old, so that supports a date of 1908. Annie wasn't as far as we know, pregnant in the summer of 1908, which must have made a nice change!
Who was Miss E Williams, newsagent of Cefn Coed?
Why was the postcard not stamped?
How did it end up in Doris's effects?
Here's a transcription of the text:
London N. E.
Dr. Aunt,
I had not forgotten you we had not one of the cards printed at the time but I now send you one
hope you will be pleased
I took these myself in our garden at the back of the house
hope you are quite well as it leaves us at present
when can I come & play cards with your apprentices again (never I expect)
happy days
Johnny
Miss E. Williams
newsagent Cefn
W. Merthyr
"Johnny"?! I've never seen that elsewhere. Was there some reason why he believed that he can never go to play cards again?