This church card was new to the site in April 2020 and unlike some that
turn up, has proved quite simple to follow up. It was sent on New Year's Eve 1910
at a time when next day delivery was the norm. It conveys the Happy New Year
sentiments from a Ryburgh mother to her married daughter living in Wymondham.
Being so close to 1911 and a Census that is easy to consult, I soon found the
couple. They were domestic gardener, Frederick Howard aged 30, born in Willian,
a small village in Hertfordshire and his wife of 4 years duration, 28 year old Laura,
born in Great Ryburgh. Knowing this meant that there was a good chance that
they had been married in St Andrew's and the register's transcript revealed
chapter and verse:
In spite of the evidence above, the 1891 Census records 8 year old Laura as
the grandaughter and not the daughter of 61 year old Henry Whiteside. A search
of the previous census records finds no other Henry in that family group, only
sons and daughters who were of an age to be the parent of Laura and therefore
suggesting possible candidates to be the "mother" of the card.
The next search took place on the pages of Ancestry and the family history,
complete with images soon tumbled off the pages of Erica Smith's and
David Wickham's, Nelson Family Tree pages. Erica is the great-grandaughter
of "Mother" and David is married to Cynthia Nelson from Ryburgh who will
be known to some readers of this page and have kindly allowed us to reproduce
the following images and to whom many thanks:
Laura Ethel Bowman Howard at about the time of the postcard?
born September 5th.1882 died February 21st. 1966
Laura and Fred Howard ( died May 1966)
" Mother" Blanch Adeline Whiteside (b.1861 - d.October 4th.1948)
who married John (Jack) Nelson (b. January 11th. 1860 - d.February 24th. 1939)
in St Andrews on Decmber 2nd. 1884 and who is pictured on this crop from the
1901 Maltings workers photo, a crop of a family group from David and (to the
incurably romantic) an altogether idyllic harvest scene?:
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We already had a copy of this image of the school, when a card came up for sale
on an auction site. I won the card and had already asked the seller if they could
let me have some details of the reverse of the card. They very kindly sent a photo
and I waited for the card to arrive. Unfortunately it never did and so was refunded
my purchase price. I was naturally fascinated by the message on the reverse which
I was able to transcribe from the photograph as follows:
Dear L. I am sorry I have
not wrote but dear I will
write to you sometime next
week I thought you would
like this card Millie
is on there. Alfred
sat too far on the wall so
they did not get him in
poor little boy will tell you
all new in a letter hear from
Jane (?) yesterday with love from May.
However it was only after I bought the church card that I realised that not only
had I purchased it from the same seller but the card had been sent to the same
addressee, i.e. Laura Howard
Mrs. F Howard
The Crossways Lodge
Wymondham
In researching, I checked the school log book and registers for any evidence
of the day the photographer was at the school. Unfortunately, although it was
clearly a disruptive occasion,there is no mention of the photographer coming
to the school at all to confirm a date for the image. The register shows just two
Mildreds at this time The first was Mildred Cranmer, but the whole family moved
to Norwich in April 1909 which is probably too early for the photograph to have
been taken. The other candidate was Mildred Whiteside, daughter of Laura Howard’s
Uncle, David Boaz Whiteside and therefore Laura’s cousin. Mildred Whiteside left
the school, being “of age” on November 8th 1912 which made much more sense.
After consultation with Erica Smith, she agreed that MIllie would be Mildred Whiteside
and confirmed that May is May Blanch Nelson (1887-1975) Laura's sister and
Erica's grandmother, Alfred would have been their baby brother Alfred Percy
Nelson 1901-1992.
The Jane mentioned has not yet been identified and I may not have transcribed
the name correctly as the perspective of the photo is a little distorted at that point!
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