Figure 1.--This postcard was sent home by a British soldier in the trenches of the Western front in 1918. It was a New Years card. The sentimentality of the cards speaks of what was on the mens' minds. Click on the image to see the back of the card. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

HBC has a number of cards mailed by British World War I soldiers from the trenches to their loved ones at home. All of thecards appear to be French-made cards. Apparently they were purchased by soldiers behind the front and front-line soldiers on leave in rear areas. The cards selected are interested. Here we have only loaded those eling with children. These card were a popular choice for fathers missing their families, but of course there were many other types of cards sent home. The brief messages on the back are also interesting.

Specific Cards

HBC has begun to acquire indivual cards written by British soldiers.

1914 card

1915 card

The 1915 card, it is addressed to Miss Nancie Salmon and reads, "Just a scrawl to enquire how mother is getting on. Hope she is better & all of you in good health. Lots of kisses give some to Ruth. Daddy" This is one of several cards that I have written by this man to his wife and daughters back home. Another dated dated March 13th 1916 and addressed to his daughter Ruth reads, "Fancy keeping you all this time without a card but really I couldn't help it. Those 'naughty old Germans' wouldn't let me buy them. You must still look after mother you know. Lots of kisses and give some to Nancie. Regards." The 1915 card was hown on the main trend warfare page and the back of the card can also be viewed there.

1916 card

1917 card

World War I soldiers in 1917 mut have dispaired that the War would never end. American entry into the War in April 1917 brought great cheer tothe Allied soldiers and people. Many did not understand that t would be more than a year before America could train and field a significant army. The 1917 card we have was dated Thursday September 13, 1917 and was sent by a British soldier in France to his daughter in England. There is no posting address so we assume that the card was enclosed with a letter to the childs mother. The message on the card reads, " My dear little Girl, Just a card to add to your collection. I am giving you a change tonight a little boy instead of a little girl. Goodbye and God Bless you with best love from Dada xxxxxxxx" Apparently his daughter like many children at the time collected postcards. Apparently he was stationed where he could select from a range of cards and usually chose images of little French girls for his daughter.

1918 Card

World War I was finally resolved in 1918 after 4 long, bloody years of fighting. The 1918 card read, "Bill & Anne, A happy Xmas to you both and many more New Years. We hope to have a fine time this years among ourselves. Give best wishes to your mar & Paw (?) & don't come out here. Cheerio and enjoy yourselves this year. From George" (figure 1). As the card is from George Bell and is addressed to Mr & Mrs Bell, I reckon that he is writing to his brother, his admonition 'don't come out here' is rather poignant. A search of Commonwealth War Grave Commission database yields no trace of a George Bell from The Royal West Kents being a casualty so happily, he appears to have survived. Remarkably, there were over 100 men killed in the great war with the name G.Bell. As he is discussing Christmas, the card was probably sent after the armistace November 11. A HBC reader agrees, " I agree that this card was probably sent after the Amistice. The very fact that the sender says that 'We hope to have a fine time this years among ourselves' indicates to me that they can now relax."

British Censors

The British Parliament passed the Defence of the Realm Act in 1914. As a result, letters from British soldiers were or should have been read. A reader writes, "Not all the cards I own that were sent home from France have the censors mark. I believe that sometimes the cards might have been enclosed with a letter in an envelope." If I can find out anything further then I'll be in touch. Some of the cards sent by British soldiers are maked "Passed by Censor" followed by a number. I believe that every censor reading the mail had a stamp with his own individual number. That way of course a person letting sensitive information through could be identified. We have no information at this time on the differing censor regulations of the combatant counties. The principal question we have is how the censorship affected the messages sent home. The messages certainly were not graphic. Here we think that the soldiers simply did not want to alarm their relatives. But the censors may have also affected what they wrote. Some report that this was done by their junior officers. Some officers did not believe that it was right to read their men's personal letters. Thus many letters ere delivereduncensored. But would they have numbered censor stamps? A HBC reader writes, "Yes, I always understood that Officers censored the letters of their men, perhaps this duty was taken away from them later in the war and official censors were employed who had the stamps."

English Post Cards

Postcards today or a rather minor matter, primarily relegated to tourist spot. In the early 20th century, post cards were big business nd much more commonly used for family communication. Remember in 1914-18 that there were no cell phones and a telephone call from France back to England would have been a major undertaking. Only the families of some wealthy officers would hav had telephones in their homes. A call home from France would have been mmajor event. HBC readers may want to visit the HBC English post card page for back ground on these cards.

Created: January 19, 2003
Last updated: February 20, 2003