darlig01 Posted 30 June , 2014 Share Posted 30 June , 2014 Hi Through my work I’ve been passed a letter by an elderly lady trying to find out more about a document her father was given in WW1. She calls it a citation/open letter and her family always called it Queen Mary’s letter as it was signed Mary Rex She describes it: As beginning ‘I send this message of greeting to the men of my army, navy and airforce’ In one corner was a coloured drawing of a mother with a child at her knees praying. In another corner a sailor, soldier and airman. Her father was given the document in the trenches in France and he was in the Light Greys working with horses. Does this document ring any kind of bells with people? She’d like to pass on this bit of family history to her family. I don’t think she means the Christmas tin from Princess Mary. Any guidance would be appreciated by me and my elderly lady Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPT Posted 30 June , 2014 Share Posted 30 June , 2014 I wanted to be a High Court judge but I didn't have the Latin for the judging, but doesn't "Rex" mean king? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlig01 Posted 1 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 1 July , 2014 Thanks - you're right it should have said Mary Regina but she's a little old lady and probably a bit confused Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 1 July , 2014 Share Posted 1 July , 2014 I don't think the Queen would have referred to 'the men of my army, navy and air force'. Can you get a scan or a photo of this letter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlig01 Posted 1 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 1 July , 2014 Thanks - I think the problem is is that the letter writer is elderly and is possibly misremembering what was on a the original document. I've checked what she wrote to me and she does say that the queen said 'men of my army, navy and airforce ...' With all the caveats of time and memory not being totally accurate does the document ring any kind of bell with anyone? Is it possible the letter came with the Princess Mary Christmas tin ??? Has anyone come across a document that passes a nodding resemblance to what my letter writer remembers? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 1 July , 2014 Share Posted 1 July , 2014 None of the letters from King George V have images on them,(with the exception of a postcard), all royal communiques to the soldiers etc were embossed with the small address of the royal residence. I doubt that the letter referred to is from Queen Mary and the elderly lady may be confusing two different items. A letter head with images of soldiers in one corner and a mother and child in another seems to me to be more consistent with a charitable or patriotic organization* and there were many of them. I am however not ruling out the possibility that the letter may have come from the Belgian royal household being given out to allied soldiers and written in english. khaki *of which it is possible Queen Mary may have been the patroness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaforths Posted 1 July , 2014 Share Posted 1 July , 2014 None of the letters from King George V have images on them,(with the exception of a postcard), all royal communiques to the soldiers etc were embossed with the small address of the royal residence. I doubt that the letter referred to is from Queen Mary and the elderly lady may be confusing two different items. A letter head with images of soldiers in one corner and a mother and child in another seems to me to be more consistent with a charitable or patriotic organization* and there were many of them. I am however not ruling out the possibility that the letter may have come from the Belgian royal household being given out to allied soldiers and written in english. khaki *of which it is possible Queen Mary may have been the patroness. As I recall there are QM letters in the front of a few of the Gift Books that raised money for charity. Mine are boxed at the moment - I don't think they have images either. I will check but I won't get into the boxes for a couple of days now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlig01 Posted 2 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2014 Hi thanks for the suggestions - I've found this on the IWM site http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/publication/50001841 Letter from Queen Mary dated October 15th, 1915 concerning the welfare of the 'troops' and Christmas gifts for 1914 has anyone seen or heard of this? I would call the IWM and ask them but they're closed until 19 July (!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 2 July , 2014 Share Posted 2 July , 2014 It's one of those interesting facets about research, you can look forward to being found wrong in what you believe, and discover something new. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin kenf48 Posted 2 July , 2014 Admin Share Posted 2 July , 2014 There was a letter published in the Times on October 8 1915 in which Queen Mary appealed to 'women of the Empire' to knit, sew etc comforts for the troops for the coming winter. This would be under the auspices of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild. Letters written by the Queen and published were signed 'Mary' or 'Mary R' An observation (and I appreciate the memory problem) the Royal Air Force was not formed until April 1918, so could she send greeting to 'men of the airforce'? The generic term for the RFC and RNAS that tended to be used was 'Flying Services'. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlig01 Posted 3 July , 2014 Author Share Posted 3 July , 2014 Thanks Ken - I did wonder about the airforce thing too and I'll look at the needlework thingy too - there is mention of that on the IWM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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