Can anyone tell me about this tapestry please

[arantxa]

[58 Div Mule]

Can't help with the tapestry but it's a nice photo. Wrist watch, pocket knife with horn handle and what looks like a purpose made pouch on the 'stable belt'.

 

58 DM.

[redbarchetta]

I think the tapestry is from Egypt, Cairo or Alexandria probably - see 1916 comic postcard below 'Egypt Humour' series, published in Alexandria.  Hawkers would have the main crest and flags already done (no US flag, so pre-dates their entry), with the pocket for your photo, and then the 'handwritten' style writing in the corners and along the bottom would be commissioned by the purchaser, usually, as this one, with places they had been and then a personal greeting etc for the recipient along the bottom.

Echo 58DM's comment on the nice photo itself...

James

[Skipman]

It says Mesopotamia

 

Mike

[redbarchetta]

4 minutes ago, Skipman said:

It says Mesopotamia

 

Mike

And Africa, Egypt and Palestine - in the four corners...

J

[58 Div Mule]

It also says Africa, Egypt and Palestine. I think RB's hit the nail on the head.

 

Locally produced souvenir from the Middle East.

 

58 DM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[charlie962]

This AWM thread is helpful.

 

Charlie

[Kath]

I have a "Souvenir of Gallipoli" embroidered square.

(My husband brought home a similar square from his National Service in Egypt).

[MaureenE]

Although the above seems to be a manufactured souvenir,  FROGSMILE of this Forum made some general comments about embroidery as an activity for soldiers, and provided some images,  in a Victorian Wars Forum topic "The Knitting Circle-1st Northamptonshire Regiment-India"

Archived link from the Victorian Wars Forum, sadly now closed.

 https://web.archive.org/web/20170428085703/http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6628&p=27146

 

Cheers

Maureen

 

[arantxa]

Is Ank a name or place do you think

[Ron Clifton]

As it comes after From, probably not.

 

Embroidery of the flags of the Allied nations were fairly common at that time. I think that they were sometimes used as remedial therapy in military hospitals, as Maureene has mentioned.

 

Ron

[Heid the Ba]

I took it to be the name of the sender, "From Ank to all at home".

Edit: The "A" of Ank and the "A" of All are completely different, maybe they were made with in advance with a space for the sender's name to be filled in.

Edited 27 August , 2019 by Heid the Ba

[charlie962]

49 minutes ago, Heid the Ba said:

maybe they were made with in advance with a space for the sender's name to be filled in

 as also James suggested in post3 above

[charlie962]

arantaxa

could you give us a better copy of the whole of the back of the card (and the right way up!) ?   It might give us some clue of the recipient and thus of the sender;

Charlie

[johntaylor]

There are certainly plenty of clues on the back. I can just make out a name and address on the right - looks like Muriel but can't quite read the surname, then a house name, then "Much Wenlock, Salop". There's something on the left as well but it's cropped off the photo.

 

John

[IPT]

I think it may be 213116 Frank Henry Pardoe, RGA, of Atterby Farm, Much Wenlock.

 

He was in Egypt from June 1918 - Jan 1920, following a stint in Mesopotamia.

 

Died in 1982, aged 87.

 

 

 

Edited 4 September , 2019 by IPT
Addition

[johntaylor]

That looks right - he's living there in the 1911 Census, though it looks more like "Atterley Farm". The first name on the card is hard to read, but if it's Muriel then there was no-one with that first name in 1911. He had a younger sister called Gladys Mary, but it doesn't really look like Mary. Still, I think you've found the right person - Ank must have been his nickname, presumably short for Frank. well done!

 

John

[IPT]

14 minutes ago, johntaylor said:

That looks right - he's living there in the 1911 Census, though it looks more like "Atterley Farm". The first name on the card is hard to read, but if it's Muriel then there was no-one with that first name in 1911. He had a younger sister called Gladys Mary, but it doesn't really look like Mary. Still, I think you've found the right person - Ank must have been his nickname, presumably short for Frank. well done!

 

John

 

Cheers, I think it's him.

 

I thought the 'Muriel' part may have been Mr F, Mrs F., Mr & Mrs F, Miss E, Miss G or some such.  We might know if we could see the salutation. 

 

You're right, it is Atterley Farm. It was mis-transcribed in his service records. 

[johnboy]

RGA or RFA would fit. Photo shows him wearing spurs. riding breeches and holding a crop

[arantxa]

That’s fantastic sleuthing 

thanks