Eaton's Stores in England

[Moonraker]

I've been collecting "military Wiltshire" postcards for nine years and at fairs must have sorted through tens of thousands of WWI military cards. Every now and then I come across cards captioned "The Camp" and published by Eaton's Stores. They've always been unused, so there's no clues from postmarks or messages.

At which English camp(s) were Eaton's Stores? (There's no connection with the Eaton Departmental Store in Montreal, the subject of a thread started in September 2004 by Chris Wright.)

The unhelpful caption was probably a nod towards censorship rules, which seem to have been variously observed or otherwise in different parts of the country. But there couldn't have been much point in banning the camp name in the postcard caption if the postmark gave the location away. It's often possible for collectors to work out which camp is shown, though early on in my collecting I was fooled by cards published by J H Simpson of Andover, which turned out to be of Chisledon 28 miles away.

[Borden Battery]

I am not aware of an EATON'S store/outlet in England [something akin to Marks & Spencer but perhaps larger] in England during the war, however, there was a special military formation that was first formed, funded and named for this millionaire family ... Eaton Motor Machine Gun Battery.

The Eaton Battery was later merged into the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade.

This material MIGHT be associated with the base camp in England - probably not but perhaps a lead you might first follow.

[Moonraker]

Its' been ten years since I posted the above, and I still don't know the answer! So I hope I may be forgiven for "bumping".

I'm prompted to do so because a vendor is offering three Eaton's postcards of "The Camp", ascribing them to Lark Hill when the scenes are manifestly not. One features a baseball game, which suggests an American camp (in Britain).

I have seen a few such cards over the years, but none has been used in such a way as to give a clue as to the location.

Moonraker

EDIT: A Google leads me to a webpage offering another Eaton's "The Camp" card, attributing it to Witley, near Godalming in Surrey. As it happens, I've seen copies of the card linked to Tidworth, which is not the case. Canadian troops were at Witley - did they play baseball? Looking at proven images of Witley Camp, there are similarities to those that I mention above.

[IPT]

Another set of the cards recently sold includes writing on the back saying that the stores they have built are known as "tin town". Does this indicate Bramshott? - http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-x-POSTCARDS-WW1-THE-CAMP-series-CAMP-WITLEY-SURRY-EATONS-BOOKSTALL-SOLDIERS-/261861392120?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item3cf827bef8&nma=true&si=8BLb6DkhDAXDer2i64z%252FVWBbl4I%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Also, his use of the term "a bunch of them" may indicate American or Canadian,

PS - Canadians definitely play baseball.

[Moonraker]

I've just removed from my Wiltshire collection an Eaton's card showing a row of shops, like the central one in your link. On the back is a message written in pencil "This is the spot known as tin town", this no doubt prompting an inked annotation "Tidworth Camp Tin Town 1914". I've long had my suspicions about it. Some people have seen similarities between these shops and the row of shops in Station Road, Tidworth.

"Tin town" was a term used to describe shops in several army towns and barracks. I think that the one at Tidworth was in the barracks area and I have a postcard definitely of it showing a number of interior stalls.

With the vendor of the cards in your link living in Canada it's likely that many of the men featured are Canadians. And, despite what I say in my opening post, it's likely that the Montreal store Eaton's set up a branch or two in Britain to cater for Canadian servicemen.

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

The vendor mentioned in post 3 has now changed the description to "unidentified UK army camp" and added to the description: "I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT IT IS NOT LARKHILL AS I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT, SO IT IS NOW UNIDENTIFIED."

I don't know if this resulted from my message to him/her or whether someone else has pointed out the misunderstanding. I followed my first message with another, suggesting that it was Witley and with a link to a confirmatory website.

BTW, the card I removed from my collection (see the last post) is now listed on the same site!

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

I've heard again from the vendor: "Thank you for all your interest and help, after investigating the cards for myself I definitely agree that it is Witley Camp near Godalming. I have withdrawn the 3 cards as I wish to keep them all together for my own collection so that I can do greater research myself."

So tough luck if you collect postcards of Witley Camp, though a truly desirable card is still listed (nine views and one watcher at the moment).

Moonraker

[helpjpl]

This may be of interest:

Remembrance Day Online Exhibit 2014 -Eaton’s Goes To War

JP

[Moonraker]

Great link, JP, great company too, it would appear.

Thanks!

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

Last week, another eBay vendor listed a card of a cafe published by Eaton's and said to be at Lark Hill Camp. He  said that "Lark Hill" had been pencilled on the back but accepted my reasoning that it wasn't Lark Hill, but probably Witley and withdrew his listing. By coincidence, a postcard showing Eaton's store for Canadian soldiers at Witley has been listed by another vendor.

 

See here.

 

(Though the page this link leads to says bidding ended on February 14, it has been re-listed several times, including a few days ago, but it is not currently on offer.)

 

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

Another copy of one of the postcards is on offer on eBay.

 

I've referred the vendor to this thread.

[Kath]

Interesting article re. the founder of Eaton's here:

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0001578%2f19110218%2f178&stringtohighlight=eatons