CarylW Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 Can anyone tell me anything about the artist(s)? Haven't seen this type of postcard before (but I haven't been collecting them long, so not been paying attention) All are addressed to: Miss R or D Stewart 4 Cavendish rd Jesmond Newcastle-on-Tyne All signed "Archie" All written between Sept-Oct 1915 and all have "On Active Service" This one above on the back "D. I am still smoking. This is about the best French conception of the British Tommie I have seen. Still spending our time dotting and dashing. Always Morse Signalling (looks like) Nulty yb Archie The others addressed to R Stewart, same address start "Dearest Kiddie" On the above is written "Dearest Kiddie. I have just written you a green so have nothing to send on this card except much love from Archie" There are five altogether, all different uniforms. It won't allow me to post all the images in one post so I'll post them individually, or two at a time All posted between Sept-Oct 1915 Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 4 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2006 On the above is written "Dearest Kiddie We are now in an excellent dugout in another trench It is about 6 hours since I wrote the other card. Still smiling (looks like) Nulty A On the above "Weather somewhat improved today. May play football this afternoon. Expected a letter from you today but it hasn't arrived. Expect it will turn up tomorrow. Nothing new out here. nulty d (looks like). Ever your loving Archie Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 4 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2006 This one is postally unused Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 4 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2006 That's it. These two also addressed same as above, from the same person "Archie" One the back of one he talks about being busy practising "Flagwagging" again (???) How many more were in this series? anyone know? Anyone have a clue about who the artist is? Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 The artist (except for No. 1 and No. 3) was Emil Dupuis. The cards you have come from a set Depuis produced under the collective title "Nos Alliés" - Our Allies. He also did two more series, one of French Soldiers, and one of enemy soldiers. About 1915, I think. 1 and 3 are by Albert Beerts, who was another popular postcard artist. He did similar portraits, often showing children wearing the uniforms of the allies. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 4 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2006 Thank you Tom I see I have a lot more to try to collect! Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 Caryl - E. Dupuis's cards were printed in very large numbers. You can usually find some on eBay - just enter Emil Dupuis in the search box. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Stewart Posted 4 March , 2006 Share Posted 4 March , 2006 CarylW, The AVL for Newcastle and the Jesmond Ward area shows that only uneven numbered houses are listed for Cavendish Road. No other Wards have Cavendish Rd within their areas, so I'm wondering if the even numbered houses, probably on the other side of the road, fall outside of the Newcastle Borough area? Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 4 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 March , 2006 Grham I've no idea sorry I'm not from the North East and don't know the area at all These postcards were bought in a place near my own locality Tom I will look out for them now that I know the artist(s) name(s) Thanks I'll probably see them all over the place now! Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Caryl Here is Cavendish Road from Ward's Directory of Newcastle, 1915-16 showing R. Stewart manager at no 4 Cavendish Rd. It looks to me as though he may be the manager of the grocery shop next door. As Graham says there do not seem to be many houses listed on the even side of the road. There is a street map of this area in the directory and there seem to be buildings on both sides of the road. The Stewart's appear at this address in about 1910. In a later directory. Mrs C. Stewart is listed at this address instead of R. Stewart. I looked for Archibald Stewart on the 1901 census but couldn't find anyone with Robert as his father. Of course, he might not have been writing to his sister it could have been a cousin. His name might be Archibald Nulty and he was writing to a girlfriend or friend. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 And here is the alphabetical list of individuals from the same directory. I'm off to look for Archibald Nulty on the 1901. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 And here's Cavendish Rd. on a street map from the same directory. It is very near a local beauty spot called Jesmond Dene, so presumably that's where the postcards arrived in 1915. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Stewart Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Kate, Brilliant and very thorough as usual. Strange to think all of the shops being on one side, but there's not a single entry for an even numbered household on Cavendish Rd in the AVL, and if there were flats above or behind the shops then surely someone must have enlisted or been conscripted. Really strange, but parish boundaries do begin and end in some perculiar places. Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 5 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Kate Many thanks for all of that I did wonder if he was an Archibald Stewart, but there are so many of them in the MIC's Yes, wondered if he could be writing to his sister - thought at first he was writing to his daughter and addressing her as "kiddie" but then he would not have signed them "Archie". Or could be his sweetheart The 'nulty' threw me. Wondered if it was either his surname or it was a Geordie term for something He uses 'nulty' in most of them. One is signed "nulty yloving Archie". I'll scan the back of one then you can see what I mean. Could be something other than 'nulty', but it does look like that when comparing it with his other handwriting I find postcards and letters from the front and every little detail endlessly fascinating! Who were they? Where were they, what conditions were like, what happened to them and who are they writing to?. Is it possible to tell from the censor or field post stamps where they were? The censor stamp has 551, the Field Post Office has the number 142 Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 5 March , 2006 Share Posted 5 March , 2006 Caryl I would like to see a scan of the writing side of one of the cards. Has the Nulty got a capital letter. Wondering if it is an acronym like TTFN. because I wondered if yb stood for 'Your boy.' Can't think what it could stand for '- - - -undying/unending love to you.?' Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 6 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 6 March , 2006 Hope these are large enough. Kept them quite big so that it's clearer. They are hosted on my server See the 'Nulty' and see what you think - he does write 'N' that way in other parts Kate Yes could be an acronym, hadn't thought of that. Maybe some 'code' they had worked out between them? You can see a signature here of an E Messervy, noticed a few Messervy's on the MIC's, could this be the censor or an officer? or both? More to come... Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 6 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 6 March , 2006 Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 6 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 6 March , 2006 Could the Nulty be Never Unending (or Undying) Love To You? Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 6 March , 2006 Share Posted 6 March , 2006 Could it not be MLTY - My Love To You. I don't think that it looks like the N's in the writing above, more like an M ? The bottom one could be My Love To You, Your Boy Archie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 6 March , 2006 Share Posted 6 March , 2006 Thanks for letting us see the written parts of the cards. Because he has sent so many cards and quite close together it seems that he certainly knew her/the family very well. I think Spike is right. Now that he has suggested 'multy' I think I can see the 'm'. If Spike is right then I think he was writing to a sweetheart. I don't think you would write 'my undying love to you' to a neighbour or elderly relative. Needless to say I had no luck with looking for Archibald Nulty. McNulty is the more common surname but there are no Archibald McNultys either. Will try Archibald Multy in case we are mistaken in our detection work on the meaning of Multy. It is interesting that he makes so much reference to morse code, signalling and flag-wagging. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 7 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 March , 2006 Yes I think Spike is right too and it is an 'M'. On the back of the first one where he writes 'No news', the 'N' does look like the signature 'N'. 'My Love To You' makes more sense too I did a wild card search of the 1901 using just the name Archibald and born in Newcastle On Tyne and had a guess at his age for different searches but it brought up too many results I must go back to the shop where I bought these to see if there are any more from "Archie". The person who owns the shop has boxes of postcards all jammed tight together, very hard to search through without taking the whole lot out. After I'd bought the first lot, I went back and found two more! Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyford Posted 7 March , 2006 Share Posted 7 March , 2006 Of course the next step would be to find a marriage of D. Stewart to Archibald ? after the war. But we don't know whether he survived - or whether the fact that the postcards finish at the end of 1915 is ominous, or whether the fact that he mentions that he has not received a letter one day, was ominous in a different way. This is turning out to be a very interesting puzzle. Kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 7 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 March , 2006 Kate They all seemed to be addressed to R Stewart, but I noticed he did put a 'D' on one of them, as in the written part and not the address (maybe he meant Darling, or dearest) I'll post the address so that you can see Went back to the shop and found one more from Archie - went through them all, hundreds (and I don't want to see another postcard for a while! Found some other WW1 gems though) I don't think the others I found relate to "Archie", there are some postally unused including one of Poperinghe - may be just co-incidence they were close to each other This is the last one to be found dated 16th Oct. It's the same day he wrote the one above "We are now in an excellent dugout in another trench. It is about 6 hours since I wrote the other card" This one must have been the card he was referring too. Also dated 16 Oct 1915 On the back he writes "Dearest Kiddie I am sitting in the floor of a trench. I don't know where it is or where it leads to. It's raining and likely to continue and we don't know what we are going to do next. Altogether it is a situation entirely devoid of humour I am practising Mark Tapley (looks like) isn't hard" Who or what Mark Tapley is I have no idea! If it is that. I'll leave it to all of you Sherlock's to see if you think it is Mark Tapley, or does that say "I am practising Mark Tapleyism hard"?(???) Whoever "Archie" is he sounds quite literate and maybe well educated E Messervy has also signed this one Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarylW Posted 7 March , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 March , 2006 Just Googled and found this "“Tapleyism” [f. the name of Mark Tapley, a character in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4) + -ISM.] Optimism in the most hopeless circumstances, as expressed by Tapley's determination always to remain ‘jolly’. Also Tapleyan a. 1857 B. SMITH Let. in W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) ix. 246, I have a good share of Tapleyism in me and come out strong under difficulties". Caryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevem Posted 7 March , 2006 Share Posted 7 March , 2006 Caryl What shape is the censor mark? If it is triangular number 551 was allocated to the 1/21st London Regiment. The E Messervy who signed the cards was likely to be a junior officer who was acting as censor for his men. I have had a quick look at the MICs for Messervy and there is an entry for Lt Ernest Dyce Messervy of the London Regiment. Regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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