The Golden Era

The glowing ease of the "Golden Era", which would come to a crashing end just four years later. A quick postcard about a lovely holiday, and a life of relative ease
.

Though you know, no antibiotics yet, so probably not all that great after all.

 

"Dear Elsie, Edna thanks you very much for your pretty PC [postcard]. Edna is having a happy time. Hoping you are well & enjoying your holidays. Love & kisses from Edna and her mother."

postmarked 19 July, 1910.

Otley from the Chevin

It seemed like a wild guess as to what language the caption was in- originally, "Olley" was in the running, and might have been plausible as it was in France, where a number of other cards are from.
However, the deciphering of "the Chevin" was the key. The Chevin is the name given to the ridge on the south side of Wharfedale in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, overlooking the market town of Otley.
According to the wiki:
"Otley's name is derived from Othe, Otho or Otta, a Saxon personal name and leah, a woodland clearing in Old English. It was recorded as Ottanlege in 972 and Otelai or Othelia in the Domesday Book of 1086.^[2][3] The name Chevin has close parallels to the Welsh term Cefn meaning ridge and may be a survival of the ancient Cumbric language."

At the time of this postcard, Otley would have been mostly mills: wool and paper, with printing being one of the main industries.

Houses of Parliament, London, circa 1910

Not a whole lot to say about  this one. It wasn't addressed or sent, so dating it is kind of a shot in the dark, based on the age of the rest of the collection.


The view is from the Thames, with I think scenic garbage barges(scows?) in the foreground.
Perhaps in Edwardian England, the travel slogan "COME TO LONDON, WE HAVE GARBAGE REMOVAL!" means more than it would today.

Also, not much luck recreating this angle in a more recent photo. What is clear from all of the old postcards is that about 97% of the greenery has been removed. No trees, no shrubs, no flower gardens...all paved over. PROGRESS.

To be fair,  the Palace of Westminster did get the bejeesus bombed out of it a couple of times, was on fire (more than once), and had to be rebuilt...odds are good that changes a place just a little.

More from Morecombe

Continuing the theme of 'seaside resorts', we have a postcard from Morecambe, which is a

This piece of backstory comes from (of course) the Morecambe wiki page:

"In 1846, the Morecambe Harbour and Railway Company was formed^[2] to build a harbour on Morecambe Bay, close to the fishing village of Poulton-le-Sands, and a connecting railway. By 1850, the railway linked to Skipton, Keighley and Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and a settlement began to grow around the harbour and railway, to service the port and as a seaside resort. The settlement expanded to absorb Poulton, and the villages of Bare and Torrisholme. The settlement started to be referred to as "Morecambe", possibly after the harbour and railway. In 1889 the new name was officially adopted.
Morecambe was a thriving seaside resort in the mid-20th century. While the resort of Blackpool attracted holiday-makers predominantly from the Lancashire mill towns, Morecambe had more visitors from Yorkshire (due to its railway connection) and Scotland. Between 1956 and 1989 it was the home of the Miss Great Britain beauty contest."

This would make sense, given that this family was from the North of England, so Morecambe was likely a close alternative for your seaside needs; though to be fair, nothing about these seaside towns' beaches looks all that appealing to me! But I guess that doesn't matter if you're not going to swim.

 

 

 The reverse reads,
"Morecambe. Dear Dad, Just a line to let you know we received your letter this morning alright, also Mrs.Keys' P.C. [postcard]. Mother thanks you very much for what's in with the letter. We do not know how the trains run so we can not let you know what time we are coming home. Love to all, Elsie & Ina"


Postmarked Morecambe, Lancashire, 5:30 pm 12 June 1917.

Greetings from Skegness

This installment comes from the seaside town of Skegness. Skegness was a seaside resort whose claim to fame was having one of the original 'holiday camps', Butlins,which opened there in 1936. The holiday camp experience was later made famous in the Britcom Hi-De-Hi.

The tower was built in1898 for the Jubilee (Queen Victoria), and it almost looks like this was under construction when the postcard photo was taken.

 

  The shot below is a more recent view, from the Skegness wiki:

The reverse of the postcard reads:

"Dear Elsie, I am having a fine time here. We are having lovely weather. It is so hot that we can hardly walk. Hoping you are enjoying yourself. Hilda."



Posted 8 pm, 3 Aug 1914.