Lily Elsie - the Edwardian's plumed hat lady

Part of the fun of looking at the old postcards is in their ability to provide a snapshot of an era. Sometimes, it's just that- a snapshot, that leads to investigation of a particular show or star or place, that tells us a lot about what was going on.

In this postcard, it is of the famed Lily Elsie. It is a toss up in this collection of who is more popular, she or Gladys Cooper. Both feature very prominently in postcard photographs of the period. Lily Elsie was hugely popular starting around 1907, but retired in 1911, only resurfacing for the 'war effort' productions of WW1.

She died in 1962.
(For a great site dedicated to Lily Elsie, please visit www.lily-elsie.com.)

This postcard is actually headed to Morecambe (from Leeds), instead of the other way round. Change is a good as a rest.

"6/6/17
1 Firth Grove Beeston Leeds
Dear Elsie, Thanks ever so much for the PC [postcard] received. Hope you are having a good time& that you are feeling better. Hope you are having nice weather. Love from Doris"

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.

Morecombe and the Mysterious Mrs. Boddy

In amongst the family postcards, there are the occasional missives directed to a completely unfamiliar name, and this is one of them.  One can only hope that somehow, Fate will steer the decendents of Mrs. Boddy (of 7 Frederick St., Dalton Lane, Keighley) or her children William and Harriet here, to read what their ancestors wrote and posted August 15, 1911:

"42  Yorkshire St. Morecombe.
Dear Mother & Sister & Brothers, We hope you are very well. we wish you were here. it would do you a lot of good. we are having lovely weather. and it is beautiful here. From your loving Son & daughter William & Harriet"

Apparently William wasn't into capitalization. 



The front of the postcard... far less interesting to me in this case.

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.