News From Yesterday : Ring That Bell

By 1916 most able bodied men were engaged in war work and this meant that women were taking over many civilian jobs which had previously been done by men. Tram conductors would take the fares and signal the tram to start and stop by ringing a bell. The sudden appearance of women in such jobs put a strain on the Edwardian "gallantry" of many men who were eager to help "the weaker sex". Such gallantry landed several citizens of Huddersfield in court before a magistrate who confessed that he too had been guilty of such a crime. It didn't stop him fining them, however. Once the poor prisoner had been taken down, perhaps he rang a bell to indicate that the next miscreant should be brought in front of him.

Where's Wally : Imagination and Historical Research

I have just acquired this "Real Photograph" postcard of Greenhead Park in Huddersfield. I was attracted to it because it is a local scene - I know Greenhead Park well, it's one of my favourite spots - but, as so often is the case, it was the message on the back of the card that was the most intriguing. The card was sent in either July 1913 or July 1915 : it is difficult to tell, one postmark looks like 13 and the other looks like 15. It is addressed to Alice Knapp of 29 Holden Street, Lavender Hill, London and was written by "Bert". The message is as follows:

Dear Alice, We arrived here safe and I have received your letter, many thanks for same. I am sorry to hear that you have been queer again and also Wallie. I hope you are feeling better. The weather is very cold up here. Yours, Bert.

The 1911 Census shows Herbert and Alice Knapp living at Holden Street, so we can assume that the sender of the card - Bert - was Alice's husband. He was a soldier / musician and his 1905 marriage certificate lists him as being in the Grenadier Guards. So it seems fair to assume that Bert was travelling around the country with the band and, quite possibly, they had given a concert at Greenhead Park itself.

I have not been able to discover what happened to Bert and Alice - or indeed poor Wallie. The date of the card could be critical. If it was sent in 1913, then it is not too difficult to imagine what perils faced by an active soldier in the following years. If it was 1915, the very fact that Herbert was in Huddersfield rather than on the Western Front might suggest that he wasn't fit for active service. I have not been able to find any service records for Bert, so where he went and what he did remains a pleasing mystery. It would be a sad day when imagination was successfully surgically removed from historical research.

The Digital Digger

Someone has come along and dug a big hole in the Crematorium. I don't know why they have done this - it would seem like a bit of a contradiction in terms. Anyway, it gives me a rare insight into what I am walking over each day. It's kind of fascinating, all those layers of different coloured earth. All of which must have their meaning. Perhaps I should take a sample and send it to JGC (she is an adept digger after all). But it is wet and muddy, so I walk on and hope that the analysis can be undertaken from photographic records.