Tag Archives: World War I postcard

Blast from the Past – World War I Postcard with Tsar Nicholas

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postcard

I think the above postcard is an interesting one, if you look closely the Russian Tsar Nicholas II is on the right hand side, just below the mouth of the cannon, he’s the one with his cap askew. I think he has some of his family with him too.

This postcard crosses two interests of mine, the First World War and Russia, pre and post revolution. The photo seems to have been taken outside the Kremlin. Sadly it hasn’t been used and has absolutely no writing on the back of it so there are no clues to the date but it must have been before March 1917 as that is when the tsar abdicated. I wonder if that cannon was ever intended for use, it seems amazingly ornate for a weapon of destruction. Maybe everything way back then was embellished in what we think of as that heavy Victorian style.

It’s a bit confusing date wise because the Russians were still using the Gregorian calandar which makes it March the 2nd when he abdicated but in the Julian calendar which we all use now it was March 15th – oh who said beware the ides of March?! Obviously it wasn’t an unlucky date for Julius Caesar only.

If you’re interested in Russian history have a look at http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution-Timeline.htm.

Blast from the Past – WWI Postcard

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World War I postcard

This postcard is one of quite a few which I have collected over the years, it’s a photograph which has been turned into a postcard. As you can see it’s of a group of soldiers, including one in a kilt so they must be from a Scottish regiment, he must be their piper. Sadly there’s absolutely no mention in the card of who they are although maybe nowadays it would be possible to enlarge an area of it to identify their insignia.

Quite early on in the war the Scottish soldiers were told to stop wearing their kilts as they were causing them so many problems. The conditions were just not suitable as a kilt consists of 6 yards of wool and when it got wet as it inevitably did in the trenches, there was just no way of drying it. The wet material acted like sandpaper on the soldier’s skin as they moved and caused sores and infections. On top of all that the pleats were a perfect breeding ground for the lice which the soldiers were plagued with. The pipers were the only kilties around.

World War I postcard,

The postcard is addressed to:

Miss M. Willoughby,
“Binnie Cottage”
Causeywayside St
Tolcross
Glasgow
Scotland

The message says:
D.A.M. (presumably Miss Willoughby’s initials or a shortened version of an endearment)

Isn’t this a nice lot of chaps. Eh!
Not half. Expect to be leaving for France seven days or so hence. Will write later. Bert

The stamp which obviously has King George V’s head on it has been put on upside down. ( I thought that they could chuck you in prison for that!) Way back then every post office had its own postmark but I can’t make out this one, it’s somewhere St Mary, possibly Godford. Anyway the date is clear it was stamped on 18 November 1915.

Poor Bert. The chaps have obviously been at a training camp prior to being sent out to the trenches. I wonder how many of them survived it – if any.