Held at:	Private Collection
Reference:	RS/CJ
Source:	Guest Contribution - original documents
Title:	Digital Archive: Christmas and Easter service cards of Revd Charles Brothers at St Faith's Bacton
Place name:	Golden Valley, Bacton
Date:	1904 - 1918

Description:

We are indebted to Chris Jones who has kindly sent us the following explanation and images of four cards, reproduced below, relating to services at St Faith’s church Bacton before and during the First World War held by the Reverend Charles Brothers. For more information on the church and its incumbent see the Brothers Collection elsewhere on the website,

Ewyas Lacy Study Group

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These four intriguing cards relate to St Faith’s Church, Bacton, and its long-time rector/vicar, the Revd. Charles T Brothers.

The cards were all produced by the Home Words company (of which I have found out very little), and numbered. None, however, is dated. The first two cards 119 and 139 comprise notices of Christmas services at St Faith’s, Bacton, and have the Reverend Brothers’ name on them. Presumably, he could order cards from Home Words’ numbered series but with the printed words adapted to his local specifications. I’m guessing that they date to just before the First World War, so somewhere between 1904 (Brothers’ arrival at Bacton) and 1913 (because they have lower serial numbers than the other two cards, discussed below, and no military overtones). There is nothing on the back of either of these cards.

The cards 167 and 169 are amazing to me because of their remarkable mix of religious and (World War 1) military imagery. Both are Easter cards: however, they were not, I think, originally intended as notices of Easter services but as cards to be sent at Easter to one’s loved ones serving in the war. However, they have been adapted to the same use. Card 167 has the Bacton Easter service details printed on the back. Card 169 has Easter services written by hand on the back (and, in fact, no mention of Bacton or Brothers, but the number and times of services are consistent with the others; moreover, to my untrained eye, the handwriting is consistent with that on the entry for Bacton Rectory in the 1911 census which, I believe, was written by the head of household, Charles Brothers).

Chris Jones

 

Observations:

None