The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name. The image is a glossy real photograph, and the card was printed in England.
The card was posted in Southend-on-Sea on Tuesday the 14th. October 1952 to:
Mr. A. Parry,
'The Towers',
Woodland Park,
Colwyn Bay.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"We are having a nice time
and the weather is lovely
here today, just like Summer.
Off to Southend today.
Harry".
Hyde Park Corner
The Wellington Arch no longer serves as a stately entrance to Constitution Hill and Green Park; it is now incongruously stranded on a huge roundabout, around which large volumes of traffic race night and day. The roundabout is an accident and pollution black spot. Don't try and cross the road to get to the Wellington Arch - you won't make it.
The town mansions on the left were demolished in the 1960's in order to create a dual carriageway that runs down the edge of Hyde Park and feeds into the roundabout. The western end of Green Park (shown in the photograph) was also sacrificed to the roundabout. Such is progress.
The Royal Artillery Memorial
The memorial in the foreground has also been marginalised by being stranded on the same roundabout. Its designer, Charles Jagger, who had experienced life in the trenches, went against the idealistic, heroic sculptures of the time, and chose very realistic images. He once said:
"Experience in the trenches persuaded
me of the necessity for frankness and
truth".
There are four bronze figures of artillery soldiers on the monument depicting the reality of war.
Three figures stand at ease; one even leans back against the parapet, his cape hanging over his outstretched arms, suggesting exhaustion or contemplation.
Another reads letters from home. The fourth figure is the body of an artilleryman, laid out and shrouded by a greatcoat, his helmet placed upon his chest.
Charles Jagger
Charles Sargeant Jagger, the eldest son of Enoch Jagger, a colliery manager, was born in Kilnhurst, South Yorkshire on the 17th. December, 1885. Charles was the elder brother of David Jagger (1891 - 1958) who was an acclaimed portrait painter.
-- Charles Jagger - The Early Years
Charles left school aged fourteen to learn the craft of engraving on silver with the Sheffield firm of Mappin and Webb. He also studied at the Sheffield School of Art in the evenings.
In 1907 Charles won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. After four years there as a student and assistant to Professor Edward Lantéri, a travelling bursary enabled him to study for some months in Rome and Venice.
-- Charles Jagger in the Great War
In 1914 he won the Rome scholarship in sculpture. However, on the outbreak of the First World War, he decided to to enlist in the Artists' Rifles instead.
In 1915 Jagger was awarded a commission in the 4th. Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment, and was sent to Gallipoli.
Later he was transferred to the 2nd. Battalion of the Worcestershires who were entrenched on the Western Front in France.
In November 1915 Charles was shot through the shoulder and sent home to Great Britain. While recovering in England he married Violet Constance Smith.
Jagger returned to the front line, and in 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at the Battle of Neuve Église during the German Spring Offensive.
During the battle he was severely injured by a gunshot through the chest, just two inches above his heart. He was also gassed, and once again he received medical treatment in England.
-- 'The First Battle of Ypres'
Instead of being sent back to France, Jagger was commissioned by the British War Memorials Committee to produce a large relief, entitled 'The First Battle of Ypres'.
After the Great War Jagger established a studio in South Kensington. His work was dominated by his experience in the trenches.
-- 'Tommy and Humanity'
Jagger's next major work was 'Tommy and Humanity'. According to Charles' biographer:
'The bold modelling of the Tommy, combined
with the energy and strength the figure
conveyed, was an outstanding achievement.
The expressiveness of this work was an
instant success at the Royal Academy, where
it was exhibited in 1921, and resulted in many
more commissions.'
-- 'No Man's Land'
In 1923 he produced the relief, 'No Man's Land'. After being cast in bronze it was presented to the Tate Gallery in 1923.
Jagger admitted that his art reflected the admiration he felt for the work of Alfred Gilbert and Auguste Rodin.
-- Criticism of Jagger's Work
His career rose to distinction in the 1920's, but the voice of modernism tended not treat him kindly. The critic Roger Fry wrote:
'Nothing approaches the commonness,
the effective, brutal, catch-penny vulgarity
of his work'
And yet, Jagger was not so far out-of-step with the other post-beaux-arts sculptors of his day. He preached the union of sculpture with architecture, and took as his standard the relief sculpture of ancient Assyria.
-- Further Work by Charles Jagger
Over the next seven years Jagger completed war memorials in Manchester (1921); Southsea (1921); Bedford (1921); Great Western Railway War Memorial (1922); Brimington (1922); London Royal Artillery Memorial (1921–5); Anglo-Belgian War Memorial (1922–3); Nieuwpoort (1926–8); Cambrai (1927–8); and Port Tawfiq (1927–8).
During this period Charles Jagger produced statues of the Duke of Windsor (1922), Lord Hardinge (1928) and Ernest Shackleton (1932).
Alfred Mond, the founder of Imperial Chemical Industries, commissioned four large stone figures symbolic of industries for the company headquarters in Millbank.
-- The Death of Charles Jagger
Charles Sargeant Jagger died of pneumonia at his home, 67 Albert Bridge Road, Battersea, on the 16th. November 1934.
Sir Mick Jagger
With an ususual name like Jagger, you would expect Mick to be involved somewhere down the line, and sure enough, he is -- Charles Jagger is Mick's great-granduncle, with Charles' brother David Jagger being Mick's great-grandfather.
Another of Sir Mick’s relatives is Joseph Hobson Jagger, a distant cousin, who was The man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.
Joseph's job as a spindle-maker at a West Yorkshire mill gave him the idea that roulette wheels were sure to be biased if they spun on wooden spindles. He won so much that a casino had to close.
To read about Richard Jarecki (1931 - 2018), an American physician who also famously exploited the bias in roulette wheels, please search for the tag 46APN32
The Wellington Arch
The Wellington Triumphal Arch, which was built in 1828, was designed by Decimus Burton. It is topped by a magnificent statue of a chariot and horses. Originally the Arch was topped with an equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, but it was replaced with the present work called the Quadriga in 1912.
The Quadriga represents Peace descending from Heaven into the Chariot of War, causing the horses to rear up to a standstill.
Ironic, is it not, that the Quadriga looks straight across to a representation in stone of a BL 9.2 inch Mark 1 Howitzer with its barrel pointing towards the Somme battlefield.
The United Nations Building
So what else happened on the day that Harry posted the card?
Well, on the 14th. October 1952, the United Nations began work in the new United Nations building in New York City, designed by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.
Paul Matters
The day also marked the birth in Toronto, New South Wales of the bass guitarist Paul Matters.
Paul was a bassist for the Australian rock band AC/DC in 1975, having joined the group after the recording of their debut album High Voltage.
He was fired by lead singer Bon Scott several weeks after joining the group, and was replaced by Mark Evans.
Paul Matters' Musical Career
Matters was the bassist of the Newcastle band Armageddon until splitting from the group in 1974 over what drummer Les Gully described to AC/DC biographer Jesse Fink as "Musical Differences".
Matters was then hired by AC/DC, and performed live on tour in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney, but had not taken part in the recording of the group's debut album, which was recorded before his recruitment.
He was then sacked from the group. According to Gully:
"Matters didn't fit the values of the
Young brothers' oligarchy.
He didn't really fit, had strong opinions
and sensitivity, and played just what he
liked."
Matters only ever gave one interview following his sacking by AC/DC in 1975, to Fink for the book 'Bon: The Last Highway'. Masters claimed:
"I was a bit lazy and a bit cranky,
but didn't have enough money
to eat. I didn’t have any food in
my stomach. The management
didn't give us any money to buy
food or anything."
The Death of Paul Matters
Matters quit music after his departure from AC/DC. He lived on a disability pension for the rest of his life, and died at the age of 68 on the 14th. October 2020 in Toronto, New South Wales, Australia.