The Postcard
A Valentine's Series postcard that was printed in Great Britain.
The card was posted in Canterbury on Tuesday the 18th. August 1908 to:
Miss Wilson,
121, Church Lane,
Old Charlton,
Kent.
The pencilled message on the divided back was as follows:
"Dear Miss Wilson,
We have come over from
Ramsgate to spend the
day in Canterbury.
I am writing this just
outside the cathedral.
We are going to a service
there this afternoon.
Hope you are much better.
Goodbye,
Alice."
Edward the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince, was born on the 15th. June 1330 at Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire. He was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. His mother was Philippa of Hainaut, in whose honour Queen's College Oxford was founded.
Edward died before his father, and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Edward nevertheless earned distinction as one of the most successful English commanders during the Hundred Years' War, being regarded by his English contemporaries as a model of chivalry, and one of the greatest knights of his age.
Edward was made Duke of Cornwall, the first English dukedom, in 1337. He was guardian of the kingdom in his father's absence in 1338, 1340, and 1342. He was created Prince of Wales in 1343, and knighted by his father at La Hougue in 1346.
In 1346, Prince Edward commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy, his father intentionally leaving him to win the battle. He took part in Edward III's 1349 Calais expedition.
In 1355, he was appointed the king's lieutenant in Gascony, and ordered to lead an army into Aquitaine on a chevauchée, during which he pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary, sacked Carcassonne, and plundered Narbonne.
The next year (1356) on another chevauchée, he ravaged Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry but failed to take Bourges. He offered terms of peace to King John II of France, who had outflanked him near Poitiers, but refused to surrender himself as the price of their acceptance. This led to the Battle of Poitiers, where his army routed the French and took King John prisoner.
The year after Poitiers, Edward returned to England. In 1360, he negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny. He was created Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1362, but his suzerainty was not recognised by the lord of Albret or other Gascon nobles.
He was directed by his father to forbid the marauding raids of the English and Gascon free companies in 1364. He entered into an agreement with Kings Peter of Castile and Charles II of Navarre, by which Peter covenanted to mortgage Castro de Urdiales and the province of Biscay to him as security for a loan; in 1366 a passage was secured through Navarre.
In 1367 he received a letter of defiance from Henry of Trastámara, Peter's half-brother and rival. The same year, after an obstinate conflict, he defeated Henry at the Battle of Nájera. However, after a wait of several months, during which he failed to obtain either the province of Biscay or liquidation of the debt from Don Pedro, he returned to Aquitaine.
Prince Edward persuaded the estates of Aquitaine to allow him a hearth tax of ten sous for five years in 1368, thereby alienating the lord of Albret and other nobles.
Prince Edward returned to England in 1371, and the next year resigned the principality of Aquitaine and Gascony. He led the Commons in their attack upon the Lancastrian administration in 1376.
The Death of the Black Prince
Towards the end of his life, Edward knew that he was dying. His dysentery had become so violent on occasion, causing him to faint from weakness, that his household believed he had died.
He left gifts for his servants in his will, and said goodbye to his father, Edward III, whom he asked to confirm his gifts, pay his debts quickly out of his estate, and protect his son Richard.
In his last moments, he was attended by the Bishop of Bangor, who urged him to ask forgiveness of God and of all those he had injured. He asked people to pray for him. and it was reported that:
"He made a very noble end,
remembering God his Creator
in his heart."
Edward's death was announced at the Palace of Westminster in London on the 8th. June 1376. He was 45 years of age when he died.
Edward was buried with great state in Canterbury Cathedral on the 29th. September 1376. His funeral and the design of his tomb were conducted in accordance with the directions contained in his will.
The tomb features a bronze effigy beneath a tester depicting the Holy Trinity and his heraldic achievements – his surcoat, helmet, shield and gauntlets – hung over the tester.
These items have been replaced with replicas, and the originals now reside in a glass-fronted cabinet within the Cathedral.
Edward's thought-provoking epitaph inscribed around his effigy reads:
"Such as thou art, sometime was I.
Such as I am, such shalt thou be.
I thought little on th'our of Death
So long as I enjoyed breath.
On earth I had great riches
Land, houses, great treasure, horses, money and gold.
But now a wretched captive am I,
Deep in the ground, lo here I lie.
My beauty great, is all quite gone,
My flesh is wasted to the bone."
The Maypole Colliery Disaster
So what else happened on the day that Alice posted the card?
Well, the 18th. August 1908 was the day when an underground explosion occurred at the Maypole Colliery, in Abram, near Wigan in North West England. The final death toll was 76.
Background to the Disaster
Maypole Colliery was owned by the Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company which had taken over the pit from the Moss Hall Coal Company in 1907. The miners were mainly drawn from the local area, but also included a large number of workers who had moved to the area from County Mayo in Ireland.
The Explosion
An explosion occurred just after 5 pm in No. 1 Pit, shortly after the night shift began. Most of the men below ground at the time were shot-firers and maintenance workers. The explosion happened in the area known as the Four Feet mine.
Colliery manager Arthur Rushton reported that when some distance away, he heard a rumble and saw a cloud of dust rising from the pit shaft. The head gear was largely destroyed and the fan house, which provided ventilation, was badly damaged.
Rescue parties were organised immediately and led by the general manager John Knowles. After two days, attempts to locate survivors and recover bodies were abandoned when fire broke out underground. The pit was flooded to quell the fire. The last bodies were not recovered until 1917.
Aftermath of the Disaster
King Edward VII sent a telegram expressing his sympathy towards those who were suffering as a result of the disaster.
The inquests started three days after the explosion, but were adjourned as more bodies were recovered. The legal process was not completed until the 8th. July the following year. Accidental death verdicts were recorded on all 76 victims.
The colliery owners argued that there had been no gas in the pit despite gas having been reported on the day before the explosion. The coroner concluded that the cause of death had been an explosion of firedamp and coal dust ignited by permitted explosives.
Many of the victims of the disaster were buried at St John the Evangelist's Church, Abram. A memorial to the men who died was erected in the churchyard. The memorial was re-dedicated on the centenary of the disaster in 2008.
