The Postcard
A Modern Humour Series Alpha postcard that was published by Alfred Stiebel & Co. of London EC. The artwork was by Reg Carter, and the card was printed in England.
The card was posted in Brighton using a ½d. stamp on Wednesday the 5th. May 1915 to:
Mrs. Knight,
86, West End Road,
Southall,
Middlesex.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"With much love from
Dixie Hinde.
Thank Dad for his letter.
20, Devonshire Road,
Brighton."
Reg Carter
Reginald Arthur Lay Carter was born on the 6th. December 1886 in Southwold, East Suffolk. He became a cartoonist, and on the 30th. July 1938, the front cover of the first issue of the Beano featured the cartoon ostrich Big Eggo which was drawn by Carter.
Carter worked for the Beano, drawing Big Eggo and other comic strips until his death in 1949.
Reg was also famous for two sets of humorous postcards entitled 'Sorrows of Southwold'. These affectionately caricatured the three foot gauge Southwold Railway, which was noted for its idiosyncratic locomotives, carriages and leisurely mode of operation.
The Death of Reg Carter
Reg died at the age of 62 in Cuckfield, Sussex on the 24th. April 1949.
The Battle of Hill 60
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 5th. May 1915, British forces held off German gas attacks for four days, but a renewed attack on the fifth day resulted in the gas following the front line as opposed to crossing it, allowing more British troops to be overcome.
This allowed German infantry of the 30th. Division to advance and capture the front line on the lower slope of the hill.
The Sinking of a Merchant Schooner
Also on that day, German submarine U-20 sunk a British merchant schooner, the Earl of Lathom, off the southern coast of Ireland after stopping it and ordering the crew off the ship.
U-Boat Activity
Also on the 5th. May 1915, the Royal Navy issued an uncoded warning to all British commercial ships that German U-boats were seen active off the south coast of Ireland.
Alice Faye
The day also marked the birth in NYC of the American singer and actress Alice Faye, best known for the Oscar-winning song "You'll Never Know" in the film Hello, Frisco, Hello.
Alice died in 1998.
Ronald Poulton
The 5th. May 1915 also marked the death of the English rugby player Ronald Poulton.
Ronald, who was born in 1889, was centre for Oxford University from 1908 to 1911, and centre for the England national rugby union team from 1909 to 1914.
Ronald was killed at the age of 25 during the Second Battle of Ypres. On the 5th. May 1915, he was involved in repairing a trench in the vicinity of Ploegsteert Wood in Belgium, when he was shot by an enemy sniper. His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Thorne, wrote that his death must have been instantaneous.
Captain Jack Conybeare, a school friend wrote later that day:
"I was talking to one of the Berks' officers this morning. He told me that Ronald was far and away the most popular officer in the battalion, both among officers and men.
Apparently he was standing on top of the parapet last night, directing a working party, when he was hit. Of course, by day, anyone who shows his head above the parapet is courting disaster; in fact if one is caught doing so one is threatened with court-martial.
At night, on the other hand, we perpetually have working parties of one kind or another out, either wiring, repairing the parapet, or doing something which involves coming from under cover, and one simply takes the risk of stray bullets."
Ronald's grave is in Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery, near Ploegsteert, Belgium. A memorial to him was erected at Balliol College, on the west wall of the Chapel passage.
The cross marking Poulton's grave in Flanders was taken back to Oxford, and is mounted on a wall in Holywell Cemetery.
