A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Croydon using a ½d. stamp on Saturday the 9th. November 1912. It was sent to:
Miss Ada McDonald, 183, John Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A ½d. stamp was evidently not sufficient, as there is also a Canadian stamp stating '2 Cents Due' on the back of the card.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"My Dear Ada, I am very sorry not to have sent to you before. I was very pleased to receive the photos. They were very nice, some of them saucy. Ethel was pleased with hers. I will try and write you a letter in a day or two. Hope very much to see you in 1914. You mentioned the death of Mrs. Elderton on your PC. Mother sent you a newspaper with her death in, so I suppose you did not receive it. Goodbye, Heaps of love to all, Win."
Thornton Heath Pond
The old pond at Thornton Heath is in the middle of the London to Brighton road between Croydon and Streatham. The pond appears on all the earliest maps of Croydon, and was an important public watering place for horses and cattle moving to and from Croydon.
It is possible that the charcoal burners who operated in the area from at least the 16th. century and probably much earlier used the pond as their source of water - hence the name Colliers Water Lane nearby.
However by the late 19th. century, with increasingly heavy traffic, the pond became a potential hazard. In 1891 for example, a parcel mail coach on its way from Brighton to London in fog ended up in the pond.
In 1897 the pond was surrounded by railings, and a new fountain was erected in the middle to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It is clearly visible in the photograph.
In 1953 the pond was filled in and turned into an ornamental garden with a small pool. (I wonder what happened to the fountain???)
Spasmodic vandalism led the council to fill in even this small pool in 1975, and Thornton Heath Pond became little more than a busy traffic roundabout on the A23.
Nevertheless, there are regular calls to get the pond reinstated in some way, and it may be back one day.
One feature which will not be back is the Gallows which stood close by, and which was used in order to hang numerous convicted highwaymen.
A Rail Line in Transvaal
So what else happened on the day that Win posted the card to Canada?
Well, on the 9th. November 1912, a rail line of 132 miles 21 chains (212.9 kilometres) in length opened between Newington and Tzaneen in Transvaal, South Africa.
West Point
Also on that day, led by Jim Thorpe, the Carlisle Indians defeated the Army Cadets, 27–6, in a college football game at West Point, New York.
Future U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, playing for Army, tackled Thorpe and forced a fumble. Later in the game, Eisenhower injured his right knee while attempting to bring down Thorpe again.
Mahuta Tāwhiao
The 9th. November 1912 also marked the death at the age of 58 of the New Zealand indigenous noble Mahuta Tāwhiao.
Mahuta, who was born in 1855, had been King of the Māori people since 1894. He was succeeded by his son, Te Rata Mahuta.
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