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PICTURE POSTCARDS
Plain postcards were first
produced in Britain in 1870 and picture postcards in 1894 but they only became
popular at the beginning of the 20th century when the Post Office
allowed both address and message to be written on one side, with the picture
covering the other side. Britain was
the first country to introduce the ‘divided back’ postcard which is so familiar
today. From 1902 onwards the size was
standardised; they were cheap to send
(1/2 penny stamp) and with 7 deliveries a day they could be posted one day and
delivered the next.
Between 1914 –1918 picture
postcards were used in all the countries involved in the 1st World
War to boost morale, reinforce the messages carried by recruitment posters and
record the events of the war. These are now valued as research tools by
students of that period.
An unusual trend was the
production of so-called ‘silk’ cards.
These were embroidered sentimental cards made by soldiers at the
front. They sometimes had pockets into
which photographs could be inserted.
Humour was often used, as,
for example, the poem on the postcard sent from
Smith’s Lawn Camp, Windsor Great Park, that made light of the obviously
difficult conditions.
Between the wars the
production of postcards declined because of the doubling of the postage and the
development of telephone systems. However
since the 1970s the postcard industry has become huge, and every holiday is now
inevitably commemorated by the buying and sending of picture postcards.
All the postcards on display
were posted between 1914 and 1918.
dated – 20 July 2004