From my own large collection of ‘Hat’ cards, people often ask me which is my favourite and, on the face of it, you might think that to be a difficult choice. But no. In my case it is a very easy one to answer. My absolute favourite and most treasured card is not the most expensive and certainly not the most skilfully coloured.
The image which I like best of all is that of a charming young lady, not in a feather covered hat but in a frilly lace ‘milk maid’ style bonnet, which cost me just a mere forty pence many years ago and which was sent by a humble First World War soldier signing himself only as Brian – probably serving in the trenches. I am advised by the Imperial War Museum that from time to time, the troops were granted a certain amount of time off from the carnage to ‘relax’ (if that were possible) behind the lines and it is a fair guess that Brian probably purchased this card in one of the nearby towns or villages that somehow had remained standing or, from whatever was the equivalent of the NAAFI in those days. His message was just one of the estimated 12.5 million that were being sent home by soldiers each week. All correspondence was supposedly vetted and he was duty bound in what he wrote to say nothing that would help the enemy.
Addressed to his beloved sister, a Miss J.W. Porter at ‘Mountlands’, Upper Bridge St. in Redhill, Surrey with the still barely visible stamps of ‘Official Censor’ and ‘Field Post Office’, the reverse of the card simply reads:
‘On Active Service – Wednesday morning December 13th 1916.’
He writes:
We had quite a heavy fall of snow today but most of it has disappeared already. Thought you might like this card, which struck me as being very pretty. You will be glad to hear that the stoppage of leave was only temporary as it has started again this morning. Have got over guard alright – with only the addition of a slight cold.
Much love to all from your affectionate brother – Brian.
Poignant and yet so evocative of those terrible times when huge numbers of loved ones failed to return. Winter in the trenches in December 1916 must have been an utter nightmare – a truly daunting prospect even for the most hardy of souls! Of around the 720,000 British soldiers that are said to have perished, did Brian manage to survive? Very possibly not, and I often wonder if he ever made it back home again to stroll arm in arm with his beloved sister ‘J’ in her big feathered hat.
Another amazing hat in ‘Milkmaid’ style – featured on a poignant postcard sent in 1916 from somewhere in the First World War battlefields of France by a soldier named Brian to his sister ‘J’ in Surrey. (See what he wrote on Page 180)