I recently picked up a selection of Huddersfield Christmas cards off eBay, although sadly there’s no information as to whom they were sent to. The cards were all sent to Jessie Louise Pyrah (c.1884-1957) or her parents, and she passed them down to her daughter Elaine A. Potts.
As you can see, they were all pre-printed for the sender so there was no need for them to write anything by hand. Tsk tsk, those lazy Victorians and Edwardians, eh!
1895
From
Mr and Mrs Thomas Mellor
With
Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes
for the Coming Year.Fartown Lodge,
Huddersfield,
Christmas, 1895.
1902
With
hearty Good Wishes
for a
Bright and happy Xmas.from
Gertie Swallow.Grenville House,
Birkby, Huddersfield.
Xmas 1902
This was probably Gertrude Swallow, born circa 1884, the daughter of commercial traveller Joseph Swallow and his wife Louisa. The 1901 Census gives the family living at 110 Birkby Hall Road.
1902
To wish you a joyous Christmas
and a bright and happy New Year.From
May Culley.Bradford Road,
Huddersfield.Christmas, 1902.
May was the teenage daughter of master tailor Emerson Culley of 128 Bradford Road.
1905
Xmas, 1905
With every turn of Fortune’s busy wheel
some good be-tide you.May this Christmas
bring you joy and the
New Year
every Happiness
from
Mr. & Mrs. Sanderson.Bank House,
Market Place,
Huddersfield.
This was bank caretaker Richard and Mary A. Sanderson.
1907
May every breeze be laden with the fragrance of friendship
Hearty Christmas
Greetings &
all Good Wishes for 1908.From
Mr. & Mrs. W. P. MacGirr.Mayfield,
Fartown,
Huddersfield.
This was William Peter MacGirr and his wife Fanny. He was listed in the 1901 Census as a “master wool and cotton dyer” and a “commercial traveller” in the 1911 Census.
1913
Not the gift, but the giving.
RUSHKINChristmas greetings
and every Good Wish
for your Health
and Happiness throughout
the Coming Year.From
E. J. Siddon (Chairman) & Eli Whitwam (Vice-Chairman)Union Offices,
Huddersfield.
1913.
Undated
If time has tarnished friendship’s chain,
Let memory gild its liknks again.That you and yours may enjoy years of
Unclouded Happiness
is the Sincere Wish and Christmas Greeting of
Mr. and Mrs. Holroyd.Brook House,
Kings Mill Lane,
Huddersfield.
After writing this blog post, I managed to persuade the eBay seller to sell me the remainder of a shoebox full of items that belonged to Jessie and Elaine. I’ll gradually get them scanned and added to Flickr, but the box contains maybe a hundred more Christmas cards!
Absolutely fascinated to see the Christmas card from May Culley in 1902. It was a quality card. May and I are 1st cousins twice removed. I have only just started exploring the Culley line in my family tree in the last 24 hours and I’ve found some very interesting information. May’s grandfather was John Culley who was born in 1823. He travelled to America, where his son John Fremont Culley was born in 1857. Emerson was born in 1853 in Paddock. John Culley returned from the USA about 1860 and had a tailor and outfitters shop on Cross Church Street. He also opened a Temperance Hotel on Cross Church Street although he was a frequenter of Thornton’s Temperance Hotel where he spent a lot of time discussing politics. He died in 1905.
What a wonderful find.