Christmas In Huddersfield

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.

A photograph believed to be of Jessie and her daughter.

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

Christmas Card [2a]

Christmas Card [2b]

From
Mr and Mrs Thomas Mellor
With
Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes
for the Coming Year.

Fartown Lodge,
Huddersfield,
Christmas, 1895.

1902

Christmas Card [3a]

Christmas Card [3b]

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

Christmas Card [4a]

Christmas Card [4b]

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

Christmas Card [5a]

Christmas Card [5b]

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

Christmas Card [7a]

Christmas Card [7b]

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

Christmas Card [1a]

Christmas Card [1b]

Not the gift, but the giving.
RUSHKIN

Christmas 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

Christmas Card [6a]

Christmas Card [6b]

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!

2 thoughts on “Christmas In Huddersfield”

  1. 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.

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