Amongst other items in the box are postcards written to ‘Winnie’ from ‘your brother Jack’. These postcards are particularly intriguing because, as far as I have been able to ascertain to date, Winifred didn't have a brother called Jack. Nor did she have a brother called John; Jack being a name commonly used for those called John. So, who was Jack?
Only one of Jack’s postcards was posted as a postcard. The rest would have been sent to Winnie by envelope. All of them were sent home to New Zealand during the First World War. One of them has a photograph of Jack in uniform. From this we can infer that Jack was away from New Zealand on active service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). This in turn tells us who Jack was not.
Neither of Winifred’s brothers, Frank or William could have been Jack. In addition to neither of them being called Jack, William had died on 1 February 1911 at the age of 6[1] and Frank was too young to have been on active service from New Zealand. He turned 16 in November 1918[2]. Nor did Winnie have a brother-in-law called Jack or John. Her sister, Isabel was not married when the postcards were sent.
Could Winnie and Isabel have had a step brother called Jack? It is possible. Their stepfather, Arthur, was 30 years old when he married their mother, Emma. Potentially, he could have been married before. However, I have found no record of an earlier marriage or of children who could be step-siblings to Winnie.
So, what else can be learned from Jack’s postcards?
To Winnie from Babylon, Mesopotamia
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| Jack - Photo from Author's Family Collection |
“I have come to greet you. To Winnie from Jack. Taken near Babylon, Mesopotamia”.
It appears from the picture that Jack served with one of the New Zealand Mounted Rifle regiments. Mounted riflemen were essentially infantrymen on horseback. They were expected to ride to the scene of a battle and then, unlike traditional cavalry, dismount and go into action as normal infantrymen. The New Zealand Rifle Mounted Brigade left New Zealand in 1914 and was made up of the Auckland, Canterbury, and Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiments. An Otago Mounted Rifles Regiment was also sent as a separate stand-alone unit. All of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles fought at Gallipoli during 1915[3].
To Winnie from Italy
This postcard was written by Jack on 22 September 1918 while in Italy. It is postmarked 23 September 1918 by the Army Post Office.
To Winnie from France and London
Jack purchased two postcards at Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France in October 1918. These would have been sent to Winnie in an envelope, possibly together. From these cards, we know that Jack was in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France on 19 October 1918 and had arrived in London by 21 October 1918.
The first postcard is undated and refers to a street Jack walked on in Boulogne-Sur-Mer on 19 October 1918:
To Winnie from Aberdeen
This postcard was written by Jack, in Aberdeen, Scotland on 8 November 1918:
To Winnie from London
There are two postcards are written by Jack in London and dated 16 November. Neither mentions a year. I initially thought they may both have been written in 1917 because, if the postcards had been written in 1918, surely there would have been some mention of the war ending on 11 November 1918? On the other hand, this may have been written in a letter that accompanied the postcards? Also of note is that the second 16 November postcard makes mention of going to France the next day and Jack sent a postcard to Winnie from France on 18 December 1918 (see below).
Without knowing who Jack is and accessing his military file to know where he was on 16 November 1917 and 1918, I don’t think we can be certain in which year the 16 November cards were written.
One of the 16 November postcards is of London Bridge:
In the 18 December 1918 postcard (see below) Jack also says he has just come out of hospital. If he was in hospital in November 1918, why did he not mention that in his 16 November correspondence if it was written in 1918? Perhaps he had written about his hospitalisation previously in a postcard we do not have or in a letter which accompanied the 16 November postcard(s)? Interestingly, the second of the 16 November postcards has a picture of the new Manchester Infirmary. Perhaps that is where he was in hospital?
To Winnie from France
This postcard is dated 18 December 1918 and tells us that Jack had been hospital but does not tell us where and why:
To Winnie from London
When Jack wrote this postcard on 7 January 1919, he was back in London and expecting to leave England to return home to New Zealand within the month:
So, we have learned a little about Jack from his postcards but exactly who he was remains a mystery.
N.B. I have now moved by blogging efforts from this platform to We Are.xyz so that I can integrate building my family history archive with blogging. This post, or a similar version of it, can be found at: Correspondence from Jack to Winnie
Notes
[1] Death Entry - Registration 1911/2620 Births, Deaths & Marriages Online, [digital index], New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs [Website]. Accessed 1 December 2021.
[4] Mountain Rifles units (p.1) Introduction - See Note 3.
[5] Bill embarked from Liverpool for Auckland aboard Troopship SS Oxfordshire on 19 December 1918 - Bill's Military File Collections Item ID:R24055378, Number:18805 via Collections, Archives New Zealand [Website] Accessed 1 December 2021.
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