The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.48 No.1 | June 2021

Local Group Programmes

Tony took us through the history of John’s service from his entry as a Boy Seaman in 1897 through to 1919. He served on HMS Caledonia, HMS Hood, HMS Theseus and others until he joined the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1914. Married with four children by then he was mobilised to Scapa Flow on HMS Centurion . With his knowledge of the development of German U-boats, the enigmas and secret code breaking that radio plotting was able to give Britain, Tony tells a factful talk about the loss of shipping, military and merchant, off our coasts. In 1915 John Foulkes volunteered for the Salvage ship HMS Racer . HMS Racer , and its crew, alongside HMS Haldon , were instrumental in salvaging many ships, using unusual techniques of cables and winches. They did retrieve the code book, needed to support the code breakers and radio plotters, from the UC44 U-boat that was sunk near Ireland. One of the most interesting stories was that of the salvage of HMS Laurentia , that was sunk off Ireland. Its cargo was 43 tons of gold bars on its way to America. Some were removed at the time, but most had to wait until the war ended to be salvaged. The salvage of military ships and merchant ships was very important but not really recognised. The RNS recovered 863 vessels and made a huge contribution to the war effort. After the war John Foulkes returned to his family and life in their hotel (March) Sentiments in Silk – Neil Littleales This talk, via Zoom, shared the history and sentiments of Silk Sewn Postcards. Mainly produced in Belgium, they were thought to have been made by soldiers or Belgian refuge women to support families. However, those are romantic myths as they were mainly produced in factory settings. Dating back to the 1860s silk sewn postcards became big business and were produced on an industrial scale. In 1863 Mr Schiffley created a machine that had over 1,000 fine needles that could draw the silk threads through and weave over the stitching. Organza sheets were created with multiple pictures on each one. Stitching imitated hand sewing with three stitches, Running, Zigzag and Satin. Once cut the organza pictures were backed with card and given an envelope and inserts. The pictures created were for birthdays, love messages, Christmas, celebrations, military and others. During the First World War it is estimated that over ten million were bought and sent. Postmen had been conscripted so a Women’s Postal Service was created so the post could continue to be delivered. The cards within Neil’s collection often tell personal stories. Some sad, some happy. He took us through his investigations into the family histories of the sender and receiver of some of his cards. Some sad as the soldiers had later died. Some happy as they sent messages to relatives. From the names and addresses a lot of information can be found. He searched and found the life stories using census records, births, marriages and deaths, military and mining records, local records, local photos and maps and even newspaper reports. When successful, Neil returned the cards to the descendants and families. Silk cards have some value, from a few pounds to hundreds, if they have the original

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