Postcard Titles and Numbers an analysis of titles and numbers to learn more about when the photos were taken
There are about 200 different postcard images in the local digital archives covering the village, the Creek, Osea Island and Millbeach. These images are the main source of the appearance of village and the surrounding areas over the period of their production and sale which was from about 1890 until the 1960s. Furthermore, from the 1800s to 1950 maps of the village tell us that there were very few changes within the village over all of that time, so these postcards are also a very good indication of appearance of the village over the whole of that period. The postcard images on this site and in the archives have traditionally been arranged in geographic and street groups, and as many do not have readable postmarks with a year of posting, we do not know exactly when the photos were taken. One source of information available however is that many cards have distinguishing handwriting or fonts used for the titles and have reference numbers, so this information can be used to arrange the cards into sets and deduce something about dates. This is true when one or more cards within a set have readable two digit years in the postmarks. Of the 200 card images in the archives, less than half have a readable year recorded, as many were not posted, some have a post office stamp with a month, day of the month, with no year, and others are simply smudged.
The range of posting dates on some particular cards has been found to be very large and up to 20 years. This is a reflection of the period of time over which the same cards were sold in the village shops and then posted, and this would indicate that the scenes did not date over that period, which today would seem a vey long time. None of the Millbeach cards available have the same number sequences as the Goldhanger cards, however a few of the Millbeach cards do have 6 digit numbers with similar handwriting, however the numbers are in a 113xxx range. This would indicated that the sequences used on the Goldhanger cards were unique to this village. Having sorted the cards into sets based on the handwriting, fonts and numbers, eight groups have been identified that fit within decades. These are the results...
The Hammond set 6 cards seen originating from the early 1900s 2 were posted in 1908
T Hammond has been identified as a Gt. Totham based “photo artist” There are no numbers on the fronts of the cards His cards have been seen from around the district including at: Gt. Totham, Millbeach, Maldon, Tollesbury, etc. The titles have the same distinctive handwriting and were signed...
Hammond postcards from between 1900 & 1910					(select any of these images to enlarge and zoom in on high definition versions)
Gowers Postcards
These have distinctive lower case Times Roman fonts... 10 Goldhanger cards have been identified
There is no numbering on the front 6 have known dates: earliest 1906, latest 1921, most are between 1906 and 1918 One of this set has Gowers Ltd. Maldon printed on the front 4 of the set are scenes of St. Peters at Goldhanger that could well have all been taken at one time 14 Osea Island cards have been identified by the same font, again without numbers Some of these were taken at the same time with the same people and cart 3 Millbeach cards have been identified by the same font, again without numbers There are many other Maldon district cards surviving with the same font and labelled Gowers Ltd. Gowers Ltd, were stationers & printers located at 57 High street, Maldon
advert in the Parish Magazine in 1906	Gowers shop In Maldon High St.					a Gowers advert from the 1930s
The following scenes of the village could well have all been taken at one time and the scenes of Osea Island cards could also have been taken at one time...
Gower cards from between 1906 & 1918			Gower cards of Osea Island from between 1904 & 1907
The 638xx series of cards
All have the same distinctive handwritten titles the same as the 714xx upper-case characters
28 cards identified ranging from: 63845 to 63899 10 have known dates: earliest 1911, latest 1920 None have a photographer’s or printer’s name on the front One card is recorded as being by Bell's Photo Co. Ltd, Westcliff-on-Sea 63850 to 53 were clearly taken at the same time in The Creek 63883 to 91 were taken at the same time in the village, most show the same children and cart...
63850 – 53 plus 63870 & 81: the Creek between 1910 & 1920
63883 to 63891: the village between 1910 & 1920
The 714xx series of cards
All have the same distinctive handwritten titles the same as the 638xx upper-case characters
30 cards identified ranging from: 71410 to 71458 7 have known dates: earliest 1920s, latest 1940 None have a printer’s name on the front but could be by Bell's Photo Co. Ltd, Westcliff-on-Sea These two groups were probably taken on the same day in the 1920s...
71410 to 71418: the village in the 1920s 71429 to71443: the village in the 1920s
71421-25 and 71448-58: the Creek in the 1920s
The 831xx series of cards
3 cards identified ranging from: 83172 to 83177 All 3 have known dates, 1920, 1926 & 1930
This is a reflection of the period of time over which the cards were sold in the village shops and posted, rather than the time when the photos were taken. All have the same distinctive handwritten titles in lower-case, not the same as the 638xx and 714xx cards None have a photographer’s or printer’s name on the front...
83172, 83172 and 83177: three scenes from the 1920s
The 131xxx series of cards
5 cards ranging from: 131651 – 131665 4 have the same distinctive handwritten titles in lower-case
which are very similar to the 831xx series 131660 is an exception with the title typed in uppercase bold 131651 is dated 1933 and 131660 is dated 1930, 131665 shows the village hall which was built in 1936 two cards show 1930s style vehicles...
131651 to 131665: the village in the 1930s
Cards with a white bold font
6 cards with no numbers all with titles in distinctive uppercase bold Arial font in white
2 have numbers, but one is 3-digits, the other is 6-digits 4 have known postage dates: earliest 1925, latest 1951 These cards fit the style of Tuck’s Postcards, a London based printer that retailed in Maldon High St...
distinctive uppercase bold fonts - probably mainly from the 1930s
The Rowley collection Mr & Mrs Rowley ran the village shop and post office in The Square in the 1950s and 60s, and there their son kindly lent us the negatives of some of the cards that had been sold in the shop. They were copied into the positive form and are held in the digital archives.
Another 2 copies that had been posted have been found with dates of 1950s & 1964 bringing the total in the archives to 11 Just 3 have numbers 1,2,& 3 All have titles in a very distinctive Courier style font. Most of the photos seem to have been taken at one time in the 1950s...
The Rowley collection: village and Creek scenes - mainly from the 1950s
top a selection of postcards home
(geographically arranged)