I came across an old postcard with no connection to anyone in our family – I think my mother-in-law collected postcards although this one, I discovered was sent before she was born… but back to the beginning. I found this very old postcard of Gibraltar; I’m not sure if it’s an actual photo or a painting, it’s old and rather faded and an inscription says ‘Gibraltar – view of Rock, Gun and Galleries from Landing Pier.’ I can’t see ‘the gun and can’t find out what it might have been after a cursory Google glance, but wonder if it may have been ‘the impressive 100 Ton Gun installed in the early nineteenth century but never fired in anger’ – I must find out more, but back to the postcard because it is the back not the front which interested me.
The post card is addressed to Mrs Findlay, 12 Albert St., Loughboro, Leicester, England. a small terraced house which still stands today. The message is:
My dear Mother & dad, this is were we landed and were I first put my foot into Gib you will see a little what is it like I think it will suit me here for I feel quite well With love Sue & Jack
There are a couple of spelling errors, ‘were’ instead of ‘where’, but Sue or Jack’s writing is very neat. I wondered if I could find out anything about Sue and Jack. Is Sue writing to her parents and had she a different married name, or is Jack’s surname Findlay? The key was Loughborough and I found a Susanna Findlay who married a John Bartley in 1905 – turning over the postcard again I noticed it was dated 1907, written in pen by Sue – or Jack. However, that’s as far as I can go – maybe they moved to live in Gibraltar, with no further clues about the names of the parents, I am for the moment stuck!
Lois Elsden 