Alice Edgar in 1910

On October 4, 1910, Alice Edgar sent a postcard to her sister Bessie. Analysis of this cards tells us something about her life in service.

The 1911 Census shows that she was a parlour maid in the house of wealthy Australian widow Elizabeth Jane Osborne, who lived with her unmarried daughter Susan Phillipa Frances Osborne at 33, Wilton Place in Knightsbridge. The text of the postcard tells us that she was already in Mrs. Osborne's employment in October 1910 - and possibly for some time before that.

Alice tells her sister that the household is very upset: 'the Colonel' died suddenly last Friday morning:

 She obviously assumes Bessie will know who the Colonel is, so she's been with the family long enough to have given her sister this information.

He was  in fact Colonel Claude de Courcey Hamilton, who died of heart failure on September 30, at Broomshouse, near Duns, Berwickshire, aged 49.[1] He had gone there in July because of poor health[2] and Mrs. Osborne and her household must have followed at some point.

Duns from Duns Law: By Brian Turner, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2919335

Colonel Hamilton was born on September 23, 1861 at Corfu. [3] The son of a holder of the Victoria Cross, he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1880. He first saw action in India in 1889 and, after a rather typical imperial career including service in the Boer war and in India, he was placed on half pay in 1907 and 18 months later retired due to ill health. He married Mrs. Osborne's second daughter, Jane ('Jeanie') Kathleen on March 17, 1887 at the Victorian-Gothic church of St. Philip and St. James, Cheltenham, his cousin performing the ceremony.[4]

 By Terry Jacombs, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13839272

He was buried with military honours on October 3.[5] Alice refers to the funeral, and she must have seen at least the first stage: Hamilton's remains were taken from Broomhouse to Christ Church Burial-ground in an impressive polished oak casket, carried on a gun carriage with an escort from Leith Fort Royal Artillery.[6] Alice's card says that the family are returning to London the next day.

The report of Colonel Hamilton's probate gives his address as 33, Wilton Place, which suggests he was living with his mother-in-law before going to Broomhouse.  The total of his estate was £91, net 'personalty' (moveable property)  nil: this is a small sum for such a distinguished man - he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1906 - and my guess is that most of his estate passed directly to his wife.

Jeanie Kathleen de Courcy Hamilton died on November 24, 1944. The Times obituary suggests that her mother - Alice's employer - had moved to 45, Ennismore Gardens, another house  in Knightsbridge - it's estimated current value is £7.5 million.[7] But Mrs Osborne died peacefully at Westport House, Malmesbury - presumably another property - on October 19, 1938.[8] Jeanie was one of the two women named in an Australian newspaper as organising the probate on her estate - the other was her sister Louisa Margaret Atkinson Peake.[9]

The front of Alice's  postcard is a photo of three woman with Edinburgh's Forth  Bridge as background. 

Alice is seated in the centre. One of Alice's descendants has told me that the two other women in the photograph were fellow servants - clearly they were all on a trip to Edinburgh. According to the same source, one of the women - 'Auntie Maggie' - was to visit the family frequently when they moved to Windsor about six years later. I suspect she is the older lady on the right of the photograph and that she is Mary Thomas, the household's cook, 49 years old in 1911 and born in the Welsh town of Newcastle in Emelyn.

Alice addressed the card to Bessie at 'Durwood, Sandhurst':

Alice says that she's not sure if Bessie's there. which might suggest she had only recently entered - or had recently left - their employment. According to Wilfred Edgar, her husband was killed in WW1 and she later became the postmistress at Tiverton in Devon. Later still she was to follow Alice to Windsor.

Bessie in 1948, Frances Road, Windsor

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[1] The Scotsman November 6, 1910, p. 11.

[2] Berwickshire News and General Advertiser, October 4, 1910, p.3.

[3] Berwickshire News and General Advertiser, October 4, 1910, p.3; https://www.red1st.com/axholme/getperson.php?personID=I1750047243&tree=Axholme

[4] "Marriages." Times [London, England] 22 Mar. 1887: 1. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

[5] Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, October 4, 1910, p. 4.

[6] Berwickshire News and General Advertiser, October 4, 1910, p.3.

[7] "Deaths." Times [London, England] 1 Dec. 1944: 1. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

[8] "Deaths." Times [London, England] 20 Oct. 1938: 1. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

[9]https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19390819&id=83JVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jZUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2524,3274105&hl=en