9 September 2010

Miss Fry Postcard (Lower Stoke), 1910

I recently purchased this postcard, date stamped 1910, sent to Miss Fry of 4 Gravel Pit, Lower Stoke. I have not yet been able to identify the sender, but assume it was someone living on the Hoo Peninsula, specifically around the Stoke area. The postcard was posted in Southend-on-Sea and contains a photograph of Westcliff seafront and bandstand. The half-penny stamp shows Edward VII, who died in May 1910.

I have traced Watson ancestors living at Gravel Pit in Lower Stoke in 1911 and 1925, so this postcard is reasonably interesting. With regards to the identity of 'Miss Fry', I believe she was in fact Ellen Grace Fry (b1880). According to the 1911 census, Ellen Grace Fry was living at Gravel Pit with her mother, Mary Ann Fry, a widow.