Titanic Postcard up for auction- July 18th

[Emma Buckley]

https://www.warwickandwarwick.com/latest-news/wish-you-were-here-message-from-the-titanic

A Titanic postcard is coming up for auction on July 18th with Warwick and Warwick auctioneers. The link above takes you to an intriguing article about the postcard with photos and some information about the sender, Sarah Daniels.

 

[Colin Such]

The card was written on board the liner by survivor Sarah Daniels, who was travelling in 1st class with the wealthy Canadian family of Hudson and Bessie Allison and their 2 young children, Lorraine and Trevor. A nurse, Alice Cleaver, was also travelling with them. Sarah was unable to persuade the Allisons and Alice to go up on deck with her, as they did not believe there was any cause for alarm. On deck Sarah was ushered to lifeboat number 8 and was rescued by the Carpathia. Nurse Alice also survived the disaster together with baby Trevor. Sadly Hudson and Bessie Allison perished, together with their daughter Lorraine. The card was written to Nell Green of Birmingham, who was a distant relative of the auction vendor. It received the postmark of Queenstown April 11th 1912.

 

[Colin Such]

“Wish you were here” message from the Titanic

A postcard mailed from the doomed liner “Titanic” is for auction in the Warwick and Warwick postcard auction of July 18. The lot description is as follows.

“Titanic” printed card, with trivial crease top left, written and posted on board the “Titanic”, addressed to Miss Green of Birmingham, with the message, in pencil, “I wish you were here, it is a lovely boat & it would do you good. Am just going on deck.” The card is signed “Fisgig”, the nickname used by the sender, Sarah Daniels, who survived the disaster. The card bares the circular datestamp of April 11 1912, of Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, the port from which mail written on board was posted.

Sarah Daniels was born in London on November 10 1875 and was employed as a maid to the wealthy Allison family of Montreal, Canada. She travelled on “Titanic” in 1st class with the family consisting of Hudson and Bessie Allison, their two infant children, Lorraine and Trevor and the children’s nurse, Alice Cleaver. Prior to boarding the “Titanic” Sarah had been staying in Birmingham with her friend, Nell Green. When the ship hit the iceberg Sarah decided that something was wrong and went out by herself to investigate. She was unable to convince Hudson Allison or Alice Cleaver to join her, or that there was any danger. On deck the crew directed her to lifeboat 8. She told the Manitoba Free Press “The boat I was in was not very crowded. There were only 4 men in the boat and they took the oars. There was no officer in the boat and a woman steered as we were rowing away in the darkness.” The Allison family perished with the exception of baby Trevor, who was saved by his nursemaid, Alice Cleaver.

The lot is offered together with 2 further postcards written from Sarah to Nell in 1906 and 1908, when she was also using the nickname Fisgig

The vendors, brothers Ralph (John) and Stephen Wilkes are related to Nell Green and research notes and a genealogy is included in the lot. The estimate is £15,000 - £20,000.

This postcard is lot 211 in our 18th July auction please click on the link below for further info.

Warwick & Warwick

 

[Mike Spooner]

Sorry to be such a spoilsport, It a shame the photo of Titanic is the Olympic in semi rough water. As Titanic crossing was in calm water!

 

[Colin Such]

Sorry to be such a spoilsport, It a shame the photo of Titanic is the Olympic in semi rough water. As Titanic crossing was in calm water!

You raise an interesting point in that the front of the card is an artist’s drawing of the ship. However, it is clearly an illustration of the “Olympic” and not the “Titanic”. I was under the impression that these “imposter” cards came about because there was a large demand for postcards of the “Titanic” after the disaster and that the demand could not be met. As a result, postcard manufacturers used their stock of “Olympic” cards and re-captioned them “Titanic” to meet the demand. Clearly this deception was happening before the liner sank.


The card is to be offered in the Warwick and Warwick auction on July 18.