august 12th 1904 unknown to moyra prendergast
clonmel, tipperary, ireland to hornsey rise, london
327 miles
the message
"II
So is Bill
Baily"
the sender
There are no clues to the identity of the sender. The message itself is barely legible. The last word may or may not be a signature. They could be one of Moyra Prendergast’s musical colleagues or given the postmark, a relative of her fathers.
the recipient
Moyra Prendergast (1887-1972) was born in Cuckfield, Sussex. She was the daughter of James Prendergast (1852-1908) and Martha Elizabeth Edrupt (1854-1933). James was born in County Waterford in Ireland. In 1891 he was employed as a butler in Cuckfield, Sussex by an Australian named Finley Campbell. By this time he is already married to Martha but they are living apart. In 1901, James is a wine merchant in Islington, London and the family is together. It is worth noting that Moyra and her brother Edrupt Prendergast (1889-1956) were both born in Cuckfield. In 1911, Moyra was living with her widowed mother and her brother in Bristol where both she and her mother are recorded as living on Private Means. In the 1939 Register Moyra was living in Chiswick, London.
Moyra’s death is recorded in Surrey in 1972.
Moyra did not marry but she was an accomplished professional violinist. There are many references to her in the newspaper archives, most notably for entertaining troops during WWI and touring with concert parties in the 1920s. Here are some pictures provided courtesy of family members Olivia Roper and Andrew Prendergast.
Royal Quixotes, featuring Moyra on violin 1926-7.
Salisbury Plain 1916
the tree
the places
Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland to Hornsey Rise, London
Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland
Hornsey Rise, London
Glengarriff, Cork, Ireland
what the card says to us
The picture shows the beauty spot of Glengarriff in County Cork, Ireland. Apart from the fact that the card was posted in Ireland, there appears to be no connection. It was obviously posted on 12th August and re-stamped when it arrived in Holloway, London on the following day.
Another Irish connection (remembering that in 1904 it was 18 years before the creation of the Republic) is that Moyra's father James was from Ireland. Was this card from family?
Curiously, the card starts with 2 written in roman numerals and concludes with 4 written in the same way. Does this mean that this is part of a series of cards?
The message is very faint. Nevertheless it does appear to say "So is Bill". Who is Bill? Is that a response to card 1?
Finally, there is what looks like a fingerprint at the bottom of the address. While it would be romantic to suppose that this is connected to either the sender or the recipient, it is most likely to be a postal worker.