august 1st 1905 F&C to miss c melville

windermere, cumbria to gledholt, huddersfield, yorkshire

100 miles

the message

"Welcome home again!

We are glad you've had such a pleasant holiday, hope that it may only be one of many.

Aren't you sorry that you've had to leave such a glorious place. - don't - oh, don't - you wish you were back?

Has Mrs Shaw benefited, do you think?

F&C"

the sender

There are no clues to the identity of either F or C"

the recipient

There is no clue to the identity of Miss C Melville, not even a first name. The card was sent care of F H Shaw. The only reference found initially was in the minutes of The Royal Astronomical Society 1903-1904 where a Captain Frank Herbert Shaw is named as an elected member (https://archive.org/stream/monthlynoticesr32socigoog#page/n1059/mode/2up/search/shaw).

Traces of Frank Herbert Shaw are few and far between, but there are traces of a Frank Hubert Shaw (1878-1960) who was a naval man and then a fiction writer. However, there is still no identifiable trace of C Melville who may have been a servant or a nurse.

the places

Windermere, Cumbria

Gledholt, Huddersfield, Yorkshire

what the card says to us

The picture is entitled "Homewards" and is charming but nothing else can be found about it.

The message suggests that Miss C Melville has been on holiday to somewhere nice, possibly Windermere and that she was employed by the Shaws in some capacity. But this is pure speculation.

The "- don't - oh, don't" construct is unusual.