august 14th 1906 sarah to frances Martha mantz

southend-on-sea, essex to byker, newcastle

302 miles

the message

"Dear Frances

I do hope you had a fine passage. We saw your boat come back on Sunday afternoon. How are you as a sailor. We are enjoying ourselves finely. You just ought to see Alice's face. Mine is tingling a wee bit.

Love from

Sarah"

the sender

There are no clues about Sarah's identity.

the recipient

For details of Frances Martha Mantz see the first card in the series at

the places

Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Byker, Newcastle

what the card says to us

The picture is a simple seaside picture of Southend-on-Sea which is where it was posted from.

There is nothing to help identify Sarah (or Alice for that matter), but whoever she was, she was pretty confidant that addressing the card care of Mrs Rudland in Robinson Street, with no house number, would get it there safely. Attempts to identify Mrs Rudland or the address have been unsuccessful.

It is not clear whether Sarah and Alice live in Southend or were just visiting when they posted the card. Or what made their faces tingle. Perhaps that was the sea air, sea spray, or given that it was August, the sunshine.

The most striking aspect of the card is that France Mantz made the journey to Byker by boat. There are no clues about where the journey started but I would assume London, given that the Mantz family home is near the river. Was boat the easiest way to travel to Newcastle in 1906? Or the cheapest?

And there is no clue as to why Frances was travelling to Newcastle. In 1906 she was 19 years old. Was it related to her training to be a teacher? Or was it to do with the Temperance Movement?

For details of all the postcards in the Frances Martha Mantz sequence go to