September 2nd 1907 jessie louisa smith to Thomas lance simmons

berkhamsted, hertfordshire to Watford, Hertfordshire

10 miles

The Message

"My own darling Lance. I do hope dear you arrived home quite safe and without any trouble dear. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed our lovely Sunday dear and hope you did too dear. I feel lovely today, but how I have longed to be with you dear. It has not been a nice day. I do hope you have been successful dear. I am longing for a card in the morning. Our promise is my strength is made perfect in weakness. We have had an awful day in ???? ???? Goodnight Lance dearest with all my truest love and kisses from your own little girl for always. I am alive today."

The sender

We have to assume that the sender was the recipient's soon to be wife, Jessie Louisa Smith (1886-1981). Jessie was the daughter of Thomas Smith (1855-1925) and Elizabeth Ann Goodman (1859-1948). Thomas was an agricultural labourer. Jessie was 22 when she sent the card. In the 1891 census the family was living in Ruislip. In the 1901 census there was a Louisa J Smith working as a servant at an address in Watford. It is possible that this is Jessie, but cannot be confirmed.

The recipient

The recipient is Thomas Lance Simmons (1885-1963). When he received this card he was 21. In 1901 he was living in Watford with his parents at 34 Clifford Street. On the census he was entered simply as Lance. His parents were John Tapley Simmons (1861-1939) and Mary Ann Elizabeth Ashby (1861-1951). The occupation for both John and Lance was given as "hairdresser". Does that mean barber or stylist in 1901? By 1911 Lance is married and living with his wife and son (also called Thomas Lance (1910-1992) at another address in Watford. He is still a hairdresser. They go on to have two further children Ernest Eric (1912-1988) and Leonard John (1914-2000). Lance served in the Royal Engineers is WWI

the trees

Simmons

Smith

The Places

Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire to Watford, Hertfordshire

Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire

Watford, Hertfordshire

Gadebridge Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

What the card says to us

This is the first of four postcards, all posted in September 1907. They are written by the same person and they are unsigned. What is unusual about them is that the message on each is written in mirror writing and mirror writing that looks very natural as if it is the most normal thing in the world. Another interesting feature of this one is that it is written with a pen being dipped in ink repeatedly as you can see the words fading and then becoming bold again as the ink runs out and is refreshed. It is difficult to get a figure for how many people can write like this although it is almost always left handed people. Although there is research that suggests that left handedness used to be regarded as a sign of developmental difficulties (e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2117809/ ) the phenomenon does not seem to have been the subject of dedicated study. In this case we have to assume that the writer had this gift and that there was a good reason for using it, maybe as a primitive form of cipher to avoid other people being able to read the messages without going to the effort of finding a mirror.

The card is obviously a love letter. Is that why it was mirror written? 

It is part of a series. They are one half of a conversation and not even the whole of that side. They give rise to many questions.

The two other cards in the series can be found here.