april 23rd 1911 bro fred to miss l meader

parkstone, dorset to ryde, isle of wight

64 miles

the message

"Just got home. No time for letter. I will write to explain the note from Home.

Yours affec

Bro Fred

next post"

the sender

The sender has signed themselves Bro Fred. There is nothing to confirm whether this is the actual brother of Miss L Meader or a monk named Brother Fred.

the recipient

According to the 1911 Census, Belvedere Lodge (or Blvedere as it appears in the transcript) is occupied by an 80 year old Swiss spinster called Julia Berguer and four servants, none of whom are called L Meader. That is not to say that L Meader did not live there at some point, but it is impossible to tell how old she might be and this makes it impossible to trace her.

the places

Parkstone, Dorset

Ryde, Isle Of Wight

what the card says to us

The picture is entitled The Village Smithy and that is what it shows. It appears unconnected to the message.

Capitalisation is interesting in the message. The H in Home and the B in Bro. If it was simply L Meader's brother, why include the "Bro"?

And what was in the note from Home and why did it need to be explained?

A mystery that will never be solved.