November 4th 1911 louise and annie to Eleanor Emily allen nee douglas

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire to witney, oxfordshire

107 miles

the message

"Wishing you many happy returns of the day

from

Louise and Annie"

The senders

There are no clues as to who Louise and Annie are.

the recipient

Eleanor Emily Douglas (1862-1954) was the daughter of Andrew Douglas (1843-1913) and Harriett Mary Colston (1841-1899). Andrew was a bricklayer and Harriet was a laudress. In 1881 Eleanor was working as a nurse maid in Oxford and in 1887, aged 25, she married George Allen (1860-1910) who had a coach building business in Oxford. George and Eleanor had 7 children. Meanwhile Andrew and Harriett had 19 grandchildren.

the places

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Witney, Oxfordshire

what the card says to us

The picture shows a painting of a grand looking lady. The style is Gainsborough (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gainsborough) but it probably isn't one of his. 

For a more art focused appreciation of Gainsborough, click on this genuine portrait which will take you to the Artsy website.

The border of the painting is embossed on the card and it is a mystery as to why this was done because it makes it difficult to write on. The message on the front wishes "heartiest congratulations" which is not a common phrase in the 2010s and might even be considered to be comical.

Eleanor Allen was recently widowed when she received this card. There is no obvious family connection to Nottingham. Two of her sisters had emigrated to New Zealand and Canada and the rest of the family stayed in the Oxford area.

There is one thing about the card that is unusual and that is the way Eleanor is addressed. It is not the fact that she is addressed as "Mrs G Allen" using her late husband's initial because that is not uncommon. It is that a word, which looks like "Junior" is tagged on after the surname. Is this card actually for someone different, called Mrs Allen, who lives at this address. No obvious candidates showed up.