June 16th 1919 Phoebe to violet ruby ingram

Greenock, renfrewshire, Scotland to south norwood, London

462 miles

the message

"15/6/19

Dear V

Just a little bit of Scotland. Hope you are having better weather at home than we are getting here. We are having a nice time will soon be thinking of coming home again.

Fondest love from

Phoebe"

the sender

The are no clues as to Phoebe's identity or her relationship to Violet Ingram.

the recipient

Violet Ruby Ingram (1897-1959) was the 3rd of 8 children. Her parents were Edwin George Ingram (1872-1964) and Anne Maud Mary Bulson (1872-1962). Edwin like several of his family was a carpenter by trade. Violet, her parents and her two elder siblings were all born in St Helier, Jersey. In 1939, aged 42, Violet was still living with her parents in Surrey near to where the card was sent to. Her occupation is given as "Gowns Hand" which is presumably something in the rag trade.

Violet never married which was not uncommon in this era because WWI had finished just 7 months before this card was sent. Violet was 22 and the flower of English manhood had died on the fields of Flanders. Tragically also, Violet died before her parents.

the places

Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland

South Norwood, Surrey

Inverlochy Castle, Fort William, Scotland

what the card says to us

The picture shows a painting of the ruins of the 13th century Inverlochy Castle near Fort William (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverlochy_Castle) which is not really very close to Greenock and should not be confused with the modern hotel of the same name.

It is not clear why Phoebe is in Scotland but given that it is June, she is probably on holiday.

What the card does tell us is that the weather was bad in mid-June 1919 in and around Greenock.