POSTCARD 29 December 1915 to MADGE from H.M.A.T. 'DEMOSTHENES' just after embarkation. Secretly married, Bob addresses his wife as 'Miss McLaughlin' c/- her parents. PICTURE POSTCARD of 8th Reinforcements, 6th Field Ambulance, photographed on board the Demosthenes. Every member's name has been carefully recorded by Bob on the reverse side. PHOTOS x 2: Fancy Dress on board Demosthenes. POSTCARD 2 January 1919 to MADGE from Belgium. By this stage, Madge had stopped writing to Bob after she was shown Bob's '2nd Trip to Paris' letter (15 August 1918) by her mother-in-law. By now, Bob had virtually given up on the marriage

Historical information

This is one of the very few surviving pieces of correspondence between Bob and his wife, Madge. Bob destroyed the bulk of such correspondence between the pair, although some of Bob's typed letter/stories that Bob sent to Madge survived, pasted into a large hard-backed journal, and later passed on to grand-daughter, Margaret Davey. The Registry Office marriage was a secret business. Perhaps an Irish nationalist, Madge's father, Andrew McLaughlin, had absolutely forbidden any of his daughters to marry a soldier. The Snapes were taken by surprise too and Madge wore the wedding ring on a string about her neck. Bob wrote to Madge McLaughlin c/- her parents's home in at 22 Hull Street, Richmond (near West Richmond Railway Station).

Physical description

Picture Postcard.

Subjects

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