In our regular newsletter we have a feature which challenges our readers to identify where historic photos were taken. In most cases we know where these pictures were taken before we share them to the public as part of the feature, but every now and then we come across some pictures which truly stump us.
In this blog today we have a selection of postcards which have come-to-light as we have been doing work on the postcard collection, for which we know little-to-nothing. We do not know where they are pictures of, nor why they have ended up in Dorset. As is the way with postcards, they might be local, national, or even potentially international in origin.
Therefore, we are asking for help from readers today, to see if these postcards can be identified, so that we can determine what to do with them next. If you have any ideas as to where any of these postcards might depict, please let us know in the comments below!
Postcard 1 – unidentified street, possibly late 19th Century
Postcard 2 – possibly a former pub in Daglingworth, Gloucestershire
Postcard 3 – possibly a village hall? 
Postcard 4 – an unknown military camp 
Postcard 5 – East Drive, Brighton [now positively identified]
Postcard 6 – a village fire
East Drive but where. I’ve no idea where but this looks like it must be a seafront house. The round picture windows and balconies would indicate this house has a sea view. That limits the options somewhat.
East Drive. Liz was right, it is near the seafront – about half a mile from Brighton beach. The turreted house is called Haydon Lodge, and it is on the junction of East Drive and Evelyn Terrace. Close to Queens Park Tennis Club.
Postcard 6. Could this one possibly be Sixpenny Handley ?
Postcard 6 looks like Shepherd Bowering’s cottage at 45 Wakeham, Portland which was burnt out on 3rd September 1929. The wall to the right of the picture is very distinctive.
East Drive Brighton. House is still there with park opposite.
Postcard 2 – possibly a former pub in Daglingworth
In fact, it’s an off-licence and Hezekiah Curtis was listed as a beer retailer in Kelly’s directory of 1914 in Daglingworth. I believe the actual building is the one now known as ‘The Old Stores’ in that village. There have been many modifications and extensions over the years so the original layout is much changed, but the low wall in the foreground is still seen. It seems feasible that an off-licence may evolve into more general stores.
Postcard 3 – not a village hall…
Looking at the flags on the back wall we see the USA – (49 stars flag which dates it to 1896 to 1908), Italy (their flag was like this from 1861 to 1946), UK and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy flag (like this from 1867 to 1918). A fifth flag is out of view.
Furthermore, there are a few naval signal flags visible: P (blue surrounding white square), R (red with yellow cross), L (black and yellow squares), O (?) (red/yellow triangles) so these flags must have been easily available to the organisers of the event.
On 16 August 1902 a Naval Review was held to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII. It was a huge international naval and diplomatic showcase to which foreign governments were officially invited to send warships and delegations. Participating navies included the United States, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. So, that’s our flags.
Perhaps this was some event, possibly for visiting families to align with the naval review at Spithead in 1902. Possibly in the Portsmouth area?