FADED yellow with age, the postcards lying on a book rest at the borough’s archives offer a tantalising glimpse of Wigan at war.
Pale hand-written messages of gratitude to a generation of Wigan folk we should all be grateful to.
Mostly written in 1918, as the final battles across Europe raged, the cards are a sobering reminder of how human spirit and civility endures even in the toughest conditions.
“Some are incredibly personal,” says archivist Alex Miller as he gently turns one over to scrutinize a particularly indistinguishable word, “others are very direct but they are all grateful for the home comforts that have been sent and there’s no hint of malice towards the Germans. They didn’t want to complain – a very British attitude.”
The postcards are actually replies to “applications for comforts” – sent by Wigan residents to Wigan Prisoners of War in Germany ninety years ago.
Alex said: “Relatives would fill in forms to the Wigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Comforts Committee – a committee replicated up and down the country – and local people and businesses donated money and goods to give a bit of relief to those on the front line or in a POW camp.”
And the “thanks” returned to Wigan folk back home range from the more mundane request for some more “Woodbines” to the outright bizarre. On the back of one card John Mahoney asks his wife Ellen who lived in Lyon Street, Wallgate, if she can send him a pair of clogs.
He writes: “Hoping this finds you well as it leaves me alright at present. Still waiting for a letter from your Nellie it would be a good idea if you was to report it to the mayor of Wigan where I am sure she would write to the Red Cross then they would fit me up alright. Tell her also a pair of Wigan clogs would be very useful to me out here… Size 11 same as I used to wear at home.”
But the collection of First World War records looked after at the borough archives service in Leigh Town Hall also brings home the horrors for those still fighting on the front line in the war that was supposed to end all wars.
G H West writing “somewhere in France” in August 1918 reports: “It gives me great pleasure to know that you and your committee and the people of Wigan are all doing your best to encourage the men from the borough who are out here. I am sure that every man who receives such a useful present will be delighted to know that there are some at home who are thinking of him and who earnestly desire to help him a little in the great fight for liberty and a lasting peace.
Archivist Alex Miller
“It has been a long standing and hard struggle against almost overwhelming odds, and – as you know – our boys have been fighting like lions, but I think we can safely say that the tide has now turned in our favour although the end is not yet in sight.”
Casually he adds: “I am very sorry to say that I have had the misfortune to be put out of action by poison gas but I hope to overcome the effects of it in time.”
During the First World War, the total number of reported prisoners of war from the British Empire was 191,652. And the published literature on the subject in any language remains limited – underlining their importance to the wider collection of the borough’s first and second World War archives managed by Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust.
Alex added: “All this information is freely available for the public to access at the archives and the more the merrier. People are welcome if they’re looking for information about their family, researching a history book, writing a dissertation or school project or are simply interested and curious about their past.”
To find out more call Alex Miller on 01942 404431. For information on council, church, family, business or school records, contact the archives service on 01942 404430, or the History Shop in Wigan, on 01942 828128 or email Heritage
