world war one postcard memories

The post cards were sent back to family and friends by the Millington Brothers - Charles, Norman and Albert who saw action in France during World War One. The brothers were born at Duchembegarra and lived in Pimpinio, the sons of William (Thomas) Millington and Ann (nee Ward). At enlistment Charles was aged 24, Albert was aged 26 and Norman aged 27. The brothers had siblings - John, George, Richard, Robert, William John, Ernest Henry, Selina, and Mabel. The brothers enlisted in Ballarat. The brothers travelled together on HMAT Euripides arriving in Plymouth on October 26th 1916.
The brothers had been farmers in the Wimmera district Victoria Australia and they had lived near Natimuk and Pimpinio. Sadly Charles Millington suffered injuries and was buried in Belgium at the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, 12 kilometres west of Ypres, Belgium.
At the conclusion of the war the brothers received various war medals. The war medals for Charles Millington were placed with his mother Annie Davis.
Some of the post cards were embodied and were sent back to their Mother and Sister with messages and wishes. Other post cards were of their travels when on leave. The post cards were placed with Selina Milliongton who became Selina Gitsham the sister of the Millington brothers. The post cards were placed then with Selina’s son Sydney Gitsham and are now with another family member the great great grandson of Selina.

Albert Millington

Albert was born in 1888.
He passed away on 29th May 1950.
6311 Private Albert Hector Millington, 6th Battalion from Pimpinio, Victoria. A 26year old farmer prior to enlisting in the AIF on 23 May 1916, he embarked for overseas with the20th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 11 September 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides. While serving on the Western Front, he was wounded in action on 20 September 1917 but recovered and returned to his unit. He arrived back in Australia on 5 February 1919.
Albert died in May 1950. The Horsham Times (30/5/1950) reported that he was found dead beside the railway line. He was walking to his home on the O’Conner property at Dahlen and was struck by the Adelaide Express train. Albert had a dog called Passchendaele.

Charles Milington

Charles was born in 1891.
6312 Private Charles Millington, 6th Battalion from Pimpinio, Victoria. A 24 year old farmer prior to enlisting in the AIF on 23 May 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 20th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 11 September 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides. While serving on the Western Front, he was wounded in action on 4 October 1917 and transferred to No 17 Casualty Clearing Station, Belgium. He died of those wounds the next day, 5 October 1917 and was buried in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, 12 kilometres west of Ypres, Belgium. Medals 1914/15 Star Medal, Victory Medal, British War Medal.
Items returned to his mother after passing away included - 4 military books, cigarette case, 2 post cards, 2 testaments, handle, lock and key, gloves and pipe. Also scissors, belt, pencil, coins, notebook, watch and strap.

POST CARDS

Embroidered silk postcards were first made in 1900 for the Paris Exposition it was during the 1914 1918 First World War that these postcards reached their peak of popularity.
The embroidery was done by the women of France and Belgium onto strips of silk mesh, initially by hand, subsequently on home machines and later in factories. Once completed the multiple image strips were sent to the factories for cutting and mounting onto postcards. Thousands of designs were produced and as a thing of beauty in a hash war
environment they became a popular keepsake for troops and their loved ones.
Considerable numbers were sent home by soldiers to wives and family.
There were two principal formats, the panel style with a rectangle of embroidered mesh fixed to the card, and the envelope style in which the panel could be opened to reveal a
small card insert.
Many subjects were embroidered; romantic images of hearts and flowers, military regiment badges, flags and patriotic images, images of statesmen and military leaders,
Christmas greetings, year numbers, and so on. All subjects are much collected with the regimental badge cards being in greatest demand.
　
Postcards from World War One are generally known as "WW1 Silks". The WW1 Silks were first produced in 1914 through 1918 and declined substantially in 1919 onwards and are not found after around 1923. The WW1 cards were generally hand embroidered on strips of silk mesh with as many as 25 on a strip. They were mostly produced by French and Belgian women refugees who worked in their homes and refugee camps, and then sent the finished strips to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.

Because of their beauty and uniqueness, the WW1 Silks were wildly popular with British and American servicemen on duty in France. The themes for most of the silks produced, are patriotic and feature British, French and American flags, symbols and greetings.
Some of these cards had the central portion cut as a flap so that a tiny printed greeting card could be inserted in a pocket behind the silk front and the stiff back. One such popular card was "To my dear Mother".
　
Most cards do not have postage stamps as they were mailed home at no charge to the sender in Military Mail pouches. These cards became treasured mementos from "the boys over there" and are excellent examples of front-line patriotic art quite unique to this specific period in history. It has been estimated that as many as 10 million handmade cards were produced during the wartime period. In 1930 through 1945 a machine made card was produced which was simpler and plainer with less variations. These Silks however never regained the popularity of their WW1 predecessors.

world war one postcard memories

post card 1

post card 3

post card 4

post card 5

post card 2

post card 6

Albert Millington

Albert Millington

Headstone Albert Millington

Charles Millington

Charles Milington

Grave Charlie Millington Grave reference Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery XX - F - 7A

Acknowledgement to Charles's Mother of the contribution to WW1 by her son Charles Millington.

Norman Millington

Norman Millington

Norman Millington headstone at Pimpinio Cemetery provided by the War service dept 2015.