Author Topic: French handwriting on WWI card  (Read 443 times)

Offline issi

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French handwriting on WWI card
« on: Monday 19 May 25 07:55 BST (UK) »
Hi, this card is of Clarence Lee, missing presumed dead at the battle of Loos. What I can't make out is what the handwriting on the card says. I assume it's french. I've tried this in the war section in case it was a standard phrase but no one could suggest anything. Thought I'd try here in case anyone's any good at French handwriting...any help very welcome.
HAY - Aberdeen, Shetland, etc.
LEE - Todmorden, etc.
BELSHAW - Farnworth, Bolton, Wigan, Manchester, Todmorden, etc.
ALLINSON - Pontefract, Leeds, etc.
UPWARD - Isle of Wight

Offline joger

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Re: French handwriting on WWI card
« Reply #1 on: Monday 19 May 25 08:04 BST (UK) »
May be Négatif envoyé  18? .11.15. (Meaning 18 november 1915 ) demande recu (should be written reçue if it means "request received "or reçu if it means "asks for a receipt").

From which french documents does the card come from?


Offline manukarik

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Re: French handwriting on WWI card
« Reply #2 on: Monday 19 May 25 09:08 BST (UK) »
See:

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/story/93619

Négatif envoyé indicates that the person referred to was not registered as a prisoner.
Clarkson, Tolladay, Prevost, Killick, Hicks

Offline issi

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Re: French handwriting on WWI card
« Reply #3 on: Monday 19 May 25 09:52 BST (UK) »
Hi, it's a Red Cross prisoners of war card - he wasn't a prisoner though, was missing in action, this looks like a record of a request for information from his father at the time, if I read the site's guides aright
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/5810442/3/2/
HAY - Aberdeen, Shetland, etc.
LEE - Todmorden, etc.
BELSHAW - Farnworth, Bolton, Wigan, Manchester, Todmorden, etc.
ALLINSON - Pontefract, Leeds, etc.
UPWARD - Isle of Wight


Offline issi

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Re: French handwriting on WWI card
« Reply #4 on: Monday 19 May 25 09:55 BST (UK) »
Aha! Thank you @joger, you're probably right! many thanks  :) :)
From the red cross site:
2. Cards about the requests from the families
These cards were established in Geneva by the Prisoners of War International Agency. Each card for each person mentioned in the lists that the Agency received from the belligerents countries was established.
includes:
Reference number of the original letter sent by the family
(directs to no other document, because during the war the original letters were discarded once the card being set up)
Last name and First name
Service number
Missing circumstances as indicated by the family
Address of the family
ICRC inquiry summary
HAY - Aberdeen, Shetland, etc.
LEE - Todmorden, etc.
BELSHAW - Farnworth, Bolton, Wigan, Manchester, Todmorden, etc.
ALLINSON - Pontefract, Leeds, etc.
UPWARD - Isle of Wight

Offline Andy J2022

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Re: French handwriting on WWI card
« Reply #5 on: Monday 19 May 25 10:03 BST (UK) »
From which french documents does the card come from?
It's an ICRC index card (Switzerland, hence the French).

Private Clarence Lee 14543 8th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment was declared presumed killed in action on 25 September 1915, having arrived in France exactly two months earlier. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial (panels 35 - 37). He was posthumously awarded the 1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

He was born in Bacup, Lancs c. 1895. Parents John Alfred and Annie Lee of 51 Knowlwood Road, Todmorden.

I think he was almost certainly killed during the first day's fighting at the Battle of Loos in which the British used chlorine gas, but due to the weather conditions, the gas had more effect of the British troops than on the Germans. The 8th Devonshires lost 619 casualties during the first day. They had virtually no experience of trench warfare and all their officers were inexperienced.

Offline joger

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Re: French handwriting on WWI card
« Reply #8 on: Monday 19 May 25 19:29 BST (UK) »
Todmorden & District News, 26 Nov 1915