Parry Postcards

 I had a nice surprise last year, when I was contacted by Colin Buck.  Back in the 1990s, Colin had created "The Postcard Index", with the simple idea of purchasing postcards from dealers, indexing them, and then, by advertising the Index, passing the cards on to people with an interest in the names.  Over the years, it seems many One-Namers (and no doubt other researchers, as well), benefitted from Colin's work.  But Colin told me that he was no longer collecting the cards, and was keen to pass on as many as possible, of those that he still held, to interested parties.

And so it was that, just a little while later, I gratefully received thirty nine postcards, which had been sent to people with the surname PARRY.

I'm looking forward to carrying out some research on the people the cards were sent to, but haven't yet decided on the most appropriate way of posting the information here.  To some extent, that will depend on what I can find out when I research them.

However, I thought I'd start with just a quick summary of the cards.

As one might expect, all were sent to UK addresses - twenty-one of the cards were sent to addresses in England, seventeen to Wales and one to Scotland.  Four of the addresses appear more than once.  

Thirty four of the cards show pictures of places.  Of these, the majority, eighteen, are places in England, six are in Wales, five in France, and then there's one each from Scotland, Germany, Jersey, Italy and California (this last one posted in England).

The following table shows the numbers of cards for various combinations of "picture country" to "destination country":

Of the five cards that did not have pictures of places, two were sending birthday wishes and one sending New Year wishes.  The final two?  Well, I imagine there's an interesting story behind each of them, but I'll let you make up your own minds as to what that might be (and no, I haven't tried the dumpling recipe.☺):

I will be posting more about the postcards over the coming months. Colin also kindly sent me a list of the cards relating to PARRYs that he no longer held.  Even though I don't know what was on the cards, it will still be of interest to follow up on the addresses that they were sent to.

Okay, I couldn't resist doing a little bit of research on the two posted above:

Regarding the first image, in 1851, there is a PARRY family living in a house called "Prysmawr" in Llanuwchlyn, Merionethshire, (a widowed Ann, with children Robert, aged 8, and Jane, aged 5).  However, they aren't in the property in the following censuses.  But, in the 1901 census, when a DAVIES family live there, there is a Thomas PARRY, aged 28, appearing as the farm bailiff.  This is possibly the Thomas PARRY who appears in the 1881, and the 1891, censuses for Llanuwchlyn, as one of the grandchildren of an Ellen JONES, living in a house called Wern. It is possible Thomas (aged 28 in the 1901 census, and already a widower), then remarries in 1901 to a Catherine EVANS, and they appear with their children in the 1911 and 1921 censuses, and then finally, just as a couple, in the 1939 Register, still in Llanuwchlyn.  In 1911, they are living in a house called "Penrhiw", and in 1921 and 1939, they are living in a house called "Llys Arthur".  But, since the postcard seems to be dated 1920, if it is the correct family, they potentially lived at "Prys" between these other two properties.

The second postcard is dated 1909.  Although there are PARRYs in Grimsbury at a later date (1921), no PARRYs appear to be associated with the Causeway.  However, intriguingly, an Edward Thomas PARRY marries an Alice May CAISBROOK in Banbury RD (which covers Grimsbury), in 1915. Alice was living in Merton Street, Grimsbury, in 1911, with her mother and siblings.  Alice and Edward PARRY are the PARRYs in Grimsbury in 1921. Edward, born about 1881 in Corwen, Merionethshire, was an engine driver for the Great Western railway in 1921.  He previously appeared as an railway engine stoker, boarding in Shrewsbury in 1901, and as a railway fireman, boarding in Brentford, Middlesex, in 1911. So potentially he might have been boarding in Grimsbury in 1909.  Perhaps there was just a little bit of "disguise" in the postcard, through the re-arrangement of their initials?

Notes and Sources

(To follow)