Some of us will still remember the days when we paid our fares to a bus conductor or conductress and she would give us a little ticket in various colours according to the fare and then ‘clip’ it to prove it had been used. The bus driver did just that – drive the bus in his own little cab. State Your Destination – advert from Bromley & District Times, August 1918
Category: WW1
Phosferine #1
Every few weeks an advert for Phosferine would appear, featuring a soldier and saying how it had helped him. I checked one or two of the men feature and they seem to be real names – maybe real people. I and my mates derived great benefit from the Phosferine Tablets my wife sent out to me. I have taken part in many big actions, including the Somme and Ypres engagements, and I am now engaged on observation and signalling work, etc., for the battery, which demands a pretty cool…
Poetry from the Front Line
A Poem from G.R. SOLDIER’S LAMENT ON A DULL EVENING If this were June – sweet month of sun and roses – And all the woods were filled with singing birds, And I beside a streamlet dreamed and wandered, My soul entranced, my heart too full for words, I should rejoice, and sing aloud with rapture, With all the world then I should be at peace, An sweet content be mine that from my labours, If but one day, I had found release. But what’s the use? ‘Tis not the…
The House for Juvenile Clothing, 1917
Here are the fashions for the younger generation. No mobiles here, just running around! I think the Peter Pan Outfit for boys is particularly cute.
Corporal H W Mummery
Mrs Mummery, Albion Road, Marden, has received news that her husband, Corporal H W Mummery, King’s Own Royal Lancasters, has been killed in the recent fighting at the Front. He was the eldest son of Mr & Mrs Mummery of Star Road, Ashford, and late of Bromley. He was educated at the Bickley and Widmore Schools, and before joining up was employed as a gardener at Blythe Wood, Bromley. In a letter received by his wife from the Chaplain of the battalion it stated that the Colonel was very pleased…
Excitement at Naval Balloon
Some excitement was caused on Saturday afternoon last, when a Naval balloon with one occupant made a descent in a field at Woollett Hall Farm, North Cray. The pilot found many willing hands, and the balloon was soon packed up and taken to Bexley Station. Unfortunately this little item does not describe the balloon. However, this rounded British observation balloon from 1908, was typical of pre-WWI observation balloons. Extract from the Bromley & District Times, 21st September 1917, pg 5 A different type of air balloon…
Sainsbury’s Fashion, 1917
Yes, it is Sainsbury’s. When I started reading these newspapers I was surprised to see that at that time, Sainsbury’s was not a food store but sold clothes and linen and other such items. If you read the Sainsbury’s website, it seems that Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann, who set up a small store selling milk with scrupulous care of hygiene and quality of food. The link below is quite interesting. Sainsburys Humble Beginnings 1869-1900 Perhaps there was more than…
‘It is nice, Mother!’
That is what the children say when their Cuts, Scrapes and Bruises are dressed with Zam-Buk. They have that soon-get-better feeling at once, because Zam-Buk banishes pain and stops the broken flesh from getting inflames. Mother, too, knows she is doing the right thing in using Zam Buk. Zam-Buk is so pure and refined and so completely medicinal that it cannot fail to be beneficial. A mother’s worry is ended when she rubs Zam-Buk over her child’s grazed knee because Zam-Buk make sure that the would will not take bad…
Care of candles and lamps
To the country resident the problem of lighting the house is always more or less a vexed one. Candles for general use are artistic, while lamps for sewing, reading, and cooking are absolutely necessary. There are ways of economising in burning candles. Long candles are more economical than short ones, as the small piece that goes into the stick is only wasted once. A truly economical woman can make candles from small the pieces that are left by melting the tallow or wax, picking out the pieces of wick, and…
Safety First
At first I thought this was an overcrowded escalator, but you can see it is an open-topped bus. It seems strange that the public needed to be informed of the safest way to ride on the buses. Passengers should keep their arms inside the rail or passing objects may strike them, as the lady above will know to her cost. Advert taken from the Bromley & District Times in July 1918.