Fancy Dress group at Colwich Station

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Date:1918

Description:Fancy dress group in the entrance yard at Colwich Station, 1918.The entrance yard at Colwich station, with Main Road in the foreground. Handwritten on the reverse of this postcard: "Mrs Joe Harrison behind mother, little me in pram, and Mrs Marshall in front (next door neighbour), with various lasses and lads of the village". 6th and 7th from the left of the pram are Martha Malpass and her son Albert Malpass. They lived at the Ring.

Colwich Station was built in 1847 to designs by John Livock and was the most southerly station on the North Staffordshire Railway. At the end of the First World War it was jointly owned and managed by the N.S.R. and London and North Western Railway.

Dame Juliana Murray described the events of Armistice Day in Colwich from the point of view of St. Benedict's Priory in this extract from her 'Notes for the History of the House, St Benedict’s Priory' (now St Mary’s Abbey, Colwich):

11th November 1918. St. Martin. There was great excitement all day, because at 11 o'clock the Armistice was to be either signed or rejected, the 72 hours allowed for consideration being over. There was no discussion allowed. We were told a signal would be given, and we expected the Church bells would be rung. The morning passed, and still a flag on the Church tower was the only sign, and unfortunately that was put out early, in expectation perhaps. About 11 there was a rattle of bombs, which some took to be guns, but it proved to be only a breakdown on the [railway] line. There were sounds of excitement in the distance, but no definite news. About 12 o'clock a 'plane went over our heads, and a few minutes later the Noviceship [noviciate: the trainee nuns] party rushed down to the Workroom with the information that flags had been hoisted over the station. Mother Cellerere [the bursar] was instructed to get out our flags, so presently the two turrets were adorned with a Royal Standard and a Red Ensign; two little Union Jacks out of the front windows, a nondescript out of the Infirmary and a Red, White and Blue fastened up on the sundial on the terrace. Feu de joie was fired on the Chase. Still our dear Mother [Mother Prioress, the superior] would not give leave for a Te Deum [hymn of thanks in Latin] until something more certain was heard. Tea time passed, Vespers were sung, and not until Dr. Frere left did we hear it really was true. The Armistice was signed, hostilities had ceased: the war which has hung over us for more than four years had gone. Even now we can hardly believe it. Then news came fast. The Kaiser had abdicated; the Crown Prince had renounced his claims, and both had fled to Holland accompanied by Hindenburg and it is believed most of the Staff. Owing to revolution at Aix they had to go by the same route they went to invade Belgium in July 1914. Saxony and Bavaria Schleswig Holstein have followed the example of the Czechs and Magyars declaring for a republic. Our troops are to occupy the Rhenish towns and all our prisoners to be released at once. Beyond that the terms of the armistice are not known, except that the Germans consider them very severe. Then Mo. Cellerere came in to say the Village was decorated with all the flags it could get; the people are all out, the schoolchildren have a holiday, and the Malpass family parading the road in fancy costumes; Mrs. Malpass in the famous crinoline inherited from her grandmother; or mother - and mightn't we have the Te Deum, the Fathers were waiting. It was nearly four o'clock, a rush was made for bells, and during five minutes there was a clang and clatter of every sized bell, with the great bell tolling because it couldn't go any faster. Then the Te Deum, bawled rather than sung, and much too slow, to our dear Mother's annoyance. But hearts were full, and there was remembrance of those who paid the price for our joy. Our dear Mother gave us Recreation for that evening and for the following day in honour of the event.

Thanks are due to Dean Malpass and his Malpass Genealogy research for discovering this document.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1900s
Colwich Station
Colwich Station

The entrance yard at Colwich station, with Main Road in the foreground. Colwich ...

1930s
The Vicarage, Colwich
The Vicarage, Colwich

This Victorian vicarage belonged to St. Michael and All Angels Church. The vicarage ...

1950s
Colwich Church
Colwich Church

A view of St Michael and All Angels Church taken from under the railway bridge at ...

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Donor ref:P2003.1.192 (37/13509)

Source: Staffordshire Museum Service

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