Eclectic Early 20th Century Postcards Open Window on Staffordshire

Three albums bring together 761 postcards featuring places in Staffordshire including Stafford, Lichfield, Whittington, and Chase Terrace, go under the hammer on day one of Richard Winterton Auctioneers’ Antiques & Home Sale on June 12. As a single lot, the three albums are estimated at £2,500 to £3,500.

There are glimpses of streets now much-changed, shops, schools, churches, roads, canals and railway stations. The illustrious mining heritage of Cannock Chase is represented by postcards of the lost collieries of Littleton, West Cannock, Brindley Heath, Brereton and Coppice Colliery at Heath Hayes.

Railway stations include Stafford, Stone, Newcastle, Penkridge, Sandon, Uttoxeter, Colwich, Great Haywood, Barton, Walton, Burton upon Trent, Tutbury, Sudbury, Milford and Rugeley.There is also the ‘Tackeroo Express’ military railway, which was constructed in 1915 to serve the Brocton and Rugeley camps on Cannock Chase.

Several postcards depict the military camp at Rugeley, with one showing a German prisoner of war hoisting the British flag on Armistice Day, November 11 1918, and others showing staff, officers and buildings.

Camps at Penkridge Bank, Milford and Brockton also feature, as do the pottery kilns at Armitage, breweries in Burton upon Trent, Stafford’s Lotus Shoe Factory, the old cinema at Sankey's Corner, Chase Terrace and Beaudesert Hall.
Other snapshots into life long ago include the Chasetown Churchyard Brigade Company ‘having snap’, the landlord and customers standing outside The Albion Inn in Rugeley and Lichfield’s clock tower in its original position, two decades before it was moved in 1928.

There is also a souvenir of King Edward VII’s visit to Stafford in 1907 and the proclamation of King George V 1910 in Hednesford.

“We are delighted to be offering this fantastic and eclectic collection of early 20th century postcards which depict all aspects of life in our home county of Staffordshire,” said Robert French, ephemera specialist at Richard Winterton Auctioneers. “Examples include scenes from many of our major towns and villages as well as images of First World War prisoner of war camps, lost coal mines and long abandoned railway stations. There are also cards of the famous Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, first performed nearly 800 years ago in 1226 and which now attracts visitors from around the world.
“In our opinion this collection is a unique glimpse into our heritage.”