My mother was the youngest of thirteen children. Her eldest brother, Frank, volunteered and was enlisted, only to be killed a couple of years later. Mother recalled as a child lining up to say goodbye to him outside the little terraced house in Liverpool 8 where the family lived. If ever she was asked he was 'Killed in the trenches', she really knew no more than that. A few years back she passed his picture to me for safe keeping as her own end neared. I determined then to fill in the details of his brief service. The little history attached is the best I can do, but I hope gives a glimpse of the mundane, and short, service life of the many citizen soldiers like Frank Goodwin. Mother was able to read it before she joined him. On his death in July 1916 Frank was still three months short of his twentieth birthday.

This postcard was published, according to the printed text on the reverse, by ‘Inter-Art Co., Red Lion Square, London, W.C.’, part of the ‘“SENTINEL” Series. / No. 1190. / British Manufacture.’. The scene on the front, drawn by AA Nash (whose name is written on the right of the bottom step), shows a tiny child crawling up the steps of a recruiting office, above the legend ‘“FOLLOWING FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS!”’. A poster propped up against the wall calls for recruits ‘. . . until the enemy is crushed’. || A British patriotic postcard || || A British patriotic postcard || Postcard

A British patriotic postcard || Pictured on the front of this hand-tinted postcard is a boy wearing a replica British officer’s uniform and apparently smoking a cigarette. The caption above reads, ‘FOLLOWING IN FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS.’. Starting with a flourish, a note handwritten in black ink on the back reads ‘1916 / Flo ?’. Printed within the stamp box are the words ‘ENTIRELY BRITISH MADE’ beneath a logo comprising a diamond containing the letters ‘A C / B’ over which has been superimposed a large letter ‘E’. || || A British patriotic postcard || Postcard