118 – How Do You Mend a Broken Heart? Part 3: 13 December 2024

At 5:10 pm on Monday 6 July 2020, just before the cancer diagnosis on 10 July, a friend and distant relative in England named Sylvia sent me a copy of a Postcard she had found in the possessions of her mother Violet Hankin when Violet died in 1983.  The undated Postcard was postmarked 15 August 1914.  Sylvia thought the name on the Postcard signature was “Dobson”.  Violet Hankin had inherited the Postcard from Sylvia’s grandmother Eliza Hankin, who had had died in 1949.

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This is the front of the Postcard.

The front of the Postcard contained a photo of Saint Mary’s Church in Bootle.  Bootle is a suburb of Liverpool, England.

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This is the other side of the Postcard.

The writing on the front of the Postcard was nearly unreadable.

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 I did not look at the Postcard until after Margaret had been diagnosed with ampullar cancer.  I only looked at it then to try and distract myself from her terrible diagnosis.

At first, I only wanted to read the handwriting on the Postcard – what did the writing on the reverse of the Postcard actually say?  I discovered if I focused on the Postcard, I often got temporary relief from my own physical symptoms, so when the pain was agonising I concentrated on the Postcard.  

When I had translated the handwriting, I began wondering about the two people involved in it.  Who was Eliza Hankin?  Who was the Postcard sender whose surname was perhaps Dobson? 

I nicknamed the Postcard sender the Moon Man and wondered who the Moon Man had been.  I thought he must have mattered a lot to Eliza because she kept the Postcard for the rest of her life.

Unravelling the mystery of the Moon Man and Eliza Hankin helped me to cope with the truly terrible things that were happening to Margaret and me.  I started work on my analysis of the Postcard in July 2020 and I worked on it in between restoring Anne Ryan’s furniture and doing everything else that had to be done.

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When I translated the handwritten Postcard message, I realised it said this:

Sat[urday] evening Saturday August 15 Dear Liz I arrived in Liverpool today quite safely at 4.15. I found every body quite well.  I am out going into town. Kindest Regards X [Dob?]son

 

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The address on the Postcard was just as difficult to translate as the message on the Postcard.  This was the address.

Miss L Hankin Newlands Clydesdale Rd Hoylake

 

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I thought the Moon Man must have known Eliza well because it was addressed to “Miss L” Hankin” rather than Miss E Hankin.  The Moon Man obviously knew her as Liz and not as Eliza – he called her Liz in the Postcard message.

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The Postcard was made by Woolstone Brothers of London W 15 as part of the “Milton “Fac-Simile” Series No 32”.

Woolstone Brothers was a large publisher which operated from 1902 to 1932.  The website metropostcard says this about Woolstone Brothers.

A large publisher of many different card types in many different techniques. Some of their trade names included Artlettes, Bromettes that were used for postcard bookmarks, Bromides, Chromolettes, Glazettes, Glossettes of actresses, Photolettes, and Sellwells. Many of their subjects included artist signed cards, comic cards by Fred Buchanan, a naval series including one on the life of Admiral Nelson, real photo and printed view-cards, cut out novelties, and a vast amount of holiday and greeting cards. Many of these cards either carry the words The Milton Post Card or Milton Series.

 

Postcards were relatively inexpensive in 1914, but it is doubtful that working class people ever had the money to buy them on a regular basis.  There was no doubt that Eliza was poor because she worked as a maid at Newlands in Hoylake.  If Eliza was poor, this probably meant her friends were also poor, so post cards were bought only on special occasions.  If the Moon Man bought a Postcard for Eliza, there must have been a special occasion.  Receiving the Postcard was obviously a very important happening for Eliza because she kept it until she died 35 years later.

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The Moon Man says “I arrived in Liverpool today quite safely at 4.15.”  This makes sense only if he had recently visited Eliza in Hoylake and had told her that he intended to see Eliza’s family in Bootle.  In saying, “I found every body quite well”, the Moon Man was obviously giving new information to Eliza about her own family.  That meant he did not live near Eliza’s family.  If he had, he would have told her about the family during his visit to Hoylake.

This means the Moon Man made a special visit to Bootle to see Eliza’s family and this meant he knew Eliza’s family as well as Eliza. 

The Moon Man went to Hoylake to tell Eliza something special – and then he went to Bootle to tell Eliza’s family the same special thing.  The Moon Man knew Eliza’s family would also want to know whatever he had just told Eliza. 

Clearly, the Moon Man was a welcome visitor in Eliza’s family home; the family knew him well and they liked him.

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To try and mend my broken hearted, I became a family historian and writer as well as a woodworker.  It helped me pass the time but unfortunately it completely failed to mend my broken heart.

I didn’t really want to find out about the Moon Man.  I wanted Margaret to not have cancer and I wanted her to live.  I was researching someone I called the Moon Man, but in reality I was the Moon Man.  I was baying at the Moon hoping for the impossible.