The caption on the front of the post card reads “HUY. Le Hoyoux a Pré à la Fontaine", which at first look appears to be French, and through further research appears to be a crude form of French available in Belgium. Multiple translation websites have problems identifying words within the caption, with the only breakthrough coming from Google Maps. The initial part of the caption, “Huy” is a township/municipality that lies just East of central Belgium. Furthermore, the Hoyoux is a river in Belgium in which Huy resides upon. The final part of the caption roughly translates to the “Meadow at the Fountain”, however the meaning of Fontaine can also translate, to spring or well. Therefore, making the caption state Huy, The Hoyoux, the Meadow at the Fountain.
The sender of the postcard, who’s name appears to be Gordon, wrote the card December 18, 1918, at the time Canadians were in Germany maintaining the order and peace brought on by Armistice of November 11, 1918. Leading me to believe the sender either obtained the card through passing or at an earlier date while stationed in Belgium. Therefore, implying the nothing major was happening in Huy during the time of sending but that doesn’t rule the township out of the war completely. Although no major battle took place in Huy, troops were still moved and positioned throughout, during the Battle of Liege in 1914. The Battle of Liege holds significance to World War One, being as it was where the Germans launched their initial offensive and was the first battle of WW1. Huy was not the sight of the battle however, it holds an ancient citadel dating back to the ninth century, often used as a fort, making Huy a place to hold and transport troops to nearby Liege. In turn making Huy one of the first townships of the early 20th century to be affected by the war. Interestingly enough the town of Huy was involved in the Second World War as well with the ancient citadel being used as a German ‘prison’ housing political prisoners after the invasion of Belgium. Overall implying that the choice of the river Hoyoux as a postcard image results not only from its beauty but also from the significance that parts of the city hold as the citadel is situated along the river.
The image above (Fig1) displays the citadel of Huy as its seen today. with the Meuse river in front, the river feeds into the River Hoyoux and is a key part of battle strategies in the history of Huy
The postcard itself is rather short and sweet in terms of content, with the sender Gordon leaving no real trace as to the connection of the recipient Mrs. Wood. The post card reads, Dear Mrs. Wood, A view of one of the beautiful town in Belgium, On the Rhine now. Home soon. Regards, Gordon. Mrs. … Wood, Swift Current , Sask, Canada. With the information provided on the back side of the post card I was able to determine that it was written slightly over a month after the Armistice, from somewhere on the Rhine/Germany. Furthermore, I was able to infer from the line A view of one of the beautiful towns in Belgium, that the sender had been through Belgium and seen many towns and sights in order to know where the post card was from and what the caption had said. Whether or not this is true I cannot determine off an initial reading, as it very well may be that the sender never stepped foot in Belgium and instead picked up the postcard from somewhere in Germany or perhaps on the French border. As far as recipient goes the postcard offers no real insight into the relation of the sender and recipient. However, it does not appear as if there is a real strong emotional connection between the two, or that they are in an intimate relationship.
Being that the postcard is from December of 1918, and that the picture is of a place in now unoccupied Belgium, I decided to turn my initial research towards, the sender of the card ‘Gordon’ and his recipient ‘Mrs. Wood’ in hopes of unravelling the significance of the image choice behind the post card. I will then turn my focus toward the significance of the image in terms of the war and in terms of the senders position in Huy during 1918.
Part 2 – Research
Sender:
The sender of my post card appears to be named Gordon which took rather extensive research and aid to determine a 6 letter word. I began my research by comparing the lettering of his name to other letters in the postcard. Such as ‘G’, in Germany matches the first letter of the signature, and a’s throughout have a tell with a line about halfway through. Therefore making most of the name easier to distinguish once those letters were figured out, and I could eliminate the possibilities of other letters.
Once I had the name figure out I decided first to check on the World War One database on Library Archives Canada to see if I could narrow down a Gordon. This proved to be more difficult than expected as there was about 5600 Gordons apart of the Canadian military during WW1. Following this I decided to infer that perhaps if the recipients surname was Wood, that the senders last name would be Wood also, so I decided to continue with that search. Luckily enough that narrowed the results down to just 6. However, with the minimal information provided, I assumed that the sender was from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, or Saskatchewan in general and much to my surprise none of the Gordon Woods matched the criteria I was looking for. Given the fact that minimal information was provided I decided to broaden my search and focus on the location of the recipient and see what Canada drew from the area of Swift Current, Saskatchewan.
I discovered through research that Swift Current, Saskatchewan held more in its small town than the postcard from Gordon. In fact Swift Current was home to a militia know as the 27th Light Horse Brigade. Furthermore, the 27th was called into action early on into the war, in fact they were moved to Valcartier 20 days after war was declared with Germany. The Brigade was composed of many regions of Saskatchewan, which gives a fair chance that the sender, Gordon, could very well have been apart of the Brigade. Much like Huy held a place in the war, the 27th Light Horse did as well, being part of the victory of the Battle of St. Julien, in Ypres just shy of a year after being sent to Valcartier. The 27th poses potential for being Gordons Brigade, however, the Brigade has faced many name changes since the war tainting the records and making it hard to know if he was indeed apart of the Brigade. At the current day in time the 27th Light Horse is now known as the 14th Canadian Hussars.
The postcard itself left very little insight into who the sender, ‘Gordon’ was and his part in the war. However, with some inferencing a few connections can be determined. For starters, based on the lettering throughout the postcard, I believe I was able to determine the name Gordon, and then continued to clarify with a librarian who got the same name for the same reasons. Furthermore, without being able to determine who the gentleman writing is and based on the fact that there are numerous people with the same name, I made the assumption that he was from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. With this information he can be placed into the 27th Light Horse Brigade which operates out of Swift Current, and recruits from Saskatchewan. Finally, in the written piece the sender mentions they are on the Rhine, being that it is December 18, 1918 it can also be inferred that he was part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force that was maintaining peace and order through Germany following the Armistice.
Recipient:
Mrs. … Wood, proved to be probably the most difficult part of research, as all we were left with was Swift Current, Saskatchewan. I decided I would begin my research with the Prairie Census of 1916 in hopes that I could figure out if she had lived in Swift Current prior to the time of the letter. The search proved unsuccessful as Wood was a very common last name in Swift Current that year and with her first name being not legible looked like a lost cause. I then proceeded to look at the Canadian Census of 1921 but once again ran into the same problem when narrowing it down to Saskatchewan, and then Swift Current. Another, issue that arose around this was I had no way of determining an age for Mrs. Wood, or a way of trying to reference it off the senders age, with no apparent relationship present and the sender being a mystery himself. I decided that internet searches would not be as useful as I thought, and proceeded to contact various locations throughout Saskatchewan.
I began my search in Saskatchewan by calling the municipal government of Swift Current to see if they held World War One era censuses and marriage certificates. From there I was redirected to the Swift Current Museum, and spoke to both the curator and head of collections, who once again further directed me to provincial archives. I then proceeded to contact both locations of the Saskatchewan provincial archives, the Regina office first, and then the Saskatoon office after being redirected from Regina. In speaking with the Saskatoon office, I learned that all vital statistics are kept by EHealth Saskatchewan and census records by Library and Archives Canada. Furthermore, I contacted the offices of EHealth Saskatchewan and tried to obtain a marriage, or death certificate of Mrs.Wood, but on their end they were just as stuck finding information as on mine. Which ultimately led to the finding that the recipient Mrs.Wood, would remain as mysterious as the sender, ‘Gordon’.
Image:
The above image show views of the Hoyoux, both from 1918 or the time of the printing of the postcard (Fig. 3), and an updated view of the river from 2009 (Fig. 2), showing the changes. From the widening of the body of water to the further development of housing and other buildings along he riverbed. The tranquility of the area remains the same and withstood the test of time
The image on the postcard is a view of the river Hoyoux in the township of Huy, Belgium. I decided to conduct my research, not only on the significance of the river, and township to the war but also to its historical significance overall. From the start of my research I faced the complications based on the fact the Huy isn’t really an independent city or town more of a municipality/township. Therefore, being home to more institutional buildings rather citizens and a functioning market society. However, with that being said Huy has still held its place in history on many occasions.
To begin my research I went back to the origins of Huy to learn how the municipality was formed. Its roots date back to the Roman Empire, being apart of the vast territory of Rome. Originally, it was and village and remains as such until around the 7th century, when the city was named Huy, in accordance to the river in which it resides upon and that is featured on the postcard, the river Hoyoux. The city continued to flourish, and made a name for itself economically in the middle ages. Furthermore, it upheld its economic status practically until the 19th century. During the 15th century and onwards the city was used as a stronghold, largely due to the fact that it is situated along the river, and has a fortified castle in the middle of the city. However, due to its position the city was largely targeted, and eventually the castle was destroyed by the citizens of Huy as a means of protection, essentially a submission. The location of Huy proved to be too strong too hold out on, which led to the building of the citadel, which played a part in World War One as well as World War Two.
Furthering my research I looked into the significance of Huy during World War One, as thats the time of the postcard. Compared to the cities rich history, its place in World War One was rather insignificant, although not completely obsolete in the grand scheme. Huy took part in the first battle of the first German offensive of World War One, the Battle of Liege. Largely due to the citadel and the proximity to the Liege, Belgian General Leman used the city to house his troops and transport them to the nearby battle. Towards the end of the battle the Belgian 8th Brigade also used the strategic position on the water to hold back German troops by blowing up one of Huy’s bridges preventing an advance.
Following such research on the significance of the image, being the river Hoyoux, in Huy, Belgium during World War One I turned my attention to what took place following the war. Quite possibly the last major event to take place within Huy was during World War Two. Once German forces invaded Belgium, the citadel of Huy was used as a hold for Belgian political prisoners, in some cases acting as a midpoint between concentration camps. From then on the municipality of Huy has remained a steady nation, with only few major event occurring after the events of World War Two.
Part 3 – Conclusion
The postcard from one ‘Gordon’ to his recipient Mrs.Wood proved to be a difficult affair to decode and understand. However, with that being said it did not prove to be a lost cause. In my research I was able to understand the historical significance of the township that appears as the image of the postcard, and its place in the war. Although it may appear as if Gordon chose the postcard due to the fact that the town looked nice as he hinted at in his writing, Huy still was apart of the war and the first battle of the war at that. Furthermore, while Gordon managed to make himself rather mysterious in his writing his place of delivery, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, allowed for some insight into the Brigade that he may have been a part of and their place in the war. Also, the postcard came at a time in which the CEF was maintaining order in Germany, and in his writing Gordon confirms this by saying that he is on the Rhine. All of which provides insight into the life of Gordon and his place during the war but still leaves me with many questions.