Silk Embroidered Postcard, 1916

Silk Embroidered Postcard, 1916 2017/6

Soldier Allan McMaster sent this postcard home to his mother in Australia whilst on active service during World War One. McMaster was a bootmaker by trade when he enlisted in 1915. He fought as a member of the Third Battalion in France and was killed in action at the age of 22. Aviation When this postcard was embroidered with a small silver plane, humanity was just beginning to realise the military potential of heavier than air flight. At the start of World War One, aircraft were used to gather information on enemy movements and positions. By the war’s end, aerial bombardment was used to attack civilian populations. Production World War One caused mass disruption to the lives of French civilians. Embroidering postcards, like this, gave many French women a source of income while male family members were away fighting. Postcard companies paid them to embroider long rolls of silk at home which they sent off to be cut and mounted in factories then sold to international soldiers. Cards This postcard, sent from a soldier to his mother for her birthday, continues a tradition almost as old as the written word. Personalised well wishes for the new year were written and sent in Bronze Age China and Egypt. This evolved across civilisations into the multimillion dollar greeting card industry of today.