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Regimental Christmas card
1916, Paper
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of 1,058
Regimental Christmas card
Regimental Christmas card
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Location
Category
Museums & Galleries Item
Item no
23267
Title
Regimental Christmas card
Description
Christmas carded printed for the troops in the Seaforth Highlanders, 1916. The card has a soft sheen and has two panels of printed watercolour pictures. The type on the front has the words SLAINTE-NA-GAEL (Scottish Gaelic for 'Health to the Gaels/Highlanders'). In the top left corner are the words IN THE FIELD. In pencil is written 'To Dad frae Johnnie, wishing you merry [...]' The rest of the writing has faded away.
The card opens from the right and opens out to show two colour illustrations. The one on the left shows two soldiers standing in a trench with a barbed wire fence ahead of them. One soldier has a rifle drawn and the other is looking through a trench periscope.
The landscape is covered in snow and there is a small farm cottage and a set of trees in the distance. The picture is bordered with images of airplanes, falling bombs, trench tunnelling equipment, crossed rifles and other military equipment.
Date
1916
Type
Paper
Location
Museum of Edinburgh
Accession number
HH3697/6/72
Sent by Sgt. John Walker to his father, William Walker in Leith.
This card is part of a collection of items relating to an Edinburgh-based man, Sergeant John Walker. In civilian life, Walker was originally from Haddington, but lived in Leith, and worked as a butcher. He and three brothers joined the army. Walker eventually joined the Seaforth Highlanders, where he was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was killed by a shell in the area around Vimy and Thelus on 15th April 1917. The collection includes several photographs with holes made by the shrapnel which killed him. A set of photograph postcards of Walker's grave and other memorials, some of which include a man in military uniform, may have been taken by Walker's brothers touring the area immediately after the Armistice.
Exhibitions with this item
Armed Forces Day
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