Aah Christmas. That time of year where we
lowly archive workers dust off our tinsel, string up some lights and
overindulge in all things mince-pie related. Our history-addled
brains naturally turn to thoughts of Christmas past, so we thought it would be
interesting to explore what our strong rooms hold in the way of festive
greetings. Well, hold on to your Santa hats, cos we found some
crackers!
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| Undated Christmas card D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
The custom of sending printed cards began in 1843, when Sir Henry Cole
commissioned an artist friend to create a festive design. This
depicted his family feasting and raising their glasses in a toast, while around
the edges people were shown engaging in charitable acts of giving. This
dichotomy seems rather odd, and a few Victorian eyebrows were also raised at
the scandalous depiction of children imbibing glasses of wine. Not
much worse than me wrangling a Snowball from my son’s grasp at a recent
Christmas party, or the Great Babycham Scandal of 1979, when Grandma wondered
where her perry had gone…
Unfortunately, we don’t have any of these very early Christmas cards, but we are lucky that Colonel Henry Halcro Johnston kept many cards he received over a 50-year period. Henry was born in 1856 and the earliest Christmas related item we found in his papers (D15/39) is not a card, but a Rebus, named after Scotland's famous literary Detective Inspector. We knew Ian Rankin was a clever chap, but didn't imagine time travel to be in his skill set. This picture puzzle story was given to Henry when he was six, from John, his elder brother. Sadly, we have only half of it, the top of the first page, and bottom of the second.
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| Top half of a rebus from 1862, designed by Catherine Sinclair D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
The small postcard below is the earliest found
in our archive which bears a date. Some may be older but often there is
nothing written on the cards to ascertain the year as they would likely have
been accompanied by a letter reporting the sender’s news. Cards featuring
unseasonal flowers were common in the 1870s, bringing some colour and joy in
the depth of the dark, dreary winter. They may also have conveyed a specific sentiment, and while a
forget-me-not might be welcome, one may be distraught to receive a hydrangea
for heartlessness!
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| Sent in 1878 to Henry Halcro Johnstone "with Betsy Gairdner's good wishes" D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
A year later Henry received this slightly more seasonal looking card. Eyre & Spottiswoode were the official printers to the Queen, and began producing Christmas cards on a grand scale in 1878. These were very popular as the cards were renowned at the time for their ‘good taste, respect for elegance of design and artistic excellence’. "Heaps of pudding" certainly conveys good taste to us.
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| Sent in 1879 to Henry "With Bessie’s love + wishes to recall an oft
repeated phrase, “Boys” etc" D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
Among the undated cards, we found some beautifully illustrated seasonal designs:
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| Undated cards received by Henry Halcro Johnston D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
Our modern festive celebrations are often derided for their lack of reference to the Christian tradition and one might expect Victorian Britons to be more mindful of Christmas as a time of religious observance. You may be surprised that we unearthed no nativity scenes, wise men or guiding stars, finding only one card featuring a religious greeting:
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| Undated Christmas Card D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
The style of Victorian cards changed through the decades, and while many, like those above, featured familiar imagery such as holly and robins, others are more unusual, with witty puns designed to raise a smile at this often gloomy time of year.
This one left us bemused, and we were more than a little nervous about doing an internet search for the 'Big, Big D'...
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| Undated Christmas Card c1880 D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
"Bad language or abuse,
I never, never use,
Whatever the emergency;
Though "bother it" I may
Occasionally say,
I never use a big, big D —"
The ‘Golden Dustman’ may be Nicodemus ‘Noddy’ Boffin, from Charles Dickens’ book ‘Our Mutual Friend’. Dickens was inspired by his friend Henry Dodd, who made his fortune removing rubbish from the streets of London. Presumably, you'd want to be at home when he called to ensure he didn't nick your Christmas presents!
The card is undated but similar scallop-edged
cards from the same pun-loving printer are from around 1880. Our Mutual Friend was published in 1865 and
HMS Pinafore was first performed in 1878, so this date seems plausible.
Of course, no Christmas card blog post would be complete without an array of weird and wonderful creatures from the 1880s, like these festive frogs below. Maybe there is a symbolic connection to Christ's birth, as apparently in Renaissance art, the shape-shifting transformation from spawn to tadpoles to grown up frogs meant they were regarded as symbols of rebirth. So I am toad anyway.
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| Undated Christmas cards c.1880 D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
Maybe this moggy could teach us a thing or two, or these monkeys will remind us to stay mischievous and have plenty of festive fun:
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| Undated Christmas cards c1880 D15/39 Halcro Johnston Papers |
