Postcard History

Most Americans are about to ask, “What, pray-thee, is a Concert Party?”

A concert party, also called a Pierrot troupe, is a collective name for a group of entertainers, popular in Britain during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Postcard History has featured other Pierrot troupe cards if you would like additional background. This sample card comes from the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, and shows a Pierrot troupe at Scarborough, circa 1905.

Concert parties were travelling shows of comedy and song, often put on at a seaside resort or at the opening of what most Americans know as Vaudeville.

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This postcard is one that fits two topics: World War One and a Concert Party.

The card is a real photo postcard. It has not been posted but has been used to gather names and autographs on the face and elsewhere the message “Some of the boys in 21 Training Squadron’s concert party.”

The image is that of a concert party that appears to be named The Curios and the characters featured are Horace, Flapper, and A Lady.’ Two are dressed as comic characters.

It was probably unnecessary, but someone has deemed it worthwhile to confirm on the face of the card that the persons shown in the picture are all men.

The Flapper has signed the card W. Hopkins, A Lady has signed it H. C. Brown, and the heavily painted Horace has signed E. F. Bones.

Collecting postcards of Pierrot Troupes or Concert Parties are special, particularly those linked to the armed forces and the men of the first world war. Such wartime cards are not plentiful, but there are several featuring men from the army and navy, and for some reason this one may be featuring men from the Royal Flying Corps.

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The 21^st Training Squadron should not be confused with the 21^st Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. The Training Squadrons, when formed were originally named Reserve Aeroplane Squadrons. They were renamed Reserve Squadrons in 1916, and then again to Training Squadrons in 1917.

According to Wikipedia No. 21 Training Squadron was formed in May 1916 and was based at Shoreham in Sussex. The only confirmed fact so far found is a newspaper clipping, from the Driffield Times (June 14, 1919) regarding the unit is this brief extract:

“Air Force Sports at Eastburn Aerodrome“
Last Friday afternoon a large company assembled at the Eastburn Aerodrome where (by kind permission of Major Marray, D.5.0., M.C., Officer Commanding) an excellent programme of sports was arranged in connection with the Royal Air Force No. 21 Training Squadron….”

Eastburn Aerodrome was in Driffield, Yorkshire, and several hundred miles from both Shoreham and Salisbury.

The records suggest that there were only 13 people with the surname ‘Bones’ who served in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. It is fairly certain that the character of Horace, in the image, who signed E. F. Bones, was Ernest Frederick Bones. He was corporal, mechanic, and driver.

Ernest Frederick Bones was born in Bromley in London in 1889. He was 26 when he enlisted. Various census records show his occupation as a warehouseman, a motor driver, and lorry driver at the time of the 1939 National Register. And according to this brief report in the Western Daily Press (January 13, 1933) it could be assumed that he was a ‘speedy’ driver.

“Motorists Fined at Bridgwater”
At Bridgwater County Police Court, yesterday … Ernest Frederick Bones and Frank Percy Clifford, two London lorry drivers, were ordered to pay £1 for driving motor-lorries at a speed exceeding 20 miles an hour.”

Ernest Frederick Bones died in Oldham in 1969.

The common surname “Brown” (A Lady on the postcard) is far too common to enable me to trace; there were over 2,500 men named Brown in the RFC.

“The Flapper” however may well have been Wilfred Hopkins. This is a guess, based only on the facts that he was the same age as E.F. Bones and was also a driver. There were 258 RFC men named Hopkins in the RFC and 20 of them had a given name initial of “W.”