An artist’s cartoons of life fighting in the First World War, plus decorated love letters to his sweetheart back home, have been published online by family history website Findmypast.
Private Henry Page’s scrapbook was found at Southwark Archives and digitised by Findmypast.
Henry joined the army as a volunteer on 25 October 1915. After a year on home service with the Walworth TA Unit, 24th London Regiment, he was sent to France where he served six months. In early December 1916, the 2/24 set off for Salonika, where Henry spent another six months. In June 1917, he was shipped to Alexandria, Egypt. At one point he caught typhoid fever and spent 16 weeks in hospital.
Henry’s drawings depict day-to-day life in the army. They include cartoons of soldiers and drawings of the Alexandria streets and people.
Henry also wrote letters back home to his sweetheart, Edith Pedley, drawing beautiful illustrations on the envelopes. One drawing shows the lovers sat on a cliff top with the words ‘What I'm waiting for’, while another shows them toasting with the caption ‘Here’s To Us Both For The New Year’.
Findmypast’s genealogists have also found out more about Henry and Edith. In the 1911 census, Henry is living in Stoke Newington, London. He is 21 years old and his profession is ‘Designer in Drawings’. Edith, meanwhile, is living in Mile End. She is 19 years old and her profession is ‘Shorthand Typist’.
Happily, Henry survived the war and he and Edith married. In the 1939 Register they are shown living on Dunstable Road, Luton, with Henry’s profession given as ‘commercial artist’. Henry died in 1976 and Edith in 1984.
Jen Baldwin, Research Specialist at Findmypast, said: “This is a truly remarkable love story that was able to survive everything the Great War could throw at it.”
