And so you see, kiddies ........ long before you could knee-jerk all over Charlton Life before setting brain into gear, in the 'good old days' you had to buy a postcard and stamp, select your best fountain pen and actually walk to the postbox.
As a child I remember being upset when we sold bow legged Charlie to Pompey. Also when we sold Frank Lock and Johnny Evans to Liverpool. I suppose we needed the money.
Saw quite a bit of Charlie Vaughan - could frustrate and delight in equal measure. Seed was astute, with a good record of recruitment and moving on. He could not have known then however that the generation succeeding Vaughan, Hurst, Fenton et al would go on to produce football of a different class
I've discovered who wrote the postcard - Eric Alexander Crawford. Born 19th Feb 1920 Greenwich. Died 5 September 2012 Frinton. in 1939, a clerk he was living with his parents Walter and Rosina and sister Joyce at 163 Waller Road Deptford. He married Betty Smith in 1950 at Wandsworth. Betty was a shorthand typist who in 1939 was living with her family at....... 107 Putney Bridge Road.
Thanks to @JamesSeed who sent the photo of the card.
Seed kept it for some reason
Other side of the card
Do we know if there is a story behind the shamrock-style badge of this era?
it's not a shamrock, it's a club like on a deck of playing card @Neil_Heaney
So it spells out Chartlon Athletic Football CLUB.
It was the first badge ever used on our shirts although It seemed to stop around the time of this photo.
The Robin doesn't appear until the 1946 Cup final.
@stig is your man for evolution of the badge although not for updating timelines
I don't know too much about the club shaped badge, but I'm not sure there's a great deal to know. As far as I know (as mentioned above), whoever designed it just used the trefoil shape to represent the word club. I can't think of another football club that has done this for an official badge though at some point (1970s?) there seemed to be a penchant for using the word ace and all sorts of clubs produced tacky memorabilia using this shape and the phrase 'ace of clubs'. As far as I know the club shape is more popular amongst motorbike clubs/gangs - presumably making a link the The Ace Cafe.
The following text is taken from an article I wrote for the Trust a few years ago: "It wasn't until the 1930s that the first Charlton badge appeared; a club-shaped badge with letters CAF on its face. Quite when Charlton started wearing this badge is uncertain, but there is a nice story that the badge was commissioned to celebrate the 1934/5 promotion. Unless the Press Association have a problem with their cataloguing though, it can't be true. They have at least six pictures of players wearing the badge prior to that season finishing. The earliest being of Harold Hobbis wearing the badge before the home match with Preston in September 1932. By the time of the 1936/37 team photo, Charlton shirts were again devoid of all badges. That is the way things would stay until 1946".
I suspect grandad kept the postcard because it featured a photo of the ‘34/5 side, which by 1951 would have been hard to find, were he not already in possession of one.
He would have replied to the fan, I expect. I have a letter he wrote to one who had written to the club asking for players’ autographs in Oct 1945. He replied saying that because of the war players weren’t around, and that ‘there is no time available’.
Jimmy was ‘secretary manager’, so fulfilled the Chris Parkes role, as well as managing the team. And you try telling the young people of today that, and they won’t believe you.
I've discovered who wrote the postcard - Eric Alexander Crawford. Born 19th Feb 1920 Greenwich. Died 5 September 2012 Frinton. in 1939, a clerk he was living with his parents Walter and Rosina and sister Joyce at 163 Waller Road Deptford. He married Betty Smith in 1950 at Wandsworth. Betty was a shorthand typist who in 1939 was living with her family at....... 107 Putney Bridge Road.
'Betty, take another letter for me please... Dear Mr Seed, why does Charlie Vaughan want to leave?...'
And another thing. Why was Harold Miller sold to Chelsea just three weeks after playing for England and being our first player to score an international goal? I must protest strongly about this short sighted attitude by the Charlton directors. It has been bothering me since 1923. Are we just going to be a selling club and get rid of all our best players? I think we should be told.
I've discovered who wrote the postcard - Eric Alexander Crawford. Born 19th Feb 1920 Greenwich. Died 5 September 2012 Frinton. in 1939, a clerk he was living with his parents Walter and Rosina and sister Joyce at 163 Waller Road Deptford. He married Betty Smith in 1950 at Wandsworth. Betty was a shorthand typist who in 1939 was living with her family at....... 107 Putney Bridge Road.
And another thing. Why was Harold Miller sold to Chelsea just three weeks after playing for England and being our first player to score an international goal? I must protest strongly about this short sighted attitude by the Charlton directors. It has been bothering me since 1923. Are we just going to be a selling club and get rid of all our best players? I think we should be told.
I've discovered who wrote the postcard - Eric Alexander Crawford. Born 19th Feb 1920 Greenwich. Died 5 September 2012 Frinton. in 1939, a clerk he was living with his parents Walter and Rosina and sister Joyce at 163 Waller Road Deptford. He married Betty Smith in 1950 at Wandsworth. Betty was a shorthand typist who in 1939 was living with her family at....... 107 Putney Bridge Road.
Wow. That’s serious research. Do you use something like Ancestry @cherryorchard ? Very impressive.
Comments
And so you see, kiddies ........ long before you could knee-jerk all over Charlton Life before setting brain into gear, in the 'good old days' you had to buy a postcard and stamp, select your best fountain pen and actually walk to the postbox.
Seed kept it for some reason
Other side of the card
Haha
.... btw. Where's Yann? 😁
So it spells out Chartlon Athletic Football CLUB.
It was the first badge ever used on our shirts although It seemed to stop around the time of this photo.
The Robin doesn't appear until the 1946 Cup final.
@stig is your man for evolution of the badge although not for updating timelines
Sweet location 😉.
Seed was astute, with a good record of recruitment and moving on. He could not have known then however that the generation succeeding Vaughan, Hurst, Fenton et al would go on to produce football of a different class
The following text is taken from an article I wrote for the Trust a few years ago: "It wasn't until the 1930s that the first Charlton badge appeared; a club-shaped badge with letters CAF on its face. Quite when Charlton started wearing this badge is uncertain, but there is a nice story that the badge was commissioned to celebrate the 1934/5 promotion. Unless the Press Association have a problem with their cataloguing though, it can't be true. They have at least six pictures of players wearing the badge prior to that season finishing. The earliest being of Harold Hobbis wearing the badge before the home match with Preston in September 1932. By the time of the 1936/37 team photo, Charlton shirts were again devoid of all badges. That is the way things would stay until 1946".
And you try telling the young people of today that, and they won’t believe you.