• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Two Australian soldiers and a Frenchman [First World War postcard, 26 July 1917]

14 May 2022 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This postcard, which incorporates a photo of two Australian soldiers and a Frenchman (the latter dressed in an Australian army uniform), is from the era of the First World War (1914-1918). The postcard is dated 26 July 1917.]

Two Australian soldiers and a Frenchman

Postcard (1917), with a photo of two Australian soldiers, and a Frenchman, from the First World War (1914-1918)
Front of postcard



Postcard (1917)
Reverse of postcard

[Front of postcard]

[A photo of two Australian soldiers and a Frenchman (the latter is dressed in an Australian army uniform).]

[Reverse of postcard]

[Handwritten text, in italics]

26.7.17

Dearest Olive,

I believe this is the worst Photo I have had taken; my luck is right out with them lately.

This is my chum C. Sedgman; on your left hand Henri Persaint, a French boy who we met in Corbie, he won’t be called up to serve for another 6 months & my word he is anxious to get at it, he is another of my swimming partners & of course you know the other chap; I hardly know it myself, anyhow it is me, so you know all about him, he’s (no bon).

Best love,

Mac Henry

[No identifying information about the manufacturer was included on the postcard.]



Source:
Original document

Editor’s notes:
Dimensions (approximate): 90 mm. (width), 139 mm. (height).

The photo shows (left to right) Henri Persaint (a Frenchman), Cyril Ernest Sedgman, and Henry Landale McIntyre.

The writer of this postcard is Henry Landale McIntyre, who has signed himself as “Mac Henry”. He was born in North Carlton (Victoria) on 5 March 1889, and joined the Australian Imperial Force on 23 March 1915 (when he was 26 years old); he was discharged on 31 August 1919 (medically unfit, as the result of military service). He re-enlisted with the Australian military during the Second World War. He died in 1974.
See: 1) “Henry Landale McIntyre”, Discovering Anzacs [the site includes several photos of McIntyre, including (apparently) a copy of the front of this postcard (the copy includes the blemish on the top-right of the photo, situated on the curtains]
2) “McIntyre Henry Landale: SERN 4461” (Australian Imperial Force: Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad), Discovering Anzacs
3) “McIntyre Henry Landale: SERN 4461” (Memorandum for: The Inspector-General: The State Savings Bank, Melbourne), Discovering Anzacs [includes discharge details]
4) “Private Henry Landale McIntyre”, Australian War Memorial
5) “McIntyre, Henry Landale”, Virtual War Memorial Australia [gives birth date, 5 March 1889]
6) “McIntyre, Henry Landale”, Virtual War Memorial Australia [WW2 entry; gives a birth date of 5 March 1890, being a year later than his actual birth date, presumably to make himself younger, so that he could sign up for the military]
7) “Search your family history”, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria
(birth record: name: MCINTYRE, Hy Landale; mother’s name: Barbara; father’s name: MCINTYRE, Archd; place of birth: North Carlton; reg. year: 1889; reg. no.: 10674/1889)
(death record: name: MCINTYRE, Henry Landale; mother’s name: Barbara; father’s name: MCINTYRE, Archibald; place of birth: Carlton North; place of death: Heidelberg [Victoria]; age at death: 86; reg. year 1974; reg. no. 27499/1974)

Cyril Ernest Sedgman was born in Korumburra (Victoria) in December 1896, and joined the Australian Imperial Force on 26 March 1915 (when he was 18 years and 4 months old). He re-enlisted with the Australian military during the Second World War. He died in 1965.
See: 1) “Cyril Ernest Sedgman”, Discovering Anzacs [the site includes two photos of McIntyre, including (apparently) a copy of the front of this postcard (the copy includes the blemish on the top-right of the photo, situated on the curtains]
2) “Sedgman Cyril Ernest: Service Number – 4473 947” (Australian Imperial Force: Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad), Discovering Anzacs [gives his birth place as Korumburra, and his age as 18 and 4/12 years]
3) “Sedgman Cyril Ernest: Service Number – 4473 947”, Discovering Anzacs [letter of permission from his parents for him to enlist (Ernest Sedgman and Beryl Mary Sedgman]
4) “Private Cyril Ernest Sedgman”, Australian War Memorial [Service number 947]
5) “Private Cyril Ernest Sedgman”, Australian War Memorial [Service number 4473]
6) “Sedgman, Cyril Ernest”, Virtual War Memorial Australia [Service number 947]
7) “Search your family history”, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria
(birth record: name: SEDGMAN, Cyril Ernt; mother’s name at birth: HUGHAN, Beryl Mary; father’s name: SEDGMAN, Ernt; place of birth: Kburra; reg. year: 1897; reg. no.: 4400/1897) [the records of the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Victoria) have Cyril Ernest Sedgman’s birth registration listed as 1897; this may have been due to births in late 1896 not being registered until early 1897]
(death record: name: SEDGMAN, Cyril Ernest; mother’s name at birth: HUGHAN, Beryl Mary; father’s name: SEDGMAN, Ernest Francis; place of birth: Brunswick; place of death: Mont Park; age at death: 69; reg. year 1965; reg. no. 4133/1965)

Corbie = a town in the north of France, in the department of the Somme; it is located west of Amiens and north of Villers-Bretonneux; during the First World War it was used for some time as a rest town for Australian military personnel
See: 1) “Corbie”, Wikipedia
2) “Corbie”, Sir John Monash Centre

no bon = no good; a mixed English-French phrase (used by English-speaking military personnel) from the First World War (1914-1918), incorporating the French word “bon” (meaning “good”)
See: 1) “The English expressions coined in WW1”, BBC News, 22 February 2014
2) “no bon”, Lexico (Oxford Dictionary)

[Editor: For ease of reading, the original text has been separated into paragraphs, and punctuation has been inserted as deemed appropriate.]

Filed Under: ephemera, postcards Tagged With: 500x500, ESU funding, HTML tables (side) div style, IAC Ephemera Collection, military ephemera, photograph, photographs WW1, postcard, postcards WW1, soldiers' letters WW1, SourceIACLibrary, World War One (1914-1918), year1917

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • A billabong: Goulbourn River [postcard, 27 November 1907]
  • Dear Mac [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The New to the Old [poem by Randolph Bedford, 3 January 1896]
  • New Year greetings [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • New Year greetings [postcard, early 20th Century]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
  • Australian slang
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture
  • Ju on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • David Carroll on Queensland [poem by Philip Durham Lorimer]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in