On the back of this picture it says, 11th November 1925 the freedom of Ramsgate being granted to field marshal viscount Allenby.I have just finished volume 3 of my series of books of postcards of Ramsgate, each volume contains about 160 pictures and they sell for £7.99 each. I am working on volume 4 at the moment and this is one of the pictures that will go in it.
It’s a strange thing but I have seen all the original postcards, published pretty much all of them online, so I have seen all the pictures on the computer screen at that point.
I have then gone through all of the images, enhancing them, cropping them and adjusting the contrast and brightness for printing, so I have seen them all again on the screen again at that point.
Now however in book form, and my books are fairly simple stapled affairs, it as though one is somehow seeing the pictures for the first time, there is something in turning the paper pages that just doesn’t work on the screen.
Looking at this picture one is aware that we have lost something of our national identity, and our identity as a town, I am assuming the picture was taken in Ramsgate town hall. It is certainly clear that the people making the vital decisions about a town as large as Ramsgate should have some sort of stake in the town.
Minor point Michael but it's Allenby not Allanby. When the British took Jerusalem from the Turks in 1918 Allenby, as a Christian, dismounted from his horse to lead his troops in on foot. His reason? 'Christ had entered Jerusalem on a donkey so who am I to enter on a horse'? True story told me in Jerusalem just after the Six Days' war in 1967.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction 16.46 spelling never my strong point, nice story too, incidentally I haven’t found any other mention of him being given the freedom of Ramsgate as yet.
ReplyDeleteI assume now that the Allenby Road in Ramsgate has some link with this event. Actually, I think, (to correct my own entry) the Allies took Jerusalem in late 1917. It would be interesting to speculate what the history of the Middle East would have been had things ended differently during WW1. No Balfour Declaration so no Jewish Homeland etc.
ReplyDeleteI can now confirm that Allenby Road was indeed named after him also the town clerk bewigged seated at the desk is Blasdale Clarke. I am coming to the conclusion that history is an ongoing process both of self correction and speculation.
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