This WLS-003 J.C. Wilson patriotic postcard, ex. Colin Banfield, was written by a soldier returning from the Boer War, and was mailed on the day of his return, July 22, 1902. The war had ended May 31, 1902 with the signing of a peace treaty in Vereeniging. The card was mailed from Halifax to Chester, Nova Scotia on the day that the S.S. Winifredian arrived in Halifax bearing the 2nd Regiment of the Canadian Mounted Rifles, and the 10th Canadian Field Hospital, Army Medical Corps.
The card reverse, at right, bears the note: “Halifax is in gay attire today because of the return of the “boys” from South Africa. The union jack and kindred flags are seen in all directions. I send you one that I have carried several thousand miles...” and also mentions a card sent several weeks earlier. The text indicates that at least some soldiers carried J.C. Wilson postcards across the Atlantic to South Africa when they embarked for the war, and used them for correspondence.
The card reverse, at right, bears the note: “Halifax is in gay attire today because of the return of the “boys” from South Africa. The union jack and kindred flags are seen in all directions. I send you one that I have carried several thousand miles...” and also mentions a card sent several weeks earlier. The text indicates that at least some soldiers carried J.C. Wilson postcards across the Atlantic to South Africa when they embarked for the war, and used them for correspondence.
