Welsh Parliament First Birthday Postcard

I came across an old postcard dated 22nd July 1908, sent to a Master E.H. Fletcher of 73 Gainsborough Street, Oldham.  The postcard was sent to wish 'Master Fletcher' a Happy First Birthday. It's a great postcard as it depicts the house on the corner of High Street and Parliament Street in Rhuddlan, as it looked in 1908 - yesterday's blog was about this house, which still stands there to this day. It is said to be the site of Edward I's Parliament building in which was passed the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. 

The statute  effectively meant that the people of Wales were  governed by a 'foreign power'  i.e. Edward I and his cohorts in London. This one piece of ancient legislation is regarded by some historians as the first ever 'colonial  constitution,' while others view it as a charter which supposedly safeguarded the rights and privileges of the Welsh people. 

As a Welshman born and bred, I tend to believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle, for many Welsh barons at this time struck their own bargains with English royalty to bolster their own standing,  with scant regard for the indigenous people who worked the land for little or no reward. Additionally, history recounts that it was in Rhuddlan where King Edward, upon learning of his son's birth in Caernarfon, proclaimed the child as the 'Prince of Wales,' establishing a tradition within the British monarchy which endures to the present day with, since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William being announced to that position - without, I may add, any recourse to the people of Wales! It appears that  nothing changed in 800 years.

Anyway, back to the building in Rhuddlan. The inscription on the side of the Parliament Building reads:

‘This fragment is the remains of the building where Edward I held his parliament A.D. 1283, in which was passed the Statute of Rhuddlan, securing to the Principality of Wales its judicial rights and independence'

As regards the recipient of the postcard, I did some research about him and found that he was born Edward Holgate Fletcher, to Ada and Edward Fletcher on 22nd July 1907, so he was indeed one year old on this date.  The postcard was sent by his mother's brother Will who must have been on holiday from Oldham in the Rhyl area at the time.

Edward Fletcher became a Slater and Tiler, following in the footsteps of his father who was also in the building trade in the Oldham area. During the Second World War he was an ARP Warden and an ambulance driver.  He died in 1974 aged 67.

Unusually for the period Edward Fletcher was divorced, although he did have several children, so I assume some of his descendants are still around the Lancashire area today.  Happy to pass the postcard on if anyone knows of a living relative!

#Rhuddlan #Oldham #oldpostcard #welshparliament #nigeldavieswilliams #history #writerslife