Who Mary was is not entirely clear from the content of these cards.
Amongst the collection is a card from Mary to Ted's sister Violet sent in February
1915.We can reasonable safely deduce that the two girls were friends and that
Mary was from Fakenham.
There are also two cards addressed to Miss Mary Louise Beck of Fakenham.
A littleresearch shows that she was the daughter of George and Harriett Beck
and born in 1891. George was described in the Census as a flour mill manager
and lived on Bridge Street in Fakenham. Mary had an older brother,
Victor Reginald (see postcard June 24th). In 1911 George had died and the
family lived at No 3 Stanley Terrace off Queens Rd. Mary was working, described
as "Rinking Hall Waitress".
Mary and Ted were clearly known to each other in 1914 as seen in her card to
Violet and this greetings card to Ted for his birthday in March that year:
The series of these cards that suggest a romantic involvement and date from
the period between the end of May and the end of August 1915. Or could it just
be Violet's friend doing her bit for the War effort by writing to her soldier brother
at the front?
May 29 1915
June 24th 1915
July 22 1915
August 5 1915
August 12 1915
August 20 1915
August 28 1915
August 30 1915
This one has no date:
As far as we have been able to research, Mary Beck never married and she died in Fakenham in February 1981.
Ted lived in London after the war working as a chauffeur and living at 44 Market Street Paddington. He married Daisy May Griffiths in the first quarter of 1923 in St Giles in the Fields. They had two daughters, Ella Mary born July 13th 1919 and Muriel Amy born April 5th 1925, who were baptised at St Andrews on a visit to Ryburgh in July 1926 on the 25th (Muriel) and the 30th (Ella) of that month
Ted and Daisy remained in London, and by the 1950's were living at 20 Bloomsbury Square. Ted died in 1960.