Edward Culling, 23935, 7th August 1889 – 7th July 1917

I would like to take this opportunity thank Mr Eddie Pritchard and Mr Brian Mountjoy who assisted with the on-line research into Edward’s life and family and also helped with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission temperamental web site. I have never met these gentlemen, they responded to a post I left on a web page.

Thanks also to the Regimental Headquarters of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, Preston and Mark Roberts (ex) Wessex Archaeology for their assistance in researching Edward’s service in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and especially Mark for visiting the Glasgow Library on my behalf.

An extra special thanks goes to the archivist office, Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Special thanks go to Mr Harold Culling (no relation), President of the Liverpool and S.W. Lancashire Family History Society who’s dedication and generosity for researching and providing a comprehensive history of the Culling family. And finally Karen Walker and Dave Farwell for lending me the books that proved invaluable.

The start

How did this all start, well way back in the middle of 2002 my mother, Bobbie, showed me a small bundle of postcards the majority of which were from World War 1. These cards were given to my mother by her mother Eva.

Eva died died after a stroke and subsequent long illness on 13th September 1993.

How I did it

The majority of the cards were correspondence between Isabelle Jones and Edward Culling. Some of the writing on the reverse of the cards was in ink, some in pencil, the latter making difficult reading due to the effects of age. The cards and the legible text intrigued me so I borrowed them in order to peruse at my leisure and attempt to decipher the non legible writing.

I started by scanning the backs of the cards but found that the faded text still did not show well in normal scan mode so I scanned them using various settings i.e. negative view, high and low gamma etc. I found that the negative view (in effect a photographic negative) enabled me to read some of the less effected text, then by using high or low gamma settings in the negative view enabled me to read the vast majority of the faded text.

I then decided to scan the front of the cards and print of copies with a transcript of the text beneath and any other information about the card such as printers/companies and country of origin. This I did so people could enjoy the cards without handling the originals thus helping to preserve them. One thing led to another and I started to research Edward’s life.

My family knew very little about Edward’s life and the majority of what is known was passed down the generations verbally.

But for now you will have to wait a bit longer.