The Postcard
A Collotype Series postcard that was published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Art Publishers to Their Majesties the King and Queen.
All the people in the photograph (as well as the dog!) have been posed by the photographer.
The card was posted in Bala on Monday the 28th. July 1913 to:
Miss Lloyd,
Grocery Stores,
Brymbo.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"We are enjoying the
fresh air and feel much
better.
Coming back soon.
From
M. D. and Norma".
Brymbo
Brymbo is a large village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies in the hilly country to the west of Wrexham town, largely surrounded by farmland. At the 2011 Census, the population of the community area was 4,836.
The area was formerly heavily dependent on coal mining and steelmaking, and the Brymbo Steelworks, which operated between 1794 and 1990, was a prominent feature of the village and much of the surrounding area.
Bala
Bala is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire, at the north end of Bala Lake. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 1,974, 78.5% of whom spoke Welsh.
Duncan Carse
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 28th. July 1913 marked the birth of Duncan Carse. Verner Duncan Carse was an English explorer and actor known for surveying South Georgia and for his portrayal of Special Agent Dick Barton on BBC Radio.
Duncan Carse's Personal Life
Carse was born in Fulham, London, the son of the artist A. Duncan Carse. He attended school at Sherborne School in Dorset, and in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Carse married Bertha Sylvia Hadfield in 1938, with whom he had two daughters. He had a son - Peter Carse - with his second wife Elizabeth Wilen.
Carse married Venetia Kempe, his third wife, in December 1962. They lived in Fittleworth, West Sussex, and the marriage lasted until Carse's death at the age of 90.
Exploration
Carse joined the Merchant Navy and sailed for the Southern Ocean aboard the RRS Discovery II in 1933. While in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, Carse encountered the British Graham Land Expedition, which was on its way to Antarctica on the yacht Penola.
Carse secured permission to transfer to the expedition, serving as a seaman and wireless operator and helping to lay depots on the Antarctic Peninsula. Carse returned to England in 1937, and in 1939 he was awarded the silver Polar Medal and Clasp for his part in the Graham Land expedition.
After the Second World War, Carse was determined to resume exploration of the far south. At the suggestion of the Royal Geographical Society and the Scott Polar Institute, he decided to focus his attention on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.
His efforts over the next several decades won him a pre-eminent place in South Georgia's history. He organised and led the South Georgia Survey of 1951–57, surveying much of the interior of the island. Mount Carse and Carse Point are named after him.
The comprehensive survey of the island resulted in the classic 1:200000 topographic map of South Georgia, occasionally updated but never superseded since its first publication in 1958. A full account of the four South Georgia Survey expeditions led by Duncan Carse was written by the geologist on the 1951–52 and 1953–54 surveys, Alec Trendall.
In 1961, Duncan decided to become a modern day Robinson Crusoe, and lived as a hermit in a remote part of South Georgia. Carse built a house at Ducloz Head on the southern coast of the island, intending to live there through the winter.
However, in May, three months into the experiment, surge waves destroyed his camp. He managed to salvage enough gear to survive the winter until making contact with a ship 116 days later.
Carse maintained a long interest in the expeditions of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, and wrote the Introduction and Notes to the 1974 Folio Society Edition of Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley.
A second Polar Medal clasp was awarded to Duncan in 1982 for his leadership of the later survey work – this mapping being of particular value in the period of conflict in the Falklands.
Duncan Carse's Radio Work
After his return from the Antarctic, Carse began working in radio for the BBC. He was a presenter and announcer from 1939 to 1942, when he rejoined the Royal Navy for service in the Second World War.
At the end of the war, he returned to radio, and in 1949 secured his best-known role: he was the voice of Special Agent Dick Barton for 265 of the 711 episodes of the very popular BBC Radio serial.
He continued in this role until leaving for the South Georgia Survey in 1951. Carse worked as a presenter through the mid-1980's, and participated in producing BBC documentaries about South Georgia and the Antarctic.
Television and Film Work
(a) Television
Proud Canvas (BBC, 1947) Narrator: Duncan Carse
The Goshawk (David Cobham/BBC, 1968) Lead role (Falconer): Duncan Carse
Survival in Limbo (David Cobham/BBC, 1976)
Between 1981 and 1983 Carse presented three series of the programme "Travellers in Time" on BBC2. These presented archive films from the early 20th. century, including those from Antarctic expeditions and early attempts to climb Mount Everest.
(b) Film
The BFI Filmography record for Carse lists over 140 roles from Presenter/Commentator/Narrator to scriptwriting, music and acting through his near-50-year career. The listing suggests that an alternative name J. York Scarlett or Yorke Scarlett was used for Sound Recording work.
Death and Legacy of Duncan Carse
Duncan Carse died on the 2nd. May 2004, shortly after finally agreeing to a portrait sitting. In discussion with his wife Venetia, it was agreed that it would be fitting to work on the sculpture with reference to visual memories, a photographic archive of 60 years of images.
Bronze portrait busts of Carse by the sculptor Jon Edgar are now held in public collections at the South Georgia Museum, and the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University. The terracotta original is held in the collection of the artist.
A number of expedition images of Carse from 1934 to 1937 are now in the Scott Polar Research Institute on line archive, Freeze Frame.
The Falkland Islands Philatelic bureau issued postage stamps to commemorate Carse's life.
One photographic portrait of Duncan Carse exists in the National Portrait Gallery; it is by Howard Coster.