At, on and over Lake Constance

 

Schiffe, Segel, Tourenwagen,
Flieger, Zeppelin in der Höh',
Welch ein köstliches Behagen
Am, auf und über'm Bodensee.
                    ~ ~ ~
Ships, sails, touring cars,
Aviator, zeppelin in the air,
What delicious comfort
At, on and over Lake Constance.

 

It was a beautiful summer's day. Everywhere you looked people were enjoying the wonderful view of the lake and distant mountains. Never mind all the bicycles, motorcycles, tour buses, sailing yachts, steamships, airplanes, and even airships dashing about. This was German cartoonist Arthur Thiele's vision of modern life in Germany during the 1920s. The place was a popular tourist region of the Bodensee or Lake Constance which is situated in central Europe where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. Along its shorelines are the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Schaffhausen, and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. 

 

The Bodensee is the second largest lake after Lake Geneva in the arc of lakes north of the Alps. The upper Rhine River flows north from the Swiss mountains into the lake and then continues out the west branch of the lake, defining most of the Germany's southern border with Switzerland.

 

The lake's name comes from the university town of Konstanz or Constance. Since ancient times the area around the lake has always attracted visitors who come to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Konstanz is also renown as the birthplace of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917), a scion of a  Württemberg noble family. As a young man he made his mark as a military officer, once traveling to America in 1863 as an observer of the Union Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. While there he extended his time in America with a trip to the Midwest where in St Paul, Minnesota he was introduced to a German-born itinerant balloonist who treated him to a balloon accent. This sparked Zeppelin's imagination to invent a larger lighter-than-air machine that was capable of steerable powered flight. His pursuit of this dream of human flight became the rigid airships now commonly known as zeppelins. Graf von Zeppelin built his dirigibles at a facility near Friedrichshafen on the Bodensee.

 

His first successful airship was the LZ-1 which made its first flight over Lake Constance on 2 July 1900. On this first trial the LZ-1 carried five people to an altitude of 410 m (1,350 ft) and flew a distance of 6.0 km (3.7 mi). But it was all over in 17 minutes as the mechanism for adjusting a moveable weight jammed followed by an engine failure which forced an emergency landing of the airship.

 

 

This postcard's watercolor illustration recreates the scene as the giant sausage-shaped aircraft flies over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen. The artist rendered the LZ-1 dimensions fairly accurately, probably following a schematic plan, as it was 128 m (420 ft) in length and 13 m (42 ft) in diameter. Power came from propellers driven by two 4-cylinder water-cooled piston engines each capable of 14.2 hp. The crew operated the airship from inside two aluminum gondolas suspended fore and aft below from a long keel. Lift was provided by 17 cells filled with hydrogen gas contained inside the airship's cylindrical framework.

 

Below the LZ-1 is the huge floating hanger that Graf von Zeppelin constructed for the airship so that it could always be positioned to face into the wind, and also because he believed landing on water was safer than on land. In the late summer of 1900, after repairs and other modifications, the LZ-1 flew twice more on 17 and 24 October, achieving a new speed record of 6 km per hour (3.2 kn / 3.7 mph). It was then stored for the winter.

 

However it was not enough to convince investors that lighter-than-air flight had a commercial future. Because his funding was now depleted, Graf von Zeppelin was forced to dismantle the LZ-1, sell the scrap materials and tools, and liquidate his company. 

This postcard depicting the first zeppelin flight was sent from Konstanz to Wiesbaden on 30 December 1900 offering the sender's best wishes for the new year. Considering the brief time that the LZ-1 was in the air, many more people saw this tiny painting of the zeppelin than actually witnessed its first manned flights. Did the writer and recipient ever dream of what lay ahead for aviation?

 

 

Despite these setbacks, Graf von Zeppelin persevered and found investors for his next airships, notably for use by the German military. The LZ-2 was a complete redesign of his original airship and it made its first flight in January 1906, also above Lake Constance. But it was damaged on an emergency landing on its second flight and had to be scrapped. 

 

This led to a third airship, the LZ-3, which included many improvements in power and controls, and became Zeppelin's first financial success. On its maiden flight in October 1906 it carried eleven people and stayed aloft for 2 hours 17 minutes. This impressed the German government officials who authorized a major grant for more airship trials. More backing came from the Kaiser as in 1907 the LZ-3 made several long demonstration flights, including one with the German Crown Prince Wilhelm on board. 

 

However in December 1907 the LZ-3 was baldly damaged during a winter storm on the lake when its floating hanger broke loose from its mooring and was driven ashore. Fortunately Zeppelin's airship had proved itself and a contract for a replacement airship, the LZ-4, was secured from the government. But there was one stipulation. It had to achieve a 24-hour flight.

 

 

 

In this dramatic photo postcard, the LZ-4 flies above a steamship on Lake Constance with the misty snow-capped Alps in the background. This airship first flew on 20 June 1908 but problems in its steering limited the flight to just 18 minutes. Engineers made modifications and in a week it made three more test flights, the last one on 1 July 1908 for a 12 hour cross-country flight to Zürich, Switzerland. On its return to Lake Constance, it had covered 386 km (240 mi) and reached an altitude of 795 m (2,600 ft). Graf Zeppelin and his designers and crew now felt confident that the aircraft was ready for its 24 hour endurance test.

 

The route planned would follow the Rhine to Mainz, the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and then return to the floating hanger at Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. The date was postponed a few times in order to fix problems with broken parts and damage from a parking accident to the airship that occurred while leaving the hanger. Finally on the morning of 4 August 1908 the LZ-4 began its big test flight, carrying 12 people and sufficient fuel for 31 hours of flight. Hundreds of thousands of people along the river turned out to see the airship pass.

 

The next few hours are a sad tale of one mechanical failure after another. At times the problems made the gigantic zeppelin hang in the sky nose down and then nose up in order to make repairs. Unexpectedly the heat from the sun caused the hydrogen to expand which forced venting gas to prevent the craft from rising  to a dangerous altitude. This gave the airship less lift so it needed to lighten its load. It was brought down at a town south of Mainz and five passengers and all superfluous gear were removed from the craft. It then continued to Mainz where it promptly turned around. Around 1:27 AM an engine crank bearing melted and a decision was made to come down near a Daimler auto factory where a repair could be made. At 7:51 AM the LZ-4 was tethered in a field at Echterdingen and engineers removed the broken forward engine. 

Later that afternoon a gust of wind separated the airship from its mooring despite efforts by a large squad of soldiers holding onto guide ropes. As the airship tore free a crewman reduced the dangerous lift by courageously releasing gas. But on coming to ground the airship crashed into a pear tree and a static spark ignited the hydrogen. Suddenly engulfed in flames the airship was completely destroyed. It is estimated that as many as 50,000 people who had come out that morning to see the great airship witnessed the disaster.

My postcard of the LZ-4 was sent by someone with very florid handwriting which makes it a challenge for me to decipher, but the date is clearly written as 27/8 08 or 27 August 1908, just three weeks after the catastrophe. While it's fun to think the writer might be one of those eyewitnesses describing the awful destruction of the LZ-4 in their lengthy message, the message is probably about something completely different and banal.

 

 

The German public's interest in Zeppelin's airship had made it a symbol of nationalism and collective pride in Germany's great advances in science and engineering. Within 24 hours after news of the terrible accident had spread through the country, Zeppelin's company received thousands of unsolicited donations from German citizens, more than enough to build a new airship. Eventually the donations totaled over 6 million marks which provided Zeppelin with a solid financial base to continue his experiments with airship flight.

 

 

This next post card shows a view of a zeppelin flying high above a detailed topographical map. The caption reads: Das Schussental aus der Vogelschau or The Schussental from a bird's eye view. The Schussental is the region northeast of Friedrichshafen and Lake Constance. The illustration is not unlike a modern satellite view on Google Maps, except this was an artist/map maker's rendition in 1910.

 

It was sent from Ravensburg, the city at the bottom of the map, on 4 September 1910. Though this kind of perspective had been used by many artists since the Middle Ages to depict cities and towns, this might be one of the first examples that drew on an actual experience of what a person could see while flying. Certainly it demonstrated one of the important uses for observation that an airship could provide.

 

 

The next airship from Graf von Zeppelin's factory in Friedrichshafen was the LZ-5 which made its first flight on 26 May 1909 again at Lake Constance. It proved capable of making several successful long distance flights and was sold to the military. This is probably the airship depicted in the birds-eye-view. However like its predecessor it was destroyed on 24 April 1910 by a storm while on moored on the ground. On the long Wikipedia List of Zeppelins, the words "damaged, crashed, destroyed" appear frequently. Building an airship was easy. Learning to fly one safely was not.

 

 

In this next photo postcard a zeppelin hovers above a lakeside community named in the caption, Überlingen, a city on the northeast shore of Lake Constance. The airship almost looks as if it is about to throw a line over the tall church steeple. The caption also has a date 27. Oktober 1908. and on the back the postmarks are from 30/10/1908. Since the LZ-5 was not yet built and the LZ-4 was destroyed in August 1908, then this zeppelin must be an earlier photo of LZ-4. Why the photographer's caption is dated that way is a mystery. Perhaps it was a tourist souvenir of the ill-fated airship. But it's a fun photo nonetheless.

 

 

 

The year 1908 stands out in the history of aviation for more than just Graf von Zeppelin's airships. On 13 January 1908, the British-French aviator Henry Farman flew his aeroplane around a one-kilometer circle to win the 50,000-franc Deutsche-Archdeacon prize. On 4 July 1908 in Hammondsport, New York, Glenn Hammond Curtiss  flew his biplane Junebug for a distance of 5,080 ft (1,550 m) in one minute 42.5 seconds to win the Scientific American Trophy and $2,500 prize. 

 

On 5 August 1908 at Fort Meyer, Virginia, ironically on the same day as the LZ-4's terrible accident, the U. S. Army tested SC-1, Signal Corps Dirigible No. 1, the first powered aircraft ordered by its new Aeronautical Division as a test of lighter-than-air versus heavier-than-air machines. It was 93 feet (28m) long, not even a quarter the LZ-4's length of 446 ft (136 m) and holding only a tenth the volume of gas. Though this non-rigid dirigible performed decently without incident, it still failed to meet the military's requirement to fly 2-hours at 20 mph.

 

The biggest aviation event of the year was happening in Europe, by strange coincidence on August 8, 1908, when Wilbur Wright demonstrated the Wright brothers' Flyer at a horse racing track south of Le Mans, France. Over several days Wilbur flew his unique biplane around the course for hundreds of thousands of spectators, showing off the machine's ability to easily take off and land and negotiate turns including figure-eights. The Wright Flyer became an instant sensation with the French public, overshadowing the tragic news of the LZ-4. Later on 3 September 1908, Orville Wright made a similar successful exhibition of the Flyer for the Signal Corps at Fort Meyer. The Wright Brothers now had contracts from both the French and American military.

 

However two weeks later during a series of training flights when Orville was taking observers onboard, Fort Meyer became the location of the first aviation fatality. On 17 September 1908 with over 2,500 people watching, a passenger on the Wright Flyer, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, was killed when at an altitude of about 100 feet (30 m) a propeller split causing the aircraft to spin out of control. In the crash Selfridge suffered a concussion and later died, becoming the first casualty of an accident in a powered fixed-wing aircraft. Orville Wright, the pilot, was also badly injured, breaking his ribs and a leg.

 

 

Leut aus aller Herra Länder
Manne, Weiber und au Render
Roiset gern an Bodesee
Densek sich isch do moll schö.

            ~ ~ ~
People from all over the world
Men, women and au Render(?)
Roiset(?) like to go to Lake Constance
And think it's fine.

 

Ten years later, at the end of 1918, the world was recovering from more than 4 years of horrific warfare. Both zeppelins and aeroplanes played a part in this tragic conflict and at another time I will have more stories about this subject. But the 1920s were about more peaceable pursuits like holiday travel and in this last postcard by cartoonist Arthur Thiele we see how he viewed modern tourism at the Bodensee. 

 

In his colorful illustration he draws a platform of the Friedrichshafen train station where a variety of tourists hustle about on their way to find recreation at Lake Constance. Beyond the platform is a steamship and sailboats in the distance. In the sky is an aeroplane and a zeppelin as well as a cute stick figure clinging to a balloon. The dirigible is fatter and larger than the first zeppelins. And the aeroplane is a single wing monoplane, and might even be a seaplane. The balloon figure just looks desperate.

 

Thiele's humorous lines are printed with an archaic German typeface called Fraktur which makes a couple of the words difficult to translate. (Any guesses are very welcome.)

The postcard was sent on 1 July 1929 from Friedrichshafen to Frau Klara Stark of Nürnberg. The zeppelin is likely the great LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin which operated from 1928 to 1937 and became the most successful airship in aviation history. It was 236m (776 ft) in length and 30m (100 ft) in diameter. The Graf Zeppelin could carry twenty passengers with a crew of 36. It had a range of 10,000 km (6,200 miles) and did regular commercial service from Germany to Brazil and United States, eventually logging almost 1.7 million km (1,053,391 miles).

 

 

 

As I've explained in my previous posts about zeppelins, ever since I first learned about lighter-than-air flight when I was a boy, I have been fascinated with the history of balloons, dirigibles, blimps, and zeppelins. Recently when I discovered the huge variety of antique postcards depicting zeppelin flights I became intrigued by how the imagery showed how people once imagined human flight at the beginning of the 20th century. For anyone living in 1908 the sight of Graf von Zeppelin's airship gliding across the sky like a cloud must have been a true marvel. And then to watch Wilbur Wright fly swiftly around and around, up and down, had to be the most amazing thing ever seen. That kind of wonder does not exist in the 21sy century.

 

Imagination can only take us so far. Though a writer like Jules Verne or H. G. Wells might describe a flying machine, a reader must still interpret the concept. For most of the world's people in 1908 the flight of a zeppelin or aeroplane was so farfetched that to see one required a suspension of the laws of physics. How could something like that stay up in the air? Even the pioneers of aviation like Zeppelin and the Wright brothers were hard put to explain how powered flight worked. It seemed that every new advance in aviation created new problems to solve, new questions to answer, new designs to test. In 2023 as mankind prepares to make another leap to the moon and beyond, it's worth remembering how the dream first started.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 I can't resist adding a British Pathé short newsreel of the 

 New giant Graf Zeppelin over Lake Constance (1928)  

 

 

 

 And another one entitled
Graf Zeppelin airship record trip stops off in Friedrichshafen
with stowaway Clarence Terhune (1928)

 

 

 

 

 And finally a short film
showing a "landing" on the Bodensee.
GERMANY: Graf Zeppelin is moored on Lake Constance. (1931)

Watch out for the zeppelin's chef.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where Britannia will always rule the waves.

The Imperial Ladies' Band of Chicago Junction, Ohio

Imperial is a word that's fallen out of fashion. There's not much need in the 21st century for a term signifying empire unless its applied to stormtroopers or stout. But in earlier times the world was filled with royal monarchs of all kinds, including a few bona fide emperors, so the adjective "imperial" implied a majestic grandeur that everyone recognized. So attaching it to the name of a band from a small town must have added a classy, even regal, quality to their music. In fact I've already written stories about The Imperial Boys' Orchestra in August 2012 and The Imperial Girls Band of Reading, Michigan in December 2011. It seems that imperial was once a popular modifier for band names.

 

Today I present
the Imperial Ladies' Band
of Chicago Junction, Ohio.

 

 

The ladies, all 17 of them, are carefully arranged outdoors in a park so that they fill out the camera frame. Dressed in summer-weight white skirts and jackets, carefully protected from grass stains by a rug, the young women appear to be around ages 13 to 19. Following a tradition of band photos the photographer has placed the bass drum front and center to best display the name of the band on the drumhead. The band has a typical instrumentation of three clarinetists and two drummers balancing the remaining brass players. In the back row is a gentleman holding a cornet who is surely the band's leader.

 

Though the postcard was never posted the back of the postcard has a note that confirms the location and adds a small detail. 

 

Grandma
     from
        Corrine

Ladies Band of
Chicago Jct. O.
They say this is the
largest ladies Band in
the state.

 

The Imperial Ladies' Band came from Chicago Junction, in Huron County, Ohio, now known as Willard, Ohio. The town was originally named just Chicago when it was established in 1874 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company as a depot along an expansion line that would connect Chicago, Illinois to central Ohio. In 1882 the B&O line recognized the public's confusion caused by this small station's name, so Chicago, Ohio, with its population of about 800, was renamed Chicago Junction. It's population grew after the B&O finished laying more track eastward to Pittsburgh in 1891 making Chicago Junction an important hub for several lines serving Ohio. By 1910 nearly 3,000 people called it home.

 

Unfortunately train station boards apparently did not have enough room for the second word "Junction" so it was abbreviated to "Jct." This continued to confound passengers and postal workers who still got the name mixed up with the big city of Chicago, so in 1917 the town's name was changed to Willard, Ohio in honor of Daniel Willard, (1861–1942) who was then the president of the B&O Railroad, and managed it from 1910 to 1941.

 

The photo of the Imperial Ladies' Band of Chicago Junction has no date, but my research uncovered a newspaper that thought their photo was worthy of publication in 1912. In July of that year the Cleveland Plain Dealer printed their picture under a heading that loudly proclaimed "WOMEN MUSICIANS COMING TO CLEVELAND."

 

 

Cleveland Plain Dealer
28 July 1912

The report said that the Chicago Junction's Imperial Ladies' Band, "the only organization of its kind in Ohio, will be brought to Cleveland for the annual national convention of the Eagles." The band was organized in February and had already filled about twenty engagements.  But even better than the featuring just the photo was that the paper included the names of each musician with their instrument.

 

The musicians are: Director: Clint Pitcher; cornets, Miss Fay Beelman, Miss Lizzie Sennett, Miss Anna Simpson, Miss Katherine Heinbaugh; clarinets, Miss Ruth Wheeler, Miss Ruth Jeffries; tubas, Miss Genevieve Forbes, Miss Winona Campbell; baritone, Miss Nina Howe; altos, Miss Frances Raymond, Miss Alica Hedden, Miss Grace Richards; trombone, Miss Milda Berk, Miss Letha, Beelman; drums, Miss Grace Bunschu, Miss Grace Rex, Miss Berk.

 

 

 

Sandusky OH Register
17 August 1912

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three weeks later, under a snarky headline "PLEASE NOTICE THEY'RE ALL UNDER TWENTY", the Sandusky Register ran a notice that said:

 

 "The Ladies' Imperial Brass Band of Chicago Junction, Ohio will give a concert on the campus in front of headquarters, at the Soldiers' Home, Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock. A program of old time war songs, war music and plantation melodies, that will awaken memories in the hearts and minds of the old soldiers, will be given, together with other selections that will please the visitors present. Now that the women are asking to be placed on an equal footing with men, so far as suffrage is concerned, here is a practical demonstration of what they can do in the art of music.

   "The band is composed of young women, all under 20 years of age. They are all talented musicians and are fully competent and capable of giving a merited and pleasing concert."

 

 The notice continued by listing the names and instruments of the band's musicians. One of the clarinetists was left out but the seventeen names in the Cleveland paper exactly corresponds to the number of young women in the photo, though I think one of the clarinetists was mistaken for a drummer.

 

_ _ _

 

 

 

 

 

The band's director and instructor was Charles Clinton Pitcher, or Clint Pitcher. In the 1910 census he was living with his wife Mary and three children in Venice, Ohio, about 10 miles west of Chicago Junction. He was born in Ohio in 1871 and according to census records held various occupations as a house painter, dairy farmer, and interior decorator.

Clint Pitcher evidently had musical talent and I found his name in a brief report from 1893 that said he and a partner provided music on violin and mandolin at a social event in Plymouth, Ohio, about 7 miles south of Chicago Junction. That Clint also played the cornet is not unusual since many musicians in this era were largely self taught and learned to play several musical instruments. However it is a testimony to his skill as a music teacher that he succeeded in training a group of young women to perform concerts after only a few months of rehearsals.

But the Imperial Ladies' Band did not just play music sitting down.
They also played while marching too.

 

Sandusky OH Register
2 October 1912

In October 1912 the Sandusky Register ran another photo of the Imperial Ladies' Band, this time in parade formation.

The free band concert to be held on the public square at Milan, Wednesday evening promises to be of more than ordinary interest.  The band consists of eighteen ladies of Chicago Junction.  The members are of the best families of that town, and they have made a decided hit in their line.  They are a novelty as a band, because there are few ladies' bands.  They are under contract to go to a Masonic convention in Denver Colorado next summer, and their time is so generally taken up that the people of Milan are fortunate in securing them at this time.  The band has recently secured new uniforms at a cost of about $500, which gives them a very nebby appearance. In case of rain the concert will be held Thursday evening.

 

 

The newspaper's grainy photo of the Chicago Junction Ladies' Band was taken from another postcard photo which I've recently acquired. Here the women are wearing the same white uniform skirts and jackets as in the previous photo, but with the addition of floppy white hats. They stand at parade rest on a residential dirt street with a few people watching in the background. Tubas and trombones lead the way with their director Mr. Pitcher at the back. One has to wonder what condition those white uniforms were in after marching on such dusty/muddy roads.

Contrary to the newspaper's report, all-female bands, both amateur and professional, were not uncommon to hear in concert during this era. However to see one marching and playing was unusual and the Imperial Ladies' Band was clearly doing its part to show that its female musicians were every bit as capable as the musicians of a mens' band.

 

I don't know where this photo was taken. Possibly in Milan, Ohio which is about 25 miles north of Chicago Junction, beyond the bigger town of Norwalk, Ohio, the county seat of Huron County. This postcard was sent from Chicago Junction on 10 March 1913 to Mrs. Geo. Sheriff of Mansfield, Ohio.

 

 

Chicago Jct. O.  Mar. 10.
Mrs. Sheriff :-   Guess you
will think I am slow
in sending you a card
but this is the first I
have been to town since
the Sun. I came home. How
does this find you?  We are
feeling much better but
mama has been sick.
Expect to come home next Tues.
        Your friend Mrs. Gralmiller.(?)

In 1913 the Imperial Ladies' Band provided music for the opening of a poultry show in Milan;  marched in the Mansfield, OH Labor Day parade along with bands from several trade unions; and bought new black velvet uniform dresses for the fall/winter season. In 1914 they played for a convention of former railroad employees in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 240 miles west of Chicago Junction; performed at the county fair in Medina, Ohio; and went to the big conclave of the Knights Templar in Columbus, Ohio where the young ladies of Chicago Junction were the only female band in a parade with over 100 bands. In 1915 they appeared at a convention of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Elyria, Ohio; then at a summer Chautauqua in Carrollton, Ohio about 100 southeast of Chicago Junction.

They were a busy bunch considering that the young women were still in school and no doubt Mr. Pitcher had other work and responsibilities to take care of. I suspect the band received support from businesses in Chicago Junction. This was a decade when boosterism was hot and it seems every small town in America was vying to become the next big little city. Certainly Pitcher secured formal contracts when his lades' band would travel which probably paid for expenses, new instruments, uniforms, and his fees too, but I doubt the girls ever earned anything from their music.

What made this small town Ladies' Band successful was its location in north central Ohio where all the railroads north to south and east to west connected. In this era travel was measured not with a road map but with a train timetable. I expect that a large number of the entertainers, bands, and orchestras in my photograph collection passed through Chicago Junction at one time or another. I believe it was too small to support a theater or newspaper, but passengers may have stopped to change trains and get a bite to eat at the station cafe.

In 1912-15 the biggest employer in Chicago Junction was the B&O rail yard where trains would stop so that their steam engines could refuel on coal and water. The puff of smokestacks, the hiss of steam cylinders, the clatter of boxcars, and banging of carriage doors must have been familiar sounds to the girls in the band. No doubt many of them learned the train schedules by heart since their brothers, fathers, and eventually husbands too, worked on the railroads.

 

 

This postcard of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Yards in Chicago Junction, Ohio gives us a small idea of how trains once powered the town's economy. I imagine that today there are rails that date from 1912 or even earlier that are still carrying train traffic.

 

 

The postcard was sent to Mrs. Harry Pierce of Carey, Ohio from Chicago Junction on 18 September 1913.

 

                                                                     9-17-13

Dear Friends  As Scott and I expect
to go away next week for a
couple of weeks tho't may be
you would want to come after
your trunk and chickens before
we went.  the rats of a cat
got another chicken last
night one that would
weigh 2½ lbs  ate about half
of it and I expect will be
after the rest tonight.  how
is Mother better I hope.  Old
Man Dye was buried 2 weeks
today Hallie went to Columbus home
Roy to the Childrens home at Norwalk
and the home is broken up the
people have not moved in our house
yet their goods have not come
no more room so by by  Mrs S.S.

 

 

The trains still stop in Willard, Ohio but not for passenger service anymore. In modern times the network of interstate roadways have replaced most passenger rail lines in America. I think that the depot in Willard/Chicago Junction does look much the same, though without the steam engines and coal chutes. The view from Google Earth gives this image of the turntable used to point the diesel engines in the right direction. Click this <LINK> for a better birds-eye-view.

 

 

 

By the 1920 census Clint Pitcher and his family had moved northeast to Cleveland. And of course many of the young women in the Imperial Ladies' Band were now older than twenty. So the ladies' band seems to have folded around 1916 as I could not find any trace of it after that. 

 

 

Except for one special event.

 

 

 

Mansfield OH News
1 August 1934

 

On 1 August 1934, the Mansfield OH News ran a notice about an event in Willard called 'Old-Timer' Day. The occasion was an invitation to former residents of Willard/Chicago Junction to return to the town for a celebration of its history. In addition to a parade and baseball game, there would be music provided by "a Willard Band of 20 years ago directed by Perry Palmer, and the girls' band of two decades ago, believed to be the first girls' band in the United States. The latter group of musicians will be directed by Clint Pitcher of Attica."

 

I wonder if the Imperial Ladies marched in the parade? Did any of them bring along their daughters to play in the band? Did they still have the bass drum?

 

Charles Clinton Pitcher died in November 1965 at age 94.

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where the trains always run on time.

The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra

 

In the best portrait photos it is the face that attracts the viewer's eye. It might be the balance of their expressions, their smile, or lack of one, combined with a tilt of the head and their gaze into the camera's lens. In a split second the photographer captures a hint of personality, a faint recognition of a subject's mood and even character.

 

 

 

That's more difficult to achieve in a group photograph. As the shutter clicks, inevitably someone blinks, licks their lips, or shrugs a shoulder. It takes a skilled photographer to coordinate a collective moment when everyone is looking their best.

 

 

There's also the constant challenge of getting light to best illuminate each face. Too much light adds glare or casts dark shadows. Too little darkens features and obscures details of hair, clothing, and background. A camera only records what the lens can see. So it's up to the photographer to chose the best placement of the camera and their subjects.

 

 

When all the variables are aligned the camera produces an image of real artistry. We are not looking at a picture of anonymous people, but instead each individual is observing us across a vast distance of time and space. "How do you do? Very pleased to meet you," they seem to say.

 

Today I present a portrait of the
Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra.

 

 

Despite the caption on this postcard photo, this small ensemble of twelve female musicians posing on the side of a theater stage was not connected to British Royalty or the Royal Navy. However they were definitely young ladies who held a variety of musical instruments sufficient to be called an orchestra. The group had a string quintet of two violins, viola, cello, and contrabass; two woodwind players with piccolo, flute, and two sizes of clarinet; two brass players with trombone and cornet; and a snare drummer for percussion. 

The conductor of the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra stood at center dressed in a dark, tight-waist gown with long white gloves. The young women wear identical white linen dresses in a flattering feminine fashion that avoids imitating a masculine band uniform.  

The name of the group was unusual enough to easily find them in the newspaper archives. The first references to the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra began in 1893.

 

 

The Era, London
27 May 1893

In May 1893 The Era, the London trade magazine for music and theater entertainers, reported that the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra had finished a month-long engagement at the Trades Exhibition in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. In recognition of her orchestra's successful performances the orchestra's director, Miss Flo Sidney, was presented with a silver-mounted baton from the exhibitors. I suspect this is the same baton with silver band that the woman in the photo is holding.  

 

 

 

Gazette, Lancaster, England
22 July 1893

The report mentioned that the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra was then in Morecambe, a seaside resort town in Lancashire, appearing at the People's Palace and Aquarium. In July the Lancaster Gazette reviewed the attractions at the Palace noting, "The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra —the ladies in blue, who look delightfully cerulean, have a splendid programme for this and the ensuing week. Miss Flo Sidney leads with her accustomed ability. Professor Devono, the Lizzettes, Jennion's Marionettes, and Mdlle. Elsie, the wire walker, are still taking turns. Lo-Lo and Lo-La perform in the dizzy heights of the hall, and are well recieved by their old patrons. Miss Florence Mouland executes piccolo solos with rare skill, and Miss Hawkesworth is a charming vocalist."

 

The ladies' orchestra was part of a variety show, almost a circus, sharing the stage with trapeze artists, acrobats, trained animal acts, dancers, vocalists, and comedians. Whether they also accompanied the acts is not explained. Certainly the orchestra "conductress" also performed solos on her instrument, violin. Nearby on the stage of the West End Summer Gardens and Pavilion, Mdlle. Hirsch's ladies orchestra similarly performed, competing with the noise from arcade games and amusement rides. In an era when symphony orchestras were exclusively all-male, female musicians could still find employment in smaller venues outside concert halls and opera houses. Many found work through the notices published in The Era. 

 

The Era, London
26 May 1900

 

Seven years later, in May 1900, a notice appeared from "The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra, Conductress, Miss Flo Sidney. WANTED. Engagements for Summer Season, 1900. The finest Lady Instrumentalists. Good Vocalists. A Large and Up-to-date Library of Music. Terms and Particulars, the National Concert Agency, 9, Berners street, London, W."

 

On the same page were notices from a Greek Ladies' Orchestra, Conductress, Miss Nellie Rennison; an English Society Band of five ladies and gentleman; a Welsh Ladies' Orchestra, Conductress, Miss Ruth Claxton; a "Good Ladies' Orchestra", trained by member of the Halle Orchestra; and even an Experienced Lady Double Drummer, Tympanist, and Xylophone Soloist seeking engagments.

However the photo of the Royal Ladies' Navy Band is not from 1893 or even 1900, as the photo postcard did not even exist in that decade. Real photo postcards began in 1903 when the Eastman Kodak company introduced their new No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak, along with pre-printed photopaper so that anyone could take a picture and have it developed and printed as a postcard. This was usually done by a local photography shop or sent directly to the Kodak company for processing. Even though the photo of the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra is unmarked, the printed divided back also dates it to a time after 1902 when the postal service first allowed senders to put message and address together on the back. The quality of the photo makes it likely that it was produced around 1908 or later.

It's a credit to her good business sense, as well as musical talent, that for over 20 years, Miss Flo Sidney managed to keep her Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra going by finding bookings at seaside resorts, roller skating rinks, and music hall theatres around England, Ireland, and Scotland. Though at first in 1893  she was known as "Miss Flo Sidney", in the 1900s she became "Madame Florence Sidney Jones." This was confusing as some notices and reviews referred to her as the wife of James Sidney Jones (Jr), (1861–1946) a popular composer and conductor of musical comedies. But Sidney Jones, as he was usually credited, married Kate Linley, an actress, in 1885 with whom he had five children. There was no mention of a Florence.

 

Jones was named after his father, James Sidney Jones, Sr. (1837–1914), a military bandmaster who gave his son and namesake his first musical training on clarinet. After numerous moves the family settled in Leeds. It was this clue that led me to discover that Flo Sidney, was actually Florence Annie Jones, the sister to James Sidney Jones, Jr. 

 

Florence was born in 1864 in Colchester, Essex and studied violin at the Yorkshire Training College of Music in Leeds. Evidently as a professional musician she used a stage name, which is why my first efforts to find her in official records failed. 

 

Having established her real name and family connections, I found her in a family tree on Ancestry.com which proved useful in identifying her various relationaships. In the 1901 England census, Florence was living with her parents, James Sidney and Anne Jones. in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. She was age 35, occupation Musician, and she was married. Her name was now Florence A. Faraday and she had a son with her, Richard Guy Faraday, age 2. 

For some reason she chose to live separate from her husband, Richard Faraday, and may have modified her stage name to appear more refined. Social conventions of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain made it difficult for older women to work independently of marriage, so the addition of "Madame" likely gave Florence a genteel quality as a married woman while the "Sidney Jones" implied a family connection to her now-famous brother. 

 

Southport Visitor
26 March 1910

An advertisement for concerts by the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra at the Southport Pier in March 1910, added a line after "Conductress—Madame Floence Sidney Jones" (Sister to Mr. Sidney Jones, composer of "The Geisha", "San Toy", &c.) to correct any mistaken assumptions. 

 

The Edwardian era saw a great boom in seaside resorts as more middle class families began taking holidays along Britain's coastline. Every amusement park and pier needed live music and ladies' orchestras proved to be popular with resort visitors. In 1908 the Florence secured the summer season for her orchestra at the pier in Worthing, in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs on the English Channel. On 18 May 1910, the local newspaper, the Worthing Gazette, welcomed the return of  "that capable little organization, the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra" for its third season and printed the names of all its musicians.

 

 

Worthing Gazette
18 May 1910

The Leader (principal first violin): Miss Minnie Richardson.
First Violin: Miss Mabel Miller.
Viola and Vocalist: Miss Nancy Packman.
'Cello: Miss Irene Miller.
Bass: Miss Mur Miller.
Flute and Piccolo: Miss Violette Haut.
Oboe: Miss Alice Enihauser.
Cornet: Miss Catherine Fidler.
Trombone: Miss Annie Knowles.
Pianoforte: Miss Mandie Jones.
Drums, Xylophone, Bells, etc.: Miss Doris Blanche.

"The programme opened in the afternoon with a sympathetic rendering of Chopin's beautiful yet solemn Funeral March, in token of respect for the dead King, and the performance was repeated at the opening of the evening's proceedings."  King Edward VII had died 12 days before at Buckingham Palace on 6 May 1910.  

 

In 1911 the orchestra again returned to Worthing and the Gazette published the orchestra's roster.

The Leader (principal first violin): Miss Minnie Richardson.
First Violin: Miss Adelaide Macwhirter.
Second Violin and Contralto Vocalist: Miss Louisa Linn.
'Cello and Soprano Vocalist: Miss Katie Bicket.
Bass: Miss Muriel Miller.
Flute and Piccolo: Miss Violette Haut.
Clarinet: Miss Christine Curtis.
Cornet: Miss Hilda Kent.
Trombone: Miss Annie Knowles.
Pianoforte: Miss Mandie Jones.
Drums, Xylophone, Bells, etc.: Miss Doris Blanche.

Both seasons the number of musicians matches the number of musicians in the photo. Only five names were different (which I've underlined) but since in 1911 the oboist was replaced with a clarinetist, it is this list that I think best corresponds to the musicians in my photograph. Curiously the name of the pianist, or pianoforte player, Miss Mandie Jones, who sits in front with a roll of music on her lap, was identified in a Scottish newspaper review of the Worthing Pier concerts as the daughter of Florence Sidney Jones. According to the limited resources I could find, this is incorrect  but it's possible that since the extended family had a very musical background that she was another Jones relation.

1911 Kelly's directory for Sussex, England

What convinces me that this photo comes from Worthing and dates from 1911 is that the skillful photographer who took the photo of the Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra left his name in the lower right corner of the postcard: Otto Brown. His studio was listed in Kelly's 1911 Sussex directory and located at 2 Chapel Rd. in Worthing, just 0.3 mile north of the Worthing Pier, a seven minute walk. A century later Google Street View provides a 360° view from the Worthing Pier cafe looking back towards the town. The lighting is still very good.

 

 

 

[Click the >Arrows< in the viewer to see other rooms on the Pier]

 

 

The Great War interrupted life in Britain in the summer of 1914, but many of the resorts managed to carry on. The Royal Navy Ladies' Orchestra was booked into providing music at roller skating rinks and other society events but after 1915 the group seems to have disbanded. In any case, according to the compiler of the Jones family tree, Florence Annie (Sidney) Jones Faraday died in January 1920 at the age of 55. I have been unable to find an obituary yet, but I feel certain there is one. Maybe then I will discover the reason she associated her ladies' orchestra with the Royal Navy.

The conductress Florence Sidney Jones represents a remarkable type of female entrepreneur in an era that did not easily accept women in many businesses. Her photograph and history is similar to others I've featured like my story from 2013, English Ladies Orchestras. To make a successful career a female entertainer required talent, gumption, and no small amount of courage I think. And Florence also created opportunities for many young female musicians that undoubtedly helped change the course of the entrenched male chauvinistic world of show biz.  Unfortunately personal details of her full story cannot be uncovered using only census records and newspapers notices. That would require resources that are beyond the reach of the internet.

 

But there is one more part of the story to tell.

 

 

The small drummer in the center of the photograph probably attracted your attention. Though she looks to be kneeling, she is still as diminutive as a child. The cornet player even placed an arm around her in a maternal manner. Yet those are not the eyes of a child and certainly not the hands of a little girl. This is a young woman whose soulful dark eyes make this an exceptional photograph. 

 

The Worthing newspaper gave her name twice, Miss Doris Blanche. She was actually Florence Sidney Jones' niece, Dora Blanche Horsfield, the daughter of her older sister, Eleanor Mercy Jones-Horsfield (1859-1890). She was much older than she appears.

 

In 1911 she was listed as living in the home of James Sidney Jones, Sr., now retired from music teaching at age 73. Besides his wife, Anna Jones and a sister-in-law, Eleanor Rycott, Florence Annie Faraday, age 45, and her son Richard Guy Faraday, age 12, lived there too. At the bottom of the list of residents is Dora Blanche Horsfield who was described as Granddaughter. Dora was then age 27 and unmarried. 

 

Florence's occupation was Band Conductress in an Orchestra and was an Employer.  Dora was a Musician, and worked in an Orchestra. According to her family tree she remained single all her life, and lived in Hammersmith, London where she died in June 1942 at age 59. 

 

I wish I could have heard her play the xylophone.

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where you never know what you're going to get.