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Hertfordshire Postcard Artists, Photographers, Publishers, etc. Sydbie (1900s) of Barnet & St Albans |
The Sydbie Series
The Water Colour Post Card Co.
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Hertfordshire Postcard Artists, Photographers, Publishers, etc. Sydbie (1900s) of Barnet & St Albans |
The Sydbie Series
The Water Colour Post Card Co.
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Latimer's Elm, Hadley Woods |
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The cards from this company start about 1905 and the address give is that of an agent. Most of the cards they produced were of the Sussex area, but the Sydbie Series represent places round the London Perimeter. I have identified six from Hertfordshire. They are all from "Series 50" and represent scenes in the Barnet area - and may have come from a set of six cards. Most include a brief historical description of the scene. One is posted in December 1905. |
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The Water Colour Post Card Co.304 High Holborn, London, E.C |
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Series 50 |
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In "The Last of the Barons" Friar Bungay hanged his rival Adam Warner on this tree after the Battle of Barnet. The old Hermitage in which King Edward slept before the Battle, stood opposite the Oak, on the left of the picture. "The Last of the Barons" was a historical novel written by Lord Lytton [Bulwer Lytton] of Knebworth House, in 1843. |
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This Monument was erected in 1740 to commemorate the Battle of Barnet, fought between King Edward IV and the Earl of Warwick in 1471, the Earl was killed between the two trees on the right. |
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The Old Red Lion from Barnet Hill Here the coaches used to pull up, the road being the Old North Road before the present Hill was made. In 1667 Samuel Pepys stopped here. The cottages formed an Infant Poor House, at the beginning of the last century. Posted December 1905 |
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Windmill (Barnet Gate) Posted 1907 at Arkley |
if you can supply details (and possibly scans) of other examples of Sydbie's work or know his real name.
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St Albans Abbey Painted by "Sydbie" Posted in 1906 (The red printing is slightly misaligned in this card) |
St Michaels Painted by "Sydbie" Posted in 1906 (Also known in Pelham series posted 1909) |
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I have been searching on ebay for Sydbie cards for some years - and these are the only ones I have seen in this format - the ones with the artistic back being relatively common. There may well have been other views with this back.
I have still not identified who "Sydbie" was. All the cards I have identified have been in either the Barnet or the St Albans area, suggesting that he lived in Hertfordshire. |
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The following two cards, in the Pelham Series published by Boots the Cash Chemist, are also signed by Sydbie.
Gorhambury Ruins, St Albans (copy seen posted 1908)
Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans (copy seen posted 1910
A Google reference suggests there was also a picture of the Fighting Cocks in the Pelham Series
Please tell me if you have any further information on this artist/publisher's cards in Hertfordshire.
| January 2010 | Added picture to Red Lion and link to Barnet pages | |
| January 2012 | Pictures of St Albans | |
| January 2014 | Picture of St Michaels |
