ONLY A POSTCARD
TO SAY "QUITE WELL"
THEN A LETTER
"HE NOBLY FELL"

PRIVATE ARTHUR EDWARDS

MANCHESTER REGIMENT

10TH JULY 1916 AGE 23

BURIED: BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY, FRANCE


Arthur Edwards died of wounds in a base hospital in Boulogne. His father chose his inscription, still obviously stunned by the suddenness of his son's death. It seemed to him as though one minute he'd received a post card from his son saying that he was quite well and the next a letter informing him that his son was dead.
I have a feeling that the postcard Mr William Edwards was referring was a Field Service postcard. It's likely that his son was given one to fill at some point before he was wounded or even when he was first admitted to hospital. These cards were a means by which soldiers could quickly keep in touch with home. But their use was very prescribed.
The card was printed with a number of statements that the soldiers could cross out, leaving the one that applied. There was however a fierce warning printed across the top that nothing else was to be written on it except the date and signature - "If anything else is added the post card will be destroyed". The first statement on the card was, "I am quite well".
The letter informing soldiers' families of their deaths did not mention anything about nobly falling, it just baldly stated that the soldier had either been killed in action or died of wounds. But Edwards' officer would have written a letter of condolence to his parents and someone at the hospital usually wrote one too. This is probably where the reference to nobly falling came from.