The postcard belongs to the 'song card' genre, but shows only the opening stanza. The full lyrics are:
On a sunny summer's day, there was sailing from Bombay,
A big and stately troopship that was going through the spray
To mighty England many miles away.
A soldier gazed with pride, on his sweetheart by his side,
Said he "Goodbye, my treasure, I shall soon be on the
tide,
And when I come back you shall be my bride"
But as she was uncertain of his love — with many sighs,
She murmur'd as the love-light came into her coal black
eyes:
Will you come back to Bom-Bombay?
I'm grieving now you're leaving,
For a land so far away.
So sad and lonely I shall be
All the time that you're away
Tell me true — tell me, do,
Will you come back to Bom-Bombay?
He exclaimed "My sweetheart kind. though I'm leaving
you behind
And may not see your face for years, you'll never, never
find
That you were out of sight and out of mind.
Though weary years may go, and between us oceans flow.
I'll prize you even more. for little girl I have you know
In the absence of my fond love will stronger grow."
She hung her head in silence— her poor heart began to beat
And when she made him answer, it was only to repeat:
"I am thinking, love" said she "When you land
across the sea,
Some other girl may come along and gain your sympathy,
And then perhaps you'll be forgetting me
There are scores of girls divine in their silks and satins
fine
In the country you are going to, but sweetheart I opine,
No heart could ever beat for you like mine
The last "Good-bye" was said and as the vessel
left the shore
She waved her handkerchief and cried in broken voice once
more [1]
The song's lyrics and music were written in 1905 by Henry 'Harry' Castling, A. J. Mills and C. W. Murphy.[2] Castling and Arthur John Mills were English lyricists of music hall songs. The Manchester-born Charles William 'Billy' Murphy was a prolific British composer of music hall and musical theatre tunes. It was performed by Victoria Monks, and released by B. Feldman & Co. All of these individuals are acknowledged at the bottom of the postcard. The song was also known as Will you come back to Bom Bombay?
The verso of the card is equally interesting. Between 'Post' and 'Card' is the logo of the publishing company. It is comprised of a shamrock, whose stem is twisted to read '& Co.' Shamrock & Company was a publisher of postcards, and was the brainchild of Felix McGlennon. His parents were born in Ireland, so his choice of the shamrock is understandable. However, it led to litigation, because it was deemed to deceive the purchaser. The gist of the legal argument is outline in the article below.[3]
Felix McGlennon was born in Glasgow on the 30th of January 1856. Both of his parents had migrated to Scotland from Ireland before the Great Famine of 1845-52.[4] His father, Cornelius McGlennon, was a shoemaker, who married Sarah Kerr on the 26th of June 1842 in Glasgow. According to the 1851 census for Scotland, the family was living at 12 Market Street, Glasgow. Cornelius was born in 1816, and Sarah in 1825. They were living with their daughter, Mary, born in 1848 in Glasgow, and their unmarried niece, Letitia Black, who was also from Ireland and worked as their domestic. The family was still residing in Glasgow when the 1871 census was taken. However, by 1881, Felix had moved to Openshaw, a suburb of Manchester, and was residing, as a boarder, in the household of a widow named Mary Lawton. He is described as a 'Song Writer (Author)'. While in Manchester, Felix married Louisa Wilson in 1886. The 1891 census for England and Wales reveals that Felix and his family had moved to Lambeth, a district in South London. He is described as an author and composer. Felix and Louisa had four children:
- Felix Cornelius (1 February 1888-1918)
- Maria Louisa (9 December 1889-1903)
- Herbert (December 1891-1964)
- Louisa (1895- )
Felix Cornelius was born in Manchester, and christened at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Blackley on the 26th of February 1888. The 1911 census shows that he was working for Shamrock & Co. as a 'commercial traveller of pictorial postcards'. At the time, he was living in Prittlewell, Southend on Sea in Essex. His employment was terminated by the First World War, and he died of his wounds on the Western Front in the closing months of the conflict on the 9th of September, 1918. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Aire-sur-la-Lys, a commune in the Département du Pas-de-Calais. He was a Lance-Corporal in the 15th Battalion, Essex Regiment. His service number is 251711.
Maria Louisa was born in Salford, and christened in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on the 19th of January 1890. She died as an infant.
Herbert was born in Lambeth. In 1901, he lived in Croydon. He married Ella W. Yates in June 1922 at Knaresborough, a town in North Yorkshire. He died in Surrey at the age of 73 in 1964. She died in Surrey in 1993.
Louisa is found in the 1911 census as a novitiate in St. Edward's Convent, run by the Sisters of Mercy.
***
As the lyrics of Bombay proclaim: 'Some other girl may come along and gain your sympathy'. And so she did for Felix McGlennon. In the 1901 census, he is described as a 45 year old, married, songwriter, but his wife is no longer living in the household. Instead, we encounter a 'housekeeper' by the name of Edith L. Jury. She was 28 at the time, and presumably the object of Felix's desire. Edith appears in the 1911 census as Edith McGlennon, 'disguised' as Felix's mature daughter. Also present is Felix's 'love-child', Ivy McGlennon, born in 1908. During this era, divorce was out of the question for a Roman Catholic, and on such occasions form was more important than substance.
Felix's disenchanted wife, Louisa, abandoned the family home and her children. In 1901, she is found living alone on Crewsdon Road in Lambeth, and by 1911 as a married woman of 'private means' and as a boarder in the household of George and Mary Hattersley of Lambeth. She died at the age of 52 in March 1915. By the conventions of the day, there was no respectable period of mourning on the part of Felix. He married Edith within a month of his wife's death.
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