The above postcard is postmarked Leven 28 August 1912 and was addressed to Mrs William Wallace, 116 Easter Road, Edinburgh. The sender was Maggie of 2 Seagate, Leven and her message was as follows:

Dear Aunt, A little brother arrived here on Monday morning, both mother and baby are keeping well. Maggie 

On the front of the postcard was a faded image taken from the Links at Leven, looking towards Lundin Links and Largo. More interesting is the large "BB" written in blue pencil over the message side of the card.  Was this code for Baby Boy? Could this have been something added by the postal service - an annotation to indicate a special message?  If you know anything of this practice, please comment.

​Postcards specially designed for birth announcements did exist at the time. Some examples are shown below. Most of them consisted of imagery such as cabbage patches, storks and chimneys!
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Who was this "little brother" and who was Maggie?  The birth record below provides the answer. John McLean MacDonald was born at 2 Seagate, Leven on Monday 26 August 1912. His parents were Hector MacDonald, a dock labourer, and Isabella Doig. His elder sister Margaret Balfour MacDonald was born in 1898, so was aged around 14 at the time of his birth. The family (with five children) still lived at 2 Seagate at the time of the 1921 census. Baby John lived to the age of 84, passing away in 1996 in Leven.

The annotated image below picks out some recognisable features from the postcard image:

1. Aithernie House (Old Manor Hotel)
2. Lundin Links Station
3. Elmwood and Ravenswood
4. Lundin Golf Club House
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The above postcard is postmarked Lundin Links 21 November 1917 and was addressed to Mrs Bushell, 36 Kett's Hill in Norwich. The sender was Sergeant George Ballingall and his message was as follows:

Dear Mrs Bushell, I have arrived here all safe and glad to say found all my dear ones in the pink. I am pleased I am the same. Hoping that this P.C. finds you all well. I don't know how to thank you for the fruit etc as it came in very nice on the journey north. Note the cross on house where I stay. I remain yours sincerely, Sgt. G. Ballingall

This was during the First World War and George Ballingall was a joiner who lived at 3 Park Terrace in Lundin Links (in the house he had marked with a cross on the postcard - see detail below). George was the son of John Ballingall the cork cutter and artist. Having been in the volunteers when war broke out, George left Fife to serve with The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). At the time he sent the postcard, in November 1917, he must have been on a visit home. The "dear ones" that he refers to in his message are his wife Elizabeth Horne and three children, Isabella (born 1908), Annie (born 1910) and John (born 1916). He must have been relieved to find them all "in the pink". The postcard had been produced by Young's newsagent of Emsdorf Street and conveniently featured the Ballingall family home at 3 Park Terrace in the centre of the image. 

The First World War ended in November 1918 but in 1919 George was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) for services in the field. This award was part of the King's Birthday Honours, which in 1919 were dominated by awards related to the recently ended war. The 3 June 1919 Dundee Courier below detailed the "Gallant Scots decorated by the King for services rendered in France and Flanders". Ballingall's name is highlighted below. The 14 June 1919 St Andrews Citizen piece further below notes his "considerable service in France" but few details are given of the nature of the distinguished service being awarded. If you know more about the events that led to his MSM award - please comment.

It must have been a huge relief for his family that George returned safely home at the end of the war, given that Largo Parish lost 51 men in the First World War. It must have been a source of great pride to see him awarded the Meritorious Service Medal after the war had ended. However, George Ballingall's story was not to have a happy ending. He became unwell shortly afterwards and was ultimately admitted to Glenalmond Sanatorium in Perthshire, a facility for patients with tuberculosis (a bacterial infection of the lungs which was common at the time). After serveral months as a patient there, George died on 23 June 1921, aged 32 years. 

George's wife had given birth to twin sons days before, on 10 June 1921 at the family home at 3 Park Terrace. In the days between the birth of twins Thomas and George and the death of their father, the 1921 census was taken. At 3 Park Terrace, Elizabeth was recorded as the head of the household, her five children were listed and in addition her sister Mary Ainslie (nee Horn) and niece Isabella were also living there. Meanwhile George was recorded as a patient at Glenalmond, where it was noted that he was a joiner with R.G. Galloway and had five dependent children. He died two days after the census was taken.

The 30 June 1921 Leven Advertiser below gave an account of the funeral of George Ballingall, which was a military and masonic funeral. Over 100 masons attended, along with representatives of the Black Watch and the pipe band. Largo Silver Band were also present. 

As a footnote, the purple pencil in which the postcard was written was likely an army issue copying pencil. Copying, or indelible, pencils were widely used during the First World War to assist officers in completing paperwork. They were used in the field as the non-erasable qualities of indelible pencils made them much more convenient than the alternatives.
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The above photograph features the Robinson Crusoe statue on Lower Largo's Main Street, on the day of its unveiling. The evergreen branches around the edges of the image are some of the many decorations around the village on that momentous day - 11 December 1885. The base of the statue (see detail below) is inscribed with the words T Stuart Burnett A.R.S.A. Sc. 1885 to indicate that the sculptor was Thomas Stuart Burnett, an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and that the piece was sculpted in 1885. Burnett was present on the day of the unveiling, along with his wife.

The day after the 1885 statue unveiling the Fife Free Press reported that...

"There has now been completed by Mr T. Stuart Burnett, A.R.S.A., a life-size statue, in bronze, of Robinson Crusoe. It is placed in a niche in the wall in front of the cottage where he is said to have been born, and stands about six feet high. It is spiritedly designed and perfectly executed, and it certainly tells its own story. There is no dubiety as to who the figure is intended to represent. To all who have read the romance of his first voyage, it looks like an old friend. Crusoe is clad in his rough coat of goat's skins, with torn and tattered breeches of the same material. His muscular legs are bare from knees down. His feet are enclosed in skin strapped down. His left hand is slightly pressed on an old rifle, while his right shades his eyes, which are looking expectantly to sea as if to snatch the glimpse of a passing sail. An old Scottish claymore hangs by the left side, while an old war axe hangs from his right side. The cap is also of skin. Altogether the figure is a satisfactory model, and a true representation of Robinson Crusoe". 

William Walkington's blog biography celebrates the productive life Thomas Stuart Burnett, cut short by his untimely death at the age of 34 years in 1888. Largo is fortunate to be graced by an fine example of Burnett's work, which continues to gaze down from the same location of its unveiling some 140 years ago.
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