Australian World War 1 Love Token – To Martie From Fred

australia-ww1-forget-me-not-penny-fred-to-martie

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An interesting Australian love token or forget-me-not penny that most likely dates to World War 1 and originates in South Australia. It is crudely made from a George V penny with the reverse skimmed off and the following message stamped into it:

FORGET ME NOT
TO MARTIE
WITH LOVE
FROM FRED
2006

There were three men called Frederick who enlisted in South Australia with the service number 2006. Frederick Charles Constable, Frederick Bruce Cook, and Frederick William Parker. Fred Constable was almost 39 at time of enlistment and married to Edith Helna Constable and had no children so it seems unlikely that he had this token made.

Fred Cook and Fred Parker were of a similar age, Cook returned from the war after being wounded and losing most of one arm. He married and had children before passing away in 1969. Neither his wife, his sisters, nor his children bore a name that could be abbreviated to Martie.

Fred Parker died of wounds suffered in battle in an English hospital in 1918 and is buried in Birmingham in the UK. Perhaps Fred, a station hand from a town in South Australia’s mid north that no longer exists, was sitting in camp in Adelaide before shipping to the Middle East in 1916 saw these forget-me-not tokens being made. Perhaps he had one made for his youngest sister of whom he was particularly fond. After all it’s not unusual for a big brother to be protective of a sister who was just 10 or 11 at the time. His youngest sister, Marjorie Barrett Parker was born in 1904 and her middle name is the maiden name of her mother. And her name Marjorie? Well, a pet name for girls called Marjorie is Martie, so perhaps what we have here is a token of a brother’s love for his sister.

Of course we’ll never actually know for certain, perhaps one of the three Fredericks had a girlfriend or a friend called Martha, another name that can be abbreviated to Martie. Perhaps there’s some other explanation, but part of me likes to think this item is a token from a brother to a sister, held onto for the remainder of her life, a reminder of a brother long lost in a war fought for King and Country.

You can read more about the origins of these interesting forget-me-not pennies here.

Coin Information

Reference Number:C071702
Country:Australia
Denomination:1d
Year:1911 to 1918