We received an enquiry from Natalie Lubben who lives in the Netherlands. A while ago a remarkable silver pendant came into her possession and she is very curious about its origin. After she did some research she found out that the symbols on the front of the pendant are Catholic and are frequently associated with the First Holy Communion (Catholicism isn’t very common in the region she is from) and she wondered if we could help further.
We didn’t get ve
ry far – S
ylvia’s response is below – I’m posting it on the blog in the hope that someone will know more.
You are right that this is a commemorative medal for a First Communion. Farrell is a common surname of Irish origin. The communicant is likely to have been aged between 6 and 15 years old, younger rather than older.
J for a boy might be John, James or Joseph; for a girl Jane, Janet, Joan, Jean, June, but it would be a guess looking at names which were popular around 1910.
The date fits with the season around the Feast of Corpus Christi which was on 26th May 1918. It is held on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday. This was the year WW I ended and normal customs would have been disrupted. This person was of an age to be active in WW II and could have been serving with British Forces in the Netherlands. You are not far from Arnhem and this might be line of enquiry.
