It was in the latter part of the wet winter in 1903 that Alice May Tovey may have been given the autograph book, most probably for her nineteenth birthday. No birthday cake nor ‘Happy Birthday’ would have been sung as these customs had yet to be established. We don’t know if she had a special afternoon tea in the parlour of 15 Partiridge Road, Roath, Cardiff but we do know she was quick to ask family and friends to write in her book, ‘Confessions, Opinions and Autographs Of My Friends’.

This type of book had been popular since the 1860s but the fashion was beginning to decline by the time Alice received hers. The giver may have purchased it for a few shillings from The Park Newsagency, Stationery and Fancy Repository, on the corner of Wellfield Road and Albany Road. Alice asked thirty three people to answer the thirty eight questions; her siblings were the first, on Monday 9th March 1903.

1. What characteristics do you admire most in a man? 
2. What characteristics do you admire most in a woman?
3. What would be your ideal life ?                                 
4. What do you consider your best quality?       
5. What do you consider your forte to be?                                
6. If necessary to work for a living, what calling would you pursue?
7. What do you consider your greatest failing?              
8. What is your favourite pastime?        
9. What gives you most annoyance?                             
10. Are you a linguist and what is your favourite language?
11. In what country would you prefer to live?                              
12. What foreign land would you best like to visit?          
13. Who do you consider has the greatest brain power, man or woman?
14. Do you think women should take part in public life?  
15. Do you believe in women’s suffrage?                        
16. What colour do you think is most becoming to you?             
17. Do you think dress influences character?      
18. Describe the girl of the period                        
19. Describe the young man of the day                           
20. What is your favourite motto?                                    
21. What is your favorite flower and what is  its meaning?
22. Who do you consider is the best sovereign in Europe?
23. What nation exercises most influence in the world?  
24. Who do you consider the greatest politician in Great Britain
25. Who do you consider the greatest artist of the present age?
26. Who do you consider the greatest musician of the present age?      
27. Who do you consider the greatest man of science of the present age?                       
28. Who do you consider the greatest orator of the present age?
29. Who do you consider the greatest author of the present age?          
30. Who do you consider the greatest poet of the present age?
31. Which is your favourite reading prose or poetry?      
32. Name two poems that have given you great pleasure
33. Name two books of fiction that have given you the most profit
34. Who is your hero in life?                                            
35. Who is your hero in fiction?                                       
36. Who is your heroine in life?                                       
37. Who is your heroine in fiction?                                   
38. Name the composer whose music you most enjoy

Over the next few years the book was filled in by Alice’s friends and acquaintances. It can be surmised that some of the contributors were also friends of Alice’s siblings, such as the school mistresses and office clerks. Others may have been work colleagues of Alice when she was a grocer’s assistant. She may have had visitors as some entries were labelled, Port Talbot and Fishguard.

By 1911 Alice was a domestic servant to retired tobacconist William Bowles and his wife, Anna, at 140 Cathedral Road, Cardiff where two of their young nephews signed the book; two of their nieces had signed it in 1906, suggesting Alice was the Bowles’ servant by this time. The young priest at St Martin Church, Roath and his future wife, is an obvious connection but two brothers who lived in Newport and became meat traders along with an Italian born refrigeration engineer who lived in Lancashire, it’s harder to conclude what the links were; they are yet to be found.

After years of apparent abandonment the book was resurrected for the last time in 1923, when Alice was living at 118 Richmond Road, Cardiff, with her mother & sisters. In spite of WWI having been fought and some women gaining the vote in 1918 the answers were much the same as in 1903.

Here’s a broad summary of the most popular answers.

1. What characteristics do you admire most in a man / woman? Stereotypical such as bravery & love respectively
2. What would be your  ideal life?  Money                             
3. What do you consider your best quality?  Many were too modest to answer     
4. What do you consider your forte  to be?  Many were too modest to answer                             
5. If necessary to work for a living, what calling would you pursue? Various
6. What do you consider your greatest failing?    Temper, impatience          
7. What is your favourite pastime?     Cycling & walking   
8. What gives you most annoyance?    Other people                         
9. Are you a linguist and what is your favourite language? English
10. In what country would you prefer to live? England                             
11. What foreign land would you best like to visit?    Switzerland      
12. Who do you consider has the greatest brain power, man or woman? Man
13. Do you think women should take part in public life?  No
14. Do you believe in women’s suffrage?   No                     
15. What colour do you think is most becoming to you? Various             
16. Do you think dress influences character?   Yes   
17. Describe the girl of the period  Various                      
18. Describe the young man of the day   a toff                        
19. What is your favourite motto?  Various                              
20. What is your favorite flower and what is  its meaning? Various
21. Who do you consider is the best sovereign in Europe? King Edward VII (almost unanimously)
22. What nation exercises most influence in the world?  England, Great Britain (almost unanimously)
23. Who do you consider the greatest politician in Great Britain? Joseph Chamberlain (almost unanimously)    
24. Who do you consider the greatest artist of the present age? Various
25. Who do you consider the greatest musician of the present age?  Paderewski    
26. Who do you consider the greatest man of science of the present age?  Edison                     
27. Who do you consider the greatest orator of the present age? Various
28. Who do you consider the greatest author of the present age?  Various        
29. Who do you consider the greatest poet of the present age? Tennyson

The rest of the answers were individual.

To conclude, as Alice and her siblings didn’t have any children there was no one to hand the book on to. It’s not known how the book came into the possession of its owner, Richard Adair;  he suggested  it was from a house clearance as his parents were antique dealers.  Richard is the author of ‘Courtship, Illegitimacy and Marriage in Early Modern England’ which may be of interest to some readers. Thank you Richard  for sending the images of the entries and collating the answers.

A full analysis and more details of the contributors can be found by clicking here.

Thanks to members of Roath Local History Society Research Group who have contributed to this.

Dorcas Frazer