Tattersall ’ s postcard business was massively impacted by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 . It cut him off from his European suppliers , and ironically , led to a boom in sales to the hundreds of New Zealand troops who occupied and garrisoned Samoa . His stock of printed cards was quickly depleted by the many soldiers using them to write home . Alfred then moved into local card production using a supply of sensitised
McKay Family Collection
photographic print paper of postcard size that he
Blanche Tattersall with Lady Richardson , wife of the NZ Administrator , Apia Bowling Club , 1925 .
was able to buy from a source in the South Pacific , possibly in Australia or New Zealand . Then later he issued his ‘ Real Photo ’ cards , each printed from a negative on to standard photographic print paper cut to size . These cards were often studio photographs of the sitter with a rubber handstamped ‘ Samoa Post Card ’ inscription on the back .
In August 1891 Tattersall married Blanche ‘ Saina ’ Yandall Fa ’ ata ’ alili , a local woman of English and Samoan descent . Reportedly , her mother was Tualagi Yandall and her father Fata Fa ’ ata ’ alili , of Afega . The Tattersalls lived on an expansive property at Moto ’ otua , in Apia , and raised three children , Herbert ‘ Bert ’, Winifred and Ralph . Ralph ( full name Alfred Berry Lionel Ralph ) worked in the Tattersall Studio as a photographer and retoucher for a number of years before moving on to employment in the Samoa Court System , where he rose to become Commissioner of the High Court . He and Bert married local women ( Dora Siemsen and Therese ‘ Terra ’ Johnston respectively ) but Winifred died as a teenager . Herbert Tattersall also appears to have worked as a photographer in the family studio , especially after his return from service in England and France in the First World War .
A number of others worked for Tattersalls over the years , including Sylvia Syddall ( m . Stünzner ) who worked as an assistant and photo retoucher in the early 1930 ’ s , and Violet Elkins ( m . Keil ) who assisted Alfred in studio work in the final years before his death in 1951 at the age of 86 . William Keil also worked there part-time , probably in a book-keeping role .
Mrs Blanche Tattersall , who is remembered in Apia as a warm and generous hostess , had died in 1937 and her husband rattled round in their large home , gradually becoming an historic figure in his own right , perhaps the last surviving witness of the famous 1889 hurricane which littered the Apia foreshore with wrecked naval vessels .
Ralph Tattersall ( above ) worked for a time in his father ’ s studio as a photographer and photo retoucher .
New Zealand school teacher , George Irwin , befriended Tattersall in the 1940 ’ s and wrote fondly of the man . These years may have had a melancholy aspect for Alfred — not only had Blanche gone but he had been pre-deceased by two
Spemann Family Collection
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