Today is apparently Valentine’s Day – not that you’d know it in my household! Whether you love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day has an almost 2000-year history (think pagan festival) that took off in popularity in the Victorian age. Valentine’s Day was incorporated into the rituals of courtly love in the 14th and 15th centuries, and flourished again in the 19th century, when commercial printing of cards democratised the celebration of Valentine’s Day. The practice of sending a card (ideally anonymously) to someone you love, inviting them to be your valentine, was brought to New Zealand by British settlers.
A quick search of PapersPast reveals that the exchange of commercially produced Valentine’s Day cards was already well established in the country by the late 1860s, with booksellers and stationers eagerly advertising their stock. It was common practice for the newspapers to report the amount of mail which had passed through the London, Sydney and New Zealand post-offices on the day.
What is less widely known, is that valentines weren’t just sentimental or romantic; in the Victorian era, some valentines were the equivalent of hate mail. There was no better way to let someone know they were unwanted than with the ultimate insult: a ‘comic’, ‘mock’ or ‘vandal’ valentine, these unwelcome notes were sometimes crass and contained an insulting poem and illustration. They were sent anonymously, so the receiver had to guess who hated him or her; as if this weren’t bruising enough, the recipient paid the postage on delivery.
By the 1890s, the tradition of sending Christmas, New Year, Easter and birthday cards was beginning to be more popular. Newspapers were reporting only small numbers of valentines in the post – the following is rather humorous.
A FAMILY CONNECTION TO VALENTINE’S DAY
Some people at heart will always be romantics. Hats off to the parents of George Edward Valentine Field, born on 14th February 1852.
George’s parents were James Edward Christopher Field and Matilda Thomas, my father’s 2 x great-grandparents, from Sheerness in Kent. George’s sister Mary Jane Field married John Theobald and had my father’s grandmother, Mary Louisa (Louie) Theobald.
Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Does your family have a Valentine's Day connection? Did you realise Valentine's Day wasn't always for sending messages of love? I'd love to hear what you think!
Sources:
Rosemary Du Plessis, ‘Love and romance – Pākehā love stories’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/31202/valentines-day-1876 (reviewed & revised 1 May 2017)
Nicola Earle Sherrock. “Falkner Earle Family Tree.” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/163515236/recent : 2024)
Subscription databases: Ancestry
Kinship Genealogy Co. 
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