“Jew (who has been knocked down by fire engine)”, An H.G.L. Antisemitic Comic Postcard

This Edwardian comic postcard by Henry Garner of Leicester, trading as the Living Picture Post Card Co. (H.G.L.), shows a horse‑drawn fire engine racing toward a burning building while a stereotyped Jewish figure is knocked to the ground in the foreground.
The caption reads:

“Jew, (who has been knocked down by fire engine)
Go on you ungrateful wretches if it wasn’t for the likes of me, you’d have nothing to do.’”

The image and text work together to suggest that Jews cause fires, or at least profit from them, and that the fire brigade owes its livelihood to such Jewish wrongdoing. This turns the Jew into an arsonist or fraudulent profiteer, a familiar antisemitic trope in early twentieth‑century popular culture. Within the postcard trade, however, this was marketed simply as a humorous “Living Picture” comic, one of many ethnic and social stereotype cards produced by H.G.L. in the years around 1904–1910, reflecting how casual antisemitism could be packaged as everyday entertainment.

Henry Garner of Leicester was an Edwardian British postcard publisher who traded as the Living Picture Post Card Co., usually abbreviated on his cards as H.G.L. The logo shows an old ‘box-camera’ like logo with the letters H, G and L in it. The initials H.G.L. stand for Henry Garner, Leicester

What H.G.L. means on postcards

On early 20th‑century postcards, the initials H.G.L. in connection with the wording “Living Picture Post Card Co., Leicester” identify Henry Garner as the publisher. Standard postcard reference lists explicitly decode H.G.L. as “Henry Garner – Living Picture Post Card Co., Leicester, England,” so cards bearing this imprint can confidently be catalogued under his name.

The H.G.L. logo is sometimes printed as a small box‑camera emblem with the letters H, G, and L inside and the words “Registered Trade Mark” nearby, and on some divided‑back cards it appears between the words “POST” and “CARD” with the phrase “Produced entirely in England” in the stamp‑box area. Because of heavy inking or wear, the G in the center of this logo can be misread as a C, but collector and reference sources treat H.C.L. readings of this mark as errors and confirm H.G.L. as the correct interpretation. [joellesteele](https://joellesteele.com/postcard-publishers.html)

Dates and activity of the Living Picture Post Card Co.

Museum records and collector research place Henry Garner’s postcard activity in the early divided‑back period, roughly 1904–1910. For undated postcards that show the Living Picture branding, the H.G.L. initials and the typical camera trade mark or “Produced entirely in England” wording, a practical working date is circa 1904–1910, with many comic divided‑back examples likely falling between 1907 and 1909.

Types of postcards published by Henry Garner (H.G.L.)

The Living Picture Post Card Co. issued a mixture of:

• Local and regional view cards, including Leicester and other British locations. 
• Humorous “Living Picture Series” postcards, often sepia or color with a printed caption. 
• Song and sentimental cards, pairing short verses and romantic scenes. 
• Overseas and colonial views, especially a range of Toronto and other Canadian cards, showing that Garner worked for export as well as the home market.

The comic cards typically use bold outlines and flat color, characteristic of inexpensive Edwardian mass‑market lithography, and they often omit artist signatures, making the H.G.L. publisher imprint and back design the key evidence for identification. 

H.G.L. postcards, stereotypes and antisemitic humour

Some H.G.L. “Living Picture” comics take part in the broader Edwardian trade in ethnic and social stereotypes, including antisemitic themes. A small group of cards uses fire engines, fire brigades and Jewish figures to suggest that Jews cause fires or profit from them, repeating a hostile stereotype in light, joke format.

These designs are important today because they show how antisemitic ideas circulated through everyday visual ephemera rather than only through overt propaganda. For researchers documenting Jewish stereotypes on postcards, an H.G.L. imprint with the camera logo and “Living Picture” branding places such cards firmly in the Edwardian British commercial postcard industry and links them specifically to Henry Garner of Leicester. 

End of the era

According to one site, at the end of 1908 there was a dispute with a printer, Shaw and Leathjly, of Skipton, meaning that was on of his printers (or the only one). According to "Leicester Daily Post - Wednesday 20 January 1909" a judge delivered judgment in the case of S•aw And Leathley, Ltd. manufacturing stationers and printers, Bridge Works, Shipley, Yorks, versers Herry Garner, 18, London-rood. Leicester, which was a claim for picture postcards supplied.

The judge found that the cards were of inferior workmanship, and not of a merchantable value. Nineteen subjects out of the twenty-six were badly printed, and totally unsaleable. Six of the subject« were saleable, but inferior to the required standard. One subject only was up to the required standard. His Honour gave judgment for defendant. So it appears that there were no more postcards after that