A rare glimpse of life in 1920s Bermuda will soon be available at the Maritime Museum, thanks to photographs donated by an English historian.

The black and white snaps depict a young soldier and the woman he fell in love with during his service on the Island.

Frank Message and Violet Watts went on to marry and have a family after returning to England.

Judith Kinnison Bourke, who was given the album of 18 pictures by one of the couple’s two sons, will this week fulfil a long-held promise to bring them back to Bermuda.

She explained that Pte. Frank Message, of the 2nd Battalion of the now-disbanded Royal Sussex Regiment, re-enlisted in 1918 after fighting in the First World War.

In November 1920, his battalion was posted to Bermuda and stayed at Prospect Camp until October 1921.

The pictures he took of the Island during that time range from a view of Front Street — looking dramatically different with no cars or crowds — to Hamilton Harbour, Prospect Barracks and a young Miss Violet Watts.

Miss Watts, said Mrs. Kinnison Bourke, arrived in Bermuda in September 1920 with an army officer’s family, as nanny to his two children, Marjorie and Peter.

They lived for a time at Avocado Lodge — where a Bermudian lady named Seymour who features in pictures was employed too — and also at the barracks.

“Miss Watts and her charges were well known to the soldiers as they passed in and out of the barracks, past the sentries on duty who stood to attention as she passed.

“She would have attended church every Sunday, and probably met Frank Message in such circumstances.

“They wrote to each other when the regiment moved on in October 1921 to Malta. When they both returned to England they continued their courtship and married in her parish near Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk,” she said.

Frank Message, who was from the village of Rushlake Green in East Sussex, England, died in the 1960s.

His wife lived to the age of 103, passing away five years ago.

Their two sons, Leslie and Bryan, are also dead. Mrs. Kinnison Bourke, who is a lecturer in genealogy and a tutor in family and local history, is a long-standing friend of the family.

“Bryan gave me the photographs just before he died. I talked to him a lot about coming to Bermuda,” said Mrs. Kinnison Bourke.

“His mother had told me she was a nanny here and I told the museum about this lovely story of ‘boy meets girl’ in Bermuda.

“This lady was a very prim and proper lady and there’s no way she would have been winking at the soldiers!

“In later life she was always known as Mrs. and never by her Christian name.”

Mrs. Kinnison Bourke promised the museum on a previous trip that she would do her best to deliver the photographs, and will finally get to hand them over on Thursday.

She hopes those who see them there might be able to tell her more about the Royal Sussex Regiment’s time in Bermuda and the people and places featured in Private Message’s pictures.

She is particularly keen to find out more about the army officer that Violet Watts worked for — said by Mrs. Watts in later life not to have been a member of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

Mrs. Kinnison Bourke’s detective work at the Remembrance Day parade this weekend failed to turn up any new leads.

“It was a lovely service — very impressive. I looked for Royal Sussex Regiment ties there as they are distinctive and you would spot one a mile off but I didn’t see any,” she said.

She can be contacted at the Elbow Beach hotel until November 23.

After that, she can reached at Rose Cottage, Chapel Row, Herstmonceux, Hailsham, East Sussex, England, BN27 1RB or by telephone at 0 11 44 1323 832 218.