Frank

A nice postcard - but is that a cigarette I see in his hand?  Surprising how many photos of troops you see and a good many have cigarettes either in their hand or mouth.  Nowadays people go out of their way not to show cigarettes!

Mike  :)

Frank - a very attractive card with some good strikes and cachets, thanks for sharing it with us.

Mike  :)

I have received the following enquiry from a member.  It relates to mail from Switzerland to Dublin in 1916, it appears to be civil censorship mail.  If no one is able to provide an answer here it may well go as a query in a future edition of our Journal.

[color=maroon]Recently I have acquired a large A5-format envelope which was sent from Sierre, Switzerland to Dublin with an interesting franking of Swiss overprinted stamps. The letter was sent on 22 May 1916 via London (where it received the London Registered postmark on reverse, dated 27 May 1916).  The letter was also censored with two censor labels "OPENED BY / CENSOR. / 405"

This letter is insofar interesting for the collector of Irish and also British Postal History as it was sent just one month after the Irish Easter Rising which was between 24 and 29 April 1916.

As a result please below find my enquiry with the following questions:

1. Does anybody in the FPHS know where the above Censor Label was applied ?

2. Except the London registered postmark there is no arrival date stamp of Dublin or any other sign of delivery which was to my knowledge mandatory as the income of such letters had to be marked at the point of destination.  Why was this not done ? Were the British Postal Authorities not yet in the position to guarantee a normal postal treatment in Dublin at this early time of the end of the troubles - or is there any other explanation why no sign of treatment in Dublin is shown ??

I attach both sides of this cover and may be you will be able to find an answer.[/color]

Thanks, Mike  :)

John

Thanks for your query.  There is a more modern book, but whether or not it includes additional information I don't know -

The BNAPS Catalogue of Canadian Military Mail Markings, Volume 2 The World War 2 Era 1936-1945, compiled and Edited by C.D. Sayles; Published by the British North American Philatelic Society Ltd, April 2011

As for Canadian General Hospitals - quite a number of years ago now I was carrying out some research into Canadian forces in the UK / NW Europe from 1939 onwards, didn't complete it but I did come across this listing:

The following list shows the number of postal personnel based at Canadian FPOs in the various Canadian military hospitals in the UK in April 1944:

Basingstoke Neurological & Plastic Surgery Hospital 4 ORs
1 Canadian Specialist Hospital 3 ORs
Roman Way Convalescent Hospital 6 ORs
No 2 Canadian General Hospital, Bramshott 6 ORs
No 7 Canadian General Hospital, Taplow 4 ORs
No 8 Canadian General Hospital, Aldershot 4 ORs
No 9 Canadian General Hospital, Horsham 4 ORs
No 10 Canadian General Hospital, Leavesden -
No 12 Canadian General Hospital, Horley 4 ORs
No 13 Canadian General Hospital, Cuckfield 4 ORs
No 16 Canadian General Hospital, Marston Green 4 ORs
No 17 Canadian General Hospital, Pinewood 4 ORs

You will notice that No 14 is not mentioned, but your cover is dated 1945 so it could be that No 14 Canadian General Hospital arrived sometime after my listing of April 1944 and could easily be in the same location as or even replaced one or the other or both of Nos 12 and 24 Canadian General Hospitals.  Note that No 24 is not mentioned in the April 1944 listing.

There are references to No 14 Canadian General Hospital in The National Archives:
WO204/7620 - 14 and 15 Canadian General Hospitals: move from accommodation at Caserta required by A.F.H.Q. June/July 1944
WO 373/73/642 - Recommendation for Award for Ferguson, Robert Rank: Major (MBE) Regiment: No 14 Canadian General Hospital, Italy
WO179/684 - No 14 Gen Hosp War Diary 1941
WO179/2255 - No 14 Gen Hosp War Diary 1943
WO179/3431 - No 14 Gen Hosp War Diary 1944
WO179/4923 - No 14 Gen Hosp War Diary 1945 (to 31 May) (which appears to indicate it ceased to exist then)

There are also references to War Diaries for No 24 Canadian General Hospital:
WO 179/3441 - Jul-Dec 1944
WO 179/4933 - Jan-Dec 1945
WO 179/5685 - Jan-Feb 1946

I do wonder if the FPO references to No 24 are an error for No 14 - as it appears that No 24 only came about in July 1944.  This requires further research at The National Archives, should I ever be successful in bagging a visiting slot when they become available on a Monday morning for the following week (Tue-Fri) before they are all taken up!

Mike  :)

Ross

It is R.A.Ch.D. which is the ROYAL ARMY CHAPLAINS' DEPARTMENT  and the initials C.F. are Chaplain to the Forces.

Mike  :)

Chris

I agree with Alan - the message states "believed killed in action May 1940" which is way before your Leading Seaman Edmonds who died 12 January 1941.

As Alan also states there is a message on the back - is it possible to have a scan of the back of the message please?

Thanks, Mike

John

I'm not an expert on POW mail but two aspects of your cover struck me:

1. There is a cachet of the International Committee of the Red Cross Geneva applied which suggests it went to Switzerland at some point.

2. The writing in the top left appears to be significantly different to the handwriting to whom the cover is addressed - I wonder who wrote that and where (possibly the Red Cross in Geneva?)

As I say this is outside of my knowledge area and so I am open to correction.

Mike  :)

Chris

I decided to check through our Library listing and cannot find any reference to a Daynes book in 1991 or to a GB postal stationery book for 1991, so I feel that the author has made an error.

Mike

Chris

I have a copy of "Wartime Postal Stationery" - A Priced list of Forces Postal Stationery used by British Empire and Allied Forces, Edited by J.A. Dayes.  However, mine was published by FPHS in 1986.

AF W 3078 are the Green Honour Envelopes and the Indian ones are listed p.137-145
He lists two different printers with (Marathi) but both with a printing date of 1942 (Type INH.10a and b).

I wonder if 1991 is a revised edition?

Mike  :)

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=maroon]I am working on a Channel 4 WWII history series and I am hoping to talk to someone about the British wartime postal censorship in Bermuda.

I am making efforts to track down Horst Augustinovic who has recently written a book on the subject, but COVID prevents us from travelling to Bermuda itself to film. I am therefore keen to speak to someone in the UK as well.

Can any of your members help? We'll be focusing on the role of censorettes in the process and censorship's role in the war as a whole.[/color]

Graham Mark has already responded to my request, but has been unable to provide any additional information other than:
"I suggest Mr Bingham reads Horst Augustinovic's book and Peter Flynn's "Intercepted in Bermuda" pub by The Collectors Club of Chicago, 2006, ISBN 0916675157, long out of print but I believe it has recently been made available in electronic form, although I have no details."

My thanks to Geoff Hanney who sent me details of an article in FPHS Newsletter No.66 March-April 1964 Page 57-58 "BERMUDA BASE CENSOR" by L. Arthur Courtney

Can anyone add anything further please?

Thanks, Mike  :)

Ross

Chris is correct - D.S. stands for datestamp.  Usually in WW2 and the post-war period it would be the datestamp number used to cancel the registered envelope.  This can either be written in (common practice in both WW2 and post war periods) or a rubber cachet of the FPO datestamp number.  In the early post-WW2 period in Germany one can also find single or double digit numeral cachets which represented the BAOR postal indicator number and later still a series of cachets of a double digit number preceeded by the letters BP (thought to indicate British Post).  I believe that I posted some illustrations of these during the "Cover of the day" period.  Other cachets that can be found on registration labels are those of the office designation (e.g. S.316, etc).

Regards, Mike

Susan

So much out of one small item.  An interesting card and as Alex has said, posted on the Forum at a poignant time with the anniversary of VJ Day marking the end of WW2.

Thank you, Mike  :)

Howard

A cover with a fascinating story - with documentation to back it up.  Wonderful.

Thank you, Mike  :)

I think I can answer my own query here!

I think A&H represents "British Postmarks - A Short History and Guide" by R.C. Alcock and F.C. Holland (I found it on my bookshelf - Revised Edition, Reprinted in Jubilee year 1977).  Page 267, Fig 1026 - Crimean War.

Text (p.259) "A Head Office was established in Constantinople, and branch offices in the Crimea"

Anybody any more information?

Mike  :)

Sorry for the delay in putting this on here - I have now heard from the person making the enquiry and he has sent me illustration of the cover and a close up of the postmark - now attached.

He also states:

[color=maroon]Here is the postmark. A&H  say it is from Constantinople. The inverted red mark is almost illegible and is a 1? Crown Z in a curve at the top and 1855 at the bottom which you can see in the photo. The front of the cover bears a very large 3 in black manuscript which ties in with a 3d rate to/from Crimea by the military concession by French Packet. [/color]

[color=maroon]I have enhanced the photo of the postmark and now can 'see' the red cancel. I believe it now is :
A Crown Z / 2  JY  / 1855
What I do not know is by whom this red cancel was applied. London receiving?
If so then June 19 to JulY 2 would make a reasonable time en route for a journey via Marseilles to London. 13 days by French Packet.[/color]

Does anyone know what the reference to "A&H" is please?

Also can anyone add anything to this please?

Many thanks, Mike  :)