Colin,

Proud in his [i]Intercontinental Airmails – Vol.3 (Africa)[/i] states that from June 1931 the Italian airline SANA operated a service that call at Malta – Route: Rome, Naples, Syracuse, Malta and Tripoli. The south bound service operated Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The envelope is back stamped [i]Roma[/i] on 19 Nov 1932 which was a Saturday. The item would therefore have been flown on Monday 21st.

As regards Air Fees Proud states until the formation of Ala Littoria on 1 November 1934 air fees to Malta, Libya and Tunisia were the same as for Italian Internal services: Letters and postcards 50c per 15g, 80c per 50g for printed papers, but he then states "For Malta 70c per 20g and Tunisia 75c per 10g". Whether the 70c rate refers to the post November 1934 period is not entirely clear.

I hope this information is of help.

Robert

Chris

The name to me looks like Capt. W.C. Spackman, if this is the case Pen & Sword published a book [i]Captured at Kut, Prisoner of the Turks: The Great War Diaries of Colonel William Spackman: The Great War Diaries of Colonel WC Spackman [/i] that may be of assistance (it was published in 2009 and appears to still be available through Amazon - other book sellers are available!).

Robert

Frank,

It appears there was a small vessel, the Marquis of Hartington, which was built in 1886, and scrapped in September 1957. According to the web page I found (http://www.tynebuiltships.co.uk/M-Ships/marquisofhartington1886.html) the ship was owned by the War Office and was used for the transport of guns, ammunition and other stores. Is this a candidate for your H.M.S. Hartington ?

Robert

Chris

The book does list the sub numbers both during and after WW1 for the Army of the Orient. I purchased the book a year or so ago as I did not know much about the French military Post Offices and thought it would be a useful reference in my library. It is written in French and is basically is a listing with some added notes, with very short introductory notes before each section. There is an indication of value given but these are from 1986/7, so today they are only indicative of relative scarcity.

Robert

Chris,

Bertrand Sinais in his "Catalogue des Oblitérations Militaires Françaises 1900-1985" (published in 1987) lists the Tresor et Postes 511 used at Itea (up to and including May 1919), cancel 511A at Bralo (up to 15 Feb 1919), 511B at Raguse (up to 26 March 1919) and 511C at Scutari (until the end of May 1919). Hope this is of interest / help.

Robert

Ross,

Thank you for posting the Tristan item, mail to or from the island in the war years and just after is rare.

At the risk of telling you something you already know: Rev David I. Luard and Surgeon Lt. Cdr. H.S. Corfield arrived on Tristan on 1st July 1944, brought by the British Cargo vessel [i]Empire Friendship[/i] to relieve personnel already on the island. The military presence on Tristan (including Lt. Cdr. Corfield) eventually departed around 11 May 1946 on [i]HMSAS Transvaal[/i].

Your cover and accompanying letter appear to be dated in late October 1945. This would seem to suggest that the original enquiry, to which your letter replies, arrived on [i]RMS Darro[/i] a British fast freighter making passage from Cape Town to Montevideo that call at Tristan with mail on 11 October 1945.

When the letter was taken off Tristan is another matter. According to information in a series of monographs by the late Robin Taylor, the whaling factory ship [i]Norhval[/i] with accompanying nine whale catchers called at Tristan on 24 December 1945, and [i]Good Hope Castle[/i] called early in 1946 (exact date not stated). Though Robin does not mention mail being collected in respect of either of these vessels, it does not mean that mail was not picked up. On 4 February 1946 [i]Empire Merganser[/i] travelling from Bombay to Montevideo called at Tristan bringing supplies and mail (Rev. Luard left on this vessel). Any back stamp on the envelope might help narrow down which vessel carried the correspondence.

I hope the above is of interest/help.

Best wishes

Robert

Hi Alan

The  [i]Postal History Corner – Canadian Postal and Philatelic History[/i] website ( http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot.com/2011/06/george-vi-war-issue-1942-1945-war_04.html ) on the pages covering the period 1942-45 quotes Airmail rates from Canada to Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Eire (published in the [i]1944/45 Postal Guide[/i]) as follows:

Air service in Canada only 7c for the first ounce (plus 5c for each ounce thereafter) *  or

30c each ½oz including transatlantic air conveyance (the rate appears to have started in June 1939 and continued until around November 1946 when it went to 15c per ¼ oz).

The website can be a bit fiddly to navigate, but has a wealth of information and is well worth a visit.

I hope this helps

Robert

*The rate for air service in Canada only was 6 cents per ounce until March 31, 1943. On April 1, 1943, a 1 cent War Tax was added to the first step air mail rate.

Regarding the addressee of the envelope, a [i]Google[/i] search brought forward a publication on [i]Google Books[/i] saying that a Ralph Clemoes and his wife Lillian set up [i]Economic Educator Service[/i] in 1925. However in 1942 the police raided their premises to discover that in the intervening years the range of stock had been extended considerably beyond the sort of self help publications they had initially sold. Apparently a trial and conviction under obscene publication law followed. There was no mention of the Clemoes' customers having a whip round to pay their legal fees.  ;D

Hi Nick,

I have also been looking at your cover and trying to find out some background for you. I too found reference to a George Beaumont Butler being the commanding officer of [i]Kenkora II[/i] from Feb/March 1943 to October 1944 ( https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersB3.html  ). The vessel is listed as being an Aux. Armed Yacht. The [i]Kenkora[/i] appears to be one of a class of 5 diesel-powered yachts built by the Bath Iron Works in the USA between the wars. The US Navy acquired the [i]Kenkora[/i] at the start of the War before passing it to the British to use (when and where this happened I have not been able to find).

An online copy of the [i]Red List of Minor War Vessels Abroad[/i] - 13 Dec 1944 (Issued by the Operations Division, Naval Staff at the Admiralty) states [i]Kenkora II[/i] was operating out of Port of Spain (accounting base 109 Benbow – Trinidad). (  http://convoycu49-1944.com/files/RED_LIST_Part_II_MINOR_WAR_VESSELS_ABROAD_-_13_December_1944_-_May_10_2019_Binder.pdf  - see page 63).

The cover bears postage of 32c. According to R.G. Wike's  [i]Airmails of Trinidad & Tobago[/i] (published by the British West Indies Study Circle in 1999) the civilian air mail rate of 32c per ½ oz to Jamaica came into effect on 15 January 1940 and lasted until 31 July 1945.

I hope the above is of help.

Robert

Nick

The last (UK) cancel looks to be [i]Wantage[/i] which up to 1974 was in Berkshire and now is part of Oxfordshire. The envelope is certainly a lovely item.

Robert

Tommy,

In 2010 Michael Furfie (a noted collector of GB Postage Due material) published a book titled [i]International Postage Rates 1890s-1957[/i], covering surface rates of postage from around the world to the UK. The book uses a number of sources, but primarily draws on [i]The Post Office Circular[/i] (POC), published weekly by the British Post Office to update form P114. Form P114 was a record of surface rates to the UK used to assist with the calculation of postage due on underpaid items.

Against the entry for Aden in the book, a surface letter rate to the UK of 2½ annas per ounce is shown as having been introduced on 2 September 1939 (the source of the information is cited as POC 6.12). It appears that the rate continued at 2½ annas per ounce until the change in currency to Cents and Shillings on 1 October 1951.

The bibliography in Mr Furfie's book mentions [i]The Postal History of British Aden (1839-1967)[/i] by R.W. Pratt, published by Proud–Bailey Co Ltd in 1985, which going by other Proud Bailey titles should have a greater range of information about Aden's Postage Rates. I believe there is also an Aden & Somaliland Study Group who may be able to assist with queries about the Aden Post Office.

I hope the above is of assistance.

Robert

Tony

Rather than a Paris postmark I wonder if it is a French TPO (possibly) [i]Modane a Paris[/i] cancel on your card ?

Robert

Chris,

There was a ship named HMAS Culgoa (which would appear to fit with the  name added in red to the reverse of the air letter). The Culgoa was a vessel built to the British Bay class design of frigate. The ship was launched in September 1945, and saw service in Korean waters in 1953. She is reported to have returned to Melbourne by December 1953, and was paid off into reserve in April 1954. Subsequently the ship was used for accommodation at a minesweeper base in Sydney.

However the 3d Wilding (according to my copy of Gibbons GB Concise catalogue) was first issued on 18 January 1954. If the air letter was indeed written from the Culgoa, it would unfortunately indicate the correspondence was written well away from the Korean war zone.

Robert