Cover of the day 19 May Boer War

[Ross Debenham]

I attach two scans of an overprinted V.R.I. post card post marked at FIELD POST OFFICE B.O. 9 located a Vereeniging in the Transvaal, to the Standard Bank in Johannesburg. It acknowledges the receipt of mail with money in at the local National Bank. It is censored on the reverse using oval press censor cachet in Vereeniging and upon arrival at Johannesburg us press censor cachet. It is not a one off as I have another half a dozen copies. Questions are one, can this be classed as forces mail, and two, was civilian mail usually passed through the military system? I apologise if it is not forces mail.

[Peter Harvey]

Ross,

I would certainly say this is Forces Mail.

We can not see the whole of the reverse of the card. But it certainly is the case that significant 'Forces Postal History' is derived from 'banking' covers and cards. Often what looks like civilian mail can be forces - most officers would have had bank payment during the Boer War, where as I think a large number of other ranks would have had both a cash payment through the Quartermaster and then a payment to their family at home.

Nice card.

Peter

[Ross Debenham]

Thanks Peter.