French Military into Ireland 1918

[Chris Grimshaw]

Afternoon Team

Something a little different, Scan shows a cover canceled * TRESORET POSTES *  No removed 14 1 18, Franked 25 Centimes which was cancelled 15 1 18.  Endorsed F M but I guess postage was payable into Southern Ireland from France

Addressed to Island Bridge Barracks, Dublin    Controlee Censor mark 4 applied and a very nice cachet.  No Back-stamps,

Any clues as to where it originated from?

Chris

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Chris,

No one replied to this when you first posted it and I had a look today. I can not tell you as great deal, I found a Major S B Wildman mentioned in despatches in the 2nd Anglo Boer War, your cover is addressed to someone of this name.

Th TEP*  * marks with no identifying numbers were used as you would expect for security purposes, which does not help the historian. I was interested in he cachet Motor Convoy S.S. Anglaise M4 - Any thoughts on why this S.S. Anglaise naming was used?

Peter

[Michael Dobbs]

Peter / Chris

Not sure if I can help - done a quick search  and found a number of entries which feature S.S. Anglaise - including this one:
GUERRE 14-18 : griffe et cachet Convois automobiles S S Anglaise XI par Dijon

Also this site shows what S.S. stand for:
[url=https://horizon14-18.eu/abrv-militaires.html]https://horizon14-18.eu/abrv-militaires.html[/url]
lists S.S. as Service de Santé (Google translation: health service)

Could these be English motor ambulance conoys in support of French Army?

You could try David Trapnell - he authored a Special monograph on "French Military Posts & Railways 1914-1918 - The Authorizing Handstamps" in 2011 - with his French interest he may be able to offer some help.

Mike

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Mike,

Thank you, what a great link to the French Military Abbreviations.

Peter