WW1 Postage Rates

[Michael Dobbs]

I have received the following enquiry from our member Neil Ritchie:

Wonder if you could point me in the right direction as I'm trying to get a definitive answer to the postage rate from an FPO in France to UK. I have a cover posted by a civilian on 1 April 1917 at a Canadian FPO charged 2d and have been told it should have been 1d, but I think the UPU surface Empire rate could have been 2d? Who is the best person to ask?

Can anyone provide an answer or point Neil in the right direction please?

Thanks, Mike  :)

[Peter Harvey]

I am not sure I am the 'expert' to answer this but.... it would have been nice to see the cover:

Typically the FPO would not have accepted civilian mail, unless the civilian was attached to the military, so Red Cross a VA or other civilian volunteering for service. The normal practice with British FPO's would have been to hand French civilian mail back to the French postal services.

From the first Canadian arrivals in the UK and then France mail marked On Active Service went free, handled by the Canadian Postal Corps until sorted in Canada, at which point Canadian 2 cents or 3 cents stamps were applied, before forwarding through the normal postal system. This practice ceased in July 1917, when the military date stamp was deemed sufficient to authorise 'free mail' although in 1917 the practice of applying unit cachets started (typically to the back of the envelope where used).

So assuming this was incorrectly accepted by the FPO in 1917 I think the UPU surface rate for foreign mail was 2.1/2d for the 1st oz and the Empire rate 1d for the 1st 1/2 oz  and 2d for the 1st oz this stayed in place until 3rd June 1918. So a letter charge at 2d surely would have been charged at 1 oz using the Empire rates...... anyone want to add?

[Neil Ritchie]

Scan of the front and rear of the letter, many thanks for the reply. I had also assumed that the Empire rate would have applied of 1oz 2d. The french postage rate to the UK was 25c for 20 grams.

[Colin Tabeart]

I do not know what the rules were re civilian use of FPOs, but Peter has covered that already. The British Empire Penny Postage scheme began on 25 Dec 1898, to most of the Empire, with notable exceptions Australia, NZ, Cape Colony, Jamaica, Malta and Mauritius, (and I think Bermuda) who did not immediately join the scheme for their own reasons. This rate was outside the UPU international rate, which remained at 2½d. For Forces PH buffs the 1d scheme extended to all Royal Navy personnel (including officers) as long as posted in the Ship's Bag, even from those Colonies that had not joined the scheme. It would seem therefore that the letter under discussion was accepted, albeit incorrectly as Peter has said, as "from Canada" as a double rate letter under the Empire rate.
Colin