Cover of the day May 6th. Capt A.J.Gatt

[Chris Weddell]

Seeing the cover from Chris yesterday as promised here is one of my Gatt brother covers. Yes there were 2 Gatt's William Raphael who was the receiver of Chris's card yesterday and his brother who was Alfred Joseph Gatt M.C. who is the sender of my cover today.

This cover was posted on the 16th of April 1918 by Alfred Joseph Gatt M.C. of the Royal Malta Artillery to his brother William Raphael Gatt M.B.E. also of the Royal Malta Artillery. The cover is tied FPO H20 Skeleton dated postmark. FPO H20 was located at Cairo from the 3rd of March 1919 until 30th June 1919 only. The cover was posted to Alexandria. The photo is of Alfred J Gatt taken during World War Two.

I have added two small part bio's of the brothers as the information about them gets mixed up a lot.

Royal Malta Artillery Captain A. J. Gatt left Malta to join the Allied Forces in Gallipoli, Turkey.
Gatt had a distinguished army career. He joined the Royal Malta Artillery (RMA) in 1902, served during World War I with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps at Gallipoli, where he was awarded the Military Cross, and later mentioned in despatches. He also served in Greek Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, European Turkey and the islands of the Aegean Sea.

In 1908, Capt. Gatt went to Messina to help after the earthquake there. After the war, he rejoined his regiment and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
In 1931 he was appointed ADC to the Governor, until he assumed command of the RMA in 1935.
In 1940, he was appointed Commander of the Fixed Defences Malta with the rank of Brigadier, an appointment he held for nearly two years.
Retiring from the active service, Gatt was appointed Colonel Commandant of the RMA in 1942, the first RMA Officer to hold such a post. (from the Malta Times)

W.R.Gatt

William Raphael Gatt was commissioned into the Royal Malta Artillery as a Lieutenant in September 1900, direct from the Royal Malta Regiment of Militia. But it was in his capacity as a representative of the Maltese S.J.A.B. that he was called upon at the time of the Messina earthquake in 1908, services that won him the Italian Red Cross Medal. While in 1911, the year in which he received his Coronation Medal as a Corps Superintendent Secretary, he was also appointed an Esquire in the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (London Gazette 9 June refers). Back in his role as a Lieutenant in the Royal Malta Artillery, he served in Gallipoli, afterwards transferring in the rank of Captain to the Royal Field Artillery. Between the Wars, Gatt was advanced to a Knight of Grace in the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (London Gazette 2 June 1922 refers), and was awarded the M.B.E. while serving as Adjutant to the King's Own Malta Regiment. He also attained the rank of Major.

(DNW auction catalogue 2007)

[Chris Weddell]

A few more Gatt items. I am just starting to rewrite them as I have a lot more information and covers so these are the old write ups.

[Chris Weddell]

Some interesting Gatt TPO'S.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hi Chris

A couple more,  "creations"  both Registered from FPO SZ 1 at Cape Helles,

This stationary office usually used APO SZ 1 Dater, however this cancel was used July to December 1915 at Helles. Registered mail only?

The only redeeming feature of these two covers is the Registration details,  No 798 on the 2nd November and No 946 on the 4th November. 

Unfortunately these "creations" distort any attempt to work out any volumes of Registered mail dispatched.

Somewhere when I dig it out I have at least one "proper" incoming cover to him.

Will look it up, but a couple of years ago there was an article in The Postal History Society Journal covering some nice colorful creations from him.

Chris