Origin of WWII censor in Addis Ababa

[Nick Guy]

I have attached scans (front and back) of a recent acquisition.  It is postmarked by East African APO 77 believed to be based at Addis Ababa (Rossiter/Proud: History of the East African Army Postal Service) in the period after the Italian occupation when partial control had been restored to Haile Selassie but a large British presence remained. It is addressed to Sudan, and I am interested to see if I can say anything about the censor officer.  The cover is signed and stamped by the censor, and the signature is one of those that I have little hope of being able to decipher, but appears to have two elements.  If it does they would normally be the officer's name and rank in that order (the rank is not infrequently omitted, leaving only one element), but the second element that I would expect to be the rank I cannot identify the second as a British rank.  I wondered if anyone can tell me if it could be a rank in the Sudanese Defence Force which I understand used ranks derived from the Egyptian and ultimately Turkish army?  If someone can make more progress than me with the actual name that would be a bonus, as would an interpretation of the initials of the second line of the address which at present I cannot even read, let alone expand!

[Michael Dobbs]

Nick

Good luck with trying to identify the censor !!  ;D

For my starter for ten I read the addressee as:

Mr & Mrs H W Francis
P.W.D.            = Prisoner of War Department ?
Sudan Gaol
Khartoum

But I am open to correction. :-\

Mike

[Nick Guy]

Michael

Thanks; I live in hope that someone might recognise the signature!

Nick

[akennedy]

Alternatively:  Public Works Dept, Sudan Govt ?

Alistair

[Nick Colley]

Well, I'm not at all sure my comments will be of use, but I'll offer them anyway:

1. Alistair's suggestion of Public Works Dept. seems more plausible, given the apparent civilian status of the addressees (ie Mr. & Mrs.)

2. As for the censor's signature, well, you don't ask the easy questions, eh ? ??? No wonder folks focussed on the addressee rather than what you actually asked..... The letters look like S ain - which seems incoherent. Or S Ain - which seems equally meaningless. As for the squiggles underneath (rank ?), I've no idea. Indecipherable to my ignorant eyes, I fear.

Sorry, but I did express my pessimism at the outset.....

Better luck with your next response - if you get one !

chrs
N

[Michael Dobbs]

Nick

Having looked at it again, I am now inclined to agree with Alistair's "alternative" suggestion !

Regards, Mike

[Nick Guy]

Nick, Alistair & Mike

Thanks again - I'm always pushing for that little bit more, and sometimes it pays off!

Nick

[Ross Debenham]

Nick
With relation to the rank of the officer who censored the cover is in point of fact Bimbashi, which was a rank in the Sudan Defence Force, and the equivalent to the British rank of colonel. It appears to me that the rank may be bi. Of interest is the fact that one of the duties of the British Military Mission in Ethiopia under the agreement with the Ethiopians was to place a British colonel with each with each Ethiopian regiment to help with the every day running of the regiment. All mails from these officers would have passed through APO 77 which was located at the British Military Mission in Addis Ababa. I hope the assists.

Ross

[Nick Guy]

Hello Ross

Thanks; one always wishes the signatures were more legible (just don't look at mine!) but if "bi" is an established abbreviation for I reckon I can write it up as mail from Sudanese defence Force personnel - even if they he was detached from hiss unit.

Nick