Re: Cover of the Day 18th April

[Michael Sanders]

This is one of two covers I have from the British Information Services in Eritrea in WWII to NY. Between them it is possible to decipher the purple hand stamp [b]'[b]Express Letter Office /NR /General Headquarters /Middle East Force[/b]'[/b]. i assume this was applied in cairo as both have an Army Signals GHQ postmark one reverse, this one dated 13 VII 43. Does anyone have any info. about this service and in particular what the large (about 25 x 15 mm overall) NR stand for? Mike Sanders

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Mike,

Great cover, any chance we could see the reverse and the Army Signals datestamp.

I was surprised when you said 1943 given th location on the OHMS label, this in itself would be unusual, I was thinking any press information would go through London. I have not seen the NR before, but this could be News Report - but then the question what was GHQ MEF doing sending news reports directly to the USA, I did however Google Henry F Bartlett and found references to him both in the U.S. in 1945 and earlier in Baghdad 1942.

Peter

[Michael Dobbs]

Hi all

I, too, would like to see a scan of the ARMY SIGNALS datestamp!

I think that NR indicates "not registered", I am sure that I have seen these initials before, but I would need to delve into my Army Signals covers and my comprehensive notes on Army Signals to try and locate any reference to this.

Mike  :)

[Michael Sanders]

Peter, Mike
Thanks for the two suggestions as to the meaning of 'NR' - I'd thought of 'Not registered' but not 'News Report'. Have either of you seen the Express Letter Office cachet before? I don't think the press info. would have to go through London and Cairo would be a transit stop for flights out of Asmara to USA. Below is the ARMY SIGNALS cds as requested. The one on the other earlier cover (which is an actual OHMS envelope with a different OHMS label!) is GHQ 25.I.43 in bluish black alongside a further strike which is unclear.
The Ministry of Information(and later the Foreign Office) posted Public Information Officers to each of the Italian Territories occupied by British Forces and I have a small collection of material relating to the Eritrea office. I have never seen any for the other territories however.
Mike

[Michael Dobbs]

Mike

Whilst looking for something else I stumbled across an article in FPHS Newsletter 58 (November/December 1962) on the Army Signals Express Letter Service by E Jagger.

Within the article he describes the very cachet you have illustrated and also states [color=maroon]presumably the "N.R."  indicates "Not Registered"[/color]

You can access the Newsletter on our archive section:
[ftp=ftp://www.forcespostalhistorysociety.org.uk/journal_archive/journals-227---1/]http://www.forcespostalhistorysociety.org.uk/journal_archive/journals-227---1/[/ftp]

I don't know whether there was any follow up article or comment - you will have to look through the online issues to see.

Mike  :)

[Michael Sanders]

Mike,
Many thanks for unearthing this. I'll spend a little time on the research as you suggest and report back (when this weather breaks and I am no longer in the garden!)
Mike