Y Force Jamaica WW2 censor cachet

[John Cranmer]

I have been trying to find out about the censor cachet used on this cover from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders when they were in Jamaica.  I cannot find any references to this in the literature i have or on line. 

The signature of the officer (J M McClean?) who self-censored this letter appears to be over the cachet.

[Alan Baker]

I think this is an A 500 series mark (5 different types) as listed in John Daynes booklet of WWII Censor Marks, published by the Society in 1986. He notes numbers up to 10207, but doesn't go into detail of locations. Nick Colley's 2nd edition of this book says the same.

Interesting that this airmail cover bears only 6d postage (see your other post). I have a cover from this officer (Lt JM McLean) bearing a Military Censor "Y" Force No 2 stamp and 1s postage. I wonder if weight was an issue?

[John Cranmer]

Alan

Thanks for the info.  I had guessed that this was a British Army censor mark and if so was surprised it would have been used by Canadians so I thought I would check.  Perhaps Nick will have a little more information.

Re your cover either the weight or date would explain this.  The Argylls were in Jamaica from September 1941 to May 1943.  In May 1942 the minimum airmail postage rate was changed from 1/- per ounce to 6d per half ounce.  Most airmail letter would have weighed less than half ounce and only cost 6d.  So depending on the date of your cover that could explain it.

Have a look at BNAPS Topics 2002 Vol 59 - 1 page 24 for an article on the subject and some background. 

John

[Nick Colley]

Sadly Nick has no further information. If there HAD been any in John Daynes' files, I'd  have incorporated it in the 2nd Edition. I wonder if there is a a West Indies Study Circle - or something like that - which harbour some knowledge among its members?

Sorry  :(

N

[Michael Dobbs]

Just to clarify, this is a British Army censor marking - FPHS Type A500 (formerly known as Type A5) series.

If I read it correctly the number is 5785 and Alistair Kennedy in his very large ledger records it as Jamaica on 14/11/42.
I'm not able to identify the date of your cover only that it is also 1942.

Mike

[John Cranmer]

Mike

Sorry I forgot to put the date in the original e-mail.  24th December 1942.
 
I had assumed that it was a British censor thanks for the confirmation. 

Would it be a stretch to think that it would have been left behind by the British when they departed in 1940 and it was used by McClean just because it was readily to hand?  Or do you think there is another explanation somewhere.  Form the lack on info in the literature i have access to and on line it does not appear to have been used very much.

I have just found a reference to what appears to be the same cachet in Sutcliffe's book on the Military mail in Jamaica page 40 although he describes it as 20 mm diameter while the above example is 31 mm.

He gives a list of 7 numbers (not including this 5785 example) used in Jamaica from June 42 to March 44. 

John

[Peter Harvey]

HI John,

Sutcliffe The Military Mail of Jamaica (1982) records 7 separate numbers used in Jamaica between 1942 and 1943 (Not yours) with the note that these were typically passed between Units on handover and also used on Canadian mail from Jamaica, with the assumption that Canadians were attached to British Units.

Regards

Peter

[Michael Dobbs]

John

What a fool I am - having responded to your query and then looking at your response I have just realised that I have a copy of that mammoth tomb "The Encyclopaedia of Jamaican Philately - Volume 9 Military Censorship & Patriotic Mails by Paul Farrimond & Raymond Murphy (published by The British West Indies Study Circle, Revised 2015).  The Preface states that this was the third edition; the original edition was published in 2003 written by the late Derek Sutcliffe.  In their acknowledgements they name Alistair Kennedy, who provided comments and errata on the first edition.

Due to its size it a rather difficult book to get to grips with - Chapter 2 The British Army in Jamaica in a listing of Infantry Regiments 1899-1940 lists only one regiment in 1940 - The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (May 1939 - May 1940).

At Appendix 2.3 there is a listing of "British Regiments and other units of the British Army in Jamaica up to 1962".  When looking at the list under 1940-1946 it states "No infantry battalions, only various support units".  However, above that it lists five Canadian infantry units after "1939-1940 The King's Shropshire Light Infantry" this includes The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada in 1941 - this is again where I became confused as I thought your reference was to the (British) Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders !

According to Wikipedia the Canadian regiment served in Jamaica on garrison duty from 10 September 1941 to 20 May 1943 and embarked for Great Britain on 21 July 1943.  Also on the Canadian Department of National Defence website at:
[url=https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/official-military-history-lineages/lineages/infantry-regiments/argyll-and-sutherland-canada.html]https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/official-military-history-lineages/lineages/infantry-regiments/argyll-and-sutherland-canada.html[/url]

As to the A500 series censor stamps - they are referred to as Type AC3 in the Jamaica book - the following are listed:

3727: (no dates)
5643: 3 Feb 43 - 9 Apr 44
5667: 23 Mar 44 (seen on mail from the Irish Fusiliers of Canada)
5667: 5 Apr 43
5785: 14 Nov 42
5839: 22 Apr (42?) - 20 Oct 43 (possibly RAOC)
5870: 30 Sep (44?) (Letter from Gibraltar Camp)
5871: 10 Oct 42 (one cover has 'Hospital' as return address)
5956: 5 Jan 43 - 18 Nov 43
6039: (no dates)
6071: 2 Jun 42
8364: (no dates)

There is also a series of circular Jamaican military censor stamps - MILITARY CENSOR / JAMAICA No - numbers recorded between 1 and 16.  This is called Type AC4 in the Jamaica book (FPHS Type JA100).  No 16 has been recorded used 29 Jun 1942 to 19 Oct 1944 with the note "On mail from 1st Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada".

There are also four numbers recorded of the shield censor (FPHS Type A600; Jamaica book Type AC5) in 1944 (15162, 15167, 15174 & 15176)

Alistair Kennedy in his ledger states that the Type A500 censor was officially designated A.F. A 5707 and that the Type A600 censor was designated A.F. A 6679.  A.F. standing for Army Form.  This is confirmed in Annexure II to Appendix "J" of GHQ, Home Forces Operation Instruction No. 43 dated 15th February 1944 which stated: "The unit censor stamp (A.F.A 5707) is a secret document and must be protected accordingly."

In view of the security classification afforded to such censor stamps I do not think they would be simply left behind; nor do I think that the British departed in 1940 - yes, the main infantry battalion departed but I feel that various small units as support troops remained.  There was also the HQ Caribbean Area which was located in Jamaica.  One would need to research the various War Diaries of the Caribbean Area in The National Archives to establish what support units existed and where.

I find the issue and use of censor stamps by the Canadians in Jamaica a little confusing - we have Type A500 series being used in one case by a Canadian infantry unit; then there is the MILITARY CENSOR JAMAICA NO, series, with No 16 reportedly used the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.  Then there is the MILITARY CENSOR Y FORCE series of censor stamps (FPHS Types CAN204 and CAN205).  The Jamaica Military Mails books has a whole chapter of 20 pages for "The Canadian Forces in Jamaica" which details the various infantry units based there and their many cachets, including those of 1st Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada.

Anyway, that is enough of my waffling - I don't know if I have answered the query or not but I hope I have give you a further reference which details Canadian involvement in Jamaica!

Mike  :)

[Peter Harvey]

John/ Mike,

There is a 2017 update to the book that Mike mentions with the same censor number that John made the initial enquiry about.

http://www.jamaicaphilately.info/wp-content/uploads/Publications/EJP/EJP_Vol-9_Military_Update-2017.pdf

Peter

[Michael Dobbs]

Peter / John

Peter: Many thanks for this - an extremely useful update which I was not aware of.

It extends the use of (Type A500) 5785 from just 14 Nov 42 to 2 Jun 43

Looking through the update referred me to a page in the book which I did not look at before - and that page has an illustration of censor stamp 5785 on a cover also addressed to the same person at John's cover and could well be the same censor signature and postmarked KINGSTON / JAMAICA m/c cancel of NOV 14 1942.  This adds to the number of references to and illustrations of covers and cards in the Jamaica book relating to the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada:- pages 09-02-55, 09-02-69, 09-07-4 & 5, 09-07-9, 09-07-13 to 15.

Mike  :)

[John Cranmer]

Gentlemen.  Thank you very much for the extensive and detailed replies. 

Mike sorry re the initial confusion about the units I knew that I was talking about the A. & S. H. of Canada - I should not have assumed that everyone else did.

I looked at the update from the link posted and it was interesting and helpful.  I am still not clear why a British censor cachet would appear on a Y Force letter.  I know a contact in the Jamaican study circle Iwill see if he can shed any light on it.

John. 

[Alan Baker]

Good to see such a lot of interesting exchanges in a Canadian cover from Jamaica

[John Cranmer]

David Druett of Pennymead auctions put me in touch with Paul Farrimond and Raymond Murphy.  The following is a copy of the email they sent outlining their thoughts.  Some of the icontent is well know but I have included the whole email for completeness.

[b][i]This is a coordinated reply from Paul Farrimond and myself. The use of British Army censor stamps on Canadian Army correspondence is scare but not rare or unique. See The Encyclopedia of Jamaican Philately, Vol 9, Chapter 7, Figure 7-11, page 09-07-13. This is another letter from the same officer with the same markings, but a month earlier. BA Censor 5667 is also known on Canadian mail.

Paul has in his records info on other examples of Canadian forces mail with a British military censor handstamp, of which 7 seem to be of the same correspondence: 2 in his collection (including the example shown in the BWISC volume), John's cover and four others. They all date between 5th October 1942 and 26th December 1942 (John's cover), and are all addressed to Hamilton, Ontario. His covers are also from Lieut. McLean to Mrs McLean, suggesting that for a period of around 3 months his mail went through the British army PO at Up Park Camp (or Newcastle). The first three covers (October 1942) all have the AC4 handstamp of military censor number 1, whilst the later four (November & December) all have the AC3 handstamp of military censor number 5785. All bear Kingston postmarks, so were probably mailed at Up Park Camp (where both British and Canadians were stationed) rather than in the hills (just conjecture though, as they could have been carried from there to Kingston rather than being posted locally).

I have a slightly different opinion that what we are seeing is mail that was written either when the officer was "in the field" on maneuvers, or when on Temporary Duty (TDY) away from his home station. The latter would be if he was visiting a detached unit, such as a comm site, or involved in an investigation. The Canadian Legion paper/envelope would come from the person in charge of Morale, Welfare, & Recreation (MWR) who was often a chaplain who would deploy with the troops or left a kit at a site. In an non-combat situation as in Jamaica, it might be a retired military person who lived in the area. They would also collect the mail and turn it in at a military PO regardless of service.

We agree Lt McLean is the correct name. I noticed a change in handwriting between your copy and ours, as if it was written in a jeep while bouncing down one of Jamaica's roads. As an officer, he was responsible for self-censoring his own mail, thus his signature. If he was away from Up Park Camp, which was where the Canadian censor stamp was located, it was processed though censorship when turned in at a PO. Since "Y" Force did not have an organic mail function while in Jamaica, there was little advantage to return it to Up Park Camp. A example might be if he was at or near Newcastle, in the mountains. Here the housekeeping was under British Army control and the mail courier dropped it there. Since personal mail is a high morale factor item, the goal was to expedite it.

It is an interesting item, and gives you an idea of how militaries operate. When I was in the military, and TDY, I'd often mail from where I was located, although the reply would come back to my home station.[/b][/i]

It would appear that McLean was either on a detachment somewhere in Jamaica and the mail was sent to a British unit for processing or possibly seconded to a British unit which had direct access to postal services.  Without further information I do not see how these option could be distinguished.

I think I now understand a little more about this cover.  I hope you find the above interesting.

John

[Tony Walker]

It's probably no longer relevant, but there are two societies specialising in the West Indies Philately, and have some extremely knowledgeable members. Contacts :

British Caribbean Philatelic Study Group : John Seidl is the President, the post of Hon, Sec. is vacant john.seidl@gmail.com

British West Indies Study Circle : Secretary Richard Stupples : richardsstamps@outllook.com

Jamaica is a popular country amongst these collectors

Cheers
Tony