Help with WW1 Malta censor mark.

[Chris Weddell]

Hi All,
       
        This is a cover from the hospital ship Asturias. Peter High tells me the censor mark is from Malta but he cant make it out, i have also had problems making it out. Can anyone help.

                                Chris ???

[Chris Weddell]

Hi Again,

              This is the front of the cover this time.

                                  Chris  :-\

[Frank Schofield]

Chris

I take you mean the double ring circular mark

This is not recognised as a censor mark, it is usually found on soldiers mail from Malta in 1915 with Army Post Office cancels, sometimes from wounded in Maltese Hospitals, the Malta Study Circle lists 10 different types

Hope of some use

Frank Schofield

[Chris Weddell]

Frank,

          Thank you. This is a lot of help to me. Now i need to find where the Asturias was at this time.

                                                  Chris ;D

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Chris,

From my understanding the On Active Service cachet was just used to authorise free mail, I also think this is the view of the Malta Study Circle, so the 10 different types that Frank mentions could have been used from 10 location - that is another bit of research.

I had a quick www search and read on Asturias, there are numerous accounts in the IWM records of troops moved back to the UK onboard Asturias in the period September through to December 1915.

Regards

Peter

[Michael Gould]

Based on my work with naval censors where the larger ships had several censors over time, I think it more likely that the OAS Med cachets simply wore out and had to be replaced. As is suggested, would be a useful topic for research to see just what overlap there is in usage. Am not offering!!!  Michael

[Chris Weddell]

Hi All,

          Thanks all for your help with this.

                    Chris  ;D

[Alan Green]

  Just to add that research into the Malta On Active Service handstamps has been updated fairly recently by the Malta Study Circle.
  Earlier studies were published by Alan Brown in FPHS Newsletter 125 (Mar-Apr 1974) and in the Malta Study Circle Handbook (1980).
  David Ball and myself reviewed these studies in conjunction with a significant amount of new material and concluded that there were only nine basic handstamp types, but a much larger number of sub-types. Many of these sub-types can be identified with individual hospitals in Malta.
  As we often find with this period, there is very little in official records to help with the research and this situation applies to these handstamps. From the material, it is evident that they were introduced in early-June 1915, soon after the first casualties arrived in Malta from Gallipoli. As has been noted in other replies, they were probably used to denote free correspondence, mainly from troops sick or wounded on active duty. Presence of these handstamps allowed the Malta GPO to distinguish this mail from that of garrison troops, who were required to pay postage on their mail.
  Early covers show separate censor markings of the Malta civilian censors, but this quickly ceases. It is believed that subsequently the handstamp was used to denote both the free postage concession and censorship, which was carried out in the various hospitals. This continued after an Army Post Office was established in Malta during October 1915.
  Most of the handstamps also incorporate a central cross, but some had the cross either deliberately removed, or with constant use, the cross no longer struck correctly. For the record, this particular example is type OAS-7p, using the Malta Study Circle reference system. This handstamp is quite distinctive, as it has a distorted inner ring below the letters TI. 
  For those wanting more information, further details can be found in 'Malta in World War 1 - Postal History' published by MSC in 2013. A copy is in the FPHS Library.

Kind Regards,
Alan Green (Malta Study Circle)

[Chris Weddell]

Alan,

      Thank you for your help it is very helpful. I am going to try and get hold of a copy of the book you mention as it sounds like it well be very useful to me.

                                          Chris.

[bknights]

I have arrived a bit late on the scene  but if one is talking about the red cachet on the front of the cover then this is listed on page 419  of Firebrace's British Empire campaigns and Occupations in the Near East.  " A Postal History "
the wording is "  Hospital ship Asturias  Passed by censor."  Bryans  Knights

[Chris Weddell]

Hi Bryans Knights,

                        Thanks for the reply. We were Talking about the small violet Malta On Active service handstamp. I do not have a copy of Firebarce's book, so i will have to look for one. I use Dr Micheal Gould's book 'British Naval Post and Censor Marks of the First World War' for Censor marks etc.

                                                  Regards,

                                                  Chris.

[bknights]

Hello Chris,  Sorry about the error,  have just mangified the cover  and see the mark you are asking about.  I can't remember where the information came from  but I have two copies of that strike  and always understood that it was from from either APO S7  or hospitals  as one of my copies has a cross in the centre as per the Red Cross symbol,  and is in black. They are dated 24/9.15  and 24/1/16
As far as Firebrace's book is concerned I can tell you that it is not cheap.  Mine came from  USA  and postage was horrendous!  My edition was printed in 1991  so you might be cheaper and easier to borrow a copy from the library.  Best wishes.  Bryans