David Winnie

This note is a follow up to my enquiry in Les Isles Normandes, Volume 41 No 4. page 6.

I recently obtained the above cover addressed to Captain Hugh C.G. Stewart of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers which I showed to our member,  Mike Moody, a retired officer in this Regiment. This encouraged me to research both the regiment and the addressee.

The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1968 The regiment was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27^th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot and the 108^th Regiment of Foot. It saw service in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War.

Importantly for my cover, it is reported that the Regiment was stationed in Northern Ireland from 1927 to 1933 before moving to Aldershot. They resumed foreign service in 1934, moving to Shanghai, which ties in with the address on my cover.

Captain Hugh C.G. Stewart was born on the 13^th April 1897. He was the son of Sir George Powell Stewart, 5^th Bt. and his wife, Florence Maria Georgina Godfrey. He succeeded to the title 6^th Bt. upon the death of his father in 1945. He was a Major in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers World War I (wounded) and World War II. He died on the 31^st July 1994 at the age of 97.

This is a scarce airmail cover from Jersey to the Army Post Office No.1, Shanghai Area Command, China and has been sent at the 1/- rate made up of a KGV 2d stamp and 4 x KGV 2½d stamps. It has been cancelled by the ‘STOPFORD ROAD’ 24mm single circle struck in such a way that the outer circle of the rim of the datestamp is clearly shown. Whilst the date is indistinct, this Regiment is known to have been in Shanghai in 1934.

Note that the cover has the BY AIR MAIL label deleted with black bars indicating that the letter completed its Air Mail journey. Another example is known of a cover with the two cancel lines over the Air Mail label flown by KLM in the period 1933/4 which ties in with the explanation of the 1/- rate being via Holland. My grateful thanks to Alan Moorcroft FRPSL for providing this piece of information.

Finally, I am also grateful to Guy Dandoy for responding to my enquiry by sending me an example from his collection of the 1930s single circle cancel on a superb, registered letter addressed to Hounslow, Middlesex shown on the previous page. This, too, shows the 4½d embossed stamp cancelled by the ‘STOPFORD ROAD’ datestamp struck on the 4^th April 1933 with the outer rim of the cancel clearly evident. A very rare use of this datestamp.

This postcard has a great story……………

 The postcard was written on Alderney on Monday, 4^th July 1921, addressed to a Mrs Bowman in Manchester, and posted on Wednesday, 6^th July. At the time, the postage rate for postcards was the short–lived 1½d rate.  The 1½d stamp has been cancelled by the Alderney double circle datestamp without a code letter inserted but, as the postcard was not of a standard size, the postage rate should have been 2d and the instructional mark ‘1d/324’ has been added. The 1d postage due stamp was applied and cancelled in Manchester, but because the card was subsequently re-directed to Anglesey, a boxed ‘CHARGE NOT COLLECTED/FRESH LABEL REQUIRED’ cachet has been added together with initials in manuscript.

It is believed that this latter instructional mark was issued to all Head Post Offices in Great Britain (including Guernsey and Jersey) in or around 1920 and was withdrawn after Postal Independence in 1969. Examples of this handstamp used in Jersey only are recorded

The intrigue is in the message “We flew over here for lunch today in 55 minutes”. With grateful thanks to Roger Harris, information has been provided which means that this postcard is an amazing discovery for the history of aviation in the Islands, as the first sea landing (accidental) at Alderney was on the 5^th October 1919 whilst the first recorded land landing was not until the 4^th August 1933.

The plane did not originate from Shoreham or Southampton as those airports were not built until the early 1930s, although airfields did exist there before. Southampton airport was originally ‘Atlantic Park’ opened in 1918 and manned by the U.S.N.A.F. as a WWI supply base. 1n 1921, it was a hotel that was virtually a self-contained township for over 3,000 emigrants and trans–migrants escaping Europe and Russia in the hope of going to America by ship from Southampton. Shoreham (Brighton Airport) is the oldest airport in the UK opened on the 20^th June 1911, but was mainly used for local club flying at this time,

The normal flying route to the Islands would be by land plane from Croydon to clear customs with the shortest Channel crossing possible until they reached the French coast and then following the coast of France westwards to the Islands. This journey could take over 2 hours.

Civil seaplanes would leave from the Hamble using Southampton Docks Customs until 1923 when a seadrome was built on the Hamble with customs facilities. Royal Navy seaplane flights would be from Calshot on the other side of the Solent. The quickest time for crossing from the Solent with a tail wind helping for both civil and Naval craft was 95 minutes.

But our man Geoffrey says their flight was 55 minutes – therefore he must have flown in from France not England.

There was very little civil aviation in 1921 with no new aircraft being built, but there was a stockpile of over 20,000 ex-war planes. Most of the pilots at the time were ex-RAF war veterans and many of these bought old RAF planes either for personal use or business such as joy rides or taxi services. Their favourite aircraft was the Avro 504K biplane which had been a trainer in the RAF, but when the dual controls were removed, could carry two passengers. Geoffrey refers to “we” so it is suspected that he was on a tour of France with one or two friends.

With further investigation, the pilot was undoubtedly Geoffrey Hilton “Beery” Bowman, a WWI R.F.C flying ace born in Manchester on the 2^nd May 1891 – he would have been 30 in 1921. The Avro 504K or 504L had a top speed of 90mph and a cruising speed of 60mph so he set off from somewhere between 50 and 75 miles from Alderney. That places him on the Cherbourg peninsula or at St. Malo. This landing, therefore, pre-dates the first known landing by some twelve years.

I acquired a 1942 registered cover shown below at the Society auction in April and, whilst philatelic, it is nevertheless interesting in several ways. In basic terms, it shows 11 x ½d Arms stamps (making up the correct registered letter rate) used on the first day of issue of the ½d bright green Arms stamp, this being the 29^th January 1942.

The cover has been cancelled by the scarce St. Johns Church double circle datestamp and shows the ST. JOHN’S CHURCH registration label in one line only. In David Gurney’s The Postal History of the Jersey Sub-Post Offices, a perforated coil gummed registration label showing the full name of this rural Sub-Post office in one line is not recorded at the time of writing his book and thus was unknown then. David’s book also states that the standard pattern double circle datestamp, issued to Jersey in the 1930s for this office, had the code B inserted from 1935 until early in 1939 when it was mostly used without a code inserted until 1953. The reverse of this cover, illustrated below, not only shows the use of the code B, but also that the year date has been omitted from the datestamp.

It is my view that this is a very scarce Occupation item, and I would be interested to establish whether any similar covers exist from this Sub-Post Office. Please contact chairman@ciss.uk with your information together with scans if possible.

I refer to my article in the March 2022 Journal, Volume 41 No 1 pages 24 and 25 illustrating the written side of the postcard and give my sincere thanks to Alan Moorcroft FRPSL for his considerable help in providing additional information regarding this important Sub-Post office item.
Both sides of the postcard are shown in reduced format.

This information begins with the PAQUEBOT.PLYMOUTH datestamp and the S.S.BALLARAT, the P & O ship shown on the front of the postcard, both of which I have shown on the previous page in reduced format.

The S. S. Ballarat was the ship used on the Plymouth to Australia route which called at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. My postcard is endorsed (very faintly) ‘posted at Las Palmas’ in manuscript below the message. This too I have shown enlarged in this box abstracted from the text on the postcard. The writer of the postcard states that he left London on Thursday, indicating that he is on the outward journey and presumably purchased and wrote the card on board. It would have been off loaded at Las Palmas and taken on the next ship to Plymouth.

Being posted on board a UK ship, it was charged at UK inland rates – postcards were 1d at this time, so the card was ½d underpaid and charged 1d being double the shortfall. The “1d/620” instructional mark for Plymouth, Stonehouse is clearly shown adjacent to the definitive stamp on the written side of the postcard.

The real mystery is why it received a St. Andrews datestamp. It is presumed that it should have been put in the St. Saviours bag, but was wrongly put in the bag for St. Andrews. On receipt at the St. Andrews Sub-Post Office, it was datestamped to show the misdirection.

Whatever the reason, this additional information helps to make this a more interesting and scarce item.

At the CISS Auction held in October 2021, I was very pleased to acquire an item which is not recorded in David Gurney’s book “The Postal History of the Jersey Sub-Post Offices”.

The plain cover shown above is addressed to Switzerland and shows three QV 1d red stamps, Plate 188, cancelled by a Jersey 409 duplex postmark with code C inserted for the 9th December 1873. Also on the front is a circular PD in black together with a weak Ang. BM. St Malo double circle postmark. On the reverse side shown on the next page, is a Paris – Auxaire TPO, a Swiss circular arrival mark and a ST AUBYNS single circle postmark with Code B inserted.

The 24mm single circle steel datestamp was despatched to Guernsey by the GPO in London on the 30th December 1870 and, unusually, this has a different spelling of AUBYNS with a Y and the code letter P inserted. The code P was normally intended for use with telegraph work, but the datestamp is also known with the code A used continuously until replaced in the early 1900s.

To date, this is unrecorded. Can I please ask that Members check their own collections and advise me of any further examples they may have in their collections at chairman@ciss.uk.

In David Gurney’s “The Postal History of the Guernsey Sub-Post Offices”, he records that ‘two rare examples of a 31mm skeleton datestamp are known’ used in November 1913. One has an * asterisk code and cancels the adhesive stamp on a local postcard and this is in my collection. The other example has no code and again cancels the adhesive stamp, but is only on a piece. In both cases, the dates are not discernible.

I was therefore very pleased to acquire at the CISS October postal auction another example on the postcard which is illustrated above. This has been sent to St. Saviours, Guernsey and shows on the front of the card the S.S. Ballarat. The KGV ½d stamp has been cancelled by a PAQUEBOT. PLYMOUTH double circle datestamp for the 22nd November 1913 together with a 1d/620 surcharge mark.

 In addition, used as an arrival mark on this occasion, is the rare 31mm skeleton datestamp of ‘ST ANDREWS/GUERNSEY without an * asterisk code used on the 25th November 1913.

Thus, this is therefore the only skeleton postmark from this office, used as an arrival datestamp and where the date is reasonably discernible.

Can any member report another example please?

I write further to Nick Stuart’s article in the September 2021 Journal together with updates by Bob MacDonald and John Triggs FRPSL in the December 2021 Journal regarding the earliest known use of the above datestamp.

I have recently acquired on eBay, a rather nice locally addressed cover with a QV 1d lilac cancelled by a Guernsey squared circle on June 15th 1898 and this is shown below on the next page.

On the reverse of the cover shown on the next page is the Type 2 single circle datestamp for Vale Road used as a backstamp. This is, therefore, almost two months earlier than the item recorded by John Triggs.

The backstamp is also shown below on the next page and although the year date is distorted it is quite clear in the squared circle used to cancel the QV 1d lilac stamp on the front of the cover. I have shown the entire back of the envelope depicted on the next page so that readers can see the distorted  year in the back stamp which is clarified by the enlargement beside. As said the year date is clearly confirmed by the squared circle cancellation of the QV 1d lilac above.

With appointment of this office as a Money Order and Savings Bank Office from the 3rd August 1897 it is conceivable that the datestamp may have been brought into service earlier than the earliest date of use recorded so far?

Has any member even earlier examples of the use of this interesting datestamp?