I have recently acquired an entire letter sent on June 5, 1809 from Guernsey to Poole. On the front of the cover one sees the handwritten postage entry 1/6d in black ink and when I calculate the postage I get a total of 1/7d. I referred this to Alan Moorcroft who quickly responded with the answer that he suspected the letter did not go via London as we now know it has no London datestamp on the reverse side. Thus it would have travelled from Weymouth to Blandford where there was a cross road to Poole, an inland distance from Weymouth of 40 miles = 6d plus 3d packet to Weymouth = 9d. Assuming it was a double letter the rate of 1/6d is solved.
Alan also writes…..to calculate the postage charge on mail sent prior to 5th December 1839 (Uniform postage) one needs to know the distance the letter was actually carried until 1838 when the rule changed to the shortest distance. This is usually easy if the letter went along the same post road. However, when mail was sent via a cross post road then the calculation has to be from the town the letter was posted to the place the letter was transferred to another post road for it to reach its destination. As this letter bears no London datestamp it is almost 100% certain that it went via a cross post. Mail posted from Weymouth was sent to Shaftsbury to join the Western Road to London. This route passed through Dorchester and Blandford. A cross post operated from Blandford to Poole. Thus one can calculate the route this letter took: Weymouth to Blandford 24 miles and Blandford to Poole 13 miles making a total of 37 miles. This was charged postage in the rate band 30 to 50 miles 1805 – 1812 rates 6d.
Reference. The Western Road in Robertson Great Britain Post Roads, Post Towns page 10 and Paterson’s Roads and principal Cross Roads.
I illustrate above scans of an unusual postcard which I have recently acquired
- This postcard was sent from Guernsey at the correct 1d rate and was addressed to a protestant priest in Ferney in France. The stamp was cancelled with the GUERNSEY M.O.O. datestamp for 6 October 1903. This datestamp has been recorded in use between 1884 and 1936. There is an arrival datestamp for 8 October.
- The addressee was not found at this address and the card was forwarded to the Bois Cerf Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland (still open today). There are three Lausanne datestamps. There is an arrival datestamp for 9 October (LAUSANNE/ FACT. LETTER).
- A similar datestamp was applied for 10 October. There were two attempts to find the addressee at this hospital. However, neither were successful. There are two manuscript endorsements by the postmen “Inconnu à Bois Cerf” [Unknown at Bois Cerf].
- The card was then returned to sender on 10 October. The card received a label ‘Unbekannt/ Inconnu’ [unknown] at the Lausanne Post Office together with a Lausanne departure datestamp for 10 October – inscribed ‘LAUSANNE/ EXP. LIT’. This was applied alongside the GB KEVII 1d stamp.
- The card was returned to Guernsey via London where a London transit datestamp was applied in red, dated 19 October. It is probable that the red’EX’ handstamp [= EXAMINED] was applied in London. The London Post Office would have deleted the French address with red crayon. On the front of the card, the words ‘P.O. Guernsey’ have been highlighted in a red frame and similarly the name of the sender. The London Post Office then inserted the final destination “Guernsey” in red on the reverse of the card.
- A framed violet four line handstamp was applied. This was inscribed: ‘Undelivered for reason stated/ to be returned to sender/ at the address shewn on cover/ Returned from R.L.O. [Returned Letter Office] London’.
I cannot record seeing any example of a similar four line ‘Undelivered for Reason Stated…’ handstamp used in Guernsey or Jersey. I can record a couple of examples with a similar three line handstamp used in the Channel Islands.
I wish to thank Gerald Marriner FRPSL for his help with this article.
