David Gurney’s airmail cover from Jethou (Figure 1 on page 26 of the June 2024 Les Iles Normandes) reminded me of an attempt in 2018 to identify P. S. J. Clark, the sender of this and other philatelic-inspired airmail flight covers. I have an identical cover to Gurney’s and duplicates of other Clark covers, indicating these were not “one-of-a-kind” creations.
Clark was a prolific source of airmail flight covers from the early 1960s into the early 1970s. I have another of Clark’s covers, with a Jethou 3d tied by 6 February 1962 cds on the back, franked with a 2d Wilding and 1d Third Anniversary C.I. Liberation Issue tied by a Guernsey 7 August slogan postmark. However, most (some 30 or so different) of my Clark flight covers spanning his ten or so years of proficiency are postmarked with Lundy stamps, with G.B. stamp frankings for his covers addressed to Germany and other European countries and West Germany stamp frankings for his covers addressed to the U.K.
My attempts failed to find any information on “Major P S J Clark” as well as “P S J Clark” who produced those flight covers. I assume that his name is Peter Clark because he had “Major Peter Clark” printed on the back of one of his 1967 flight covers. However, other covers are addressed differently, for example, P.S.J. Clark, M.InstB.E (either printed or with an attached label, circa 1962-63), Mr. P Clark (1966), P.S.J. Clark (1968), Major PSJ Clark (1970-71).
A 1963 flight cover has Annemarie Clark printed on the reverse flap, another 1963 FFC has a label with P.S.J. Clark, M.InstB.E, two 1962 FFCs addressed to Mr. Peter Clark have rubberstamped “Clark Annemarie” on the back flaps, and another 1962 FFC addressed to Mrs. Anne Clark has Mr. P.S.J Clark M.Inst.B.E printed on the back flap. One of my 1971 covers is (label) addressed to Miss Patricia Clark. Can we presume Anne is Annemarie and that was his wife, while Patricia was their daughter?
The earlier Clark FFCs had Düsseldorf, Germany, return addresses on them, but by 1966 they had changed to 68 Norman Ave., Sanderstead, Surrey, England and remained that way thereafter.
My on-line search attempts besides the Clark name variations included “Sanderstead, Surrey” as I thought there may be some mention of him associated with his hometown, but I drew a blank on that as well. RAF records show a Major Peter Clarke (with a different middle initial and last name spelling) but no Peter S J Clark that I could find.
My conclusion is that Peter Clark was an avid airmail collector or possibly a stamp dealer, who enjoyed preparing flight covers. Several of my Clark covers are addressed to other names in Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Russia, so could he have been exchanging with or selling his covers to other collectors? Or were these contacts with whom he had made arrangements to receive multiples of his covers and subsequently return them to him via separate mailings?
If you would like to try a search for this “Peter Clark” on the internet, please be my guest and report your findings to the Editor. Perhaps you will discover alternatives to my conclusion and can come up with some specifics about this man.
