Journal Articles Archive - Page 12 of 231 - Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

Guernsey Sub-Office Update

April 2024 was a significant month for both the Channel Islands COOP and Guernsey Post. The implications for both began on 8 March 2024 when they announced that the Post Office within the COOP’s Market Street Store would close on Friday 12 April 2024. However, Boley Smillie, CEO of Guernsey Post, stated that “it is essential that we retain a Post Office in town for the benefit of our local community. Because our arrangement with the CI COOP in Market Street is ending, we are going to relocate, extend and improve our retail counter within the Tourist Information building which will provide the full suite of postal services”.

This story, therefore, consists of three stages, the first being the closure of the Market office. As announced, the closure of this office took place as planned on 12 April 2024 and Figure 1 shows last day cancellation with a 65p stamp cancelled by the 34mm single circle datestamp with Code A inserted. Similar covers were obtained for the three other counter positions with codes B, C and D. When this office had been extended, refurbished and modernised in 2021, two new counter positions were added and the two datestamps issued at the time with Codes C and D were larger at 42mm. An example is shown as Figure 2.

The second stage was the relocation of the Market office to the Tourist Information building which had housed the North Plantation office since January 2022. Much of the furniture at the Market branch was transferred to this building to go into the new Town office but it is fair to say that the work took longer than expected with the opening date pushed back on several occasions. However, North Plantation finally closed on Friday, 26 April 2024 and last day Special Delivery covers were obtained. Figure 3 shows the 42mm single circle datestamp with the Code 2 inserted but there was a surprise when the counter clerk produced a datestamp with a Code 3. This had been very recently introduced as Market had three working counters and Guernsey Post needed to keep three counters going at North Plantation to cater for the extra business generated by the closure of Market. A last day Special Delivery cover is illustrated as Figure 4 which shows this datestamp and it is quite noticeable that the Figure 3 is much larger than the code Figures 1 and 2 in the earlier datestamps. As far as we are aware, only three covers with this datestamp are known to have been produced.

Finally, we come to the new Office named Town. This office opened on Monday 29 April 2024 within the Tourist Information Centre. Three Counter positions are available to serve customers, and the full suite of postal services is available including bill payments. Three new datestamps have been introduced and illustrated at Figure 5 is a 35mm single circle datestamp, strangely, with Code F inserted. Also available are similar datestamps with Codes G and H.

CI COOP continue to operate its Post Offices in its St. Sampson and St. Martin stores albeit with somewhat reduced opening hours.

References:

Guernsey Post News

Guernsey Press

Two illustrated covers from Jethou and Gorey, Jersey

I was very pleased to acquire these two illustrated envelopes quite reasonably in the Society auction during the London meeting at the Royal on 25 November last year.

This envelope (Figure 1 below) was carried from Jethou to Guernsey by hand and posted to Frankfurt via London on the 28 October 1961 with two QE2 CEPT commemorative 2d and 4d stamps. It was then carried on the first Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt on the 1 November 1961 on Flight No. L.H 121. There is also an unofficial Isle of Jethou 1d adhesive label on the back cancelled with a circular Jethou cachet shown here. The two-line purple cachet on the front of the envelope ZURUCK / Nicht abgefordert translates as ‘Return / unclaimed’ (ie ‘not called for’).

The long illustrated advertising cover shown on the next page from the SEASCALE HOTEL in Gorey, Jersey, to Tunbridge Wells in Kent by SPECIAL DELIVERY was posted in October 1979 at the rate of £0.88. The hotel still exists today, now known as the Seascale Hotel, Bar and Restaurant, with a much changed exterior frontage.

Guernsey 26.2.1969 QEII 4d Bright Vermillion Superb Genuine FDC Error Possibly Unique Postmark Error

I show below a First Day Cover with a Guernsey Regional 4d bright vermillion adhesive cancelled with the Guernsey First Day machine postmark with an inverted year date of ‘6961’ instead of 1969. I have so far never seen another example which could make mine quite unique which I feel is a great gem and an exhibition item (RRR!).

I also show an enlargement of the postmark below and will be most grateful to learn if any member can report another similar example of this error.

Journal Digitisation

The huge project of digitizing our Journal going back to the first issue in December 1975 was completed last year. This should be a valuable resource for all our members and all the individual journals can be downloaded through the Our Journal menu on our website. Individual references or a word search can be conducted through the Search button on the top right of every page.

Liberation Task Force 135 Mail – A Follow-up

Within my collection, I have found a very interesting letter which adds to the story told by Roger Harris in his article in Volume 43 No.1. Page 1 of the letter is shown below as Figure 1.

You will see from the top of the letter, it is addressed from the Post Office, Alderney and is dated 5 February 46. This date is in fact incorrect and should read 5 March. The writer, John, in the very first sentence is talking in the past tense about the vacancy advertised on 20 February (i.e. 15 days after 5 February) and he is very annoyed that Marriette did not arrive on 1 March as he expected, which prompted him to send the letter which I think he wrote on 5 March. This ties in very nicely with the cancellation on the envelope (Figure 3) of 6 March. Col. Marriette was the Sub-Postmaster at Alderney prior to the Occupation and, in the event, did not resume his posting until 1 October 1946. This suggests that John had been holding the fort at the Alderney Post Office pending Marriette’s return.

According to the Guernsey Almanac of 1940, the addressee, H.M. Lihou, was an “Overseer” at the Guernsey Post Office, and in 1947 he is recorded as the Assistant Postmaster. It is clear, therefore, that Mr Lihou was sufficiently influential for John to have written to him personally with his concerns although the letter is somewhat lacking in respect in certain areas. I would have expected, for instance, that John would have given Marriette his title especially as John is subordinate to him. The letter is also addressed to Mr. Lihou at his private address at Foulon Farm and has not been sent to the Head Post Office in Guernsey in an OHMS(1) envelope or with OHMS written on it. It is therefore sent to Mr Lihou as a civilian, otherwise he would not have needed to put stamps on the envelope.

I think Lihou is someone that John knew very well, is probably older than him and for whom he may have worked from a young age, possibly on the farm. Hence the respect he has given him by calling him Mr Lihou but also the familiarity that a much younger person would have by signing the letter with his Christian name rather than surname, as would be the norm.

Lihou seems to run some sort of “Club” that John has been involved in. He is very concerned about leaving Lihou “in the lurch as regards the club for I realise how difficult things are at the moment” if he takes the telegraphists vacancy for six months. He wants to know if Lihou can spare him “for the rest of the club year” even though he “does owe a duty to the club” and he hasn’t been much assistance to Lihou since last October. I have not been able to establish the nature of this “Club” and if any member is able to provide me with this information, it would be much appreciated.

Having established that Lihou was heavily involved at the Head Post Office in Guernsey, this is further amplified because John says he is probably aware of the temporary vacancies “posted in the P.O.C. of 20th Feb”. I think P.O.C. is a Post Office Circular. They both knew Marriette and John does not feel the need to give him his title. John is also asking Lihou if he has any knowledge of the change-over date.

John also seems to be relatively educated but, in my view, the letter is a very young person’s letter. This is especially evident in the last paragraph (Figure 2) when he refers to “this joint” and “Cheerio for now”.

It is the last paragraph that is all important. “I was under the impression that Marriette was to take over this joint on March 1st. That is what he told me had been arranged. Now, however, he says that he has heard nothing about it. Perhaps you can enlighten me as to the date of the change-over, as I won’t be sorry to finish. Two months at a time is enough here at the moment. Cheerio for now.”

My thanks to Roger Harris for helping me to put this article together. I think that this is a fascinating letter and an interesting piece of social history.

It is also probably one of the few commercial items out of Alderney before October 1946.

(1) OHMS = On Her Majesty’s Service (official government mail)

Did this Red Cross message make it out of Guernsey on one of the Fortress flights?

In June 1944, the normal operation of the Red Cross message system was dealt a major blow as, beginning with D-Day on 6 June, the Allied troops invaded Europe. This severed the established routes for messages and resulted in the Channel Islands entering, by the end of July, what became known as “the Fortress Period” of isolation from both the UK and mainland Europe.

Red Cross message forms held in Guernsey on Liberation Day, 8 May 1945, were numbered from B25450. The last batch of forms known to have reached Geneva were numbered B21547 to B21919 and left the island on the fourteenth supply flight which left the island on 7 January 1945.

There were nine supply flights after 7 January 1944, with the last being on 10 April 1944, many of which are known to have carried mail, so could have also carried Red Cross Messages.

So, did message forms numbered from B21920 to B25450 make it out of the island on one of the fortress flights?

The form shown below (Figure 1 on the following page) is numbered B22480 and originated on 30 December 1944 in Guernsey to an addressee in Leicester. The presence of an International Committee of the Red Cross double circle cachet on the form proves that it reached Geneva, although the usual datestamp applied in Geneva is absent. Furthermore, the presence of an octagonal mauve British censor cachet for Censor P.299 shows that the message form made it successfully to the UK, with a manuscript note on the top left of the form “Leicester 27/3/45”. There was no reply to the enquiry on the message form.

The presence of a Geneva cachet and, more importantly, the noted arrival date in Leicester of 27 March 1945 would appear to show conclusively that the form did make it out of the island on its way to Geneva and Leicester before the end of the War and therefore must have left the island on one of the Fortress Period supply flights.

With thanks to Leo Mayr for his help in researching this item.

References:

Waists getting Waspish, by Leo Mayr; The Fortress Period.

Red Cross Mail, by Alan Moorcroft.

Les Isles Normandes Vol 17 No4.

1d Arms Banknote Paper – What was the First Day of Issue?

Like many collectors, I have 1d Arms banknote paper cancelled on what I always believed to be the first day of issue. However, after reading through various catalogues there seems to be some confusion of the date.

Bill Newport’s Specialised Price Catalogues of 1966, 1969 and 1970 all mention the 7 April 1942. However, in his hardback book, The Bill Newport Stamp and Postal History of the Channel Islands quotes 9 April 1942. This is also the date in the Stanley Gibbons 2nd Edition – Specialist Catalogue and the Alan Moorcroft article in the Society’s 50th Anniversary brochure.

When checking the Bakers Catalogue 3rd and 5th Editions and Ron Brown’s book, they both quote 7 April 1942. Confused, I am!!

You will see below an envelope addressed to the philatelist Thomas Bramley (Figure 1) which was sold in our own October 2021 auction, described as purported to be first day of issue. There are many of these Thomas covers in circulation which clearly state ‘First Day Cover.’

At our February meeting, I discussed this with David Winnie and Gerald Marriner who both agreed it is very confusing. Gerald advised me that sub-post offices would have been provided with the stamps in advance of any official date, but if they had already run out of the 1d arms, they may well have sold them before that official date which is where the 7 April 1942 may have come from. Does anyone have a cover dated 7 April 1942, or is this date a red herring?

Conway Street, Jersey – type “C” Registration Label

Guy writes that he recently bought the cover illustrated below which was sent registered from Conway Street, St Helier, with a previously unrecorded registration label from this office.

The type “C” registration labels (Figure 2) were printed in sheets of 50 labels. The upper- and lower-case letters of the word Jersey are extended by a line 10mm long for the insertion of the number of the town sub-post office, allocated by the main office of St Hélier. In this case the number was “2”.

This style of label was in general use from 1907/9 onwards and was only issued to small offices handling less than 3000 registered items in a year.

The registration label is the same type as that used at the opening of Beresford Street town sub-post office, but here the number 2 has been added in black ink with a small numeral stamp.

A new addition to my collection of Illustrated Advertising covers

I was really quite delighted to acquire this attractive cover at the CISS Auction held in London at the Royal Philatelic Society London in Abchurch Lane on Saturday 20 April 2024.

Posted in St. Malo on the 23 July 1901 and franked with French postage stamps to the value of 25 centimes it was addressed to H. Leffles at St. Ouen’s Rectory, Jersey, Iles de la Manche, and backstamped as shown with both the St. Malo despatch and Jersey receiving datestamps for the same date of 23 July 1901. A lovely clean cover illustrating the HOTEL DE FRANCE DE CHATEAUBRIAND ST. MALO itself, the original enclosures since removed.

Priaulx and Son – 1824 Forwarding Agent – A Follow-up from Volume 43 no 1

I have had lovely responses from Alan Moorcroft and David Gurney regarding my article on page 12 of Les Isles Normandes Volume 43 No 1. Readers of the Journal might like to read the article because it gives a lot more detail about the marking on the letter “With a Crate”. I am most grateful for their help in providing more information and the implication of the phrase “With a Crate”

Alan Moorcroft writes:

“The Priaulx and Son letter is a super example of a ‘consignee letter’, that is a letter which accompanied a consignment of goods on a ship and as such were exempt from ship letter charges, as confirmed by the endorsement “with a crate”. These are also called ‘Exempt Ship Letters’. Such letters were not exempt from inland postage charges but as your letter travelled from Southampton to Guernsey no inland charge was applicable, so no postal charge. The practice of exemption of postage on letters of merchants and ship owners sent with a ship’s cargo was first enacted in 1710. Subsequent acts confirmed and modified this practice limiting the number and weight of exempt ship letters.

More details of these exempt ship letters can be obtained from the book Ship Letters by John Hendy (Appendix 4 by Patrick Frost.)

David Gurney sent me a copy of the relevant pages written by Patrick Frost from the Hendy book which states that “Only two British ports were issued with special Exempt Ship Letter handstamps. London had three different handstamps, recorded in use from 1814, while two different handstamps were issued to Liverpool, being recorded in use from 1835 to 1864.”

Frost goes on to state: “An unusual use of the London Exempt Ship Letter handstamps occurs on consignee’s letters posted on the Mobile Box service between London and France. The Mobile Box service, which operated between various English and French ports, resulted from the Anglo-French Postal Convention of 1 June 1843. Mobile post boxes were placed on the quayside and transferred onto cross channel steamers just prior to sailing. Mail could be posted into the boxes while on the quay or on-board ship. The post office entered into contracts with each steamer and so the mail posted in the Mobile Box was charged at the packet letter rates. However, these steamers were privately owned ships and mail landed from the Mobile Boxes in London was handled by the Ship Letter Office, being handstamped “M.B.” and, usually, “ship letter” as well. Consignees of goods could post consignee’s letters into the Mobile Box which were handstamped “Exempt Ship Letter” and charged the inland postage only.”

Firstly, do any members have an example of a letter which was sent along with a piece of cargo to the islands and secondly are there examples of mail to the islands from France, which went via London. So, has anyone got a letter which accompanied some cargo with the “Exempt Ship Letter” handstamp or did cargo from France to the islands come direct and not via London?