Journal Articles Archive - Page 14 of 233 - Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

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?

Awards

Many congratulations to Roger Harris for awards received for his recent publications. Pioneer Aviation in the Channel Islands (Volumes 1 and 2) were awarded the CISS Joan Flood Memorial Silver Platter, as well as the American Airmail Society’s George D Kingdom Literature Award, a plaque with a mounted “gold” medal. Delivered by the Hotel’s Care won a Vermeil Award in the 18^th New Zealand National Philatelic Exhibition in Christchurch. This is an international bi-annual competitive exhibition.

Truly international recognition for his enthusiastic authorship! If you would like to purchase copies of any of these books, please see ww.ciss.uk/publications/ for details. You can also email books@ciss.uk. Details on the back inside cover.

Report of the Meeting in the Solent Region May 2024

Seventeen members and guests attended the meeting on 18 May. As at London meetings, we started with coffee or tea, giving members a chance to catch up with each other. The meeting started with a 50+ lot auction with keen bidding on many lots. David Winnie, our Chairman, started the displays with three frames of Occupation PAID rubber handstamps. Alan Whittaker showed original material, copies from the IRCC archives, and material in his own collection that confirmed a British Red Cross Bureau and representative were located in Lisbon, Portugal, for the duration of the war. After a break for an excellent lunch, John Triggs, who came over from Guernsey to join us, gave a presentation on the Postage Dues of Guernsey. Gerald Marriner showed Mail into the Islands from all over the world. Nick Stuart followed with a display on Forwarding Agents mail, and Roger Harris showed a small selection of postcards dropped and recovered from the 1954 drift experiment. Our President, David Laurillard, showed postcards from WW1 on Island troops. Bryan Elliston closed the displays with an excellent five frames on the Red Cross Civilian Message Scheme forms to and from Guernsey.

All members agreed the day had been a success and would like to see these meetings continue. Any members living in the South would be most welcome to join us. Our Chairman closed the meeting by stating that London meetings attract similar numbers and suggested that other regional meetings around the country should be considered.

The 2025 Chandlers Ford Solent Regional Meeting has been arranged for 17 May 2025.

75th Anniversary Celebrations 2025

As part of our Anniversary Celebrations, the CISS has been invited to provide a full presentation to the Royal Philatelic Society London on 9 February 2025. Please add this important date to your diaries.

CISS Member Profile – Gerald Marriner

When and why did you start collecting C.I. stamps/postal history?

I started collecting C.I. stamps in 1969 when the Islands gained postal independence. I wanted to collect a “new” country from SG No.1.

When did you join the CISS? What/Who introduced you to the CISS?

I joined the CISS way back in 1971. Many collectors joined the Society at this time when there was no internet or website. I would have joined after seeing a Society advert in one of the stamp magazines.

What benefit have you got from your membership of the CISS?

There are many benefits in joining: the enjoyment of meeting like-minded people and making many friendships over the years; the enjoyment of both day and weekend meetings; and the chance of acquiring new material through the Society packets, Society auctions and, in years gone by, dealers tables at Society meetings.

What aspect of C.I. stamps/postal history do you collect?

I joined the Society as a stamp collector. However, I was soon converted to collecting postal history. Aspects I collect are: German Occupation of the Channel Islands; C.I. postage due markings; C.I. destination mail; and Jersey hotel postcards and ephemera.

Do you have a favourite item or group of items in your C.I. collection?

I have several favourite covers in my Occupation collection, especially covers which tell a story – either relating to the sender or the addressee. For example, the Harris correspondence concerning a honeymoon couple stranded in Guernsey during the Occupation. Their honeymoon lasted 5 years!

Do you collect other non-C.I. stamps/postal history?

Yes. I collect postal history of three other areas: Belgian Congo, Andorra, and the 1982 Falklands Conflict. This is another field where you can acquire interesting correspondences.

What has the hobby of philately meant to you?

This has been a life-long interest. Since my retirement, it has become a full-time passion/enjoyment. The hobby helps me to relax, although taking on Society Committee positions has had its stressful moments!I enjoy going to auctions in London. I have even attended auctions in Belgium where auctioneering is carried out in French, which has proved an interesting challenge for me. Finding an unusual new cover for my collection is always rewarding. I enjoy giving presentations to local and other specialist societies and now also giving talks via ‘Zoom’.