Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

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New Occupation Period Find – SARK Parcel Tag

The occupation period is probably one of the best researched areas in the Channel Islands. However, there is one field of interest where our knowledge is very limited and virtually next to nothing. The specialists know that there was a parcel delivery service by the local Post Offices. Our standard handbook, published by Leopold Mayr and Michael Wieneke back in the year 2000, mentions on page 15 that „Paket(stücke) aus dem lokalen Postverkehr sind bisher nicht aufgetaucht. Gegeben hat es diesen Service aber sehr wohl!“ (Translation: Parcels or parts of them from the local parcel service have not yet come to light. But there is one thing for sure which is that that service existed!)

That statement made more than 20 years ago has remained true up to this year. A Sark Parcel Tag dated 29 March 1944 was offered in Germany and it is now in my collection. Parcel rates were raised together with other postage rates on 1 July 1940. A parcel weighing up to three pounds cost 7d (see the seven 1d stamps on this parcel tag).

As exciting as this find may be, the story behind it is also worth telling. The addressee is Frida Riderer, a German lady who in the summer of 1939 came to Guernsey together with her sister Auguste. They both lived at “50 Victoria Road” in St. Peter Port. William Bell mentions them in his book “I beg to report …” on page 70.

Once I realized that a German lady had received a parcel from Sark in March 1944 I was curious to find out who had sent the parcel. Would it be possible to trace that person? I remembered that all the Germans and Austrians on Guernsey were interned for about four weeks in June 1940 immediately before the arrival of the German forces in July 1940. The women were taken to Fort Houmet (see page 29 “I beg to report …”). Among the women interned was also one lady living on Sark, Annie Wranowsky. Could it be that Annie and Frida had become friends ever since then and that Annie sent a parcel to Frida in March 1944?

I asked the Island Archives in Guernsey for help. Would they still have Annie´s Registration Form with Annie´s handwriting on it? The people in the Archives were most helpful and I am allowed to illustrate part of Annie´s Registration Form. The handwriting is typical of a German native at the time and it perfectly matches the handwriting on the Parcel Tag!

Annie Wranowsky was a well-known person in the occupation period. Originally coming from Budweis in the Czech Republic she was issued a German passport by the German embassy in London. However, her passport was stamped “J” for “Jewish”. Consequently she got a deportation order in 1942, but she denied that for generations within the Wranowsky family there were members of Jewish religion and somehow she managed to remain living on Sark during the war. That way she survived the war whereas three other Jewish women sadly died in concentration camps on the continent.

Scarce London Letter Forwarding Agent Battier Zornlen & Co

I was quite delighted to purchase this rare letter wrapper in a London auction recently which was posted from Guernsey in August 1795 and addressed to Monsieur P. F. Dobreé Consul Americain Nantes, France with the endorsement ‘To be forwarded by Messrs Battier Zornlen & Co London.’

Struck with the first Guernsey concave handstamp and rated 7d to London (1784.24 George 3.) being 5d for a single letter plus 2d for the Ch. Is. routing. However there is no trace of a text within this letter and thus there must have been an enclosure, perhaps a small single thin sheet which should have been charged as a double letter had there been an enclosure which was possibly missed by the postal clerk when assessing the charge to be made. 

The London datestamp on the back shows the original letter passed through London on the 17TH August 1795 and mistakes were rarely made by the London Chief Office.

Interestingly a large piece of paper measuring 37.6 by 22.5cms in all was used giving two pages of 18.9cms by 22.6cms back to back on which was written, we believe to be, the draft of a reply within this correspondence in very heavy ink which is dated 13 Sep 1795. It was not an unknown practice for a draft reply to be written on an incoming letter at that time. Thus if there was an enclosure originally it does not appear to have been noticed and charged?


I agree with Alan Moorcroft who has examined this letter with myself that the text inside seems to be the draft of a later letter dated the 13th September 1795 concerning business and family matters written on the unused pages of the letter and initialled within the folds of the letter on the back in a very different hand ‘Guernsey 13 Sep 1795 T D’ for Thomas Dobreé, the writer and addressed to another Peter Dobreé in this large and well spread family,


A very interesting letter as only four letters are known to be in existence for this London Letter Forwarding Agent to date with two in the Priaulx Library in Guernsey and one other in private hands, and now this very rare example which I have purchased for my collection of Letter Forwarding Agents handling Channel Islands letters.

Not only this, but the letter also shows further the spread of the Guernsey Dobreé family in international commerce in the late 18c.

Unrecorded St. Johns Church registration label, January 1942


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 29th 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.

Occupation 1940-1945: PAID Cancellations and Meter Marks – help?

I would very much appreciate it if anyone could help me to complete the following list of PAID-cancels and meter marks (occupation period only). Do you have unlisted strikes or meter marks with alternative slogans or Royal Cyphers to the ones indicated? If so, please send me an email to   zero@gmx.at. with scans attached.

Guernsey: Meter Marks N2 (Westminster Bank)         

S/C PAID Handstamps           1d, 2d, 2½d and 4d

PAID Machine Stamps           1d (GT BRITAIN at bottom of date part)

                                    1d (semi circle at bottom)

                                    2½d (GT BRITAIN at bottom)

                                    2½d (semi circle at bottom)

                                   1d “324” in triangle instead of date part

Jersey: Meter Marks:    N1 GVR (Jersey Electricity Co) 

                                    N4 GVR slogan “J.W. HUELIN LTD”

                                    N5 GVR slogan “Le Masurier Ltd””

                                    N8 GVIR used at Head Office

                                    N9 EVIIIR slogan “ORVIS LIMITED”

                                    N30 GVIR (Telephone Department)

                                    M1 GVIR slogan “DON’T WASTE WATER”

                                    M2 GVIR (Westminter Bank) both the “M2”   

                                    and the Royal Cypher are indistinct

S/C PAID Handstamps           ½d, 1d, 2d, 2½d, 3d, 5d

                                    1d made from a ½d stamp with filed down “2”

PAID Machine Stamps 1d (GT BRITAIN at bottom of date part)

                                    1d (semi circle at bottom)

                                    2½d (semi circle at bottom)

Further questions concerning these marks are:

– can you report N1 and/or N4 from Jersey with the Royal Cypher GVIR ?

– can you report N4 (Jersey) with the slogan “Timber Building Materials”?

– can you confirm that N7 exists for Jersey? (slogan? Royal Cypher?)

Machine-printed parcel post stamps. Can you help?

From the late 1950s the British Post Office experimented with parcel post stamps that were printed and dispensed by machines, for any value between 1d and 19/11d. They were operated by counter staff who were instructed not to sell mint stamps, but only to attach them directly to parcels which were then placed in the post system. The stamps had the words ‘PARCEL POST PAID’, a value, date and the name of the issuing office. They were printed on white gummed, imperforate paper in red ink that was the same as used in franking machines. In reality only parcel rate values were produced. The machines were provided to most Head Post Offices.

In the Channel Islands, Jersey was first to receive a machine on 26 October 1959, followed by Guernsey on 1 February 1960. They remained in use until at least 1965 and possibly until postal independence on 1 October 1969. Their use was not publicised and few collectors appeared to be interested in them at the time. These stamps are scarce from any location, but particularly so for the Channel Islands. Most surviving examples are a bit tatty.

I am undertaking a census to try and find out what values and dates of usage have survived so am keen to hear from anyone who may have an example, and would appreciate a scan or photocopy. My contact details are Jon Aitchison, Old Tithe Hall, Start Hill, Near Bishop’s Stortford CM22 7TF, United Kingdom. Email britishlocals@gmail.com. Telephone +44 (0) 1279 870488.

Interestingly the concept of machine-printed stamps was resurrected by the Jersey and Guernsey Post Offices from 2009 with the introduction of EPOS labels. I had not looked at mine for a long time, but when I opened the album I discovered that most of the earliest types had faded away completely, even though they had not seen sunlight for years. Qué será, será.

References:

Newport, O. W. and Simpson, O. J. 1961. Further Channel Islands Postal History. 20-21. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists’ Society.

Newport, William. 1969. Specialised Priced Catalogue of Channel Islands Stamps, 18. 5th (and subsequent editions). Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists’ Society.

Censorship of Guernsey mail (cont.)

Internee mail censorship

During late 1942 and early 1943, more than two thousand Channel Islanders were deported from the islands and interned in camps in Germany. The internments were carried out on the personal orders of der Führer, Adolf Hitler, by way of reprisal for the internment, by Britain and Russia, of some 500 German men of fighting age who were in Iran in August 1941 when Allied troops invaded that country.


Single male deportees were interned mainly at a camp in Laufen in Bavaria on the Austrian border with Germany. Married couples and children, of which there were over 1,000, were interned mainly at Biberach an der Riss in Wurttemberg, southern Germany. Initially, the camps did not have correspondence stationery for the internees and so Prisoner of War post (“kriegsgefangenenpost”) cards were used, as shown at Figure 15 below from Biberach to Guernsey in December 1942. The postcard carries the Biberach camp cachet used as a censor mark, with the boxed individual censor’s number 248.

Figure 15: A Prisoner of War post (“kriegsgefangenenpost”) card sent from Biberach to Guernsey in December 1942, bearing a Biberach camp cachet used as a censor mark, with the boxed individual censor’s number 248.

By early 1943, stationery specifically for Biberach, to replace the POW cards, was available, headed “Interniertenpost” (“internee post”). The two postcards at Figure 16, to Jersey in January 1943 and to Guernsey in February 1943, bear a camp censor mark “Internierungslager / Biberach/Riss”, firstly in large gothic lettering and then in smaller, single-line format, each applied by censor number 248; and also the OdW censor mark of Frankfurt, the bottom card bearing a rare machine censor cancel.

The internee card at Figure 17 was sent from Biberach to Guernsey in December 1943. The card bears a circular Biberach censor cachet in purple ink and a “dumb” (no town or camp name included) Biberach camp cancel. The card is from George Bradshaw, the organiser of the Red Cross message service in Guernsey, before his deportation.

The internee card at Figure 18 was sent from Biberach in August 1944 to Guernsey. The card bears a circular Biberach censor cachet in purple ink and a “dumb” Biberach camp cancel; it also bears an unusual number stamp – a grey boxed “046” – which could be the individual censor number of the Schutzstaffel (“SS”), who took over responsibility for mail censorship from the OdW in July 1944 following a failed attempt by the army on Hitler’s life. The card bears an English censor stamp, having been routed to England following the disruption to mail from Germany following the Allied invasion in June 1944.

A form of communication used from the UK to Channel Island internees in Germany was via Prisoner of War (“POW”) air mail letter sheets. Pre-printed 2½d envelopes were available, with plain envelopes being charged at 5d.

Examples of POW mail to Biberach from the UK are shown at Figure 19: a plain envelope bearing 5d in stamps from February 1944; and a POW letter sheet from December 1944. The former has a Biberach censor mark and has been opened and then resealed using UK censor tape. The latter has a UK censor mark and a Biberach censor mark within which is a “D 22” mark which was the only individual censor mark used at the camp and only used on mail from the UK from late 1944 onwards.

Figure 16: Communication postcards specific to Biberach, to Jersey (top) in January 1943 and to Guernsey in February 1943, bear a camp censor mark “Internierungslager / Biberach/Riss”, firstly in large gothic lettering and then in smaller, single-line format, as applied by censor number 248; and also the OKW censor mark of Frankfurt, the bottom card bearing a rare machine censor cancel.


Figure 17: An internee card sent from Biberach to Guernsey in December 1943. The card bears a circular Biberach censor cachet in purple ink and a “dumb” Biberach camp cancel. The card is from George Bradshaw, the organiser of the Red Cross message service in Guernsey before his deportation.

Figure 18: An internee card sent from Biberach in August 1944 to Guernsey, bearing a circular Biberach censor cachet in purple ink and a “dumb” Biberach camp cancel; it also bears an unusual grey boxed “046”, which could be the individual censor number of the SS, who had responsibility for mail censorship July 1944 following a failed attempt by the army on Hitler’s life. The card bears an English censor stamp, having been routed to England following the disruption to mail from Germany following the Allied invasion in June 1944.


Figure 19: Examples of POW mail to Biberach from the UK: a plain envelope (top) bearing 5d in stamps from February 1944; and a POW letter sheet from December 1944. The former has a Biberach censor mark and has been opened and then resealed using UK censor tape. The latter has a UK censor mark and a Biberach censor mark within which is a “D 22” mark which was the only individual censor mark used at the camp and only used on mail from the UK from late 1944 onwards.

News of Members

Congratulations to our Chairman, David Winnie FRPSL, who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London on the 19th October 2022. David has now been a member of our CISS for some 45 years and served in various roles.

Hayden Moorcroft, our youngest member, entered the National Youth Championships stamp competition at Stampex with his entry Guernsey Regionals. He could not attend because of the rail strike, but he achieved a large silver gilt, the highest award at Youth level and won best in his class (age group). He is delighted and wishes to thank Nick Stuart who got him started on the regionals and supplied him with some material and Bryan Elliston who supplied him with nice large blocks and part sheets. He found his other material with Mint GB stamps, a dealer who has been very helpful and lastly on Ebay. I helped him with his first page and some information about the different perforators used, but he did the rest himself. Alan Moorcroft FRPSL.

At Stampex 2022 in the Palmares, Jon Aitchison FRPSL won Gold for his Embossed Postal Stationery Envelopes of Egypt and Preceding Essays and Large Silver for his Apollo 13 and Skylab Ground Tracking Stations.

We are pleased to welcome the following new members:
2226   Melvyn Borofsky, Florida
2227   Maureen Richardson, Jersey
2228   Claude Duperrex, Switzerland
2229   Robert Williams, Dorset
2230   Foster E. Miller, Maryland, United States
2231   Alan Cox, Bristol

Sadly, we very much regret to record the death of our members: 329, Leslie Bigland, Kendal, Cumbria and 949, Alan Hardwick of Vale of Glamorgan.

Our Guernsey member and Packet Secretary, John Triggs FRPSL, has recently found some typed notes in the Priaulx Library in Guernsey headed ‘SOME MEMORIES OF THE GUERNSEY POST OFFICE’ by A.G. Langlois who worked in the old GPO and Guernsey Post Office from 1926 until 1973. The notes are a series of extracts from letters exchanged between Dr J. (Tim) Whitney and A.G.Langlois and were first published by our then Editor, David Picton-Phillips, in Bulletin No.153, in December 1976.  They include varied observations of the period from the 1930s to the 1960s, which may have been included in later publications,  

Member’s September Meeting Report

These meeting notes are focusing on the two excellent displays provided by Alan Moorcroft FRPSL and Jon Aitchison FRPSL for those members present at the Royal Philatelic Society London, and to the 13 members who had joined the meeting via the Zoom link. 

Alan’s display title was Channel Islands – The Fortress Period June 1944 – May 1945. Alan explained that after the D-Day landings on the 6th June 1944 the Channel Islands became virtually isolated and entered the ‘Fortress Period’ with the only mail into or out of the Channel Islands made by one of the 23 flights to Guernsey [the airfield at Jersey was not used]. Alan showed Red Cross messages dating from September 1944 to January 1945, with dated replies in early 1945, known to have been flown out on these supply flights. Alan also explained how mail from Channel Islands internees held in Germany was carried on these flights. To date, the only examples known to exist were from camps dated November 1944, including Christmas postcards produced at Laufen internment camp. Alan then moved on to explain the role the Red Cross ship S.S. Vega. In all she made six voyages carrying mail from internees and from the second voyage, summaries of Red Cross messages held in Lisbon and most importantly bulk food and medical supplies. Mail to internees and summary Red Cross messages were sent on the return voyages. Here, Alan showed examples of mail carried. Jon Aitchison’s display was titled Skulduggery, smugglers, inappropriate marriages. A post office in a pub, and even an RDP, etc., etc., starting with a brief history of the Island of Herm, followed by the artist’s visual and photo-bromide proofs of the 1957 Neolithic Herm local issues. This was followed by a certified copy of the first lease, written and dated 1773, for the island of Herm. The ‘smugglers’ refers to a Lt. Col. Feilden, who was caught smuggling brandy and tobacco to Jethou. Jon explains the ‘inappropriate marriage’ of the 3rd wife of Prince Brücher, Princess Wanda; he was 69 and she 18 years of age. The item shown was an 1899 letter from Princess Wanda accepting a birthday invitation for her son. For the ‘P.O. in a pub’, John showed a 1929 post card with two Herm G.P.O. double circle datestamps (the Mermaid Inn served as the P.O. at that time). Later items included the only known example of the 1st-type registered label (HERM/ No. 9) dated 1930 on a letter to South Africa. This was followed by rare examples from the German occupation and liberation of Herm, ending, philatelically, with examples of 1969 Postal Independence stamps on cover cancelled with Herm datestamps.         

Secretary’s Clipboard

I am pleased to report that thirteen members were able to join the Member’s Meeting held at the Royal Philatelic Society London on Saturday, 24th September via Zoom, with a further 8 members attending in person. It was good to see members from the USA, Europe and the Channel Islands joining the meeting via the link. Thanks must go to Alan Moorcroft FRPSL and Jon Aitchison FRPSL who both provided two excellent displays via the Zoom link. The intention is that we will provide further displays for members via Zoom, so watch the Programme page on the www.ciss.uk website for further details as to when.

You should find the booking form for the Member’s Weekend at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey enclosed with this journal. If not, please let me know, email address on inside front cover, and a copy will be sent.

Preparations are on the go for the forthcoming 2023 Member’s Competition Day, so why not spend the darkening evenings preparing a display(s) for   entry into one of the competition categories on offer for 2023. See page 34.

Finally, on behalf of the committee members may I wish you all a happy Christmas and peaceful New Year. Take care, keep safe and hope to see you in 2023.

Forthcoming meetings for 2023

11th February       Annual Competitions Day with a main display provided by Brian    

Sole on the post-Independence issues of the Channel Islands, plus member’s new acquisitions.

21st – 23rd April   Member’s Weekend at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey.

8th July                 Annual General Meeting followed by room auction and main   

                              display by Gerald Marriner.

16th September    Member’s Meeting – Theme: Early Postal History

Currently, all meetings are held at the Royal Philatelic Society London, 15, Abchurch Lane, London, EC4N 7BW commencing at 11.00. Tea or coffee with biscuits are available from 10.30am in the Member’s Lounge. For further details visit our website at www.ciss.uk.

Further information can be viewed on our website: www.ciss.uk