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A remarkable envelope with a Dover Ship Letter SL handstamp

At London 2022 I acquired the envelope shown below.  I am building up a small collection of letters to or from Guernsey with Ship Letter (SL) cachets, but I had never before seen one with a Dover SL handstamp; ports such as Guernsey itself, Southampton, Weymouth, Poole and Portsmouth, the latter group all with some sort of shipping passage to Guernsey, are where most such cachets abound.  What is even more remarkable is that the cachet was applied in 1878, an amazing 63 years after the last known use of this cachet at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

Before looking in more detail at the envelope itself, what was a Ship Letter and why do such letters carry a separate and distinguishing cachet?  In the 18th and 19th centuries, mail to and from Great Britain could only be carried by ship.  Mail on those ships owned or under contract to the Post Office was called Packet Mail, but mail was also carried on private ships, not under contract, and this was Ship Letter mail.  The Post Office agreed to pay the Masters of private ships a fee to encourage the efficient handling of any letters they carried; the Master or one of his crew was required to hand in any Ship Letters at the ship’s first port of call within Great Britain (before 1840, when postal rates were primarily distance based, this was to the advantage of the Post Office – for example, a letter from overseas addressed to London and carried on a London bound ship whose first domestic port of call was Plymouth would attract much more postage if handed in at Plymouth rather than London).  Before September 1799 the mail was then forwarded to the Inland Office, but the Ship Letter Act of that year gave the Post Office power to use private ships for the conveyance of letters at half the usual packet rates and a Ship Letter Office was set up at the London Chief Office and remained there until 1847, being responsible for all overseas letters other than those carried by Packets.  A Ship Letter charge was made for such mail and normally this was then paid by the recipient.  Ship Letter cachets were applied to the mail at the port of entry to enable such mail to be properly sorted.

The envelope below is a real rarity, a letter to Guernsey with a Dover SL handstamp. 

There were no direct shipping routes between the two and the postal markings indicate that the letter was handed into the post at Dover. 

Most of the shipping routes to that port originated at the time in France or Belgium, although other sources for the letter are also possible.  A 1d Red, plate 190, was probably applied at Dover before the letter was taken to the Post Office; there a circular datestamp on the front for 16th February 1878 and the Dover Ship Letter handstamp were applied.  The cancel on the front is numeral ’10’ of the London Inland Branch, which by then handled foreign mail, the London Ship Letter Office functions having been transferred there in 1847, and there is a London transit handstamp for 16th February on the rear, together with a Guernsey receiving handstamp for 19th February.  The addressee, Mary Le Page, is shown in the 1861 census living at Roque a Boeuf, the house to which the letter is addressed.

What was remarkable is that this is the first recorded use of the Dover SL handstamp since 1815, the year the Napoleonic Wars finally ended.  The handstamp appears genuine and is known as S8 after the classification system developed by Robertson.  I have a BPA Expertising Certificate dated December 1999 stating that the envelope is genuine.  So why was a handstamp last used in 1815 brought out of the cupboard 63 years later?

What follows is necessarily speculation.  My guess and it is little more than that, is that a postal clerk in Dover decided that the letter was not of domestic origin and should be treated as foreign mail.  That is consistent with the manuscript ‘4’ on the front, one explanation of which is an additional amount to be paid, a penalty at twice the standard 2½d international rate (1878 was three years into the standard UPU rate for international mail), less the value of the 1d Red.  Other explanations might also be possible, bearing in mind that not all postal authorities were members of the UPU in 1878, but whatever one’s view, the fact that the Dover SL handstamp was applied indicates that the letter was not treated as being domestic, despite carrying a single 1d Red and presumably the sender, or perhaps a member of a ship’s crew, trying to post it as a domestic mail item.  Why such an old handstamp was apparently dusted off and used is not clear, but perhaps this was the only way for the clerk formally to alert London, where the stamp was cancelled, of his or her reservations about the origin of the letter.  That begs another question, was this the only time in 63 years that suspicion had been raised about a letter handed in at Dover and if not, what other markings were used for such mail?

Any thoughts or other views on this cover will be gratefully received from members.

My thanks to Colin Tabeart, James Grimwood Taylor and Alan Moorcroft, all of whom provided helpful advice; the words, of course are all my own.

Postal problems in the early days before the establishment of the Sark Sub-Post office

In the course of my ongoing researches into the manuscript circular markings on very early letters from the medieval period quite unrelated to Sark I came across an article in a foreign journal portraying some interesting comments in an account written by The Reverend J.L.V. Cachemaille, the Vicar of Sark, which first appeared in the Guernsey Monthly Illustrated Journal in 1875, some of which I had incorporated into my 1993 book, The Post Office in the Smaller Channel Islands. However I feel members may appreciate the fuller report as under herewith:

I quote – 

‘A small number of letters crossed to or from Sark, and this small collection travelled in the boatman’s basket and was distributed at his leisure, unless the people chose to go and hunt about his basket for their share of the mail. But many did not venture to go and ask for their letters lest some payment should be demanded, and the boatmen themselves did not like to ask for remuneration. However, little by little, the penny postage induced more correspondence, and, as the number of visitors increased each year the irregularity of the mails was found to be a great inconvenience….. In consideration of the great and general inconvenience felt the Seigneur, the Rev. W.T. Collins, made a proposition at a meeting of the Chief Pleas in 1856 to address a petition to Her Majesty for the regular establishment of a Post Office. This proposition met with strong and almost general opposition. It was feared that a tax would be raised for that object, and that if once the English government established a Post Office, they would encroach further upon the rights, privileges and customs of Sark, and finish by usurping its liberties.

After a strong remonstrance from the Seigneur, and his assurance that the English government and not the island would be responsible for the Postmaster’s salary and the transport of the mails, the consent of a small majority was obtained to the drawing up of a petition, and it will scarcely be credited that barely one-half of the heads of families signed the petition. The general impression was that the Post Office would be the ruin of the island, and many declared that they would never take the mail in their boats. Yet a few months later these same people complained loudly at the mails not being given to them by preference.

When once a Post Office was established, a master appointed and at work, and a letter box opened, many of the people were still afraid that the penny stamp would not frank  the letter, and that more payment would be asked if they were seen putting it into the box. For months these people only went by stealth at night to drop their letters in the box, and then ran away very fast lest they should be discovered.’

Society Auction Report for the Spring 2022 Sale

This general auction, with over 730 Lots, covered early Postal History, WW1 correspondence, Occupation (Postal History, Bisects, stamps, Red Cross messages, Feldpost, Internee and POW Mail), Alderney, Herm, Jethou and a range of Railway, Airways and Shipping material as well as modern Postal History and stamps plus a wide range of postcards. The reserves were from £1 to £600 and attracted over 100 bidders who generated sales of £15,764. The bidding for many Lots was strong such was the rarity of some of the material on offer and over 75% of the Lots were sold.

The sale was a postal and room auction with the sale being held at the member’s weekend meeting at Market Harborough.

The highlights were:

Postal History

A cover from Jersey to Gloucestershire with a four margin Penny Black cancelled with the Jersey Maltese Cross and double arc datestamp went for £350. (NS18012). An 1847 mourning cover from Guernsey to London with a handstruck ‘1’ in red plus a rare Guernsey skeleton handstamp had a reserve of £250 and was knocked down at £425.  (NS18018)

The star of the auction was an 1855 wrapper sent from Jersey to Naples with a strip of 4x QV 6d embossed stamps and a 2d star. It had Jersey and London datestamps and a red PD in an oval. This fetched £600 (NS18020).

As usual the range of Guernsey and Jersey Sub-Post office cancels sold well. A 1920 postal stationery envelope sent from Jersey to Holland with a Cheapside datestamp and a scarce first type registration label sold for £120 (NS18120). A 1942 registered cover with 11 x ½d Jersey Arms stamps which had been cancelled with the rare St. John’s Church datestamp and had a St. John’s Church registration label attracted very fierce bidding and was finally sold for £375. (NS18217). A 1944 Guernsey registered cover with the Forest datestamp and the scarce usage of the Forest registration label during the Occupation sold for £90. (NS18212)

Occupation

As usual the Occupation material attracted a large number of bids with virtually all lots being sold with prices realised close to the reserves. Several sheets of the Guernsey ½d, 1d and 2½d Arms stamps sold well with a sheet for the 4th printing of the 2½d going for £275. (NS18192)

A commercial cover with a Guernsey machine cancel and a ‘GU’ in a triangle alongside the stamp which had a reserve of £20 sold for £100 (NS16281)

This sale had for the first time in a long time three uncirculated Jersey Occupation banknotes, a 6d, 10/- and £1 which sold for £25, £200 and £150 respectively. (NS18252, NS18253 & NS18254)

Four exhibition sheets about General Heine and the Surrender of the Channel Islands showed material from the Heine Archives and included a Red Cross message from him to his wife, sold for £350.

More of the Muller POW correspondence sold well with a card from Muller in POW Camp 801 in Guernsey going for £150 after some lively bidding. (NS18319)

Feldpost

A scarce 1944 Radio Message Card with a Wilhelmshaven date stamp and cachets sold for £210 (NS118248)

A 1943 civilian cover sent from Guernsey to Lille was returned by the German Censor, had a reserve of £150 and fetched £250 (NS18249)

Red Cross

As usual a wide variety of message forms, envelopes and Bradshaw Cards were on offer. Again some rare routings sold well. An American form to Guernsey sold for £110 (NS18272) and one from Australia to Jersey went for £125 (NS181273)

Post 1945 Postal History, Ephemera and Stamps

A wide range of Sub-Post office datestamps, instructional markings and cachets for Alderney, Guernsey and Jersey as well as Herm and Jethou all sold well for modest prices.

There is a growing interest in the airways and aircraft which carried the mails and various transport ephemera along with the tourist hotels. Virtually all lots of this type sold.

The large range of Guernsey stamps including complete Yearbooks and FDCs plus most of the Jersey stamps and Yearbooks found ready buyers.

Postcards

Another wide range of postcards, including LLs, were featured, however uptake was limited and most sold at or around their reserves.

The full lists of the prices realised for the auction can be found in the member’s section of the CISS website under Auction Archive along with the descriptions and images.

The Chasselay Massacre, June 1940

Whilst writing an article on Channel Islands mail to and from both occupied and unoccupied Vichy France, I wanted to know where Chasselay was located.  Chasselay is a village 15km to the north of Lyon which witnessed one of the worst atrocities in France during the war.

Postcard from Jersey to Chasselay date stamped 15 April 1944 with correct postage of 15pf. In addition, occupation issued stamps have been added which were unnecessary.

As French forces collapsed in late May and early June, French Colonial Sénégalese soldiers were deployed in and around the village of Chasselay to delay the German advance south towards Lyon.  The massacre of these soldiers took place on June 19-20 at the time Marshal Pétain had announced his intention to seek an armistice with Germany, but no actual surrender had been made, and in some cases French troops continued to fight on.                 

Heavy and violent fighting between the German and French troops resulted in 51 deaths on the French side and more than 40 wounded for the Germans.

When the Sénégalese had run out of ammunition in Chasselay and surrendered they were ordered to a nearby field.  The French officers were led aside and told to lie face down. Then they were ordered to assemble in front of two German tanks and told to run away. As they ran the tanks opened fire with machine guns and then drove over the dead and wounded.   A German soldier then walked over to one of the white French officers and shot and wounded him; but otherwise they were left unharmed. 

German officers specifically ordered French civilians living nearby not to bury the murdered soldiers, but instead to let them rot in the open.  However, the civilians, who also sheltered a handful of Sénégalese who managed to escape, buried the bodies in a mass grave overnight.

After the armistice, Chasselay was in unoccupied France (Vichy).  Accordingly it was not subject to the general rule in occupied France that no memorial might be erected to black soldiers.  Jean Marchiani, who held the position of General Secretary of the Departmental Office of disabled ex-servicemen, veterans and victim of war heard about the massacre.  He decided to bring together the bodies of African soldiers, some of whom were buried at local cemeteries while others were often simply left to lay in ditches in the middle of the countryside. Jean Marchiani bought a plot of land in Chasselay and raised funds for the erection of the cemetery known in French as the ‘Tata Sénégalese de Chasselay’. The cemetery was constructed in a West African style and dedicated by a Muslim Sénégalese Imam on November 8, 1942, three days before Vichy France was occupied by the Germans.

Postcard from Chasselay to Jersey dated 3 May 1944.Printed postcard at internal rate of 1f 20 instead of foreign rate of 2f 40 surcharged 2d on arrival in Jersey. Paris transit cachet ‘A.x.’ and  rare Frankfurt censor cachet ‘25’.

Censorship of Guernsey Mail (Part 2)

Letters sent by forces personnel based in Guernsey, even after the Liberation of the island on 8 May 1945, were still subject to censorship, as shown by the “ON ACTIVE SERVICE” cover from Guernsey to England at Figure 9. The cover is dated 2 June 1945, has a Field Post Office number 138 cancellation date stamp and “PASSED BY CENSOR” shield cachet, together with the manuscript signature of the person undertaking the censor check.

The registered cover at Figure 10, bearing a mix of Guernsey and Jersey Arms stamps totalling the 5½d registered letter rate, was sent from Guernsey to France on 17 July 1945. The cover has been censored and bears a “P.C.90” censor sealing tape which states “OPENED BY EXAMINER 7497”. On the reverse of the cover is the scarce oval violet “GUERNSEY / REGISTERED / CHANNEL ISLANDS” mark.

Figure 9:  An “ON ACTIVE SERVICE” cover from Guernsey to England dated 2 June 1945. It has a Field Post Office number 138 cancellation date stamp and “PASSED BY CENSOR” shield cachet, together with the manuscript signature of the person undertaking the censor check.

Figure 10:  A registered cover from Guernsey to France on 17 July 1945, censored and bearing “P.C.90” censor sealing tape which states “OPENED BY EXAMINER 7497”. On the reverse of the cover is the scarce oval violet “GUERNSEY / REGISTERED / CHANNEL ISLANDS” mark.

Red Cross messages censorship

The German occupation of Guernsey ended external postal and telecommunication links for the islanders. Especially for the thousands of islanders who had been evacuated just before the occupation, there was a desperate need for the establishment of some form of communication link. Once the Red Cross Postal Message Service was in place, messages of up to 25 words could be sent on prescribed stationery, with replies being returned on the reverse of the forms.

Messages from the UK were initiated in Red Cross Bureaux, from which they were sent to London, where they were censored by the Post Office. They were then transported by boat to Lisbon, where officials of the British and International Red Cross dispatched the messages to Geneva. Checked by officials of the International Commission of the Red Cross (“ICRC”), as evidenced by the application of a cachet, messages were put into envelopes and sent to the German Red Cross in Berlin and then, after selective censoring, via the Feldpost system to the German Red Cross in Paris, where they were selectively examined and another cachet was applied. 

The forms used for messages sent from the UK were designed by the ICRC, Geneva and were written in English, French and German. The forms were initially issued by the Prisoners of War, Wounded and Missing Department of the War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St John.

The forms used for messages sent from the Channel Islands were designed by the Deutsche Rotes Kreuz (“DRK”), based on the accepted ICRC forms, and were written in German and French. The routing of these forms was the reverse of that described above for UK-originated forms.

The message at Figure 11 was sent from Stockport on 15 May 1941 to Guernsey. It was stamped with the red octagonal cachet of censor P.71 in London and also shows the red and purple cachet applied by the German Red Cross Commission in Paris as evidence that the message had been checked as acceptable for content. The form also carries a double circle cachet of the ICRC in Geneva.

Figure 11: Sent from Stockport on 15 May 1941 to Guernsey, this message was stamped with the red octagonal cachet of censor P.71 in London and also shows the red and purple cachet applied by the German Red Cross Commission in Paris as evidence that the message had been checked as acceptable for content. The form also carries a double circle cachet of the ICRC in Geneva.

The message at Figure 12 overleaf was sent from Guernsey on 1 May 1942 to Stockport. It was stamped with the red octagonal cachet of censor P.117 in London and also shows the purple cachet applied by the German Red Cross Commission in Paris as evidence that the message had been checked as acceptable for content. There is also a double circle cachet of the ICRC in Geneva.

It is unclear from the form as to which censor was responsible for the redaction of some of the text in the message, using black ink on the front and rear of the form.

The message at Figure 13 also overleaf was sent from Guernsey on 23 September 1943 to Carlisle. It was stamped with the purple octagonal cachet of censor P.233 in London and also shows the blue cachet applied by the German Red Cross Commission in Paris as evidence that the message had been checked as acceptable for content. There is also a double circle cachet of the ICRC in Geneva.

Clearly the German censor took exception to certain words in the text, so much so that they redacted them by cutting out the words from the form. This rather extreme measure appears to have shocked the London censor into pinning a leaflet P.C.11 to the form stating “The British Examiner is not responsible for the mutilation of this letter”, this leaflet then being initialled by the censor (number 1861).  

Figure 12: Sent from Guernsey on 1 May 1942 to Stockport, this message was stamped with the red octagonal cachet of censor P.117 in London and also shows the purple cachet applied by the German Red Cross Commission in Paris as evidence that the message had been checked as acceptable for content. There is also a double circle cachet of the ICRC in Geneva.

Figure 13: Sent from Guernsey on 23 September 1943 to Carlisle, this message was stamped with the purple octagonal cachet of censor P.233 in London and also shows the blue cachet applied by the German Red Cross Commission in Paris as evidence that the message had been checked as acceptable for content. There is also a double circle cachet of the ICRC in Geneva. The London censor pinned the leaflet P.C. 11 to the form stating that they did not carry out the redaction by cutting out specific words.

The Red Cross Bureaux in Britain posted some messages directly to the ICRC in Geneva. Such letters were usually marked “Red Cross Postal Message Scheme” or “Channel Islands Message Scheme”. Such a letter is shown at Figure 14, sent from Marlborough on 9 November 1943. The letter was opened by the British censor and resealed with PC 90 tape. The rubber stamp “COUPON-RESPONSE” was applied in Geneva by the ICRC to signify that an international reply-paid coupon had been attached to the message form. The Paris censor cachet “A.x.” – the A being short for Auslandsdienstprufstelle (Foreign Letter Examination Office); and the “x” being the code letter for Paris.

Figure 14: A letter sent from Marlborough on 9 November 1943 to the ICRC in Geneva. The letter was opened by the British censor and resealed with PC 90 tape. The rubber stamp “COUPON-RESPONSE” was applied in Geneva by the ICRC to signify that an international reply-paid coupon had been attached to the message form. The Paris censor cachet “A.x.”.

Scarce (‘1786’) 1781 Entire letter to Mr P. F. Dobreé at Battier Zornlen in London from Guernsey

I was very pleased recently to be able to add this unusual and personal entire letter to my collection of Letter Forwarding Agents purchased from the United States. In fact, dated the 5th April, 1781 and written in Guernsey by Thomas Dobreé, it is addressed privately to Mr. P. F. Dobreé att Messrs Battier Zornlin & Co in London, charged at the post rate then of 1/1d, the letter being assessed as weighing an ounce, so was rated 4 x the 3d inland rate Southampton to London 80 miles under 9 Anne c 10, with the 1d ship letter rate making the 1/1d as charged suggested by Colin Tabeart. This was also Alan Moorcroft’s belief and he also noted that the entire is struck with the two line SOUTHAMTON/SHIP LTR handstamp in black ink on the face of the letter being without the ‘P’ – Robertson shows that the Ship Lre hand stamp with this spelling was in use 1771-1789 so all in all quite a complicated rate compilation altogether.

The reverse side of this entire letter is shown below and illustrates the very well struck ‘Bishop mark’ or ‘datestamp’ of 10th April applied in London together with the usual red sealing wax impressed with the seal of the writer.

The date of the letter was also confusing at first sight until examined under strong magnification when the ‘6’ was in fact found to be a ‘1’ which becomes evident looking carefully at the finishing flourish similar to an ‘o’ halfway up the final ‘1’ giving the impression of a figure ‘6’.

This is not necessarily the precise order in which the letter was examined and this brought to light some factors which altered the calculation of the rate as the whole became treatable under the changes to Inland rates from the Act of 1711 viz. 9 Anne c 10. Not only this, but there was a letter enclosed, referred to in the text, and had the date of 1786 been correct this would have been treated as a ‘double’ letter for rate calculation, but this changed when it was realised the figure ‘6’ was in fact an embellished ‘1’!

So consultation became necessary between three of us to arrive at the eventual solution! This proved to be a difficult one to resolve at first, but it does show that in the main that the postal clerks of the 18c rarely made mistakes in their calculations of seemingly complex charges on letters.

Whilst this letter is more a ‘Care of’’ example rather than a true letter of a Forwarding Agent nonetheless it involves the London office of Battier Zornlen & Co in 1781, for whom very few letters are recorded, and the connection with the Guernsey Dobreé family. It has been suggested that perhaps one of our Channel Island Society members might be tempted to study the Dobreé family and their involvement in the Mercantile trade of this time in further depth?

To myself, this letter is particularly interesting, not just for the points mentioned, but it shows the inter-relationship between many of the merchant families of Channel Islands’ origins in the period of the 17c and 18c both at home and abroad in this period of great expansion in mercantile trading. Interestingly the Dobreé family were later well established Merchants and Letter Forwarding Agents in their own right, very well engaged in the mercantile trade of the time in Great Britain and abroad.

By way of other examples we find William Dobree born in Guernsey in 1674, later settling in London and prospering first as a Merchant and later as a Banker carefully looking after the affairs of Guernseys’ Merchants and Gentlemen. However he had shares in several Privateers and seemed secure and prosperous, but was declared bankrupt in 1754. Later in the 1770s Samuel Dobree & Sons are recorded as Merchant Bankers in London and in the early 1800s as Merchants in London. Also Harry Dobree, in Guernsey, where a large correspondence between 1810 and 1832 is held by the States of Guernsey Island Archives Service in addition to five letters recorded in private hands between 1794 and 1815. Harry Dobree is noted for his various positions in commerce as Merchant, Foreign Vice-Consul for Hanover, Naples, Sicily, Denmark and Micklenburg and as Agent to the Fire & Life Assurance acting from his offices in Pollet Street, in St Peter Port, Guernsey. Harry was also a member of the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce in 1832.

Great wealth was created in this period by some families operating as they did at the time of the Napoleonic wars and contributing to the rapid expansion of trade between so many countries. The Guernsey Priaulx family was notable in this respect and have left us with their home and gardens in St Peter Port, Guernsey with so many records held by and at the now named Priaulx Library in Guernsey today!

The 1913 St. Andrews, Guernsey skeleton datestamp

I refer to my article in the March 2022 Journal, Volume 41 No 1 pages 24 and 25 illustrating the written side of the postcard and give my sincere thanks to Alan Moorcroft FRPSL for his considerable help in providing additional information regarding this important Sub-Post office item.
Both sides of the postcard are shown in reduced format.

This information begins with the PAQUEBOT.PLYMOUTH datestamp and the S.S.BALLARAT, the P & O ship shown on the front of the postcard, both of which I have shown on the previous page in reduced format.

The S. S. Ballarat was the ship used on the Plymouth to Australia route which called at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. My postcard is endorsed (very faintly) ‘posted at Las Palmas’ in manuscript below the message. This too I have shown enlarged in this box abstracted from the text on the postcard. The writer of the postcard states that he left London on Thursday, indicating that he is on the outward journey and presumably purchased and wrote the card on board. It would have been off loaded at Las Palmas and taken on the next ship to Plymouth.

Being posted on board a UK ship, it was charged at UK inland rates – postcards were 1d at this time, so the card was ½d underpaid and charged 1d being double the shortfall. The “1d/620” instructional mark for Plymouth, Stonehouse is clearly shown adjacent to the definitive stamp on the written side of the postcard.

The real mystery is why it received a St. Andrews datestamp. It is presumed that it should have been put in the St. Saviours bag, but was wrongly put in the bag for St. Andrews. On receipt at the St. Andrews Sub-Post Office, it was datestamped to show the misdirection.

Whatever the reason, this additional information helps to make this a more interesting and scarce item.

King Charles II in Jersey

First Visit 17th April 1646 – 24th June 1646

The Prince of Wales, later King Charles II, was sent by Charles I to the West of England as the head of Royalist troops in April 1646. He was forced to flee to the Scilly Isles when things went badly and then moved on to seek refuge in Jersey knowing that the Island was staunchly faithful to the King. On 17 April 1646 he arrived without fuss or ceremony on board the Black Eagle in company with, amongst others, Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon. It was decided that the Prince should stay in Elizabeth Castle, and there he remained during his two-month stay.
The Bailiff and Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, George de Carteret, welcomed the Prince and ensured he was provided with food and every convenience during his stay. He presented the Prince with a gaily painted, two-masted pinnacle with 12 pairs of oars which he had procured from St. Malo. The Prince then spent most of his spare time sailing up and down St Aubin’s Bay, and he would allow no one else to touch the tiller. On 24 April the Prince of Wales knighted Captain George de Carteret and presented him with a patent as Baronet.
In June 1646 Queen Henrietta, Charles’s mother, directed him to leave Jersey and go to France where she was in exile. When the Prince arrived in France, he deeply regretted ever leaving the Isle of Jersey. He left behind his popularity, support, financing, and the loyal zealous team under Carteret.
Jersey proclaimed Charles II as King in Jersey on the 17th February 1649 in the Royal Square in St. Helier, eighteen days after his father’s execution.

2nd Visit – 17th September 1649-13th February 1650

In 1649 Charles again sought refuge in Jersey, arriving amid loud and demonstrative signs of joy on 17 September. On this occasion Charles was accompanied by his brother, the Duke of York, then about sixteen years old. He was well attended, some 300 persons comprising the royal train, among them Lord Lane (Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal), the Earls of Cleveland and Brentford, Lords Wentworth and Hopton, Sir John Berkeley, Lord Percy and many other Royalist nobles.
Throughout this time, aided by the skilful sea services of Carterets’ privateers, Charles maintained considerable correspondence with the mainland and his faithful followers. During a Grand Review on the sands of St Aubin’s Bay on 31 October the King knighted Carteret’s son Philip, later to succeed him as Bailiff. Charles corresponded and often met with his advisors throughout this time, and it was decided that he would eventually leave for Scotland. On 11 February 1650 Charles granted Carteret an island off the coast of Virginia called Smith Island.
A document appeared in a Spink auction on the 12th May 2022, lot 57 with the following description:

1650 (12 January) letter signed “Charles R”, “Given at our Court at Castle Elizabeth in our Island of Jersey”, addressed on integral address panel “To our Right trusty and entirely beloved Cosin William Marquis of Newscastle &c”.
Charles II here confers the award of “ye most noble order of St. George called ye Garter by our most noble & victorious ancestor King Edward ye Third”, “considering that since ye late most horrid Rebellion in that our Kingdom many of ye Companions thereof are dead & that some others contrary to their Honors and Oaths have deserted their Allegiance & are no more worthy to be esteemed Companions of so Noble an Order and finding how necessary it is for our service & the Honor of the said order to elect others in ye places vacant who for thie Nobility Courage & fidelity may be fit to be admitted thereunto, wherefore … with ye great & extraordinary services performed by you against ye rebells in ye conditions of Lieutenant Generall of ye North parts of our Kingdom of England under our late most Dear & Royall Father King Charles of his blessed & glorious memory”, continuing then to describe the dress permitted under such award.
The reverse bearing an as near as possible intact ‘fan’ seal surrounding wafer seal, the former believed to be unique to the early royal court in Jersey while awaiting supplies from London. Staining in some areas and minor tears along edges as to be expected.

An exceptionally important document being among the earliest known letters in the Kings reign, signed under Cromwell’s Protectorate. King Charles was proclaimed King in Jersey on the 17th February 1649 in the Royal Square in St. Hellier, eighteen days after his father’s execution.
The King then resided in Jersey from 17th September 1649 until 13th February 1650. This document then represents a major piece of Channel Islands, Civil War and Royal history. Photo

A lasting memorial to Charles II’s time in Jersey came on 28th November 1663 when, in gratitude for his happy experiences in the Island, the King presented the Bailiff with a magnificent mace which to this day is carried before the Bailiff at the sittings of the Royal Court and meetings of the States Assembly where it is placed upright in front of the Bailiff’s desk.

This document, in the Alan Moorcroft collection, records confirmation that the mace granted by Charles II had been delivered to the Bailiff of Jersey by Benjamin Dumaresq. It is believed that this document was sent back to England to confirm receipt of the mace.
The mace is depicted on the Jersey 5d 1969-70 definitive, 4½p 1970-1974 definitive (not shown as identical), the 1983 11p Europa and the 2013 Jersey 350th Anniversary of the £1 stamp issues.

News of Members

We are pleased to welcome the following new members:
2224    Douglas McGill, California, USA
2225    Richard Kierton, Derbyshire

Sadly, we very much regret to record the death of our member 1388 Vernon Renier of Guernsey, Channel Islands.