Journal Articles Archive - Page 151 of 233 - Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

The First Flight into Alderney

This postcard has a great story……………

The postcard was written on Alderney on Monday, 4^th July 1921, addressed to a Mrs Bowman in Manchester, and posted on Wednesday, 6^th July. At the time, the postage rate for postcards was the short–lived 1½d rate. The 1½d stamp has been cancelled by the Alderney double circle datestamp without a code letter inserted but, as the postcard was not of a standard size, the postage rate should have been 2d and the instructional mark ‘1d/324’ has been added. The 1d postage due stamp was applied and cancelled in Manchester, but because the card was subsequently re-directed to Anglesey, a boxed ‘CHARGE NOT COLLECTED/FRESH LABEL REQUIRED’ cachet has been added together with initials in manuscript.

It is believed that this latter instructional mark was issued to all Head Post Offices in Great Britain (including Guernsey and Jersey) in or around 1920 and was withdrawn after Postal Independence in 1969. Examples of this handstamp used in Jersey only are recorded

The intrigue is in the message “We flew over here for lunch today in 55 minutes”. With grateful thanks to Roger Harris, information has been provided which means that this postcard is an amazing discovery for the history of aviation in the Islands, as the first sea landing (accidental) at Alderney was on the 5^th October 1919 whilst the first recorded land landing was not until the 4^th August 1933.

The plane did not originate from Shoreham or Southampton as those airports were not built until the early 1930s, although airfields did exist there before. Southampton airport was originally ‘Atlantic Park’ opened in 1918 and manned by the U.S.N.A.F. as a WWI supply base. 1n 1921, it was a hotel that was virtually a self-contained township for over 3,000 emigrants and trans–migrants escaping Europe and Russia in the hope of going to America by ship from Southampton. Shoreham (Brighton Airport) is the oldest airport in the UK opened on the 20^th June 1911, but was mainly used for local club flying at this time,

The normal flying route to the Islands would be by land plane from Croydon to clear customs with the shortest Channel crossing possible until they reached the French coast and then following the coast of France westwards to the Islands. This journey could take over 2 hours.

Civil seaplanes would leave from the Hamble using Southampton Docks Customs until 1923 when a seadrome was built on the Hamble with customs facilities. Royal Navy seaplane flights would be from Calshot on the other side of the Solent. The quickest time for crossing from the Solent with a tail wind helping for both civil and Naval craft was 95 minutes.

But our man Geoffrey says their flight was 55 minutes – therefore he must have flown in from France not England.

There was very little civil aviation in 1921 with no new aircraft being built, but there was a stockpile of over 20,000 ex-war planes. Most of the pilots at the time were ex-RAF war veterans and many of these bought old RAF planes either for personal use or business such as joy rides or taxi services. Their favourite aircraft was the Avro 504K biplane which had been a trainer in the RAF, but when the dual controls were removed, could carry two passengers. Geoffrey refers to “we” so it is suspected that he was on a tour of France with one or two friends.

With further investigation, the pilot was undoubtedly Geoffrey Hilton “Beery” Bowman, a WWI R.F.C flying ace born in Manchester on the 2^nd May 1891 – he would have been 30 in 1921. The Avro 504K or 504L had a top speed of 90mph and a cruising speed of 60mph so he set off from somewhere between 50 and 75 miles from Alderney. That places him on the Cherbourg peninsula or at St. Malo. This landing, therefore, pre-dates the first known landing by some twelve years.

The CISS 2023 Annual Competition

Next year’s Competition Day will be on Saturday 11th February 2023 and will take place at The Royal Philatelic Society London.

In line with last year, as many exhibits as possible will be available for viewing on the CISS website as well as at our meeting at the Royal. The rules can be found on our website at www.ciss.uk/competitions/ where an entry form also can be found. Scans of entries will be accepted for members living outside the UK.

Entry forms and scans of entries should be sent to the Competitions Secretary by Friday 27^th January at competitions@ciss.uk

Please feel free to contact the Competitions Secretary, Nick Martin at competitions@ciss.uk with any queries. Enquiries can be made by phone on 07703 766477 or 01285 653714.

As always, we look forward to your interesting and varied entries.

Guernsey Registered M.O.O. cover to Algeria

I have recently acquired an unusual registered cover illustrated in Fig. 1 above. This was sent from Guernsey to Bone (now Annaba) in Algeria on 29 December 1906. This was originally a KEVII 1d postal stationery envelope which was uprated with two KEVII stamps to give the correct 4½d overseas registered letter rate. This included 2d registration fee which was in use between 1878 and 1921. The stamps are cancelled with GUERNSEY M.O.O. (Money Order Office) datestamps. These seldom seen datestamps have been recorded in use in Guernsey between 1884 and 1936. Alongside the stamps the Guernsey Post Office applied the ‘R in oval/ FEE PAID’ handstamp in violet ink. This use is one year later than that recorded in the SG Channel Islands Postal History catalogue (1991). The cover was routed via London where it received the London EC registered datestamp for 1 January 1907.

Fig. 2 (on reverse)

This was then forwarded to the town of Constantine in Algeria. The arrival datestamp is shown in Fig. 2 above. The cover was then re- routed to the addressees in Bone, a coastal town 100 miles north east of Constantine.

I would be interested to know if any members of the Society have also got C.I. mail addressed to Algeria.

The Mystery of the St.- AUBYNS type 7 datestamp

My original researches in the 1990s had always shown this particular datestamp with a code P recorded in the GPO Proof Datestamp Impression books as issued to Jersey on the 30^th December 1870.

Thus a mystery arose when our member in Guernsey, John Triggs, FRPSL acquired an example shown below as a backstamp dated April 25th 1870, with the ‘P’ code which could not be found in the GPO Proof Datestamp Impression books before this earliest known date nor till 30^th December 1870 as noted!

Thus it became clear that the 19c GPO Proof Datestamp Impression books were not as accurate a record as we had always believed to be the case as other later examples of the St Aubyns datestamps until the entry of the 30^th December 1870 were not to be found. The searches made by the Archives Manager on my behalf with whom I had a most interesting conversation also showed to my own satisfaction that the original searches I had made twenty five years ago were thorough based on the original documentation at that time held in the Archives. Measurements then could be taken from original records which is no longer the case today as only copy records are available to the public.

Our member in Jersey, Steve Power, has also provided three later examples, two of which are shown on the next page in 1883 and 1885 which have slightly different measurements between the ‘S’s of ST.-AUBYNS which I believe on examination of highly magnified examples to be a variance between the strikes of the datestamps on the back of the envelopes either due to the angle and strength of the strike and also the residual ink remaining on the datestamp at the time of the strike.

These two backstamps are dated in 1883 and 1885 and have been slightly enlarged here to show the tiny variance which could arise from the angle of strike particularly with the shadow to that on the left. This could well be more apparent if the envelope was thick in paper content. Basically of the examples seen to date the measurements are more or less the same thus it is evident we have just one datestamp, albeit with different codes seen. Why there is no Proof Book impression prior to the 25^th April 1870 is not known and can only be guessed!

The examples reported so far on cover are:

25^th April 1870 code P, 30^th December 1870 code P, 9th December 1873 code B, 7th July 1878 code P, 20^th May 1883 code P, 11^th Sep 1883 code P, 29th July 1884 code P, 15^th Sep 1885 code P, 13th June 1895 code A, 5th January 1897 code A, 11th October 1899 code A, and one on piece is just dated AU 22 ???3 (could be 1873, 1883, 1893 or 1903.

On Parcel Post labels:

14th January 1897 code A, 9th February ???? code A, 10th April 1902 code A.

There must be more examples in your collections and I will be most interested to receive scans of any further examples of this datestamp with dates of use and the codes you may have on cover or on parcel post labels.

Scans please by email to nangurney1@aol.com. Thank you.

Some new acquisitions by Henri Chartier in St Malo

I just came across an interesting CARD:Saint-Helier Havre des Pas S.M Belgische Legerposterij 1917. So far I never knew about some Belgian military in Jersey. In the view above we can read ‘I’m the one in the centre on the beach.’ All four illustrations have been reduced in size.

In 58 years of collecting Jersey postal history I have never seen anything like it !!!!!!! A VERY RARE FIND.

Secondly a card below from GUERNSEY to FRANCE in 1951 with the taxe 7 frank +T 50, a nice item which I have consulted with Gerald Marriner and Gerald writes to say ‘the rates charged are interesting and your surcharged postcard to France has been assessed as seen above viz. postage paid was 2d. However the correct European postcard rate from October 1950 was 2½d so a ½d underpaid. Hence the hexagonal Tax handstamp which shows the postal deficiency. This was not 50, but 5 ct (gold centimes). The correct postcard rate from France to England in 1951 was 18 Fr. thus the postal deficiency calculated = 0.5/2.5 x 18 = 3 Fr 60 thus the surcharge is double the deficiency = 2 x 3 Fr 60 = 7 Fr 20ct. Rounded down to 7 F hence French postage due stamps to the value of 7 Fr were applied to this postcard.’

Unusual Postcard with Guernsey M.O.O. cancel

I illustrate above scans of an unusual postcard which I have recently acquired

This postcard was sent from Guernsey at the correct 1d rate and was addressed to a protestant priest in Ferney in France. The stamp was cancelled with the GUERNSEY M.O.O. datestamp for 6 October 1903. This datestamp has been recorded in use between 1884 and 1936. There is an arrival datestamp for 8 October.
The addressee was not found at this address and the card was forwarded to the Bois Cerf Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland (still open today). There are three Lausanne datestamps. There is an arrival datestamp for 9 October (LAUSANNE/ FACT. LETTER).
A similar datestamp was applied for 10 October. There were two attempts to find the addressee at this hospital. However, neither were successful. There are two manuscript endorsements by the postmen “Inconnu à Bois Cerf” [Unknown at Bois Cerf].
The card was then returned to sender on 10 October. The card received a label ‘Unbekannt/ Inconnu’ [unknown] at the Lausanne Post Office together with a Lausanne departure datestamp for 10 October – inscribed ‘LAUSANNE/ EXP. LIT’. This was applied alongside the GB KEVII 1d stamp.
The card was returned to Guernsey via London where a London transit datestamp was applied in red, dated 19 October. It is probable that the red’EX’ handstamp [= EXAMINED] was applied in London. The London Post Office would have deleted the French address with red crayon. On the front of the card, the words ‘P.O. Guernsey’ have been highlighted in a red frame and similarly the name of the sender. The London Post Office then inserted the final destination “Guernsey” in red on the reverse of the card.
A framed violet four line handstamp was applied. This was inscribed: ‘Undelivered for reason stated/ to be returned to sender/ at the address shewn on cover/ Returned from R.L.O. [Returned Letter Office] London’.

I cannot record seeing any example of a similar four line ‘Undelivered for Reason Stated…’ handstamp used in Guernsey or Jersey. I can record a couple of examples with a similar three line handstamp used in the Channel Islands.

I wish to thank Gerald Marriner FRPSL for his help with this article.

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 17^TH 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 13^th 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 29^th 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?)