Journal Articles Archive - Page 152 of 233 - Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

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. 5^th (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

Forthcoming New Stamp Issues in 2022

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 18^th and 19^th 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 16^th 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 16^th February on the rear, together with a Guernsey receiving handstamp for 19^th 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 4^th 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’.