I started collecting Channel Islands stamps in the late 1960s. My father worked for British European Airways (B.E.A.), which enabled our family to visit Jersey and Guernsey during the summer holidays. I became particularly interested in 1969 with postal independence.
A colleague my father had worked with at B.E.A., Dennis Burns, had moved to Guernsey when his parents bought a Bed and Breakfast located in Elm Grove, St. Peter Port. We stayed with them when visiting the island.
Dennis had a brother, Bob Burns, who was a philatelist and member of the C.I.S.S. He had purchased many Red Cross messages on the island at a time when locals were happy to sell them for 10/- (50p).
When he sold his collection, he gave me the rump of it including the piece above. Bob suggested I should join the society, which I did in 1974, and the rest , as they say, is history.
Daniel de Lisle Brock was born in Guernsey in 1762. He was elected a Jurat of the Royal Court in 1798 and then appointed Bailiff of Guernsey in 1821. He served as Bailiff until his death in 1842. His elder brother was Major-General Sir Isaac Brock who led the British Army to victory over the Americans at the Battle of the Heights of Quebec in Canada so making it a British Colony. His brother-in-law was Admiral de Saumarez, Lord de Saumarez, who won many victories for the Royal Navy. Both Isaac Brock and Lord de Saumarez have been featured on Guernsey stamps in 1969 and 1986 respectively.
Daniel Brock was an accomplished ambassador for the States of Guernsey because four times he met with parliamentarians at Westminster to oppose proposed changes in the laws which would have adversely affected both Guernsey and Jersey economically. One of which was his brother in law’s proposal to impress Guernsey Fishermen into the Royal Navy! He was successful in ensuring that none of these proposals became law.
The entire was sent under Brock’s name on the 28 July 1938 to Jean Mahy of Maison de Bas, Vingtaine de L’Epine, Valle. It contains a notice about a meeting being re-scheduled. The English translation is “Due to the failure to convene the parish of St. Martin regarding the Rates, the conference will not take place until Monday 6th August 1838 at eleven o’clock in the morning”.
The entire has a clear first type date stamp which was used between 1830 and 1847. However it has no markings to indicate a charge was due.
This raises two questions:
- Did mail from the Royal Court have ‘Free Postage’?
- Why was a man living in the Vale being told about a meeting in St. Martin? Jean Mahy is not listed on the Royal Court’s website as having been a Jurat and, if he was a Douzenier, he would have been part of the Vale Douzaine. Why was he notified about the meeting?
The Hotel Houmet du Nord, situated right on the sandy beaches of Grand Havre Bay, Vale, Guernsey was where Richard and I arrived for our honeymoon on 18 July 1970 for a one week full board stay. The lobster was delicious. Both Richard and I were in the Royal Air Force at the time.
Keeping to the RAF theme, Gerald Alfred Smith (later Hill-Smith) married Olwen (Wendy) Morgan (date unknown), and following his service as a pilot during World War 2, they ended up running the Hotel Houmet du Nord. In 1982, Maureen and Barry Ogier became the proprietors.
In 1985 the hotel closed for business, and is now the site of luxury housing. The Houmet Tavern is now known as the Puffin and Oyster.
As a matter of interest, Houmet is an old Guernesiaisword for ‘peninsular’.
The registered letter below (Fig 1) was sent from occupied Paris on 30 May 1941. Having been censored in Cologne, for some reason the letter ended up in San Pedro, California, United States of America on 12 July 1941. Upon arrival the error was noted, and the letter re-routed to New York as “Foreign Mail”, arriving there 16 July 1941.
The letter was then forwarded to Lisbon, and from there it was forwarded to the German Feldpost Office in Paris, and then onwards to Jersey, where upon arrival there, a rare Jersey FELDPOST/a/405 04.10/41 datestamp was applied. The total journey amounted to 13,250 miles!
The error may have arisen as there are two towns in the Los Angeles area with a large German population whose names may be misread for St Helier, especially when written in old German script, namely St Helena and Wheltier. No matter the error, the item still ended up in San Pedro several thousand miles away. How did it arrive in San Pedro? It is estimated that it would have taken 8 – 10 weeks by sailing ship, longer than the six weeks the letter took from Paris to San Pedro, via Cologne. Did it go by air? There is no evidence of the letter arriving at New York and being sent to San Pedro (Fig 2). If San Pedro noted that the letter was missent there, surely New York would have noticed too and sent the letter back to London? If anyone can help with the routing of this item I would be very grateful: – secretary@ciss.uk
Gerald showed a very unusual item which is shown above. This is a Congo postal stationery card sent from Albertville in East Congo, which lies on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, now called Kalemie. It was written on 25 May 1897 and was addressed to William Toplis in Sark. William Toplis was born in Sheffield in 1857. He went on holiday to Sark in 1883 and remained there until his death in 1942. He became a famous artist producing some fine paintings of Sark.
The card was sent at the 15c. international postcard rate and received five different postmarks on its journey from Congo to Sark. The card was posted at Albertville on 23 June 1897, four weeks after it was written. It then went to Stanley Falls, later called Stanleyville, where it received a datestamp for 8 August (scan right). The card was then routed to Boma via Leopoldville. It reached Boma on 10 September and the card was then forwarded by ship to England via Lisbon, a voyage of approximately four weeks. The final part of this card’s journey would have been to Sark via Guernsey. Unfortunately there is no Channel Island marking to show the eventual date of arrival in Sark. The total journey time would have been about 19 weeks!
Robert showed a PC32 Red Cross form from Harry Pugh to his wife.
Harry was aged 40 when the Occupation began, having joined the police force in 1927. His wife and two children had evacuated to the Leeds area.
Harry’s regular beat was around the harbour area, and he was on duty immediately prior to the Occupation when he saw four people, one from the RAF and one other military man and two civilians leap from the jetty onto the SS Courier bound for Plymouth. They were probably the last personnel to leave the island.
In 1941 Harry was reported to the States by the Occupying body for failing to salute a German officer, for which he was fined 2/6d. He paid the fine but was reimbursed by the States.
In 1942, as an agent of the States, he was fully funded for total dental clearance. Mr Godfrey of Victoria Road, the dentist, removed the top teeth, but was then deported to Southern Germany, so Harry waited until Liberation to have the lower teeth removed.
Harry applied to be a sergeant and despite being described as ”not showing any potential appetite or keenness for police work” he was given the post as Acting Sergeant.
The role allowed him to have stripes on his right arm only – his colleagues noted that he wore his cape covering his left arm! In 1942 he was present when bodies from HMS Charybdis were washed ashore after being sunk by torpedo boats.
He was not one of the 18 policemen arrested, found guilty and deported for stealing food in 1942.
Harry was on duty on 27 December 1944 when the Red Cross relief ship SS Vega was sighted moving towards the harbour.
A cover dated 10 May 1945 with a Post Office Express Delivery label. Pilot Officer FM Numan sent this to relations in Jersey. He was based at RAF North Weald, which is in Epping Forest, hence the Epping Single Circular cancellation. North Weald was an important Spitfire base during the war. The letter was franked with 2½d and 6d KGVJ stamps. However, the ruling rate at that time was 6d. Express Mail was in theory sent by special messenger.
The German Commander in Jersey formally signed the surrender documents at 10.45 on May 9 and British Forces are reported to have arrived in the afternoon. The first mail to leave the Channel Islands was cancelled on May 9. This cover was sent Express Delivery, and should therefore have arrived as soon as any ordinary mail posted in the UK on Armistice Day.
One Page Competition Entries
Following our successful weekend in Kenilworth, it seemed appropriate for me to ask those attending for contributions to this quarter’s Iles Normandes. The single-page competition seemed a good starting point, given the varied and interesting entries. Sometimes we have a cherished piece which is difficult to include in a longer display, so this was an opportunity to show off something new, prized or just interesting. Thank you from me to all those who entered; hopefully these brief entries will persuade others to enter future competitions or even start something new. There were twelve entrants as follows:
- Robert Corden – First mail after the end of occupation
- Jon Aitchison – The World’s Rarest Stamp?
- Robert MacDonald – PC 32
- Gerald Marriner – Incoming Mail to Sark
- Jill Flemming – Hotel Houmet du Nord
- Richard Flemming – Occupation cover from Paris to Jersey that travelled 13, 250 miles
- Nick Stuart – Message from Bailiff 1832
- Steve Wells – The Story of Two Collectors
- Gavin Wood – What a difference a day makes
- Julian Bagwell – Two stories, not one
- David Winnie – Delivered by the Hotel’s Care
- Peter Mollett – Variations on LL Channel Islands Postcards
Ten members attended the meeting, possibly caused by a clash with the Cup Final. We started as usual with coffee or tea, giving members a chance to catch up with each other. The meeting started with a 50-lot auction, with bidding on many, and a high volume of sales. Our President, David Laurillard started the displays with an interesting collection called Fun with Covers including material of all the Islands. Bryan Elliston showed Victor Hugo, The Man and his Island Home. Mike Moody’s display showed the Bureaucracy of Liberation with Christmas cards and programmes of Liberation shown with original material. On return from an excellent lunch in a local pub, Nick Stuart showed Forwarding Agents mail, a remarkable collection of very early covers, as well as an 1840 Penny Black cover sent from London to Sark. Alan Whittaker followed with a frame entitled A Five-Year Honeymoon. A couple came to Guernsey as the islanders were leaving for England before the Germans arrived. They had to remain on the Island, and after two years, they went to Internment Camps, arriving back to the U.K in 1945. Our Chairman, David Winnie, gave the closing displays, Guernsey Wartime Sales Tax Stamps, which were produced by the local newspaper in letterpress, creating many variations, and Guernsey Air Letters, showing the way they changed over the years.
Even though there were only eleven members present, an excellent variety of material was shown. Next year’s meeting will be on Saturday 22 May 2027. Any members living in the South, or further afield, would be most welcome to join us.
Frederick Brian John Sole, FRPSL (1938-2026)
We were sad to hear of the loss to philately of an important stalwart when Brian Sole died in late February. Thematic Philately had been his passion since he started collecting in the early 1980s. He was a founder member, Secretary and Chairman of the British Thematic Association. He started collecting material on cycling in the 1970’s, building up “Go by Cycle”, which was awarded a Gold Medal at Singapore in 2002. He also enjoyed postcard collecting, winning a Gold Medal at the 2021 Autumn Stampex in the Postcard Class with “Cycle Past”. Brian also had a fine collection of Guernsey from World War II onwards, and many will remember his outstanding display of Guernsey imperforates. He became a qualified judge in both Thematic Philately and Open Philately in the UK and in Thematic Philately at FEPA events in Europe. His desire to promote understanding of thematic philately led him (jointly with the late Franceska Rapkin) to translate into English from the original Dutch a major book by Pim van den Bold: Handbook of Thematic Philately, published in 1994. He recently published a book about the Telegram Service – “A Reminder of the British Greetings Telegram Service” which was a detailed catalogue of every issue. He made an important contribution to organized philately including as Secretary of Kingston Upon Thames Philatelic Society and President of the Federation of Surrey Philatelic Societies, and regularly attended the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain, being awarded the Congress Medal in 2002. He was an elected Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London. Brian was a most affable and friendly person to know.
