Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

Founded 1950

Volume 42 No.3

42-3

St. Owens, Jersey 1904 Registered Letter

I have recently acquired a most attractive and early registered letter from this country Sub-Office which I show below. 

It is a 3d brown registered stationery envelope which has been uprated by the addition of KEVII ½d and 1d definitive stamps to make up the 4½d rate and it is addressed to Fleurier in Switzerland. Each of the three postage stamps has been cancelled by the Jersey registered oval datestamp with alongside, clear examples of the 22mm ST. OWENS single circle datestamp with code C inserted for the 14th March 1904.

Routed through London, it shows a faint registered “hooded circle” in violet on the front of the cover for the 16th March 1904.

The reverse of the cover on the next page shows again, an oval REGISTERED datestamp and a complete FLEURIER single circle datestamp for the 17th March 1904 used as an arrival mark.

A very well marked and attractive cover from this office. Can any member report a similar example please

Postcard from Sylt Concentration Camp, Alderney

The notorious Camp ‘SYLT’ in Alderney was an outpost of the concentration camp Hamburg-Neuengamme. The guards of this camp were members of SS Construction Brigade 1 and this unit was stationed in Dusseldorf prior to its transfer to Alderney. 

Mail to and from the inmates of this camp was not conveyed direct. The mail from the prisoners had to be written on the standard printed forms, cards and folded letters of the concentration camp Neuengamme and was then taken from Alderney without any postage or postal markings. Firstly the mail went to the Concentration Camp at Neuengamme close to Hamburg. At the Camp the mail was censored and then posted to the addressees from the post office at Hamburg. The families of the prisoners only knew the address of Camp Neuengamme and the actual place where the prisoner was incarcerated was unknown to the families.

Illustrated is a postcard to Germany from the Alderney concentration camp

Sylt sent by a prisoner named Wilhem Becker. The message was written on

a form from the concentration camp Hamburg-Neuengamme and was cancelled by a civilian canceller from the post office of Hamburg-Berge- Dorf dated 24 April 1944. The name of the prisoner, Wilhem Becker, is known to Michael Wieneke and he was one of the post-war witnesses in Jersey and was mentioned in different post-war police interrogations.

Mail into Camp Sylt is unknown and most likely does not exist. Michael Wieneke was told by a former prisoner of Sylt-Camp (named Otto Spehr) that all mail which was received at the camp was collected by the guards and destroyed. Camp Sylt was ‘cleaned up’ just prior to D-Day and the prisoners were transferred via Guernsey to France and later on to Belgium.

Otto Spehr was taken from Alderney to Belgium from where he escaped. He was taken to England where he worked for Soldatensender Calais (Soldier’s Radio Calais), which was a ‘black’ propaganda station broadcasting in German into Germany.

Soldatensender Calais operated from 6pm local time to dawn. Unlike its predecessor, Gustav Siegfried Eins, the programmes were live from the purposely-built broadcast studio at Milton Bryan, Bedfordshire.

The method of propaganda used by the Soldatensender Calais was described by Sefton Delmer, its creator, in his book Black Boomerang, as “cover, cover, dirt, cover, dirt”; that is, using good music and providing coverage of sports and other events of interest to a German serviceman, the station made that listener receptive to propaganda items aimed at decreasing morale.  An example was a warning of confidence men swindling German soldiers being transferred from France to the Russian front. This approach could be compared to those used by Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally, without the heavy-handiness of the Axis programmes. Soldatensender Calais, as part of its cover, relayed speeches by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi officials.

During the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, Soldatensender Calais broadcast information that was intended to impress German intelligence officers that the invasion area was wider than it actually was. After the Pas de Calais area was overrun, the station changed its callsign to Soldatensender West.
Soldatensender’s broadcast was repeated in print the next day in the NACHRICHTEN FȔR DIE TRUPPE air-dropped newspaper for German troops

A late 19c Advertising envelope

Just before departing on a cruise to the West Indies and back before the last Christmas and New Year I was pleased to obtain this attractive envelope used by Jersey Wine Merchants DECOUR – BOISGARD & Cie trading at No.2, Sand Street, in St Helier, Jersey in the late 19c.

Addressed to Paris, France, the letter has been carried to Southampton where a 1887 QV 2½d purple on blue Jubilee stamp has been added and cancelled by a SOUTHAMPTON double circle datestamp on the 8th November 1899. There are no backstamps on the reverse. A scarce letter.

Rate query on entire letter of 1809 from Guernsey to Poole

I have recently acquired an entire letter sent on June 5, 1809 from Guernsey to Poole. On the front of the cover one sees the handwritten postage entry 1/6d in black ink and when I calculate the postage I get a total of 1/7d. I referred this to Alan Moorcroft who quickly responded with the answer that he suspected the letter did not go via London as we now know it has no London datestamp on the reverse side. Thus it would have travelled from Weymouth to Blandford where there was a cross road to Poole, an inland distance from Weymouth of 40 miles = 6d plus 3d packet to Weymouth = 9d. Assuming it was a double letter the rate of 1/6d is solved.

Alan also writes…..to calculate the postage charge on mail sent prior to 5th December 1839 (Uniform postage) one needs to know the distance the letter was actually carried until 1838 when the rule changed to the shortest distance. This is usually easy if the letter went along the same post road. However, when mail was sent via a cross post road then the calculation has to be from the town the letter was posted to the place the letter was transferred to another post road for it to reach its destination. As this letter bears no London datestamp it is almost 100% certain that it went via a cross post. Mail posted from Weymouth was sent to Shaftsbury to join the Western Road to London. This route passed through Dorchester and Blandford. A cross post operated from Blandford to Poole. Thus one can calculate the route this letter took: Weymouth to Blandford 24 miles and Blandford to Poole 13 miles making a total of 37 miles. This was charged postage in the rate band 30 to 50 miles 1805 – 1812 rates 6d.

Reference. The Western Road in Robertson Great Britain Post Roads, Post Towns page 10 and Paterson’s Roads and principal Cross Roads.

News of Members

We are pleased to welcome the following new members:
2241 Gopal Sekhar, India; 2242 Ramon Toonen, The Netherlands; 2243 Carl Gavey, Jersey; 2244 Elizabeth Lakeman, Jersey; 2245 John Nicolle, Devon; 2246 Peter Shakespeare, Wiltshire; 2247 David Dymott, West Midlands.

The Late Robert Danzig

The Late Robert Danzig. A very recent sad loss has been our dealer member Robert Danzig who looked after so many of us so well. I have known Robert for many years and made a contribution on the Channel Islands Maltese Cross to his jointly authored excellent 1991 book The Cancellations of the 1841 Penny Red. During the 1997 weekend meeting of the Society on the Isle of Wight Robert and Sarah very kindly invited the Society to their lovely spacious home where we were entertained in their gardens and shown various parts of Roberts’ collections followed by some excellent refreshments prepared by Sarah. Such a memorable event and one we all enjoyed immensely, Our thoughts remain with Sarah and family.

Secretary’s Clipboard

Thank you to all those twenty-four members who were able to attend the 73rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), which included nine members joining via Zoom. This included Peter Viscusi joining us from the U.S.A. and Gopal Sekhar linking up from India. I am pleased to report that all the previous committee members were re-elected to their current committee roles and will serve for a further twelve months. A copy of the full Minutes appear in this journal. Following the AGM, Gerald Marriner gave an entertaining display titled “Postage Due” (a write-up appears in this Journal).

Moving on to the September 2023 Member’s meeting, I am pleased to report that we have two members providing displays which will also be available for members to view via Zoom. Full details will be available on the Programme page of the website (www.ciss.uk) with login details in due course.

Finally, I wish to convey my thanks to Alan Whittaker for holding a regional CISS meeting in Hampshire on the 13th April. Unfortunately, a national rail strike on the day did curtail attendance, but at least 11 members (and one guest) did make it. Alan has kindly agreed to repeat the event in 2024.

Forthcoming meetings for 2023

16th September            Member’s Meeting commencing at 11.00 GMT   

                                       with Zoom link-up at 14.00

25th November            Member’s Meeting – Theme: Letters T, U and/or V

Forthcoming meetings 2024

10th February               Annual Competition

19th – 21st April           Member’s Weekend Meeting at Milford Hall Hotel,                                Salisbury

6th July                        Annual General Meeting

Currently, all meetings are held at the Royal Philatelic Society London, 15, Abchurch Lane, London, EC4N 7BW with the meeting commencing at 11.00am. Tea and coffee is available from 10.30 in the Members’ Lounge.

Further information can be found on the Society’s website: www.ciss.uk

Member Profiles

This Journal sees the publication of the next in a series of profiles of Society Members which, it is hoped, might serve to introduce Members to others in the Society, perhaps facilitating Members seeking contact with others who share their particular collecting interests. Over time, such profiles give Members a better understanding of the collecting habits within the Society which, in turn, can help the Executive better focus events and other Member services to Members’ wants and needs.

The Member profiles are based on a standard template of questions answered by the Member concerned, the end product of which would have the feel of a mini interview.

The initial focus of the profiles is on those Members who have thirty or more years of membership, leading possibly to the publication of a brochure, in connection with the Society’s 75th Anniversary in 2025, of the Society’s 75 longest-serving Members.

The third profile to be published is that of our past President and current Editor, David Gurney FRPSL, who has served the Society for some 53 years in various roles including that of the third President following our founder members and first Presidents Bill Newport and John Simpson FRPSL.

Members for whom a profile is proposed to be completed will be contacted at the appropriate time by the Executive.

CISS Member Profile – David Gurney FRPSL

When and why did you start collecting C.I. stamps/postal history?

I think it was in the late 1960s my parents returned my original stamp albums and I had also spotted the Occupation stamps in dealers’ windows at lunchtimes in the City. I also started a subscription for the Philatelic magazine, which was publishing the planned New Issues for the Islands and the Editor – O.W. ‘Bill’ Newport – had a strong focus on C.I. collecting.

When did you join the CISS? What/Who introduced you to the CISS?

1970. Probably an advert in the Philatelic magazine.

What benefit have you got from your membership of the CISS?

Fascination with the Channel Islands, an interest that encouraged me to research and write articles and then books on my early love of the Red Cross Civilian Postal Message Service, the Sub-Post offices and later Letter Forwarding Agents, finally an interest in Illustrated and Advertising covers. Membership extended from the Insurance & Banking P.S., local Societies, to the Royal, the Postal History Society and Society of Postal Historians. Enthusiasm, encouragement and comradeship helped, as did becoming part of a team and meeting knowledgeable collectors.

What aspect of C.I. stamps/postal history do you collect?

My past large collections have been the Occupation stamps, modern stamps and Island Revenues, the Red Cross Civilian Postal Message Scheme, the Receiving Houses and Sub-Post Offices of the British Channel Islands and currently early Letter Forwarding Agents handling Channel Islands Mails and Illustrated & Advertising letters connected with the Channel Islands. Topographical postcards.

Do you have a favourite item or group of items in your C.I. collection?

Yes, many especially those of historical and early maritime interest.

Do you collect other non-C.I. stamps/postal history?

Yes. Fine used GVI stamps of GB and the Commonwealth, local village postal history and local topographical postcards including Plaxtol and Tonbridge, Kent.

What has the hobby of philately meant to you?

It is a major part of my life especially with my involvement as Hon. Secretary of the Royal for four years and senior roles in the CISS. Always learning and collecting fascinating and scarce letters and documents, giving displays and travelling to various parts of GB, the Channel Islands and Europe.

I particularly enjoy the research and writing of articles and books and have had several published on mainly historical topics. I recall Alan Moorcroft FRPSL used to refer to me as ‘Mr Channel Islands’!