FORCES POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY JOURNAL Whole Number 305€¦ · Heresy, e.g. 6d ship letter rate + 2d master’s gratuity. What price a write-up that said “Ship letter rate 3¼d,

FORCES POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY

JOURNAL

Whole Number 305

Autumn 2015 Vol XXX No 11

ISSN 1752-0975

© Forces Postal History Society and Authors

A Boxer Rebellion Cover

The KDMS 66 handstamp was allocated to the HAPAG liner Palatia between 3 August and 16 October 1900 according to Crüsemann. She was chartered as a trooper, leaving Bremerhaven for Taku, where she disembarked her troops on 16 October. The cover is endorsed at the back by sender “Hinneburg, of the 4th Company, 5th East Asian Infantry Regiment, for the time being at Colombo.” The handstamp top left was applied on board by an officer of the unit to authenticate free postage. It partly reads “SB” for “Soldaten Brief”, + EXPED(ition) + REGMT for details of unit. The letter travelled to Europe by P&O liners Victoria and Isis to Brindisi. With many thanks to Alistair Kennedy for his help.

Forces Postal History Society Journal No 305 Autumn 2015

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Contents A Boxer Rebellion Cover: Colin Tabeart 349 Merchant Navy Seamen in WW1: Bryans Knights 351 Incoming Ship Letter Rates & the Master’s Gratuity: Colin Tabeart 351-52 HM Troopship Tyndareus and Drummer Morley: Tony Walker 353-358 Urgent Cases Hospital for France: Dr Michael Gould 359-60 Members’ Queries: Brian Standly 360-61 The King’s Messengers during the 1914-18 War: Philip Beale 362-64 A Gallipoli Veteran: Colin Tabeart 365-66 Unknown Naval Barracks: Dr Michael Gould 366-67 Gallipoli 1915 – Austrian Mortar Battery No 9: Keith Tranmer 368 Siege of Acre 1799: John F Cowlin 369-70 BFPOs in Afghanistan: Michael Dobbs 371-72 Major General Frederick Gordon, 22nd Division, 1914-18: Andrew Brooks 373-79 An Unrecorded PC107 Slip: Peter Burrows 380

Editorial Policy The following is based on that implemented by Cameo, journal of the West Africa Study

Circle, which accurately reflects what I have tried to achieve over the last ten years. The editor has the final say over content from articles submitted in the interests of balance to cover as wide a mix of subjects as possible. The editor has discretion over punctuation, spelling, grammar, use of colour, and sizing and positioning of illustrations to fit space available. Draft copies of articles will always be sent to authors for approval. If amendment or deletion of actual text is deemed appropriate it will only be done in full discussion with the author, who of course may always withdraw the article if agreement cannot be reached: alternately the author can volunteer to relieve me of the editorship – all applications gratefully considered.

The aim is to continue to produce a Journal that will stand the test of expert scrutiny within the current body of knowledge. Speculation in an article may well generate further discussion or research, and is to be welcomed, as long as it is so identified. Statements of “fact” should be verifiable, and where possible supported by relevant references. Where an article is outside the limited knowledge of the editor it may be referred to other members with the necessary specialist knowledge for assessment.

In pursuit of excellence the quality of illustrations is very important. Poor quality photocopies on inferior paper on home copiers reproduce badly and look shoddy. Wherever possible please send separate jpeg files scanned at least 300 dots per inch. If you cannot do that send me the originals and I will produce the images.

Copyright is a complex subject, but is entirely the Author’s responsibility. Almost all good students will be happy to have their work quoted as long as the source is acknowledged, but wherever possible permission should be sought.

If anyone has an interesting cover that would look good on the front page please send me a scan and a short caption – about 6 lines is all that can be fitted in, unless the image size is reduced – always possible if the caption is riveting.

The last two editions were despatched by our printer, thus saving Alistair Kennedy a considerable amount of work. This practice will continue: will members please let me rather than Alistair know of any future receipt problems?

Editor’s Contact details: Colin Tabeart, 238 Hunts Pond Road, Fareham. PO14 4PG.

[email protected]


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Merchant Navy Seamen in WW1

Bryans Knights reports as follows: “The 1915 database of merchant seamen during WW1 has now gone live and can be found at http://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk. There is an explanation as to how it was compiled and the limitations in as much as it does not include those merchant ships which were taken up as armed merchant cruisers. I have been unable to verify whether another group is, or is not, recorded as the person in charge of the project has gone on leave. Seamen signed foreign going articles for a period of two years, which I believe was for three years in those days. I think ships that left the UK in 1914 and did not return until 1916 or 1917 are also not included. Having been involved in the transcribing I can assure you that some handwriting is very difficult to read so there are many [...] signs to indicate illegible words. I feel that a good job has been done in leaving records for future researchers of WWI seafarers, quite easy to follow, and hope that this information will be of use to some members.”

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Incoming Ship Letter Rates and the Master’s Gratuity

The Alan Robertson Heresy

Colin Tabeart

I have seen so many wrong interpretations of postage rates on incoming ship letters to the UK that an attempt to set the record straight seemed to be in order. The chief confusion continues to be the old Robertson heresy that wrongly considered the Master’s Gratuity to be part of the postage charged.

Ship Letters are letters carried by private ships not being under a formal contract with the Post Office. That which follows applies only to letters into the UK carried by non-contract ships. Despite there being no contract the British Post Office was very much involved, particularly in defending its monopoly of letters coming into the UK landed at the various ports, the first reference to this being in the Act of 1657. The Post Office also had a strong vested interest in extracting the maximum possible inland postage: prior to 1840 this depended primarily on distance carried from port of landing to destination, so they wished Masters to land letters as soon as they touched a British port rather than land them at their final destination. A letter addressed to London landed at, say, Falmouth by a ship bound for London, attracted far more postage than the same letter landed at London. This became a legal requirement, Masters being under penalty to land their letters at the first UK port touched at. Generally speaking letters to be carried by ships were given into the care of the Master of the vessel, it being illegal for passengers or members of the crew to carry letters into the UK. As early as 1668 it was suggested that a 1d gratuity should be paid to Masters for each letter handed in to ensure they were not smuggled: in 1685 over 60,000 penny gratuities were actually paid. But it was not until 17111 that this could legally be recovered from the addressee – the Ship Letter charge. It is important to emphasise that from then on, although both the Master’s Gratuity and the Ship Letter charge were 1d and remained so until 1799, conceptually and practically they were never the same thing. In particular the Ship Letter charge multiplied up with the rate progression (initially the number of sheets); the Master’s gratuity never did, but was paid per letter. This was not understood by many early postal historians, and is still not understood by many collectors. In particular do not rely on anything that Robertson had to say about postage rates; when he wrote his magnum opus the study of postage rates was in its infancy, and he had a very limited understanding of rates.

1 Act of 9 Anne C 10


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In 1799 a Ship Letter office was opened alongside the London Inland and Foreign offices and Post Office agents were appointed at some overseas ports2. From then on the Ship Letter charge and the Masters Gratuity followed very different paths. From 1799 to 1st August 1815 there was a dual Ship Letter rate - 4d - then from 10th October 1814 - 6d – if sent from a British Post Office agent overseas, but if not handled by such an agent still only 1d. The difference in treatment was officially recognised by the crowned ship letter mark identifying the higher rate; but this did not always happen and one can find straight line or stepped marks paying the higher rate, and vice versa. Then on 1st August 1815 the dual system was abandoned, the incoming ship letter rate for a single letter became 8d and remained there until December1839 when the progression was changed to weight3. From 10th January 1840 the ship letter rate incorporated the inland charge4. From then on ship letter charges became increasingly complicated, varying according to the origin of the letter, before being gradually simplified by the UPU as various countries signed up to the Union.

The Master’s Gratuity had an equally complex history. Initially it was increased to 2d per letter, but then diversified in ways that are imperfectly understood, as Master’s increasingly became employees rather than owner or part owner of the vessel they commanded, and as the quantity of mail carried by individual ships increased. In 1810 masters of British coastal vessels were paid 2/6d per 100 letters. In one famous case it was found that the Post Office was legally bound to pay a gratuity of over £500 to the master of a private ship returning from Australia with a huge mail and not to the owners of the ship. Even as late as the Twentieth Century masters of cross channel ferries without a Post Office contract were being paid a farthing per letter for the mail they carried.

The notion that the “Master’s Gratuity” was part of the postage rate, espoused by Alan Robertson and perpetuated by subsequent writers, is a complete heresy. It was an expense to the Post Office, not a postage rate. One might just as well say that the postage rate included 2d to the Master, 1d to the postman, and 2d to office expenses. Postage rates were enacted by Parliament, later by Treasury Warrants, and were the sole authority for the Post Office to charge the rates they did. In 1845 for instance pilots were allowed to claim 1d per letter whilst the Master was still entitled to 2d; in 1854 these allowances were reduced to 1d for Masters, ½d for pilots. In neither case did postage rates change. Similarly in 1879 France and the UK agreed to reduce gratuities to 5F per Kg, or about three farthings a letter – again with no effect on actual postage rates. It is very disappointing to see covers still written up according to the Robertson Heresy, e.g. 6d ship letter rate + 2d master’s gratuity. What price a write-up that said “Ship letter rate 3¼d, Master’s gratuity 3 farthings? I rather hope that that a jury that knew its stuff would award “null points” for that!

For a comprehensive explanation of UK letter rates prior to 1840 see Reference 1, thereafter Reference 2. My thanks are due to Graham Booth for initially suggesting the article and for many useful inputs. The very best advice I can give is when working out why the rate charged on a ship letter was as charged forget all about Masters’ Gratuities and stick to the legally enacted postage rates. References: 1. Robinson, David: For the Port & Carriage of Letters; the Author 1990, ISBN 0-9516794-0-6

2. Tabeart, Colin: United Kingdom Letter Rates Inland and Overseas, 1635-1900; 2nd edition; HH

Sales Bradford 2003. ISBN 0-905222-80-6

2 Act of 39 Geo III c 76 3 Act of 55 Geo III c 153 4 Treasury Warrant


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HM Troopship Tyndareus and Drummer Morley

Tony Walker

Tyndareus was built by Scott’s Shipbuilding and Engineering Co. at Greenock on the Clyde, for the Ocean Steam Ship Co’s Trans-Pacific services. She was launched on 1 August 1916 and delivered in November of that year, and immediately requisitioned by the Admiralty as a transport / troopship.

Her maiden voyage commenced from Devonport on 22 December 1916, when she embarked The Duke of Cambridge’s Own (25th Middlesex Regiment) bound for Hong Kong, comprising 1030 officers and men with 108 crew and five dogs.

One soldier on board was Drummer Tom Morley of the Regimental Band. Unfortunately the cover below from his wife, addressed to Bandsman T. Morley and machine cancelled Douglas I.O.M. 12 January 1917 arrived after the ship had sailed from Devonport.

Fig 2. Back of the cover to Drummer Morley, posted at Douglas on 12 Jan 1917to the ship at Devonport.

It was some 6 weeks later on 6 February 1917 when Tyndareus was rounding the Horn of

Africa that she struck a mine laid by the German raider Wolf some 10 miles off Cape Agulhas, in the location shown in Figure 3.

Fig 1.

HMT Tyndareus


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The explosion ripped a gaping hole in her bows, and the ship straightway developed a severe list to the head and took on water at an alarming rate, with her propellers largely out of the water. However her signalling equipment was undamaged, and she was able to transmit an SOS call, picked up by the hospital ship HMHS Oxfordshire and the Blue Funnel’s SS Eumaeus which earlier many of the men had been on deck watching as she steamed past. ‘Assembly’ was immediately sounded and the men donned lifebelts and paraded in perfect order. Roll was called and upon the order ‘Stand easy’, the band struck up and the whole battalion began to sing. The Admiralty report issued some time later on 28 March 1917 noted that despite the probability of imminent death the troops maintained steadfast courage and discipline whilst boats were launched, and the rescue ships approached.

Fig 4: Painting by Stanley Llewellyn Wood (c 1917) in the National Army Museum, London showing

the troops assembled on deck before the boats were lowered.

The boats from Tyndareus were all

successfully launched, despite there being a strong south westerly gale blowing and a heavily rolling sea. However there were insufficient to take all the men, and the bandsmen continued to play when the last boat departed without them. Shortly after, boats from Oxfordshire made their fraught way alongside and bandsmen and dogs were rescued. Not a human or canine life was lost.

The rescued men were taken to Simonstown, a major naval base just up from Cape Town where they were afforded a heroes’ welcome. A small number were admitted to the hospital at Wynberg, a southern suburb of Cape Town. The Commander in Chief of the naval station at Simonstown, after investigating the incident, cabled the Admiralty in London on 13 February and included the statement: ‘The ship was saved by the coolness and perseverance of the

Captain, officers and engine room staff’. King George responded through the Admiralty with a message ‘Please express to the officers commanding the --- Battalion of the Middlesex regiment my admiration

Fig 3

Location of the mining


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for the conduct displayed by all ranks on the occasion of the accident to the Tyndareus’. Many of the men were not seasoned soldiers but young men fresh from civilian life in London and surrounding towns. It is surprising the British Admiralty report was not issued until several weeks later on 28 March 1917.

SS Eumaeus was later sunk by a submarine torpedo on 26 February 1918 without loss of life, off the northern tip of the Bay of Biscay. Two other steamers had responded to the distress call, and took the crippled transport in tow, stern first. It appeared to be an impossible task in view of the high swell, but the superb seamanship in all three vessels enabled Tyndareus to make it to Simonstown where she was subsequently repaired. She survived the war, returned to passenger service afterwards and served successfully in WWII, before being broken up in Hong Kong in 1960.

Colonel J Ward M.P. was in command of the battalion of the Duke of Cambridge’s Own (25th Middlesex Regiment) on HMT Tyndareus. He later wrote to Captain Flynn of the Tyndareus in the name of his officers, NCOs and men to express his own and their admiration at the heroism displayed by the captain and his officers.

Drummer Tom Morley wrote to his wife from Wynberg Cape on 9 February (from the hospital?) just 3 days after the rescue, in a very battered envelope, with an oval ‘OFFICIAL FREE’ cachet from ‘ARMY, SOUTH AFRICA’ - see Fig 7 below.

He followed this up with a remarkable letter dated February 15th, where he described in vivid detail how the ship was disabled and his experiences leading to his rescue, a transcript of which is shown here. He also describes how the regiment was given the honour of leading the procession for the opening of parliament in Cape Town, with the band in pride of place at the front.

Fig 5: HMT Tyndareus well down at the bows after the mine explosion

Fig 6.

An earlier postcard of

HMHS Oxfordshire


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Fig 7: Envelope dated 9 February 1917 addressed to his wife in Douglas, Isle of Man.

Fig 8: Tom Morley’s letter to his wife of 10 February 1918. Following on from Fig 8 the remainder of this dramatic and fascinating letter is

transcribed below:


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The letter continues………… I shall never forget it as long as I live I think, the ship by this time looked as though it was ready for its

final plunge any moment, the way the decks sloped was awful. We had to climb over the edge of the ship and down a rope ladder to a little boat that was dancing about on the boiling sea, sometimes it only looked 20 feet away, and then when you looked away it was 50 feet or more away. How there was no one killed or severely injured I cannot imagine Dearest. One ran in great danger of being cut in two between the boat and the ship, you had to wait until the boat came up on a roll and then jump for it. We all got away at last but owing to a misunderstanding the oars were not handled correctly and consequently the boat started spinning round and round and great heavens! the propellers started to revolve and catching us in the suction (they being nearly out of the water) drew us near, so once again we looked done for, and I was just getting ready to jump for it, for far better to chance it in the sea than be cut to potted meat as each blade stood about 7 foot high, Oh! they were tremendous things, our danger must have been seen from the bridge for they stopped in the nick of time and we were enabled to pull clear, so it was fortunate for us again there was a full moon.

I had hold of an oar and we got into some sort of a shape and started to pull which was a terrible job the sea was running so high, you can tell we went right out of sight of the big boats every time we dropped down a valley in the sea. However we got alongside the hospital ship but there was no where for us to pull to as there were a few boats already there and being emptied of their human freight, so we pulled away again with difficulty, and there was a boat pulled up in the davits just clear of the sea, well we could not help but go right under it, again it was a question of life or death and we pulled again for our lives, for had our boat been caught on the roll just at that moment we should all have been squashed as flat as pancakes, we were lucky once again, and we pulled up to another boat that had 4 or 5 of the crew in, and it was then a case of jumping from one to the other, it was risky but worth it. Nearly all the chaps were sick in the small boats, they weren’t used to being tossed about like that.

When I come to look back on it it was wonderful how we got off, though at the time it seemed nothing. I cannot imagine how ever they got the ship to Port it must have been a wonderful piece of work Darling, and now we find we are a famous Battn: but it is really nothing to make a fuss about, we longed for a bit of excitement and got it. Everything was in our favour and the rest was discipline. It didn’t seem to matter so much when the last boat had gone and we were left stranded, we were laughing and joking (and looking the other way so we should not see how the decks were sloping. I expect it was because we had made up our minds to fight for it. In a sence (sic) I am glad it happened because I have often wondered if I could stand the test and how I should go on, I don’t mind if I can see what is going to hit me, but when it drops on you suddenly the danger is twice as great, and the strain on the nerves is awful as I saw for myself. I have heard people talk of the degeneration of the British race but nobody must ever tell me that again, when compared to our forefathers we are not found wanting. I can easily see how we keep all our possessions and how it is they are all loyal to the old country.

The Chinamen that were on board were up on deck with all their belongings before our chaps had satisfied their curiosity. They were frightened to death. Bah! They make one sick. One of them was buried under the coals and four of our chaps went down in the stokehole and dug him out. I could go on writing about it darling but it would be crossed out so it’s no use. We may be here for the duration of the war Dearie and I hope we are, because I know that if we go to China on the Tyndareus, a lot of the chaps will be going sick with shattered nerves, especially if there happened to be a big noise on deck. We here (sic) we are going to play at the races next Saturday and Saturday week. We went to the opening of Parliament yesterday and it was a grand sight. The Governor General inspected our Guard of Honour and they were specially complimented on their appearance. The streets were lined with soldiers and we played down through them, how we were cheered Darling.

I have sent you a paper with the account in it. Oh by the way Florrie if you have written to me at Hong Kong, write to the Postmaster there and ask to have the letters lying there for me to be readdressed to care of G.P.O. London. I don’t know whether there will be a fee or not Darling but you can ask at the Post Office. They might give you a form to make up and the G.P.O. will send them on to where we are.

We have had it very hard up to now but I expect we will have it easier now when we get settled. This climate suits me down to the ground, so I shall be alright as long as we stay here Dearest, but how I long to be home Flo: God alone only knows , but we shall have to cheer up Dearie until the time comes for us to be united together again Florrie.

Fondest love from your true and loving Husband, Tom xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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After their brief enforced stay in Cape Town, the regiment finally arrived in Hong Kong via Singapore on 1 April 1917 to where Mrs Morley wrote to her husband in the envelope shown below ‘via Canada’. The pencilled (45) in the top left corner indicates the number of letters written, and a note on the reverse records “43 and 44 missing”.

Fig 9: Mrs Morley’s letter to her husband in Hong Kong with Douglas, I.O.M. machine cancellation of 7 January 1918, and dr cds Hong Kong receiving cancel of 22 February 1918.

A stone memorial commissioned by the Labour Party MP and trade union leader Lt

Colonel John Ward (1866 – 1934), to commemorate the exemplary conduct displayed by the men, originally stood on The Peak on Hong Kong Island. It was brought back to England in 1994 to the entrance to the National Army Museum in Chelsea, where a bronze plaque in English and Chinese was added. This erroneously describes the memorial as having been erected in memory of the men of the 25th Battalion who died in the incident! The ship’s bell is also on show in the Chelsea museum.

Fig 10: Memorial Stone and ship’s bell from HMT Tyndareus. Footnote:

Following the tragedy of the Titanic a few years earlier, improved hull design for passenger liners was introduced, and one ship to benefit from this was Tyndareus. It is widely accepted that Tyndareus would have sunk rapidly had she not been so modified, with a likely subsequent loss of life.


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Urgent Cases Hospital for France

Dr Michael Gould

I acquired this postcard some time back but it has taken me some time to trawl the internet for small fragments of information to try and complete the story of the hospital.

The British Journal of Nursing (31 March 1917) tells us that the idea for an urgent cases hospital came from Miss E L C Eden. I have not been able to find out who she was or what the E L C stands for. She was also a trustee for the Evelyn Mary Eden Memorial Benevolent Fund for Midwives, which gave help to midwives in old age. The fund was still operating in 2013 (as a charity) although I am not sure if its objectives have changed. It seems likely that Evelyn Mary was Miss E L C’s mother.

Clearly Miss E L C had some pull and several important people gave their support to her idea for a hospital for urgent cases situated such that surgery could be performed close to the front line. After the French government gave its approval, a committee was set up under the presidency of Sir Arbuthnot Lane. The Spectator Archive for 23.1.15 tells us that the original idea came about following the realisation that many more French soldiers were in uniform than British. It goes on to say that £1500 had been raised of a target figure of £5000. ‘Contributions in kind’ could be left at 600 Carron Street and subscriptions at 50A Curzon Street or with Cox & Co (presumably the bankers). One wonders who lived in Carron Street and just how much material was delivered there.

A book, in French, with the translated title ‘Nicole Mangin the lonely French medicine woman on the front’, listed the final establishment for the hospital, which operated in the Chateau de Faus Miroir, near Revigny, Meuse Department. There were three doctors, anaesthetist, radiologist, 15 male nurses, 10 sanitary car drivers and 23 nurses (presumably women). The postcard obviously shows one of the cars but I am not sure what a ‘sanitary car’ was used for. The RAMC had sanitary units whose duties included the provision of clean water and cooking facilities, billets and de-lousing stations for the soldiers. A blog states that the chateau has now gone and that the site is a farm, although the urns on the gate-pillars may have been kept.


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There are images of two postcards on the net, this one here, and one showing a square of wooden huts. Both have posed staff on show.

I am not aware of any publication dealing with hospitals established and financed from the UK for the French military. The only other one I know of is Port a Binson Priory Hospital south of Epernay (south of Reims) and some 80 kilometres to the west. This was a 200 bed hospital, with two operating theatres, in the grounds of an old Cistercian monastery, then still occupied by the strict Order of the White Fathers. In January 1917, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, a woman’s unit in the Territorial Army formed in 1908, took the hospital over, at a time of some chaos and mutiny in the French army. The French took the hospital back at the end of 1917 when conditions in their army had become more settled.

Were there others? Postscript. The editor showed this piece to Claire Scott, who is a keen student of WW1 hospitals. She recommends that anyone interested in the subject of French hospitals should obtain the following series of books: 'Hopitaux Militaires dans la guerre 1914-18' by Francois Olier and Jean-Luc Quenec'hdu published by Ysec in five volumes, and goes on to say: “The only snag is that Volume 5, which will encompass Meuse, has yet to appear and until it does I am unable to add any more details about this particular hospital. However all the hospitals operated by allied nations are, or will be, listed in these volumes so it is a matter of identifying them under their individual towns within the relevant Departement.” Claire suggests that 'sanitary cars' may have been commercial-type vehicles sometimes used as ambulances but not properly equipped as such.

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Members’ Queries

Query No 386. From Brian Standley Brian has four queries as set out below.

A. A card from Germany in 1920 sent to Southsea, England. Can anyone complete the

cachet at top right please? Readable bits are: M.H.S. / ARMY

B. 1914 cover to Oxford with Verifie /16/10/14.where applied and by who?


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C. December 1914 colour postcard of Port Said from H.T. Dilwara in the Arabian Sea.

Presumably a troopship but I can't seem to find anything about her.

D. May 1918 cover with censor type CM2 3143. My Kennedy & Crabbe records this type of

censor last used in Sept 1917. Has it been brought back into use on a troopship?

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The King’s Messengers during the 1914-1918 war

Philip Beale

The history of the King’s Messengers in England can be traced back to soon after the Norman Conquest when kings established their rule throughout England by appointing sheriffs in the shires and large towns with whom they kept in regular touch by means of a messenger service. Without this means of communication there could have been no national government or means of distributing proclamations and the later statutes. Much of the correspondence concerned the collection and despatch of the royal revenues together with the delivery of writs from the national law courts. The sheriffs gradually developed local delivery services to forward letters and instructions to such men as customs officials. Details of the work of the messengers, their names, terms of appointment, rounds and pay can be found in surviving medieval rolls.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries royal messengers were often using routes to Dover, Berwick, Plymouth, Chester and Bristol, hiring horses provided by postmasters en route. Extensions and local bye posts were established, often temporarily. Some of the government mail was then being transmitted from postmaster to postmaster without the use of royal messengers. This part of the service was opened to the public by Royal Proclamation in 1635 and a post office in London handled the transfer of letters from one route to another while arrangements gradually developed for the delivery of local mail. It is inappropriate to use the title Post Office before 1635 as there was no national Post Office before then. The royal messengers still continued their task of carrying much of the government’s mail.

After 1824 the King’s Messengers were formally attached to the Foreign Office staff but their numbers declined so that when the Great War began in 1914 there were only six remaining. Their work involved carrying confidential letters and documents to embassies abroad. With the development of the military front in France there was a need to take sealed bags to senior officers at divisional headquarters. More men were needed and so others were recruited to the War Office and the Admiralty. They were not part of the army postal service. Although they used the title of King’s Messengers and had handstamps to that effect, it seems they were not strictly entitled to use the title. Nevertheless they were regarded as such and envelopes which they carried survive marked K M or K M Bag either handwritten or with a handstamp. These messengers are perhaps best regarded as holding temporary, non-permanent appointments.

The confidential papers were carried in sealed bags from the Foreign Office and replies came back in the same way. Within the bags the messengers also brought back a few personal letters from senior staff to be posted in London after being censored in the War Office. Three different handstamps have been seen on this private mail, two reading BY KING’S MESSENGER, the third with a boxed K M and crown. They are in red (5.8 cms), in dull purple-black (6 cms), or with the boxed handstamp reading K.M Crown PRIVILEGED (5 x 2.6 cms) which is known struck in either black or violet ink. The handstamps are found on envelopes that were posted in London with either a penny stamp or a London Paid mark. They may also have an army censor handstamp or a War Office oval mark. Each one is initialled or signed in the lower left corner by the sender. I have seen several examples of the BY KING’S MESSENGER struck in red, fewer of the boxed marks, and only one example of the straight-line mark in purple-black.

It is evident that the messengers took these personal letters from senior officers to be put into the London post and that the envelopes with the handstamps are from that correspondence. The War Office often applied its oval handstamp. When there was no postage stamp attached they were given a Paid mark. So few of these envelopes appear that this seems to have been an exceptional service.

Other envelopes showing War Office handstamps but without the King’s Messenger handstamps also survive addressed to private persons. Those which came from Embassies may also have been carried by King’s Messengers within their sealed bags.


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After the war ended in 1918 the service was reorganized to form a Communications Department based at the Foreign Office. The corps was strengthened during the second world war to a number of 57 and at present there remain about 20 Queen’s Messengers. They continue to serve the Queen and the Foreign Office by carrying confidential mail bags throughout the world.

Signed B Lambert. 1d stamp affixed by sender. Censored in France, Army Censor 7, number 1414. Posted in London.

Signed by sender who affixed 1d adhesive. Censored in France, Army Censor number 879. Posted in London.


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Marked “KM Bag” top left. Signed by the sender bottom left. Stamped at the War Office and passed through the post with LONDON OFFICIAL PAID dated NOV 16 1917.

Signed by General Gough. OFFICIAL PAID stamp dated 29 Oct 1917.

I am grateful to Lt Col JMC Kimmins, a former Queen’s Messenger, for his advice, and to the late Frank Daniel for information on the service. For the early history see Mary Hill’s The King’s Messengers, published by Sutton in 1961, which describes the messengers in the 13th and 14th centuries and the Author’s England’s Mail, published by Tempus in 2006, which extends the study until 1635. For the more recent history see V Wheeler-Holohan’s The History of the King’s Messengers, published in 1932. For the military background see The Postal History of the British Army in World War One by Alistair Kennedy and George Crabb, published privately in 1977.


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A Gallipoli Veteran

Colin Tabeart

The monitor HMS M33 is the last surviving Royal Navy warship to have fought in the Gallipoli campaign. She has been carefully restored in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and will be open to visitors by the time this Journal is distributed. The pictures above and left show her in all her restored glory and are copyright “The National Museum of the Royal Navy.”

The ship was built in just seven weeks as part of an emergency programme commenced during WW1, one of nearly forty monitors so produced. Displacing a mere 568 tons, she was crewed by 5 officers and 67 men, and armed with two six inch guns. The monitors were built with a

shallow draught to allow them to get close inshore for bombardment work and with very low powered engines, giving her a top speed of nine knots. In all a very utilitarian craft with very few creature comforts, probably extremely uncomfortable in anything more than a gentle wind. The whole ship must have shaken considerably when the guns were fired.


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At Gallipoli she was lucky – despite the mayhem all round and being showered with shell splinters, she suffered no fatalities. She then spent some time in the Mediterranean before becoming involved in the Allied intervention in the Russian Revolution in 1919. Post WW1 she was used in training roles, as a hulk, etc. In the 1980s she was put up for sale and bought by Hampshire County Council.

Now part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy she has been carefully restored with the help of a £1.7 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Ian Clark Restoration were commissioned to conserve the fabric of the ship, and have worked to preserve as much as possible of the original paint scheme and metalwork to show how she went to war in authentic colours. She is in an historic dock, built in 1801, right next to HMS Victory.

Visitors will be taken down to the dock bottom to board the ship – an unusual chance to see a dry dock and the complete hull of the vessel. Once on board they will be given a digital projection of the Gallipoli Campaign and other visitor attractions that should make it a very worthwhile visit.

I am most grateful to Jacquie Shaw, the PR manager for the project, for her help. The website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_M33 was also of assistance for the service history of the ship. Hermione Wace of Golden² Consulting kindly supplied the splendid photograph free of reproduction fees.

Details of admission to what promises to be a fascinating experience can be found at http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/

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Unknown Naval Barracks

Dr Michael Gould


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On 7th March 2015 I posted a copy of a postcard showing a naval parade and asked if anyone could identify the barracks where it was taking place. Some 25 members looked at it but no-one could identify it. The only agreement I could get is that it shows a naval passing-out parade so I approached three ex-naval contact web sites. The suggesting came back that this was HMS Gamecock.

RAF Bramcote, near Nuneaton, opened in 1939, so the web site detailing ex RAF stations tells me (so this was one of the 1930s RAF expansion programme sites; these were built in brick). In November 1946 the RAF moved out and in August 1947, an air squadron of the RNVR moved in. The site was commissioned as HMS Gamecock. A second squadron came to an adjacent airfield and, on 1 July 1953, the Midland Air Division was formed to control operations. Both squadrons, 1833 and 1844, were disbanded on 10 March 1957 following the government’s decision to axe all reserve squadrons as an economy measure. The navy left and the site became the Bramcote army barracks. Initially this was used as a junior training establishment, until 30 Signals Regiment moved in in 1993. A modern web image suggests that the barracks have been rebuilt.

So much for the information found on the web – but this does not explain the passing-out parade. I was then contacted again by someone who had been at Gamecock and he was able to tell me that the site was also used to train naval ratings destined for service in the RNAS. He also pointed out the cockerel in a cage in the centre foreground of the card, telling me that this was the base’s mascot (and it is there).

The front of the card indicates a cash payment to cover postage, which is unusual. So far as I know, the post-office only permitted this for bulk postings. A third contact from the WRENS told me that this photograph is on the wall in HMS Collingwood (the naval training base). Putting these together, I surmise that this was the last passing-out parade from Gamecock and that the cards were posted in bulk after the event. The ‘NO CHARGE’ mark has not been recorded before. I would again speculate that this was made up for this posting (it may be that Nuneaton had no Paid postmark for such payments in cash as they never got any!!).

This card perhaps highlights just how information is being lost.


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Gallipoli 1915

Keith Tranmer

Austrian Mortar Battery No 9

Turkish postcard supplied by the National Defence Association sent via the German Military Mission. Bi-lingual cachet of the same reading

FELDPOST DER DEUTSCHEN MILITAR MISSION, which is extremely scarce. The W.1 is a Vienna marking. Sent from Cape Helles. The writer complains about the mail service: “I think our mail goes to the bottom of the sea.”

Austrian Artillery Battery No 9. The writer says “God how rich Austria is in comparison to this.” The battery moved to Cape Helles after the evacuyation of Anzac to join the 15 cm Howitzer

Battery No 36 on the British Front.


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French War of the Second Coalition 1798-1802

Siege of Acre 1799

John F Cowlin

Background French forces had landed in Egypt in 1798 (and their fleet defeated by Nelson at the

Battle of The Nile in Aboukir Bay, 1st-3rd August, 1798). Bonaparte wanted to capture the key port of Acre following his invasion of Egypt because of the strategic importance of its commanding position on the route between Egypt and Syria. He hoped to incite a Syrian rebellion against the Ottomans and threaten British rule in India. The Siege of Acre of 1799 was an unsuccessful French siege of this Ottoman-defended, walled city (now Akko in modern Israel) and was the turning point of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria. It was one of Napoleon's few defeats.

The French lay siege to the city on March 20th, 1799, two weeks after the date of the letter shown below, and the siege lasted two months, Bonaparte retreating on May 21st. British assistance to the Ottoman forces consisted of a Royal Navy squadron under Commodore Sidney Smith, including the 74 gun battleship Tigre, from where Sir John wrote this letter. The squadron helped to reinforce the Ottoman defences and supplied the city with additional cannon manned by sailors and marines. Smith used his command of the sea to capture the French siege artillery being sent by a flotilla of gunboats from Egypt and to bombard the coastal road from Jaffa. An artillery expert from the fleet, Antoine De Phelipoux, then redeployed against Napoleon's forces the artillery pieces which the British had intercepted. Smith anchored the line-of-battle ships Tigre and Theseus so their broadsides could assist the defence. The gunboats, which were of shallower draft, could come in closer, and together they helped repel repeated French assaults.

Sir John Douglas was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Marines on 14 February 1776. He was made Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 January 1798, and was Mentioned In Dispatches by Sydney Smith for actions at Acre (as a temporary Colonel). He subsequently commanded British marines and Ottoman forces at the retaking of El-Arish from the French in December 1799. He was knighted on 2 April 1800.

Entire letter written on board HMS Tigre, 80 guns, off Alexandria, Egypt by Sir John

Douglas, to his mother, Mrs Douglas, of Jean Fields, Dalkeith, near Edinburgh.

The postal charges were: initially 9d for inland carriage to London of 8d for over 150 miles + 1d ship letter charge (Jan 1797 tariff). 9d deleted and 6d, London to Edinburgh added to make 1/3d in all. 1d added for local delivery making 1/4d on the reverse to pay, in manuscript. With a black London double ring transit stamp for 24th June 1799, and on the front a red Edinburgh receiving

bishop mark 27th June 1799.


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The letter reads in part:

“On Bd… the Tigre off Alexandria, March 7th 1799.”

“My Dear Mother, After setting a Treaty of Alliance with the Turks at Constantinople, we arrived here on

the 2nd of the month, where Sir Sydney Smith commands the blockade of Alexandria with three line of Battleships, (HMS Tigre, Theseus and Alliance), 2 Bombs (HMS Torride and Marianne) and some Frigates. Bonaparte’s Army is said to be in want of everything and cursed by a pestilential disorder of some 20 to 30 men a day. The Turks are assembling in great force and will attack him in the course of this month. I trust in God that we should be able to put an end to that rascals career. I have the honour to command the British Forces that will be landed and my best endeavours shall not be wanting to deserve it for I long much that the war was over and that I might return …

Believe me ever your affectionate son, John Douglas.” I am most grateful to Nick Colley for providing the background information. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Acre_(1799)


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BFPOs in Afghanistan

Michael Dobbs

It was on 27 October 2014 that the last British combat troops left Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, marking the end of 14 years of British combat operations in the country. During this time the UK has been involved in a number of combat activities in Afghanistan, firstly as part of the US-led coalition Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and latterly as part of what became the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). In the latter years UK operations have concentrated on Helmand province as Task Force Helmand - British operations went under the name Operation HERRICK.

It is, therefore, surprising how little reference there has been in our Newsletter / Journal on postal history emanating from Afghanistan - British or otherwise. A quick look through from the Winter 2001 issue to the latest issue has elicited only four reference to British FPOs in Afghanistan and for the first three we have to thank the late John Daynes:

(a) Notes on Afghanistan first appeared in Newsletter 253 (Autumn 2002) with two covers illustrated from Kabul and Bagram cancelled with British FPO datestamps but no mention of BFPO addresses.

(b) It was not until 2004 in an article Newsletter 261 (Autumn 2004) listing datestamps used at British FPOs worldwide that Kabul was shown as BFPO 758.

(c) A further listing of BFPO numbers in Afghanistan appeared in Journal 271 (Spring 2007) as part of the Christmas 2006 Free Postal Packet Service - BFPOs 715, 755, 758, 764, 772 and 792 were listed, but no locations were given.

The fourth reference was my listing of Royal Mail Postcodes allocated to BFPO numbers in Journal 300 (Summer 2014) listed twelve BFPO numbers allocated to Afghanistan, but only six had locations identified. (My apologies if I have missed an entry over the past 14 years of Newsletters / Journals).

However, in August last year I have obtained a list of locations and closure dates (or in one case an opening date) for BFPO numbers used in Afghanistan from the Ministry of Defence (Defence Equipment & Support) under whose remit the British Forces Postal Service falls. The list is as follows:

BFPO 715 Lashkar Gah Closed 17/1/2014 BFPO 755 Forward Operating Base (FOB) Price, Gereshk Closed 11/4/2014 BFPO 758 Camp Souter, Kabul Open BFPO 759 Qargha (ANA Officer Academy Kabul) Opened 26/3/2014 BFPO 762 Kabul Opened 4/11/2014 BFPO 764 HQ ISAF, Kabul Open BFPO 772 Kandahar Open BFPO 779 Not Op Herrick – incorrectly listed on website (although it has been shown as

such since at least 2011 !) BFPO 792 Camp Bastion Open BFPO 793 Combined Force Nad-e-Ali (CF-NDA) Closed 4/6/2014 BFPO 795 Combined Force Lashkar-Gah (CF-LKG) Closed 30/8/2014 BFPO 796 Combined Force Sangin (CF-SGN) Closed 4/6/2014 BFPO 797 Although still open, it had not been used since March 2011; records show that

mail addressed to this BFPO number was sent to Camp Bastion. BFPO 798 Kabul International Airport (KIA) Open

The reference to “Combined Force” (CF) refers to battle groups following the introduction of embedded partnering whereby the CF shared its Area of Operations (AOR) with the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan Uniformed Police; the term appears to have been introduced in 2010.


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The Afghan National Army (ANA) Officer Academy (ANAOA) was located at Qargha, west of Kabul at the Afghan National Defence University (ANDU). It was funded by the British government and supported by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and staffed by advisers from the UK supported by mentors from Norway, Denmark Australia and New Zealand. On 19 October 2013 the ANAOA opened its doors to the very first class of Officer Cadets.

On 31 December 2014 the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) in Afghanistan came to an end. It was stated that Afghanistan was no longer a refuge for international terrorism and that over 350,000 Afghan national security forces were ready to take on the full security responsibility for the country by the end of 2014. However, Afghanistan still faced many challenges, including security challenges and these did not disappear with the ending of the ISAF mission at the end of 2014. As had previously been agreed with the Afghan authorities at the NATO Chicago Summit in May 2012, NATO remained committed to Afghanistan after the end of 2014. This continued support to Afghanistan was re-affirmed at the NATO Summit in Wales on 4 September 2014, while the detailed operation plan for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, known as Operation RESOLUTE SUPPORT, had previously been approved by NATO Foreign Ministers at the end of June 2014. Following the signing of a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between NATO and Afghanistan on 30 September 2014 by the newly inaugurated Afghan President and NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, the required legal framework for the Resolute Support Mission was put in place. The new NATO-led mission focused on training, advising and assisting Afghan security bodies and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) at the ministerial, institutional and operational levels. This new mission was inaugurated on 1 January 2015.

The British contribution to OEF and known as Operational HERRICK also officially ended on 31 December 2014 and the follow-on mission, known as Operation TORAL, officially commenced on 1 January 2015.

Example of FORCES POST OFFICE 773 dated 5 AP 02 used in Afghanistan - used at BFPO 758 (Camp Souter, Kabul)


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Major-General Frederick Gordon, 22nd Division. 1914-18.

Andrew Brooks

Historically the Gordon Clan is renowned as fighting men and the Gordons of Griamachary, Kildonan are a fine example. Certainly Adam Gordon of Griamachary who was born in 1750 could be proud of descendants who gave great service to their country prior to and including the Great War of 1914-18. His grandson, Edward Strathearn Gordon, Baron Gordon of Drumearn, married Agnes MacInnes in 1845 and this article concerns two of their sons, Frederick and Huntley. Baron Gordon was named after his father’s friend, Edward Duke of Kent & Strathearn and these names are seen in successive generations.

The majority of the covers in the collection were sent by Frederick to Huntley or his wife Violet at their house in Edinburgh but some were sent to various military camps in Great Britain as Huntley, who did not see active service, was attached to various 2nd/3rd line battalions for Home Service. A few covers sent by other members of the family and friends have been selected and described in this article.

Frederick Gordon had served in the Egyptian Expeditions 1882-4, Sudan 1889 and Boer War 1899-1902 before entering the Great War at the age of fifty-three. In August 1914 he had the rank of Colonel and acted as G.S.O.1 with the 2nd Division when it went to France. However by September 5th he was the Commander of the 19th Brigade. This brigade had been employed as Lines of Communications troops but when they were no longer required to fulfil this function they joined 4th Division and Frederick took over when its Commander went sick. A day later the Battle of the Marne commenced and he remained with the brigade as it was moved to the 6th Division (12/10/14) and then to the 27th Division (31 May 15). On 14 Jun 15 Frederick Gordon was given command of the 22nd Division (New Army). He became a Major –General and remained with this division until he returned, sick, to Scotland in May 1917.

A selection of covers charts his progress:

Fig 1 (above). Here Army Form C.398 is used as an envelope written and censored by F. Gordon and sent to his younger brother, Huntley, at his home 3 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh. It was postmarked APO 44 (19th Bde) and dated 23/9/14. The censor is CM 1

No.231 which is almost certainly for 19th Bde HQ. This is the first cover in the correspondence and a sequence of covers similar to this continues even though the brigade moves from one division to another. The last item with the postmark APO 44 is noted on a FSPC dated 19 Jan

1915.


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Fig 2. The replacement censor for 19th Bde was CM 2 No 1359 and is seen here on a cover of 4

Jan 15 . This was addressed to Huntley’s son, Strathearn, who was born in 1903.

A letter sent by Frederick to Huntley’s wife, Violet, postmarked APO 44 and dated 9 Jan 15 mentions John Frederick Strathearn Gordon, his cousin.

19th Infantry Brigade British Expeditionary Force

8th January 1915 My dear Violet.

I found your Xmas letter on my return from my week’s leave in England. Very grateful thanks for all your good wishes. God has been most marvellously grand in sparing me, when I have been passing through much daily dangers for the past five months of this great war.

John’s death (communicated to me in conversation, as if it was a matter of slight moment by a mutual friend here) gave me a great shock. Like Huntley, I loved John for himself, and for all the associations of his childhood. I am most thankful to hear from Huntley of dear Strathie’s very satisfactory and rapid progress. That will be a great relief to your minds. So happy to think that he can’t now have any more of those attacks and violent pains in the future. Mabel and Ian and Tom I found quite well – the quiet there was such an intense relief, after the strain and anxiety and countless worries here.

The incessant heavy rainfall in Flanders and absolutely flat nature of the country makes the water the most serious trouble. The trenches, as a rule, have from 18 inches to 2 feet of water in them. This underfoot, and wet stormy days and nights make life hard indeed for the troops actually holding the trenches. I have to visit them daily and come back soaked up to my thighs.

With my love to all and the extra wish that Strathie may be stronger than before Believe me yours affect. Frederick Gordon

Frederick’s cousin was Captain John FS Gordon of the Scottish Rifles (attached to the 1st

Royal Scots Fusiliers) who died of wounds on the 19th of Nov 1914, aged 32. The cover illustrated at Fig 3 below was written and censored on the 31st of Oct 1914, only a few days before he died. The War Diary of the 1st RSF records that on the 13/14th November their casualties amounted to 6 officers killed, 5 officers wounded and 1 officer taken prisoner. 33 other ranks were killed, 141 wounded, 103 missing and 13 taken prisoner. The action took place at Herenthage Chateau, Menin Road, Ypres.


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Fig 3

Fig 4. A cover posted on 29 Jan 1915 by Frederick has the new type of FPO. A double-circle Field Post Office 19 replaced APO 44. Similarly a cover posted on 9/4/15 has the first use of

CM 3 in this correspondence. Numbered 78 it was for 19 Bde.HQ.


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Just before Frederick left the brigade to take command of the 22nd Division he sent the following letter to Huntley’s wife, postmarked 5 Jun 15.

Headquarters 19th Infantry Brigade 4th June 1915 British Expeditionary Force

My dear Violet,

Since writing to you a week ago, about dear Huntley and his plans, I have heard from him, in reply to my letter to him – in which I had expressed my candid, and deliberate opinion. He took it admirably and entirely in the spirit in which it was intended to be made. But he answers me that he had gone so far as regards his obligations to go on active service abroad, that he could not now, possibly withdraw, and he appears absolutely set on the enterprise. Such being the case I could do no more as Huntley is of an age when a man must make his own plans.

I do grieve that he has taken the overseas obligation, and can only hope that by a Merciful Providence it may be arranged that he shall not come abroad. With love to yourself and the dear boys and every kind wish

Yours affectionately Frederick Gordon

Frederick’s wishes were granted and his younger brother did not achieve his aim to see

active service abroad, although he still played an active role at home with the 2/9th and 3/9th Royal Scots at Catterick Camp, Yorkshire and Stobs Camp near Hawick.

On the 3rd of September 1915 Frederick moved to France with his division and they had concentrated north of Amiens by the 9th of that month. He sent a cover to his brother at No.4 Camp, Peebles with a postmark dated 7 Sep 15 which must be the earliest recorded postmark for FPO 22. The postmark has no code letter and the censor CM 3 No 2016 (22nd Div. HQ) is used on this and every successive cover from Salonika (Fig5).This number is recorded for the Guards Div. Supply column but I am sure this is incorrect.

On the 20th of October 1915, whilst still in front of Amiens, the division was informed that it would be withdrawn from the front line and it entrained at Longueau for the journey to Marseilles and onward to Salonika. All the covers sent from this theatre of the war until he

Fig 5


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returned home have FPO D22 and CM 3 No 2016, with only a few exceptions. The cover shown at Fig 6 below has the censor CM 3 NO 2075 for 98 Bde. RFA in 22nd Division and the last he sent home from this collection (Fig 7 below) is a registered envelope dated 24 Apr 17. After this date there is only one other cover sent by Frederick and this is dated 9 Aug 19. It has an FPO postmark but the number cannot be read. The Army List for November 1918 confirmed that he was still on active service and with the Air Ministry.

Many other covers were sent by family and friends who were on active service and three examples are noted below.

2nd Lt. Gaspard Alweed Evelyn Ridout (Fig8 below) addressed and censored this cover to Violet Gordon on 10 Feb 1918. He was aged 19 when he was killed in action during the Battle of St. Quentin on 21 Mar 1918. This was the opening day of the German ‘Kaiserschlacht’ and Gaspard was an officer with 331 Bde. RFA in the 66th Division. He was probably buried by the

Fig 6 at left.

Fig 7 below


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Germans at Jeancourt which was a German hospital centre and cemetery. Today it is CWGC cemetery halfway between St. Quentin and Peronne.

Fig 8

Fig 9. A Field Service Postcard sent by John Strachen of the 9th Royal Scots was addressed to Huntley Gordon, Kings Meadow, Peebles on 12 Sep 15. Pte. Strachen was killed in action on 1

Aug 1918.


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Fig 10. Major Edward Ian Drummond Gordon (brother of John Frederick Strathearn Gordon) sent this letter to Douglas Gordon who was Huntley’s oldest son. Edward Gordon survived the war and in the Army List for November 1918 is a member of the Royal Scots. The postmark FPO D8 was used by the 15th (Scottish) Division in Security Period 4. [See Note below].

This article is just another example of a family who gave their country great service

during the Great War and who were carrying on a family tradition passed on through many generations.

References:

1. Daniel, F: The Field Censor Systems of the Armies of the British Empire 1914-1918.

2. Kennedy, A & Crabb, G: The Postal History of the British Army in World War 1.

3. Proud, E: History of the British Army Postal Service Vol. 2

4. The Family of Gordon in Griamachary. – Internet.

5. The Army List –November 1918.

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Note re Security Periods. For members who, like your ignorant Editor, have not come

across “Security Periods” before, I asked Andrew to explain, as follows: “On the 18th June 1916 (just before the Battle of the Somme) the army introduced the 'Security exchanges' for the FPOs that lasted until the end of the war. They had been able to identify German units when mail captured in trench raids was examined and thought the same thing could happen if British mail fell into enemy hands. Usually a brigade would exchange with a neighbouring brigade. All the number exchanges between brigades and other units are mentioned in the book references in this article.”

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An Unrecorded PC107 Slip Peter Burrows

The slip was issued by the Naval Section in London, with manuscript note “Chellew Steamship Management Company Bevis Marks House, London EC3”. The letter was returned to Port Talbot because the cover dated 8th February 1941 was addressed to “C B Lee, SS Pendeen, c/o Chadwick & Wier Shipping Agents, Buenos Aires, South America.” SS Pendeen was built for Chellew Navigation Co Ltd by Irvine’s Shipbuilders of West Hartlepool in 1923 - 4,174 gross tons

Documents

FORCES POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY JOURNAL Whole Number 305€¦ · Heresy, e.g. 6d ship letter rate + 2d master’s gratuity. What price a write-up that said “Ship letter rate 3¼d,