The Postage Stamp in War Part 1

The Postage Stamp in War.

by Fred. J. Melville.

CHAPTER I.

THE POSTAGE STAMP WITH THE FLAG.--British Posts in the Crimea--The Abolition of the Capitulations--The British Fleet in the Baltic--Abyssinian Expedition--The First Army Postal Corps--Egypt--Dongola Expedition--South Africa--The British Army Post in France, 1914--How to Address Soldier's Letters--The Postmarks from France--The Navy's Postmarks.

The Postage Stamp follows the Flag. The same small talisman which pa.s.ses our letters across the seven seas to friends the world over maintains the lines of personal communication with our soldiers and sailors in time of war. Wherever the British Tommy goes he must have his letters from home; like the lines of communication, which are the life-line of the army, postal communication is the chief support of the courage and spirit of the individual soldier. His folk at home send him new vigour with every letter that tells of the persons, places and things that are nearest and most cherished in his memory.

In these days letter-sending and letter-getting are so common-place that few give any thought to the great organisation by which thousands of millions of postal packets are posted and delivered in this country every year. And now that most of us have friends at the Front, in France, in Belgium, or on the high seas, we are perhaps inclined to take it all just as a matter of course that letters pa.s.s and repa.s.s much in the ordinary humdrum way. This is plain to the conductors of our postal services when during war time they get numerous complaints from individuals of delay or even non-delivery, or any one of a number of other minor inconveniences which must often be unavoidable in the stirring times of war.

To-day many thousands of letters and postal packets are being sent to and received from the troops of the British Expeditionary Force in France, yet it is a simple fact that but a small percentage of the civilian population in this country knows anything of the existence, far less of the workings, of the Army Postal Service as an organisation separate and distinct from the postal department of the home Government.

The Army Postal Service is administered under a Director of Postal Services, who is responsible to the Commander in Chief of the Army, and whose system is established with the co-operation of the Inspector-General of Communications.

The formation of a British Army Post Office Corps is of comparatively recent date. It was first suggested by Colonel du Plat Taylor in the seventies, as a means of using the services of the Post Office Rifle Volunteers in war time, but it was not until the Egyptian campaign in 1882 that the corps was formed.

Prior to this, however, bodies of servants of the Post Office had done duty with the army in organising and maintaining postal communication with the armies in the field and with the links connecting up with the home service. During the Crimean War extensive arrangements were made by the Post Office to maintain postal communication with the forces in Turkey, the Black Sea, and the Baltic. Prior to the war, the British Government did not maintain any postal packets between Mediterranean ports save some steam vessels for the transport of the Indian mails, and some of these were taken up by the military and naval authorities.

Letters for Constantinople and the Levant ordinarily went through the French and Austrian administrations and were chargeable at the then high foreign rates of postage. With the a.s.sistance of the French Government, letters were sent _via_ Ma.r.s.eilles to Constantinople (or _vice-versa_) at first at intervals of three times a month, but afterwards six times a month, and during the latter period of the war, twice a week.

But the French mail packets went no further than Constantinople, so the British Postmaster-General sent out an experienced officer, Mr. E.

J. Smith, of the London General Post Office, to Turkey as Postmaster of His Majesty's Forces; and three a.s.sistant Postmasters, together with seven Letter Sorters. As the facilities for land transport accorded the Postmaster proved insufficient he was furnished with eighteen horses and mules for the exclusive use of his office. The Postmaster was supplied with the postage stamps of the home country, then (so far as the penny and twopence denominations were concerned) in the early and beautifully engraved design of William Wyon's "Queen's Head." This was the first use of British postage stamps on foreign territory, or indeed anywhere beyond the limits of the British Isles, and stamp collectors take a considerable interest in the English stamps which survive with the various Crimean postmarks specially supplied to the Postmaster of His Majesty's Forces in the East. Stamps used on letters from the forces may be recognised by either the Crown and Stars or Cypher and Stars or the circular dated postmarks (_Figs._ 1-4). A range of the early penny red stamps, from the imperforate red-brown stamp of 1841 to the Die II. large Crown perforated 14 stamp may be found, as well as the twopence blues of the same period, and the 4d.

rose (1857), 6d. violet (1854), and 1s. green (1847) (_see Figs. 5-10_).

There are possibly others not yet known to collectors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 1 2 3 4 _Figs. 1-4. Crimean Postmarks._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 5 6 7 8 9 10 _Figs. 5-10. British stamps found with Crimean postmarks._]

The correspondence dealt with by this small staff was considerable, averaging 45,250 letters despatched to and 43,125 received from the seat of war in each month. In one year 543,000 letters were despatched to and 517,500 received from the forces in the Crimea.

The chief officer in charge at the British post offices in Turkey and the Crimea during the war, Mr. E. J. Smith, is specially mentioned in the Postmaster-General's report for 1857 as having discharged his duties in a very creditable manner. In that year his services were offered to and accepted by the Turkish Government with a view to establishing an improved postal service in the Sultan's dominions.

Since this date British post offices have been maintained (in common with post offices of other Powers) in various parts of the Turkish dominions, using British stamps with or without a special overprint.

These offices were closed in October, 1914, as a result of Turkey's declaration of the "abolition of the Capitulations," just prior to Turkey's open acts of war against the allied forces of Great Britain, France, and Russia in the present war.

Ordinary British stamps used at the British post-offices in the Ottoman Empire may be distinguished by postmarks (_Figs._ 11-17).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 11 12 13 (Constantinople)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 14 15 (Smyrna) 16 17 (Beyrout)

_Postmarks of British Post Offices in Turkish Empire._]

The first three are from Constantinople, the fourth and fifth from Smyrna, and the last two Beyrout. There are also "S" Stamboul, "B01"

Alexandria, "B02" Suez, as well as ordinary date stamps of all these places.

The following are ill.u.s.trations of samples of the stamps which were in use at the British post-offices in Turkey at the time of the abolition of the Capitulations. (_Figs._ 18, 19).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 18 19 20]

Special arrangements were also made for maintaining postal communications with the British Fleet in the Baltic, the stamps used being distinguishable by postmarks of diamond-shaped internal configuration (_Fig._ 20). It is possible that date marks of Dantzig may also be found on British stamps of this period; they appear on the covers of letters bearing British stamps with the diamond cancellations. In the early part of the naval campaign letters were transmitted exclusively by war vessels or transports, but in the beginning of May, 1854, when the greater part of the Fleet had reached its destination the Admiral commanding in chief was directed to establish regular weekly communication by steamer between the ships under his command and the port of Dantzig. Mails for the Fleet were despatched from London every Tuesday to Dantzig, under cover of a bag addressed to Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at that port, who handed the bag over to the commander of the steamer which was timed to arrive at Dantzig each Friday. This arrangement, while satisfactory in respect of speed and regularity, involved the charging of the high foreign rates of postage, as the route was through Belgium and Prussia, but, as often as facilities offered, mails were made up for transmission by Government transports pa.s.sing to and from England and the Baltic, by which soldiers and sailors were able to send and receive letters at their privilege rate of one penny each.

ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION. The following is the type of date stamp used by the British post-office corps accompanying Sir Robert Napier's successful expedition to Abyssinia in 1867-1868 (_Fig._ 21).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 21]

The Indian Government sent an army postal corps to Abyssinia, the mails to and from the United Kingdom connecting up with the vessels carrying the Indian mails off Jubbel Teer in the Red Sea. The late Mr. J. G. Hendy of the G.P.O. Muniment Room records[1] that, in April 1868, a direct weekly mail service was established between Suez and Zoulla. The rates for letters under half an ounce were the same as to India, _viz._:

_Via_ Southampton. _Via_ Ma.r.s.eilles.

Officers of Army or Navy, 6d. 10d.

Soldiers and Seamen, 1d. 5d.

For persons serving on board transports or other persons not belonging to the naval or military forces, 9d. 1s. 1d.

He also states that naval and military officers, when serving on colonial or foreign stations, were permitted, under Treasury Warrant of May 16, 1857, to send or receive letters at the reduced British postage of 6d. per ounce, in all cases where the postage of ordinary letters to or from the same place was higher than 6d. The privilege was withdrawn on January 1, 1870, and then letters became liable to the general rates of postage.

[Footnote 1: "The Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840." By J. G.

Hendy. London, 1909; p. 13.]

EGYPT. The organisation of an Army Postal Corps was authorised on July 18, 1882, for service in Egypt, and it was promptly completed. Colonel du Plat Taylor was instructed to form the corps of two officers and one hundred men from the Post-Office Volunteers (24th Middles.e.x) for enrolment in the first-cla.s.s Army Reserve. The men combined the advantages of experience in postal work, as sorters and postmen, with army training. The officers selected were Major Sturgeon (of the Money Order Office) and Captain Viall (Receiver and Accountant General's Department), the former taking command with the army rank of Captain, and the latter seconding him, with the army rank of Lieutenant. The men received their post-office pay, and, while on active service, in addition to free kit and rations, the privates drew army pay of 1s., corporals 1s. 8d., and sergeants 2s. 4d. per day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 22]

The famous blind Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett, inspected the corps at the General Post Office on July 26, and the officers with 50 men sailed on August 8, disembarking at Alexandria on August 21. Their first postal duties were undertaken at Alexandria and Ramleh, but two days after disembarkation they re-embarked, joining up with Lord Wolseley's main forces at Ismailia on August 26. The base was at Ismailia, whence the post office corps sent out its branches, planting advanced base and field post offices connecting the base with the changing front, between which and the base a daily service was maintained. In September, shortly after the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, the Army and the Army Post Office reached Cairo, and re-embarked for home on October 7. The despatches gave high praise to the efficiency and useful service of the corps.

Three years later, Major Sturgeon (promoted in recognition of his services in Egypt, 1882) again commanded a corps of twenty N.C.O.'s and men, in Sir Gerald Graham's Suakim expedition of 1885. The corps left England on March 3, and returned on July 28, after a more difficult experience with the Suakim garrison than they had met with in the first Egyptian campaign.

DONGOLA EXPEDITION. Of the Dongola Expeditionary Force under General Kitchener in 1896 we have no record of the use of English stamps, but Mr. H. H. Harland has shown us an interesting envelope with the postmark of Wadi-Halfa camp, the letter not being prepaid as no stamps were available (_Fig._ 23).

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 23. Dongola Expeditionary Force._]

SOUTH AFRICA, 1899-1902. Major Sturgeon was succeeded in the command of the Army Postal Corps by his second in command, Captain Viall. On the death of the latter (1890), Captain G. W. Treble of the London Postal Service took the command, which he held at the outbreak of the South African War in 1899, aided by Captain W. Price (now Colonel W.

Price, C.M.G., in command of the Army Post Office with the British Expeditionary Force in France) and Lieutenant H. M'Clintock, these latter officers belonging to the Secretary's Office of the G.P.O., London. A first portion of the company, with Captain Treble, left England with General Buller and his staff, and the rest followed on October 21, and several further detachments went out with later contingents. In South Africa they had a very wide area to cover. At the outset Captain Treble established himself with the headquarters of the Inspector General of Communications in Cape Colony, and moved about keeping close touch with the movements of the forces, an important part of his duties being to forward to the various offices the information necessary to ensure the correct circulation of the mails. Captain Price was at Cape Town, and Lieutenant M'Clintock at Pietermaritzburg.

The British military mails were made up in the London G.P.O. in special bags addressed to the Army Post Office, and sent to the G.P.O.

at Cape Town, in which building the detachment of the Army Postal Corps under Captain Price had established its base office. The bags containing military mails were handed over to the Army Base Post Office at Cape Town whence they were distributed to the various military post offices established at the centres of the troops, and to field post offices with each Brigade or Division in the field. In the return direction the soldiers' letters were handed in at field post offices and forwarded through various channels, sometimes ordinary and ofttimes military to the base at Cape Town, whence they were despatched to England in the ordinary way.

Early in 1900 the average weekly mail from London to the Field Forces was 150 bags of letters, postcards, etc., and 60 boxes of parcels; the incoming mail from the Field Forces was 11 bags of letters per week.

In a letter dated from Cape Town, February 27, from Lieutenant Preece, who went out with reinforcements for the Army Post Office Corps in February, are some interesting glimpses of the difficulties of the work of this service[2]:

"Price, of the Post Office Corps, met us and told us (Captain) Palmer was to leave at once for Kimberley with 17 men (Captain) Labouchere and (Lieut.) Curtis to proceed on to Natal with 50 men, and I was to take the remainder ash.o.r.e here (Cape Town) and stop to help at the base. At 9.30 on Monday morning I marched off with my 57 men to the main barracks and bid good-bye to the good ship 'Canada' and her merry cargo.

After lodging the men in barracks I went off to the G.P.O., where I found Price and his 40 men ensconced in one huge wing, overwhelmed with work, and at breaking-down point. The mails every week increase now, and we have 250,000 pieces of mail matter to sort and distribute every week, over a country larger than France, among a shifting population of soldiers, each of whom expects to get his letters as easily as he gets his rations. It is a vast job, and we have done wonderfully so far with a totally inadequate staff. We have come in the nick of time. The recent movements (the advance of Lord Roberts from Modder River, relief of Ladysmith, etc.) have caused chaos among our mails. We receive and send telegrams every hour either to a field post office or to headquarter staffs. The latter order immediate reinforcement at Modder River, and Price has decided to send me up with more men to proceed to Paardeberg, or wherever the troops are, to get things straight."

[Footnote 2: St. Martins le Grand, vol. x., page 201.]

The preliminary arrangements necessitated by the vast area of the operations provided for two base offices, the one in Cape Colony and the other in Natal, and 43 field post offices, and by June, 1900, the Army Postal Corps was composed of ten officers and 400 N.C.O.'s and men, exclusive of post office telegraphists, etc., serving with the Royal Engineers. Many interesting statistics of the mails at different periods of the war have been given in various records, but it will suffice to quote some general ones on the authority of the Postmaster-General. His forty-sixth report, 1900, states: