CHAPTER XIV
WAR POSTAGE STAMPS
The earliest war stamps--Stamps used in the Crimean War--The British Army Post Office Corps--The Sudan Expedition--The South African Campaign--The Great War--Recent war stamps and post-marks--Indian war stamps--Other war stamps
Among the many thousand varieties of postage stamps which philatelists treasure few can compare in point of interest with those which have carried letters from the firing line to the fireside. Such specimens are sought after not merely by the stamp-collector, but by the general collector of military curios.
War postage stamps date back to the middle of the sixteenth century, their originator being a certain Johann von Taxis who, a few years before the death of Martin Luther, obtained permission to carry letters from civilians in Germany to members of a German expeditionary force then fighting in Italy. The frank marks which this royal prince applied to the correspondence entrusted to him, constitute the first war postage stamps of which we have any record.
Of British war stamps, probably the earliest specimens are those which came to England on the letters written by the soldiers who fought in the Crimea. Soon after the British army was landed on the shores of the Black Sea, the Government sent out eleven postal officials, who established a head office at Constantinople and branch depots at Balaklava and Scutari. The staff was properly equipped with all the necessary impedimenta for maintaining a postal service between the expeditionary army and the people at home. Letters from England were received and transmitted to the various regimental headquarters; mails for the Mother-country were gathered in and sent on their journey westwards, whilst supplies of unused adhesive stamps were retailed to the soldiers at the three offices mentioned above.
The stamps which the officials sold comprised the following then current British specimens:--
1d. red, 1841 issue, no perforations, with small crown as watermark.
1d. reddish-brown, 1855 issue, perforated, with large crown as watermark.
2d. blue, 1841 issue, no perforations, with small crown as watermark.
2d. blue, 1855 issue, perforated, with large crown as watermark.
4d. rose-carmine, 1856 issue, with large garter as watermark.
6d. lilac, 1854 issue, with embossed head.
Specimens of the above which franked the correspondence of members of the Crimean expeditionary force may be recognized by the distinctive obliteration marks which were as follows:--
1. A crown placed between two stars with straight bars above and below, the whole forming an oval.
2. A star placed between the cyphers; then as No. 1.
3. A circle containing the inscription "Post Office, British Army," together with the date.
In 1882, a British Army Post Office Corps was formed by Colonel du Plat Taylor for service under General Wolseley in Egypt. The men were chosen from the old 24th Middlesex, a regiment better known as the Post Office Volunteers. The party landed at Alexandria, but soon proceeded to Ismailia where a base was established. From these headquarters a number of field offices sprang up, but their positions altered as the army moved forward. There is no doubt that the duties performed by this postal corps gave much satisfaction, both to the troops and the authorities at home, for its services were again requisitioned when the Suakim expedition set out under the leadership of Sir Gerald Graham.
The stock of stamps taken to Egypt consisted of the current 1d. lilac and 2½d. blue of England, but those used during the expedition were obliterated by a hand stamp bearing either a number of dots shaped to form a small lozenge, or a circle containing the inscription "British Army Post Office, Egypt," and the date. Obliterations bearing dates in 1885 belong to the Suakim expedition.
When Kitchener went to the Sudan in 1897, the Egyptian Government set up a postal department at Wadi Haifa Camp for the special use of the British and Egyptian forces. The stamps sold on this occasion were the current Egyptian labels, but they were overprinted with the word "Soudan" in both French and Arabic. Unfortunately, many forged overprints have been added to genuine Egyptian stamps of the higher values, so that collectors must be cautious when purchasing specimens.
Of the work of the Army Post Office Corps in South Africa during the last Boer War much interesting matter could be written. Mr. F. J. Melville gives the following description in his capital book "The Postage Stamp in War" (price one shilling).
"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 in 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 21st, 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 in 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 dispatched to England in the ordinary way."
Early in 1900, the average weekly mail from London to the Field Forces was 150 bags of letters, post-cards, 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 27th, 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:--
"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 (Lieutenant) Curtis to proceed on to Natal with 50 men, and I was to take the remainder ashore 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 bade 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."
For readers who require further details of the Army Post Office arrangements during the Boer War, it may be mentioned that the contemporary reports of the Postmaster-General contain very full and interesting accounts. Such reports, if out of print, can usually be perused in the better-class public libraries.
The stamps which franked the soldiers' letters were usually of the British lilac penny variety, bearing the familiar head of Queen Victoria, whilst the obliterations were circular or hexagonal, and contained the inscription "Army Post Office, South Africa." But the bulk of the letters reached England with no adhesive stamp, the words, "On Active Service, no Stamps Available," proving a sufficient passport in cases where supplies were genuinely unprocurable. Envelopes which are stampless, but which bear one or other of the South African field postmarks, command a fair value, and copies should figure in every collection specially devoted to war stamps.
When Bloemfontein fell into the hands of the British the stock of Orange Free State adhesives was overprinted V.R.I. and, later on, E.R.I., and when the Union Jack was unfurled in Pretoria the stamps of the South African Republic were provided with similar overprints. All these labels were used by the civilians as well as the military authorities; and as many of the soldiers posted their communications in the ordinary letter-boxes, it is impossible to decide which possess a war interest and which do not.
Among the most treasured adhesives provided by the South African War are the "Mafeking Besieged" issues. As is well known, certain of these were produced by a photographic process and revealed the portrait of General Baden-Powell. Gibbons urges collectors to be wary in purchasing copies, as numerous well-executed forgeries emanated from Kimberley and Cape Town, and many officers and men returning home from the front were swindled by the dishonest dealers.
On the outbreak of the European War in August 1914, the Army Post Office Corps again became active, and the quantity of letters and parcels which it was called upon to handle from the very outset must be described as prodigious.
It is quite impossible to record all the varieties of British military stamps and post-marks which have resulted from these hostilities, but they may be classified under the following heads:--
1. Stamps of the United Kingdom bearing postmarks indicating use in France, Belgium, and other foreign countries.
2. Post-marks of the Army Post Office at the base or in the field. There are numerous varieties.
3. Censor marks applied to envelopes, etc.
4. Postmarks applied to correspondence from prisoners of war and aliens' camps.
Of course, many interesting colonial varieties have also resulted from the war. The following are among the most highly prized:--
1. Gold Coast stamps obliterated with post-marks from Togoland.
2. German colonials from Samoa overprinted G.R.I.
3. New Zealand stamps bearing the overprint "Samoa."
4. German colonials from Togo overprinted "Anglo-French Occupation."
5. Canadian stamps obliterated with post-marks bearing the inscription "Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force."
6. Indian stamps overprinted I.E.F. (Indian Expeditionary Force).
Whilst speaking of Indian stamps, it may be appropriate to mention that the army postal service possessed by our troops in this Asiatic empire is probably the most carefully planned in the whole world. From a Field Service Manual[25] on "Posts and Telegraphs" we have been able to glean a few details respecting the organization and establishment of the Indian military post offices. In times of peace, a stock of tents and equipment sufficient for the supply of three base post offices, 50 first-class field post offices, 10 second-class field post offices, and for the supervising staff is kept in store at Lahore in the charge of the Postal Department of the Punjab.
[25] Quoted from _Stamp Collecting_, December 5, 1914.
On the outbreak of war the military postal service is organized by the Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs in India according to the requirements of the Army authorities.
The supervising staff is selected by him from a roll of European volunteers for such service maintained in his office, the full war establishment consisting of 6 Directors or Deputy-Directors, 18 Assistant-Directors, 24 Inspectors, and 50 Postmasters. The rest of the establishment is selected by the Postmaster-General of the Punjab.
One Director or Deputy-Director, two Assistant-Directors, and four Inspectors constitute the normal postal personnel of an Expeditionary Force. They wear the ordinary field service uniform of the Indian Army according to their respective ranks, distinguished by the word "Post" on the shoulder-straps.
The following extracts from the Indian Army Order, No. 619, dated November 10, 1913, are of interest:--
"7. The Director or Deputy-Director, or, in his absence, the Postmaster-General under whose orders he is to work, should, on receipt of the first intimation that a force is to be mobilized, take the earliest opportunity to consult the General Officer appointed to command the force, as to the postal requirements of the force in respect of the number of field post offices, the classes of postal business to be undertaken, the establishment to be provided, etc. As far as possible, the wishes of the General Officer commanding should be carried out.
"23. The Director-General will arrange that the treasury nearest to the base office is supplied with about ten times its normal supply of ordinary postage stamps (including post-cards and envelopes) together with a suitable supply of service stamps (including post-cards and envelopes); and that a sufficient stock is maintained throughout the campaign. The base post office should thus be in a position to supply at once the postage stamps required in the field post offices. If there is no treasury at hand, a sufficient supply of postage stamps of all descriptions must be kept at the base post office. The base post office will be supplied with an iron safe, or two, if necessary.
"24. The requisite stamps, scales, bags, and other articles of stock sufficient for six months' requirements will be furnished to the base post office for its own use, and for distribution, under the orders of the Director or Deputy-Director, to field post offices. Section 5 B shows the books, forms, stamps, etc., required for field post offices. All books, forms, and articles of stock should be packed in the prescribed mule trunks, each of which, when packed, should not exceed one maund in weight. The books, forms, and stamps required by the base post office will be the same as those used by a head office in India performing the same classes of business; but in addition to the ordinary stamps it will be supplied with a special 'Postage cancelled' stamp."
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Of foreign war stamps, the international quarrels of the last fifty years have produced quite an interesting array. Envelopes posted in Paris during the siege of 1870 bearing the words "Par Ballon Monté" are much prized by collectors. Less sought after are the Alsace and Lorraine stamps which were primarily issued for use by the invading German troops of 1870. Their low price is probably due to the fact that the dies were printed from long after the stamps were withdrawn from currency. From the Balkans we, of course, have many specimens which enrich our collections. Italy, also, has given us war stamps bearing the overprints "Bengasi" and "Tripoli di Barberia." If we turn to the United States, many interesting postal relics will be discovered of the Civil War, whilst numerous varieties of more recent stamps from the States are to be found showing post-marks referring to the Spanish war in the Philippines and Cuba. Then there are Japanese adhesives which were used in China during the fighting which led to the peace of Shimonoseki, and, of course, the Japanese issues which the troops used whilst engaging the Russians must not be overlooked. Lastly, we may point to South and Central America, a continent where war labels are almost as plentiful as those issued in times of peace.
In the foregoing notes we have merely indicated, in a general way, the sources from which war stamps have emanated. Sufficient, however, has been said to show that these relics of strife and bloodshed provide material for the collector of a highly fascinating character.