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.
[Illustration: A SOLDIER'S COMMUNICATION POSTED DURING THE SOUTH
AFRICAN WAR.]
[Illustration: A SIMILAR COMMUNICATION FROM "SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE."]
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.
[Illustration: SOME HISTORIC POST-MARKS USED ON MILITARY
CORRESPONDENCE.
1. and 2. Crimean Postmarks.
3. Napier's Abyssian Expedition, 1867-8.
4. Egyptian Campaign, 1885.
5. Dongola Expedition.
6. and 7. South African War, 1899.
8. British Army in France, 1914.
9. Canadian " "
10. Indian " "
]
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."
* * * * *
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.
[Illustration: A POST-CARD RECEIVED FROM A SOLDIER IN FRANCE BEARING
STEREOTYPED GREETINGS.]
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.