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Autumn 2012 Newsletter

BYRD ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1928-30

Brian Clayton

Commander Richard E Byrd’s first Antarctic Expedition 1928-30 was notable for a number of ‘firsts’. Byrd and three other crew in the Ford Tri-motor airplane were the first to fly over the South Pole (29 November 1929); an aerial camera and a snowmobile were first used and a massive communications system installed. The newly developing long range short wave radio system was to be used extensively during exploration from the Little America Base on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf over a sector 120°W to 150°W and 85°S. He took two ships and three aircraft all equipped with radio as were those men on the various scientific explorations.

Of great significance, however, was the ability to communicate directly with offices in Dunedin, New Zealand and with the New York Times (a major sponsor) in Manhattan using a land line from a receiver/transmitter on Long Island some 11,000 miles away from Little America. The strain of the combination of total darkness during the winter, temperatures down to -65°C and total isolation was considerably relieved by the daily news bulletins sent from the NYT to Little America. A team of wireless operators translated the Morse code telegraphy message and it was typed on ‘Radiogram — Byrd Antarctic Expedition’ letterhead and drew an enthusiastic crowd when attached to a clipboard outside the radio room.

The Radiogram shown here was received by Byrd’s Flagship the City of New York on 6 May 1930, six weeks before arrival at New York where Byrd and his team received a ticker-tape welcome and he was immediately promoted to Rear Admiral. Of special interest to UK readers is the news flash at the top of the bulletin which notes the progress of Amy Johnson on her successful solo flight from England to Australia. Members of the Expedition were frantic for personal news from home and such messages began to dominate transmissions which in turn used so much fuel for the generators that limits had to be imposed.

A committee of members agreed that each man could send a message every two weeks and codes for well used messages were established. By the time that Byrd undertook his second Antarctic Expedition.

GOLD LETTER BOXES

Sandra Poole

Royal Mail gets a lot of brickbats, but I don’t think anyone could fault them for the Olympic and Paralympic stamps it produced for GB gold medal winners or for painting a letter box gold for each of them in their home towns. It must have also raised the awareness of commemorative stamps amongst non-collectors and generally prolonged the feel-good factor that was prevalent at these Games.

So which is the forgery?

Visiting friends in Lymington, I was taken to see the post box painted gold in honour of Ben Ainsley’s Olympic medal It was not until I read the latest LBSG newsletter that I discovered that this had been illegally done by a local. The ‘villain’ was arrested at the scene for criminal damage and released on bail. He had felt that it should be painted as Ben Ainsley lived in Lymington and not in Falmouth where the official box stands. The pillar box on the right, backed by a Union Jack, is the real McCoy and proudly stands in Lowdham in honour of runner Richard Whitehead, Paralympian gold medal winner. From 1859, letter boxes in England were painted green to fit in with the environment, but were repainted red from 1874, as people had complained they were too difficult to find! Now they seem to be painting litter bins red, possibly for the same reason.

Every letter box has its own unique lock and key; there is no skeleton key.

Letter boxes are painted every three years, more frequently in areas where they deteriorate more quickly.

‘COUNTING IN KIWIS’: A RECENT NZ ISSUE

Steve Speak

Following their recent success of the popular A to Z of NZ stamp issue of 2008, the NZ Post issued a ‘Counting in Kiwi’ sheet of stamps in 2011. The accompanying publicity invited customers to take a numerical journey from 1 to 21 in a quintessentially ‘kiwi’ way with these stamps. Each stamp has a number which has nothing to do with the value of the stamp (each sold for 60c) but rather relates to ‘unique and quirky aspects of NZ’s culture, history and ‘kiwiana’ For example, the fourth stamp, no.4, is represented by the four stars of the Southern Cross.

But what were: stamp 2- two jandals (footwear depicted}?

stamp 13-thirteen lamingtons (cakes depicted}?

stamp 20-twenty bucks (parrots depicted)?

Fortunately, our good friend John Waller from Waikato Philatelic Society, soon gave me the answers:

2 Jandals are flip-flops (also known as thongs).

13 Lamingtons are iced cakes covered in coconut.)

20 Bucks are slang for dollars and a parrot (karearea} appears on the NZ, green, $20 banknotes.

Incidentally, in publicising this issue, NZ Post offered an attractive free poster to those buying a full sheet of stamps or the set of 3 FDCs.

(It is not until you look closely at these,stamps- and the others in the set that you realise how clever the design is. ‘Lamington’, incidentally, is an Australian word for this cake;. it came from Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1895 to 1901 Ed.)

HOW I BECAME A TROLLOPSARIAN- PART II.

Sandra Poole

Since the last newsletter, I have more than doubled the number of letter boxes that I have recorded in the Nottingham area and found a further two manufacturers- Carronade and Abbot Engineering Co. of Paisley. I have now visited all the outdoor post boxes in central Nottingham. I prefer initially to go out on foot and find as many boxes as I can, working out the most likely locations and discovering parts of Nottingham that I never knew existed. This, of course, is not the most efficient way of doing things, as official lists do exist, but I like making discoveries and deductions for myself, even if many others have done so before me. Consultation of the lists comes later and this is where the fun begins, as you discover boxes move- round corners (Carrington St to Station St) or even two streets away (Arboretum St to Colville St). Box numbers confirm they are from those sites. Two or three boxes have disappeared due to demolition and rebuilding; another, outside the area, had an accident and has quite recently been replaced. I hope some of these changes- and I have other examples- may not have been noted, but I expect they have! I do realise that if I want to be a serious pillar box enthusiast, I must take measurements- height, circumference, aperture and more, and these must be accurate- one inch instead of seven eighths just won’t do. It’s embarrassing enough crouching down to examine box bases, but at least you can pretend to be doing up your shoe laces unless you are wearing sandals, of course. But how much more embarrassing is it to be seen embracing a pillar box in a busy thoroughfare? How long can you keep the men in white coats at bay? If you are regularly posting small packets, it is quite feasible to measure apertures, but putting your arms round a pillar box is something else and I think I will leave that to the experts. As well as seeking out new post boxes, I have been continuing in my quest to find the site of the original no1. I have rung up local postal historians, written to the Nottingham Post seeking readers’ help, visited the library (local studies), looked at old pictures, maps and books, visited the British Postal Museum and Archive Search Room and spent hours on the computer. I got my first break when I discovered the library had microfilmed copies of the Guardian Journal for 1857, the year that the pillar box first came to Nottingham. The librarian found in a book that the actual date was 24 September and I guessed a press release would appear the week before and so it did:

‘We have great pleasure in stating that eight of these highly useful appendages to a large commercial town are being fixed in various parts of Nottingham…’

Great, but no mention of the locations! I then emailed www.nottshistory.org.uk (excellent site for local history) and their Andy Wilkinson came up trumps- almost! He sent me the relevant information from the Wright’s Directory for 1862. By this time there were 11 new pillar boxes, situated at Carrington St, Broadway (currently no.7), Goose Gate (just down from Victoria St., currently no3). St. Ann’s Well Rd, Chapel Bar (currently no 61), Alfreton Rd., Regent St. (currently no.2), Shakespeare St, Long Row, Station St. and Mansfield Rd. I still don’t know which of the eleven are the eight original ones and I don’t know why the box on Castle Place is currently number 1. I don’t know how the original boxes were numbered (chronologically?) or when the current method of numbering according to location began. Also bits of the numbering system completely flummox me: why for instance, are 100 of the 103 boxes in the NG9 area numbered 6 hundred and something (the 3 exceptions are the post and mail centres) and will their next box be the first of the 7 hundreds?

Yes, there is still a lot to find out and some of the information may be buried for ever, but I shall keep looking out for the new as well as the old. I have now joined like-minded people at the Letter Box Study Group and am now a fully-fledged Trollopsarian!

WIKIPEDIA AND PHILATELY

Howard Fisher

In mid-September I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a day-long workshop on using Wikipedia in a philatelic context. The workshop was organised by David Beech, the Curator of Philately at the British Museum. David was assisted by Paul Skinner of the Philately Department, Andrew Gray, the Museum’s Wikipedia expert and Stephen Gardner who is a leading philatelic Wikipedia contributor. There were eight delegates amongst whom were Chris King who is a lead in the RPS digitalisation catalogue project, another couple of RPS members, a dealer from Letchworth and a Malaysian educator.

We were firstly introduced to the principles of Wikipedia. The umbrella body is Wikimedia which has nine core projects but Wikipedia is the largest with 19,000,000 articles (4,000,000 in English) and 6,500 articles and 235,000 edits a day. All this from nothing 10 years ago.

Wikipedia is a free on-line encyclopaedia with no on-costs to reuse or distribute. It is formed of a collaborative community with no firm rules but with certain guidelines. Its content has to be neutral (no opinions allowed), verifiable and not original research. It is not a text book, journal or instructional manual – the guide is to inform not instruct. Articles have to be based on secondary sources and to be supported by citations to reliable sources with no conflicts of interest involved, so no self-publicising and no comments about a contributor’s job or employer; it is not a promotional tool.

The site is vigorously open and dynamic with decisions made by public consensus; discussion is encouraged as are fully traceable alterations (edits) which can be very easily undone if incorrect. It has a house style which has to be adhered to when submitting a new article or editing an existing entry.

Many of us are familiar with looking up items in Wikipedia but how many of us are aware that we can freely edit entries and enter into discussions about articles? This is straight forward from tabs on the article pages. If you look up an entry and find that there are errors or that you know more than is included then readers are encouraged to add to, or correct, entries. If a reader wishes they can enter into discussions with others who have viewed the article in an exchange of views or ideas, again from a tab on the page.

So, how does Wikipedia impact upon our philately? Firstly it is a tool which can be consulted when writing up our collections – details of people figuring on our stamps, details of places or scenes shown and details of countries involved. Secondly descriptions of stamp series, e.g. Machins or Wildings are available on the site and thirdly there are articles about individual stamps and production processes as well as designers and engravers. If an article is not shown in English there are other countries listed in a side-bar where articles might have been written in another language. All of which support our interests.

Philately is one of the Wikipedia projects which it is hoped to see grow quickly and all delegates had been encouraged to bring to the day ideas of what they would like to add, or edit, on the site. The afternoon session was when we were given a computer terminal each and encouraged to investigate the site, drilling down into the areas we had been introduced to in the morning session, and to start work on an entry, firstly creating a user ID on the site. Examples were the development of pages relating to South Australia, Malaya and, in my case, the Merson series of France. I chose this because it is a particular interest of mine and because there is nothing on the site in English about the Mersons of France although there are articles about them in French Post Offices overseas. In my case I only made progress on the introductory paragraphs as it is a large subject which will take some time to complete. However, I was asked to put up the introduction when it is complete as that could well encourage contact from other Merson collectors who might contribute something useful.

It was emphasised that we should seek to correct any errors or omission we come across and to spread this message widely. I therefore encourage any readers who view the site for philatelic material to add, or alter, entries where your expertise can contribute. I have help guides and urls for Wikipedia help and tutorial files if anyone would like them. It is good to bear in mind that any changes can be quickly and easily altered if proven incorrect and the issue of malicious or deliberate misinformation is addressed in the same manner.

The day was very informative and encouraging with, of course, much useful discussion amongst the delegates in spare time periods. For example, Chris King was able to show some of us the progress being made by the Royal in digitising their catalogue as well as the potential Introduction to members only areas of the site to give added value to RPS membership. Chris also showed the Global Philatelic Library site with its major contributor organisations. I found these things very interesting. We were also taken into the Museum’s Philatelic Department rooms. No stamps were shown as they are kept in two strong rooms or in the display units on the ground floor of the museum.

We were told that the collections held are the largest in the world, that there is no acquisition budget for stamps and that everything in the Museum’s collections has been donated to the Museum. However, there is a budget for the acquisition of books, journals etc. for the library which has over 5,000 volumes. The Department is staffed by just two full time employees and is available for research by appointment when books and stamps from the collections can be viewed.

This workshop was the first of its kind to be held in the UK. It was intense but laid-back in approach with everyone able to contribute to discussions and learn a little from each other and the presentations. The networking with staff and delegates was very useful and contact details were exchanged. I have been a user of Wikipedia for quite some time but learned a lot on the day and it was well worth the long day, getting up at 0500 and not arriving back home till 2300. I would certainly attend another course organised by the Philatelic Department at the British Museum and recommend it to anyone else.

Do have a look at what Wikipedia can do for your philately, if you discover errors do make corrections and, if your knowledge is greater than the information in the article, do seriously consider adding to it. Being an open community we all benefit in the end result. You might find that there is nothing covering your area of interest, if so, do think about adding an article, it is not difficult. I shall certainly continue working on the Merson pages.

OBITUARY : TED GAY- 3 OCT 1920 - 3 OCT 2012

Many of our members will remember Ted Gay, who passed away peacefully in his sleep on his 92nd birthday. Ted was a member of our Society from 1972 to 2009, when failing eyesight brought an end to his collecting, and until a few years previously had attended meetings very regularly. He was also a member of the Germania Society and had an excellent knowledge of German philately.

Ted, whose first name was actually Ewald, was born in Germany in 1920. In the Second World War he joined the Wehrmacht and parachuted into Crete. At a later stage in the war he was captured in Belgium. I asked him once how he happened to come to England. “The Americans brought me,” he replied, adding (with a broad grin) “on a stretcher.” The explanation illustrates the character I remember. Tired after a long march to the coast and waiting in line with other POWs ready to board ship Ted found himself alongside an empty stretcher. So he decided to have a lie down and woke up only as he was being lifted into the air by two very big black Americans. It was with great presence of mind that he decided, no doubt very wisely, not to let on.

As a POW Ted worked as a labourer in the building of Ladybower Dam and on farms. He was repatriated after the war but preferred England to Germany and came back. It was while working as a farm labourer that he met Pamela, who became his first wife, and it was she who suggested he adopt the name Edward, whence ‘Ted’. He trained as a teacher, specialising in German and Russian, and taught first at John Port School in Etwall, then at The Bluecoat School in Aspley. Tragically, Pamela died in a car accident when she and Ted had been married for only 21 years. Judith, his second wife, survived him by 4 days. Ted had very strong political interests. He was a founder member of the local branch of the Social Democratic Party and, after its demise nationally as a separate entity, became a very active supporter of the Liberal Democrats. The use of a cardboard coffin stemmed from his deeply held environmental concerns: it bore a Liberal Democrat sticker on either end. In further accordance with his wishes the Service of Memories and Reflections at Wilford Hill Crematorium was scrupulously secular. It was conducted entirely by his children and was superb. (David Shipstone)

MISCELLANY

Book Review: Tax Discs of the British Isles by C.Tennant & E .Hutchings: Chris Tennant has kindly donated a copy of the above to our library. It is a second edition to that published in 2001: ‘Great Britain Road Tax Discs 1921-2000’. In the authors’ own words: ‘This new edition expands on the work covered last time and provides more details of the various issues….Whereas the first book was a general introduction to the subject, this volume is designed to be a history and catalogue with details of the tax discs and other related items issued by various parts of the British Isles.’

We learn that vehicular taxation has existed in the UK since a tax was imposed on London hackney carriages in 1673, and an early licence for a two-wheeled carriage issued in 1747 can be seen in the brief history section. The catalogue is divided into various parts, which include emergency discs, forgeries, vehicle licence savings stamps, exemptions, farm vehicles and many others. Although items are numbered and prices are given, this is far more than a mere catalogue. Variations in design are explained, periods of usage and rates are shown and there are copious illustrations. I can see this will be the ‘must have’ reference book for years to come; it is also a pleasure to read.

(Sandra Poole)

Seek the Stamps: Since Bryan Button’s penny red wallpaper item appeared in the last newsletter, I have heard from a friend who rather enjoys visiting pubs, that the same wallpaper may be seen in The Navigation Inn, near Notts County football ground. He was also alert enough to notice a large picture of one of the stamps featuring British cars .at the Gooseberry Bush in Peel St and reports, too, that The Last Post at Beeston has got a large poster showing a Penny Black. And another pub, between Oakwood and Derby, has got large pictures of US stamps on its walls. I haven’t verified any of this, but I’m sure he’s right. Can anyone else add to the list? Incidentally, wallpaper with pillar boxes on it is also available.

The British Postal Museum and Archive: I recently went to the BPMA to do some quick research between a visit to Stampex and catching the coach home. I was pleasantly surprised that no appointment was necessary and you can access the books in the same way as you would in a normal reference library. As is usual in these places, bags had to be left in lockers outside the search room, no pens were allowed and you had to sign in. But that is a small price to pay for helpful staff and a wide range of postally related books and directories. Just browsing through a May Stamp Magazine, I noticed that a 1934 beer barrel revenue stamp had just sold for £20,700 at auction At the time, I read it as though it was the barrel label that had fetched that amount and wondered why none of my old rubbish- and I’ve got plenty- was worth that much. OK, it was unique, but that’s hardly surprising, is it? Most people would have thrown it away in 1934! Unfortunately, I didn’t realise my mistake until I’d had all the hard copies of this newsletter printed! However, I still think that any object is only worth what somebody will pay for it. and I’d be worried that when I came to sell, that other person would no longer be there.

Musical Interlude: Steve thought the following quiz that appeared in the Waikato P.S. Newsletter would be of interest to our members and I reproduce it here with their kind permission.

There are many songs which have something philatelic in the lyrics. Do you recognise the song and singer/group from which the following five pieces come?

1.‘She wrote upon it return to sender, address unknown'.

2.‘Well, she wrote me a letter, said she couldn’t live without me no more'.

3 ‘I’ll stick to my guy like a stamp to a letter’.

4.’Writing you a letter to make you feel better, sorry to hear that he left you this way’.

5.'I hope you're feeling better'.

(Answers in the next Newsletter)

DISCLAIMER Whilst every care is taken during the production of this Newsletter, neither the editor nor the Society Officers can accept any liability for views, opinions or unintentional publication errors which may occur.

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