SUMMARY OF THE MEETING OF THE SOMERSET & DORSET POSTAL HISTORY GROUP
AT HORNSBURY MILL, CHARD ON SUNDAY 25th OCTOBER 2015
Our Chairman, Bill Pipe welcomed 19 members & one guest who comes from Denmark. Apologies were received from David & Mary Eastman, Clare & John Scott, Peter Basterfield, Keith Brown and Nigel Borlase-Hendry.
Just one notice was read out; that of the Midland Postal History Society who are to hold their usual meeting at Kington St Michael on the 10th September 2016. Anyone interested in attending should contact John Calladine at john.calladine@mac.com
The dates for the 2016 S&D meetings were decided as March 13th20th & October 9th 2016.
At our March 2016 meeting, Nick Bridgwater will show his Taunton postal history over 180 sheets. Nick has probably got the definitive collection and it promises to be a great display.
The notices & business out of the way, it was time to start the displays. Bill Pipe had been billed to show the second half of his Parliamentary Mail display, but as there had been additions to both halves of the display, it was agreed by those present that he would show the full 180 sheets as so much new material had been added since the earlier display. Bill started with a civil war letter from Lyme Regis addressed to the Earl of Manchester, the Commander-in-Chief of the Parliamentary Forces, who’s HQ was at the Houses of Parliament. There followed the H.P mark of the House of Peers, H.P/1 London marks of the Houses of Parliament, Duplex cancels, s/rings, d/rings telegrams, postal stationery, unpaid mail, wreck mail, internal mail, censored mail and much, much more from both Houses of Parliament. On completion, Mike Tombs showed a vast selection of Dorset Ship Letters from both his & Bill Pipe’s collections. Between them, they were missing just two marks, one from Portland Harbour and one from Lyme [Regis]. There then followed a particularly fine lunch and the silent auction. After lunch Allan Cotton gave a physical display of Glastonbury and district postal history and enlarged upon the display by way of power point display which was well received by all those present.
On completion, the members’ displayed:
First up was Nick Bridgwater who showed various items including some that could be included in the proposed update to the Somerset county catalogue including the BATH/X Cross Post mark, Frome 1810 s/line. He also showed a letter concerning the Union of England with Scotland in which Sir George Lockhart refused to sign the treaty.
Graham Warren showed a miscellany of Somerset items including a lovely Wessex cancel of Ilminster, printed Royal Marine recruiting envelopes used at Wedmore; “Frees” from Taunton, UDC’s and a letter concerning the local militia in place to protect the local mills.
Roger Martin showed incoming mail to Poole solicitor, Waterman during the 1870’s, showing different styles of the town receiving marks of the period,. He also showed examples of the new part-gold Horizon labels for single use; the use of hand-held mobile cancels held by postal delivery workers to cancel any un-cancelled mail encountered on the delivery.
John Forbes-Nixon gave a sterling display of examples of the marks used during the Uniform Penny and Two-Penny Postage period of the early 1840’s including first days of both the paid & unpaid rates. More than one of the items was considered unique; including the example used at Farnham in 1844. Also on display was a Mulready addressed to a postmaster, stating that three Sovereigns recently remitted as payment were “Short & not up to weight”. The message insisted that the postmaster make up the difference!
Bill Pipe then showed a Dorset miscellany including an unrecorded mark from Wareham, an early Lyme curved mark, a 2d Mulready from Poole, railway letter stamps on cover from Sherborne including a later Railex cover; from the S&D railway from Shepton Mallet to the Bristol “Tank Bank” in 1917; Weymouth “Too Late” and “Not Called For”; incoming mail to the lost village of Tyneham and Australian Imperial Forces mail from Weymouth.
Graham Mark treated us all to a display of “Undercover Mail” of WWI including smuggled mail, mail routed through the American Embassy, by Thomas Cook, The National Peace Council and mail through the Belgian Correspondence Club as well as mail smuggled across borders by various country’s agents.
Brian Purcell showed parcel post labels of Bristol and a working version of his Bristol Postal History book to be published by the Bristol Postal History Society in due course.
John Millener displayed postcards of Portland including naval, local & convict cards. Many of the naval cards were written from & posted from various ships of the Channel Fleet.
After confirming the dates of the 2016 meetings as the 13th20th March and 9th October, the gathering enjoyed tea and homemade cookies and then all went home and lived happily ever after!
Bill Pipe.
2nd November 2016