Autumn 2019 Meeting Report

Meeting of the Somerset & Dorset Postal History Group and the Postal History Society

at Hornsbury Mill, Chard, Somerset on the 20^th October 2019

We started the meeting with a short Annual General Meeting attended by 15 members and received reports from the officers of the group. All standing officers were re-elected by the members and tribute was paid to Mike Tombs who had served for a number of years as our treasurer. It was resolved unanimously that Allen Cotton be elected to the vacant post of treasurer from 20th October 2019. The Secretary [Bill Pipe] welcomed him to his new post and offered his congratulations.

Apologies for the AGM and the meeting in general were received from Mike & Jan Jones, Keith Wright, Nigel Borlaise-Hendy & Keith Brown.

Graham Mark was our main attraction for the day, showing us a fantastic selection from his vast collection and study of German Prisoners of War mail from those housed in camps mainly in the South West of England. Dorchester POW camp was well represented as it had many sub-camps scattered right across the South West and into the Midland Counties of England; some 130 in total. Many scarce items were on display, particularly from the early days of internment of German and Austro-Hungarian seamen [arrested at the various ports], and included items from members of the ship’s crew of the “Lapland”, impounded at Falmouth; other civil internees and the very first German prisoners to arrive at Dorchester camp. The early prisoners came to Dorchester from France & Belgium.

Blandford Camps were represented as there were two camps; one at the saw mill and one at Cuckoo Clump, adjacent to the Naval Camp. Graham went on to show, through photographs and postcards, various sub-camps and a small selection of mail from those still in the camps after the Allied Victory in 1918.

Graham was followed by John Russell who gave a very interesting and detailed display of Scottish Islands postal history, particularly from those islands off the West Coast of Scotland. There was early mail from the larger islands including an item from AILSA CRAIG to Lewis. The Lord of the Manor of Ailsa Craig ran the postal system until the GPO took it over in the late 1700’s. John also showed some very interesting items from the smaller and much smaller communities that the post office served in these remote communities with the bulk of the mail being a one-way route to the rest of the UK by virtue of the many tourists who frequented these parts and with very little incoming mail. Mail to and from the islands was boosted in the times of the first and second world wars by the influx of many thousands of servicemen from mainly the Royal Navy and R.A.F. John brought his display up to the current period with some commercial mail from across the breadth & width of these enchanted places.

After a wonderful lunch and the close of the silent auction, members displayed various items from their collections, whether it was a new acquisition, or a treasured item.

Nick Bridgwater displayed some early & modern items including an unrecorded mileage mark of Glastonbury, a straight-line mark BRI.WATER of May 1706, a Bath advertising cover; Bristol Showground skeleton; modern machine cancels which seem to cover an ever-expanding amount of the countryside in geographical locational terms and a nice Independent Order of Rechabites cover.

Bill Pipe showed Royal Naval “Named ship’s censors” from both the 1st & 2nd world wars - a new area of collecting for him. He showed items from requisitioned trawlers, two Royal Fleet Auxiliary marks and similar marks from cruisers and battleships.

Graham Warren showed a new rubber cancel for Burliscombe, a North & West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry crested envelope, a Martock military scene postcard and an airmail cover to the Argentine from Ilminster.

Roger Martin displayed a Yatton receiving house number 61 in the Bristol Penny Post a UDC of Yatton and an 1858 single ring cancel and its successor of 1907. Next up was a B21numeral cancel and some more modern items of Bristol & district postal history.

John Forbes-Nixon, not to be out-done, showed examples of mail which had been badly separated, such as 1d blacks & reds for example. This lead on to his displaying a strip of 6 or 7 Archer perforation roulettes on cover and a Treasury Roulette, also on cover. The nicest thing there for me was a letter from Gladstone to Disraeli showing an Archer trial perforation as supplied to the House of Commons [as a part of the trial], used on an envelope from the House.

Mike Tombs gave a two-frame display of Weymouth Ship Letters with most types included, in which Mike went into considerable detail as to where some of the items of mail had landed and if they were cancelled locally at the place of landing, or were done at the ship letter office in London.

David Eastman brought along some recently acquired items including some items of the Lord Clifford correspondence, an 1806 missent item; and items of Shaftesbury up to the Uniform Penny Post period. He also brought a redirected packet docket addressed to the Labour MP, Sir Alfred Broughton. He, you will recall was the MP that kept the Callaghan Government afloat in 1978/79 winter of discontent. He used to be ambulanced down from his Yorkshire constituency to take part in crucial votes, being the one who was in fact Callaghan’s one majority. Not wanting to bring him down anymore, Callaghan lost a crucial vote by just one vote on the 28th March 1979, bringing down the Labour Government. Sir Alfred, a Labour MP for thirty years, died five days later.

Allen Cotton, our new treasurer gave us insight to some of his wonderful postal stationery including early crop returns to the Board of Agriculture and Inland Revenue; Swine Fever returns; other returns which had to be made annually and later versions which moved from having an embossed stamp paying postage, moved on to a plain old “Official Paid” mark

The secretary [Bill Pipe] gave the vote of thanks to all who displayed and those that had made the day possible, including Elizabeth Higgins [liaison], Barbara Osmond/Elizabeth [menus], Roger Martin [lights], Nick Bridgwater [journal editor], Mike Welch [librarian] and Allen Cotton [treasurer].

The next meeting will be at the Hornsbury Mill on the 1st March 2020 and will have have Nick Bridgwater showing “Back of the book Bristol”.