Please note: The FPHS Newsletter is compiled by the Hon Secretary (Michael Dobbs) Comments / submissions to him please (address on page 2) or by e-mail: Michael.dobbs@ntlworld.com

Affiliated to The Association of British Philatelic Societies

Editorial

Welcome to our first issue of 2019 - this is a pleasing editorial: please note that our afternoon meetings now start at 1.30pm to allow those who have to leave early to catch trains, etc more time for our meetings. Also please note that subscriptions were due on 1st February - please make our life easier by paying (or letting us know otherwise) as soon as possible. Lastly we intend to have a table once again at MIDPEX in July and would be pleased to welcome you there.

Other dates of interest:

13-16 February 2019: Spring STAMPEX, Business Design Centre, Islington, London N1 0QH

6 July 2019: MIDPEX, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre - the Society will have a table at this event - will you be able to help out ?

For details of MIDPEX 2019 see website at: https://midpex.wordpress.com

19-20 July 2019: York Stamp & Coin Fair, The Grandstand, York Race Course YO23 1EX

11-14 September 2019: Autumn STAMPEX, Business Design Centre, Islington, London N1 0QH

19-22 February 2020: Spring STAMPEX, CANCELLED CANCELLED CANCELLED

2-9 May 2020: London 2020 International Stamp Exhibition, Business Design Centre, London N1 0QH

MEMBERSHIP CHANGES

New and re-joining members - we extend a warm welcome to the following new and re-joining members:

(473) Major D G (David) Hood MC from DEDDINGTON,

Oxon

and after very many years absence: (745) Mr J (John) Wilson from TIVERTON, Devon WWII airmails & censorship; POW airmails; POWs in Tsingtau in WWI

(1541) Mr A (Alan) Starkey from EYE, Suffolk WWI & WWII especially censor marks

(1542) Mr K D (Kenneth) Knight from ROCHDALE WWI Egypt, Palestine & Mesopotamia; WWII Iraq, Egypt, N.Africa & Palestine; civil censorship in these campaigns

Non-renewals:

(1184) David Pearce; (1500) Ewan Hedger; (1396) Ed Caesley

Many non-renewals cite growing frailty and health issues as their reason; David Pearce was for a long time our ‘Live’ Auction Manager and also handled the material of the late Jim Hamlin and we extend our thanks for his work in this respect.

SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL

It will soon be that time of year - membership renewal time: your subscription to the Society falls due on 1st February 2019. If you take the paper version of the Journal then a renewal form will be enclosed as part of this “Journal Package”. If you are an electronic subscriber then our Treasurer will email you a copy of the renewal form.

Please try to renew on time. It causes much additional work for our Treasurer and for other society officers if a late renewal is received. Your support in this area will be much appreciated.

Regretfully, due to increased costs and new regulations regarding PayPal charges we have had to increase subscriptions for 2019/20 of £1 for paperless members and all other classes of member an increase of £2.

See The Back Page

► Our “New Look” Journal

► 2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

► Journals online

► Stockholmia 2019

FPHS Newsletter No 319 Spring 2019

2019 DATES:

Remember: our afternoon meetings now start at 1.30pm

2 March 2019 - Ambulance and Hospital Trains - Dr Brian Robertson OStJ, TD, MICPEM

Note: this is on the first Saturday

13 April 2019 - ALL-DAY: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING and ‘live’ auction

18 May 2019 - The French Ambulance - Steve Ellis and members are also invited to bring along any suitable items from their collections

30 May 2019 - 10am-12 noon - Society meeting at Stockholmia 2019

8 June 2019 - ALL-DAY: joint meeting with the East Africa Study Circle

6 July 2019 - MIDPEX - see below

20 July 2019 - Emergency Currency - John Cowlin

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SOCIETY Officers

Please Note: New Start Time

for meetings at the

Union Jack Club

Please note that for 2019 our afternoon meetings will now start at 1.30pm; the room will be officially open to us from 1pm.

SOCIETY Meetings: 10th November 2018 - New Acquisitions & Queries

Prior to the start of the meeting our President, Richard Berry, led a minutes silence to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armistice in 1918 that signalled the end of the First World War. Remembrance Sunday was the following day which was on the 100th anniversary date of the signing of the Armistice in 1918 - on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Following this Michael Dobbs gave a short resume of the activities of a small group of members in supporting the family of the late Alistair Kennedy in clearing his flat and finding and putting to one side items of philatelic interest for future sale through Argyll Etkin. This is likely to take a very, very long time to complete due to the state of the flat and the amount of material involved once it has been found and sorted. Photos showing the inside of the flat and the work we are having to do were also displayed to try and bring home to members the enormity of the job and how not to let your home get into such a state.

On a lighter note Michael also mentioned that it was Lorraine Maguire’s 80th birthday that day, but sadly she was not at the meeting to receive her 80 bumps! She was obviously more sensible and was celebrating her birthday with friends elsewhere!

Following on from these items we came to the displays proper - Frank Schofield couldn’t be with us that day but he did provide a display on a new theme “Armistice Day 1918” which was very fitting considering we were meeting on the day before the 100th anniversary of that historic day. His first page comprised a Naval Signal from the C-in-C Grand Fleet (Admiral Beatty) timed at 1255, dated 11.11.18 and signed by G A Taylor, CYS (Chief Yeoman of Signals). The display sheets featured a poppy in the top right of each page and a close-up of poppies in a field in the bottom left. All the pages also featured the following text in the top left “At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month - it was all over” and the bottom right “But in 1939 it started all over again”. There were a couple of postcards with the FPO a Krag machine dated 11 NOV 18; a cover from Salonika on 29 October 1918 which arrived in London on Armistice Day; several items from the British Army in Italy either postmarked or written on Armistice Day from a variety of FPOs; a couple of items connected with the Royal Army Medical Corps - a cover addressed to a Private RAMC in France postmarked on Armistice Day but eventually returned to sender and the other written and censored by a Captain RAMC who died on Armistice Day in Africa. Lastly a cover posted on the Western Front and cancelled APO S.66 on Armistice Day but the location of S.66 at this time is unknown and a German POW card for Belgian prisoners which appears to have been cancelled by favour on Armistice Day with a Belgian Quevaucamps postmark (a small Belgian village near Mons) and FPO TW.5 on a British ½d stamp. This was a fascinating small niche collection well written up and mounted.

PRESIDENT: Richard Berry FRPSL VICE PRESIDENTS: Robin Davis FRPSL, Geoff Hanney FRPSL & Mike Grimwade Hon Secretary Michael Dobbs 52 Leamington Avenue, Bromley, Kent BR1 5BL Email: michael.dobbs@ntlworld.com

Hon Treasurer Alan Baker 5 Dark Lane, Sunningwell, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 6RE Email: scapabaker@btinternet.com

Journal Editor Chris Grimshaw 11 Warwick Garden, Hinckley LE10 1SD Email: grimman60@gmail.com

Librarian Richard Berry FRPSL Bodiam, 66 Wood Ride, Haywards Heath RH16 4NJ Email: richard.berry66@tiscali.co.uk

Membership Secretary Martin Hopkinson FRPSL Trewinney Barton, Mevagissey, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 6TD Email: martinhopkinson@hotmail.co.uk

Packet Secretary Ian Muchall Holmegarth Louth Road, North Cockerington, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 7DY Email: raffian@raffian.plus.com (note new email address)

Postal Auction Manager Geoff Hanney FRPSL 14 Allington Road, Orpington, Kent BR6 8BA Email: geoff.fphs@btinternet.com

London Meetings Organiser Peter High 33 The Green, Burgh Heath, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 5NP Email: peter.high94@hotmail.co.uk

Publicity Officer Peter Harvey Malt Shovel Cottage, Walcote Road, South Kilworth, Leicestershire LE17 6EQ Email: peter.harvey@militarymail.co.uk

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Naval Signal from the C-in-C Grand Fleet (Admiral Beatty) timed at 1255, dated 11.11.18 and signed by G A Taylor, CYS (Chief Yeoman of Signals) as mentioned in Frank Schofield’s display

Next to show was Michael Dobbs who displayed various post-war British FPO covers, including official registered mail, from Germany, Gibraltar, Egypt and Ascension Island; included was a Displaced Persons Field Post Card which he purchased from a dealer at Praga 2018 - the only one he had ever seen. He also showed examples of the British Forces Post Service 1000 datestamp used on special occasions including its first time use at the British Stamp Exhibition in Rheindahlen Garrison in December 1966 [see below], along with a Bundespost special datestamp for the same event.

The datestamp has changed design over the years and he showed examples from 1967, 1968, 1986, 1995 and 2015 as examples of recent acquisitions. Lastly he showed three pages relating to recent NATO acquisitions which included special

datestamps or machine cancellations for North Atlantic Council Ministerial Meetings held in Paris in 1960, 1962 and 1966 and a cover with special slogan cancellation from Greece marking the 5th Anniversary of NATO.

Third to show was Peter High who said that he bought very few items in this country and that his purchases were mainly from eBay. He started off by showing an item from the Koningin Regentes, a Dutch ferry or mail steamer which eventually became a private hospital ship during WW1. In 1918 it was chartered by the Admiralty to ferry severely wounded POWs between Holland and Boston in Lincolnshire. This was one of two mail

steamers which operated this service. She was stopped by a German submarine on 10 November 1916, escorted into Zeebrugge and later Ostend and mail off-loaded and taken to Berlin where it was kept for three years. The ship was released on 17 December and regular mail service was abandoned. The vessel whilst serving as a hospital ship was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UB107 on 6 June 1918 with a loss of seven lives. The rest of his display was taken up with hospital ships! One included an Ebani cachet not seen before in over 40 years of collecting on a postcard of a ward on HMHS Ebani. Another was a photo of HMHT Suntemple at Constantinople in 1923, but he could not find anything of such a hospital ship. In the 1967 Biafran War the Dutch Red Cross chartered and provided a vessel to take supplies to Biafra and the captain decided to produce some covers. He had a cover with a cachet from the hosp ship Ellora, the only item he had seen from this vessel, but then came across a letter on headed notepaper from the vessel, complete with a photo taken by an officer onboard. Lastly he showed a selection of items from Italian hospital ships, including the Gradisca, Sicilia, Liguria and Arno as well as from the Canadian ship Letitia and Australian vessel Kairoola.

Peter Burrows was next in line with a mixture of recent acquisitions, far too many to detail here ! A few items included a WW1 censored official mail from the military censor at Eastern telegraphs Alexandria; a leaflet about collecting funds for US troops in WW1 “Cheer the Boys Somewhere in France”; a 1943 Xmas card from the Air Force in Ceylon; a selection of New Zealand Red Cross cards; a WW2 item from No 32 British Field Censorship Unit in Cairo; Armee Francaise from the US - the French sent personnel over to the US in 1944 to train as pilots

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and here was a selection of censored covers; WW2 fund raising activities and a pigeon post item; a plain air letter sheet from the Royal Marines during the troubles in Borneo during the 1960s; official mail from Hong Kong 1994 & 1996

Then it was the turn of Robin Davis who showed three covers from the American Civil War, which included two from the steamship USS Daylight; then it was on to Cyprus with post Suez campaign material; during the Suez invasion of 1956 incoming mail to Cyprus was delayed and he showed material from this period; during the EOKA campaign of 1955-59 there was “ENOSIS” support mail; and following the Turkish invasion of north Cyprus in July 1974 mail was diverted and he showed a number of examples of this.

Cliff Gregory was next to show and his material concerned the WW1 POW camp at Ahmednagar in India. He showed two items posted in 1919 on normal India postal stationery. The first wishing Happy Christmas and the second Happy New Year 1920! He also showed an item from the Abyssinian Field Force - possibly the earliest recorded item from this FF. It was cover from Brigadier General Merewether posted in April 1868 and received in London on 18 May 1868.

We then welcomed back Eddie Weeks whom we hadn’t seen for a considerable long time - he is interested in railways, airways and ships and he had three Forces queries concerning hospital ship covers. I must confess that I didn’t record the exact queries or if he managed to obtains some answers !

Lastly we had our President, Richard Berry, who confessed that he was not about to show any postal history but instead showed some wartime artwork by a cartoonist called Maroc - real name Robert Coram (spelt backwards - Maroc). The artwork comprised preliminary drawings in pencil and dated from around 1943. From 1938 Coram was a regular contributor to Punch and during the Second World War he served in the National Fire Service and was a member of the Fireman Artists Committee, through which he organized several wartime exhibitions of art by firemen. A great deal of his artwork is held in the British Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent in Canterbury. 8 December 2018 - All-day joint meeting with the Postal History Society - to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War through Members’ displays. This sadly was our last joint meeting, for the time being at least, with the Postal History Society (PHS). There are a number of other societies queuing up to hold joint meetings with us and as we are restricting such meetings to two a year we have reluctantly had to decline further meetings with the PHS (as I say, at least for the time being). As I was a little late in getting to the meeting I am grateful to Geoff Hanney for taking notes on the first two displays.

Steve Ellis (FPHS/PHS) showed items connected to Hong Kong during World War I: Tientsin - captured by a Japanese-led force which contained a Battalion of South Wales Borderers and an Indian Army contingent; German wounded were transported to Hong Kong; also shown were German Nationals interned and POW mail. Censorship - showing the cachets and labels used from the colony; there were also censored items transiting the colony to various places to name few Chile, Finland and

Sweden. French packet mail was also transited through Hong Kong. HMS Kent was on China Station based out of Hong Kong during the war and mail from the ship was displayed. There were items from the 25th Middlesex Regiment, which was sent out to Hong Kong in April 1916 and later sent to Vladivostok to support the White Russian Army in the Civil War. Chinese involvement in the First World War is not really recognized as they supported the cause by raising some 250,000 of their nationals as a labour force which continued until 1925.

Richard Flemming (FPHS/PHS) displayed material relating to the history of the Wiltshire Regiment which he collected as his uncle served with them and so showed items from his uncle. His Uncle Alec who served in Hong Kong during 1950-51 sent letters to Richard’s Mum; unfortunately he had to leave army as he had Hopkins Disease. The Regiment was based at Marchant Barracks in Devizes, which is now housing and apartments. Items displayed included from Commanding officer of the Marlborough Volunteers between 1803 and 1805. The Regiment had two battalions that alternated serving in India while the other was at Home. 2nd Battalion was in Guernsey for a time. He had an example of a letter to member of the Regiment in the Boer War but which was returned unable to deliver. Also shown were items from a Captain Halstead (later Major) during 1904 to 1906; he was Lt Col during WW1. There were total ten battalions from the Regiment that served during WW1 and Richard showed examples of mail from the First World War including some POW items. Lastly he also show a picture postcard of the original Union Jack Club which was on the site of current building.

Gerald Marriner (PHS) showed mail from the WW2 Belgian Forces in England who then moved to the Belgian Congo - under the heading “Force Publique” which was the main items he showed - in 1942 it moved to Nigeria then in 1943 joined the Middle East campaign, including Lebanon, and travelled from the Belgian Congo to Libya. Also shown was mail from Belgians at a casualty clearing station in Kenya in 1944. In May 1945 Belgian troops were in Burma. Gerald also showed items to and from the Belgian Congo, together with mail from the South African Defence Force which was involved in the Belgian Congo, also from a Belgian officer in the SAAF with mail to the SAAF in Cairo and London.

John Scott, FRPSL (FPHS/PHS), showed Official Mail through a small collection of early letters and covers from various War Office departments from the 1800s either with cachets or printed departmental names - these included the Royal Army Clothing Department, Commander-in-Chief’s Office, Commissary-General of Ordnance, Horse Guards Headquarters and many others.

Peter O’Keeffe (FPHS) displayed a selection of Air Mail Letter Cards (AMLCs) for civilians to send to British Prisoners of War in Germany, first produced in January/February 1941. Those shown were mainly posted in 1943, initially mainly sent to Italy but with many then redirected to Germany.

The next display was shown as our November meeting, but as this meeting was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ending of WW1 it was felt appropriate to show it once again - to a largely new audience! This was Frank Schofield’s display on “Armistice Day 1918”

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which included a Naval Signal from the C-in-C Grand Fleet (Admiral Beatty) timed at 1255, dated 11.11.18 and signed by G A Taylor, CYS (Chief Yeoman of Signals); a couple of postcards with the ‘FPO a’ Krag machine dated 11 NOV 18; a cover from Salonika on 29 October 1918 which arrived in London on Armistice Day; several items from the British Army in Italy either postmarked or written on Armistice Day from a variety of FPOs; a couple of items connected with the Royal Army Medical Corps - a cover addressed to a Private RAMC in France postmarked on Armistice Day but eventually returned to sender and the other written and censored by a Captain RAMC who died on Armistice Day in Africa. The display sheets featured a poppy in the top right of each page and a close-up of poppies in a field in the bottom left. All the pages also featured the following text in the top left “At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month - it was all over” and the bottom right “But in 1939 it started all over again”.

Tony Stanford, FRPSL (FPHS) showed WW1 mail from Morocco Agencies in Tangier and comprised mail from a contingent of French troops; mail in the French zone was censored in Casablanca; some mail from British troops (which is hard to find) but mainly civilian mail. Tangier took responsibility for censoring mails posted in the Spanish zone although in practice mail for Britain, the Empire and USA was sent via Gibraltar and was censored there or in London.

Peter Burrows (FPHS/CCSG) displayed a variety of material including a letter written on 11th November 1918 about the celebrations in London and posted during the evening of 11th November; 50th/60th and 64th New Zealand commemorative covers; an item from the Royal Sussex Regiment and a number of Australian postcards, including views of “Welcome Huts”. The rest of the display was mainly American cards to welcome back its troops repatriated at the end of the war: American Red Cross cards with “Greatest Mother in the World”, cards produced by the Jewish Welfare Board “Hello - Just Got Back”; Knights of Columbus with cards with spaces to insert ships names, some were cartoons others were produced for particular regiments. In ther UK many towns held banquets and he showed a selection of invites and menus from such events.

Clair Scott, FRPSL (PHS) then showed her “Death by Post” collection - a selection of covers and other ephemera relating to the death of military personnel. The display was a memoriam to the submarine M1 - HMS M1 was a submarine of the Royal Navy, one of four vessels of her class ordered towards the end of the First World War. She sank with the loss of her entire crew of 69 on 12 November 1925. The display started in 1804 with a letter from the French military hospital in Mantua stationed in the Italian Republic with information on the deaths of soldiers of 101st Regiment; a free soldiers letter of 1823 informing news of the death of George Clemence. There were black border envelopes from the Boer War including one from a POW in Diyatalawa Camp, Ceylon and postmarked 1 March 1902 and a copy of the Army Order on the death of Lord Kitchener who died on 5 June 1916; also two German memorial cards of 1933.

Robin Pizer (PHS) displayed items relating to the British occupation of the Rhineland 1918-19 - 2nd British Army entered the Rhineland in 1918 and occupied parts of

Germany. Robin showed a selection of forces postmarks used on mail from British troops as well as censorship of military mail in the Rhineland. Such mail was censored with a large ‘S’ cachet. He also showed mail from Belgian and French forces which used British mail services and also items from Canadian and New Zealand forces in Germany. He took us through postal markings from most of the Corps which made up the Second Army and then he went onto air mail which included an instruction card on what to do in the event of a forced landing!

Graham Mark (FPHS/PHS/CCSG), President of the Postal History Society, was next up, with a selection of labels used on mail by the censor in Gibraltar. He explained that London sent out a team of 36 persons to Gibraltar with the intention that they examined Italian, Greek and Turkish mail to the Americas. He believed that number 4921 to 4940 were allocated to Gibraltar. Mail was also censored in Egypt at various censor stations in the country and he showed a number of EPC marks - EPC standing for Eastern Postal Censor.

Bash Orhan (FPHS) gave a short display relating to events in Turkey - the Italians operated in Turkey during WW1 and had post offices in Constantinople and Smyrna; the French and the Italians began carving up the Turkish Empire with Silesia going to the Italians. He showed an item from the Hungarian artillery in Turkey. In 1920 the French occupied Cilice and he also showed items from the German forces in the Dardanelles and lastly he showed three items connected with the British occupation of Iraq. In a second display

Michael Dobbs (FPHS) then showed a selection of British military mail from France with postal markings from various Army and Corps headquarters; TW1 when allocated to the Divisional Train of 1st Canadian Division and the Army Post Office 1 Krag machine allocated to the Base Post Office. He then showed a selection of postmarks from the Italian Expeditionary Force including APO L1 and L2, FPO FD1, FD8 and FD9, FPO GQ2 from GHQ 2nd Echelon and from 48th (South Midland) Division - FPOs T148 and 143.

Bash Orhan (FPHS) in a second display he stated that during the First World War a number of Turkish dignitaries were sent to Malta. This was a small selection of material related to that situation and was very much “work in progress”. There were about 144 such dignitaries and initially they were moved to Mudros and then on to Malta. They were allowed to send mail provided it was censored by the British authorities. The display showed material associated with such events including mail, letters and various notices.

Our last military display of the day was from Geoff Hanney whose subject was Forces mail in Northern Ireland during World War 2. He explained that after Norway and Dunkirk the British Army Postal Service set up Army Postal Distribution Centre (APDCs) to handle forces mail. He showed a selection of mail from various units in Ulster, postmarked with the Krag machine ARMY POST OFFICE initially showing No 5 (October/November 1940) but later No 6 (November 1940 onwards). Also shown was mail from the corps and various divisions in Ulster; as an aside he said that many divisions were equipped with tropical kit expecting to be sent to Africa or the Far East but were instead sent to Northern Ireland!

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Lastly, to bring a bit of Christmas cheer to the proceedings, Peter O’Keeffe showed an interesting new take on collecting stamps and postal history - a selection of mail with postage stamps all “cancelled” with the inevitable line or scribble through them - be it pen or felt tip and in a variety of colours! 12 January 2019 - Presidential Display - Conscientious Objectors in World War One - Our President, Richard Berry FRPSL, gave a display, the likes of which we have not seen before, on matters relating to conscientious objectors. As usual Richard invited a number of guests, particularly from the ‘Royal’ and his family, but on this occasion his mother was not able to come!

In opening his talk and display Richard stated that this was not a common collecting area, simply because there was not a lot of material around. There were 16,100 men recognised as conscientious objectors. Richard’s talk concentrated on the absolutists of whom there were 1,300. He also covered the other types of conscientious objector. In telling the “conscientious objectors” story he mentioned that there were four types of exemption from joining the forces:

Those who joined the Non-Combatant Corps “Alternativists” who worked on farms or in other

alternative employment “Schemers” who signed up to Home Office schemes “Absolutists” who wanted absolutely nothing to do

with the war effort

At the start of the war the general feeling in Britain was against conscription as it was considered (for example) that pressed men would not make good soldiers. This was opposite to the view in France and Germany. By mid-1915 with mounting casualties, falling voluntary recruitment and married women complaining that their husbands were at the front whilst many single men were not in uniform - the mood was changing. However, following the failure of the Derby Scheme (see further on) conscription arrived under the terms of the Military Service Act, passed in January 1916. Every unmarried or widowed man who had no dependents and who was aged 19 to 41 was deemed to have enlisted for general service or for the reserve. In other words they became soldiers as from 2 March 1916. Only exempted were the medically unfit, clergymen, teachers and certain classes of industrial worker. A second Act passed in May 1916 extended conscription to married men and in a further Act the age limit was raised to 50. Conscription did not apply to Ireland. Richard’s display included a small number of contemporary comic postcards relating to recruitment and the road to conscription as well as a pamphlet entitled “The Limited Conscription Bill - How to avoid impending trouble and

disaster” produced by Arnold Lupton on 10 January 1916.

Lord Derby (a keen conscriptionist) was appointed Director-General of Recruiting on 11 October 1915 and within five days he brought forward a scheme, commonly referred to as the Derby Scheme although its official title was the Group Scheme. Those aged 18 to 40 were informed that under the scheme they could continue to enlist voluntarily (“attest”) with an obligation to come if called up later. Numbers didn’t come forward even though heavy pressure was applied. Therefore the War Office notified the public that the last day of voluntary registration would be 15 December 1915 after that the indignity of being conscripted would apply once legislation passed. Once attested volunteers were given a special armband (an example was shown) and put into groups according to age. Employers could apply for their employees’ exemption under the Derby Scheme. Contemporary local newspapers were a good source to identify the types of people granted exemption or otherwise. Often it was a case of who you knew! By the close of the Derby Scheme only 340,000 men had attested. The display included various notices of decisions or hearings in relation to applications for exemptions.

Richard referred to a good introductory book on the subject being “Conscientious Objectors of the First World War - A Determined Resistance” by Ann Kramer (pub Pen & Sword, 2014) and that although there were many books on the subject reference to the philatelic aspects were sparse. Richard also talked about the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF) which was a British pacifist organisation founded in London on 27 November 1914. Branches were established across the country, leaflets were produced to keep conscientious objection in

the public eye throughout out the war and deputations sent to lobby Parliament. They issued guidance on how to, for example, apply for exemptions to local tribunals and appeals tribunals. From March 1916 the NCF published a magazine called The Tribunal. Various documents relating to appeals hearings and decisions

Richard explaining on item in front of an attentive audience - more illustrations online

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were displayed. Conscientious objectors produced their own postcards and Richard showed a selection of comic postcards relating to conscientious objectors and tribunals. Although the main theme of Richard’s talk was on absolutists he also showed postal history and ephemera relating to the other exemption options available and also the Friends Ambulance Unit organised by the Quakers (Society of Friends).

Richard showed the process an absolutist went through during the war using original paperwork from Frank Penney. He applied in 1916 to his local tribunal in Southampton for exemption which was refused following appearance at the tribunal. He applied to the next level being the Appeal Tribunal for his county (Hampshire) and was again refused. He wasn’t allowed to appeal to the Central Tribunal in London. So into the army he went and he refused to put on his uniform so was court martialled and found guilty went to civil prison (Winchester) with 112 days hard labour. On release he was back into the Army where he again refused to put on his uniform was court martialled then back to prison then released and this process continued until 1919.

Most of the second half of the display related to another absolutist but one with a philatelic connection. Sydney Turner was an architect who was also a writer on philately and illustrated many publications including the Melville publications and designed a commemorative envelope for the Junior Philatelic Society in 1909. Richard showed some original examples of Turner’s pre-war philatelic output. Along with has brother Guy they were both conscientious objectors. Guy being diabetic was automatically exempt. Richard showed much material relating to Turner as a CO using Turner’s own private correspondence and papers, his dealings with the authorities such as his application to the Appeals Tribunal. Over the period 1916-19 Turner went through four courts martial each followed by a prison sentence and after serving his sentence was released back to his regiment and was subsequently court martialled again after he declined to put on an army uniform. Also shown were a number of letters to the Turner brothers written by Lt Bernard Kirby MC from the Western Front.

There was a connection between Turner and our Society - when Turner died in 1972 one of his executors was the late George Crabb (a past President 1993-95). Richard showed a manuscript sheet which explained this connection and also how Turner’s conscientious objector past came to light – George Crabb had found in Turner’s loft a suitcase wrapped in brown paper and sealed with sealing wax. When the contents were examined he realised for the first time that Turner had been a conscientious objector during WW1. Despite knowing him for over 20 years this fact had never been mentioned.

In 1935 Turner joined the Royal Philatelic Society London. He would probably have been ”blackballed” if he’d applied earlier judging by the military ranks held by many members of the Royal’s members after the War and during the 1920s! He eventually became a Fellow of that Society and in 1957 became an RDP… and the Society never knew it had a CO as a member who’d served over 800 days in prison for his beliefs.

Richard introduced his collection on the day as “Those Troublesome People” after a quotation by George Bernard Shaw (GBS) in a NCF publication. He promised

that the talk would end with GBS. The final CO correspondence shown related to Allan McDonald Laing who was secretary of the Liverpool and District Branch of the NCF; he had already served time for distributing anti-conscription leaflets. In 1917 he was before the tribunals and refused exemption and following the usual court martial followed by prison routine had served time in Wormwood Scrubs and Winson Green (Birmingham) by the end of the war. Again original letters from prison were shown. After the war he worked in journalism and in the 1950s, proof read and reviewed a book written on GBS by his secretary – some postal history and ephemera relating to GBS was shown.

As the meeting came to an end a vote of thanks was given by our senior Vice President, Robin Davis FRPSL for this extremely unusual, but very interesting and informative display on a subject which has never been dealt with in such detail before.

2nd-9th May 2020

Harry Cope Memorial Award for

Literature

A reminder that the Society has in its remit to present a medal named after a former Hon. Secretary of the Society, who was a benefactor of the Society, on a book or publication the content of which falls within the scope of Forces Postal History. The material submitted, which should include original research, can be an essay in depth or article of not less than 4,000 words, or a book. It can have been published privately or commercially or through the FPHS, but must be a new work written or published within the three years preceding the year of the award. The Award is normally notified at the Annual General Meeting. To be considered for this Award the author(s) must be member(s) of the FPHS.

The full rules can be found on our website or send a letter or email to the Hon Secretary (details on Page 2) who will send you a copy of the rules.

If you wish to nominate a suitable publication please send details to the Hon Secretary.

Our Journals online

We have recently uploaded onto our website back issues of our Journal (then called Newsletter) right back to Issue No 1 in 1953! (there is a small gap for issues 41 to 52 (1960-61) whilst we get better copies - do you have better copies you can donate to us? - if so please make contact with Geoff Hanney - contact details on page 2). All members with email addresses have been pre-registered to allow immediate access to the Forum from where you can access the online Journals / Newsletters to read or download.

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“Stamp Collector”

'Society Spotlight'

The Society was featured in “Society Spotlight” in the New Look January 2019 edition of “Stamp Collector” (the new name for “Stamp & Coin Mart”) - which also includes a range of interesting articles on stamps, postmarks & postal history as well as postcards.

Displays to other Societies

On 29 November 2018, Peter High and Alan Baker gave a display to the Huntingdon Philatelic Society at Hemingford Abbots, near Cambridge (Alan’s comment - when agreeing to do something like this, check the map. It was miles for both of us on a filthy night and traffic "challenges" all the way!)

Alan took the first half with "Collecting the Great War", starting with some stamps of the period, including the Anglo-French force in Togoland and the Portuguese occupation of Kiongo, a small enclave in German East Africa, and then followed up with covers and cards from some of the armies and navies involved in the War, from both sides.

Peter then gave a display in the second half of …. (yes, you guessed it) Hospital Ships!

The displays were well received by the fifteen or so members of the society who were there. However, it was a little perturbing when one of them nodded in agreement at some of our comments. It turned out he had been a contestant on Mastermind, with his specialist subject of "The Great War". Fortunately, he was nodding and not shaking his head!

The journey back home for both was much easier fortunately.

Members’ Small ads

Looking for any WWI material related to the Adriatic Mission and any other unusual items related to the presence of British Forces in Italy during the Great War. If you can help please contact: Martino Laurenzi, 403 South Euclid Avenue, Westfield NJ 07090, USA email: mlaurenzi@comcast.net

The November 2018 Newsletter (No 233) included a number of Christmas card related items, starting off with one for 1918/19 from the 49th Canadian Battalion (Edmonton Regiment). This was followed by a four page article on the WW2 “CANADIAN MARITIME MAIL” cachet with the conclusion reached that it was used solely by the Canadian merchant navy. This was followed by illustrations of UN Missions’ Seasons Greetings (UNMOGIP & UNEF) and a short article with a Christmas and New Year greetings card from Fourth Battery, CFA in Germany at Christmas 1918 and Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in France 1918. Lastly a small item illustrated with a Christmas & New Years card from the RCAF “Somewhere in Holland” in 1944.

Our New Look Journal

From the Spring 2019 issue (i.e the issue that accompanies this Newsletter) our Journal will be all in colour - this is a trial and we will review the situation at the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our new look Journal.

Annual General Meeting 2019

In accordance with General Rule 8 (a) and (b) NOTICE is hereby given that the 2019 Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 13th April 2019 at 10.30am in the Union Jack Club. Members wishing to submit motions for discussion or nominations for officers and committee posts must notify the Hon. Secretary by 18th March 2019.

Our membership Secretary, Martin Hopkinson FRPSL, will be standing down after 12 years, but we are hopeful that we have another volunteer to take his place.

A mini 'live' room auction (open to postal bidders) will follow the AGM at 2pm and also a bourse where members can bring along material they wish to sell.

Society meeting at Stockholmia

2019

Thursday 30 May 2019

At Stockholmia 2019 (29 May to 2 June 2019) - the international celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society London - our President (Richard Berry FRPSL) has arranged to have a room (for free) on the Thursday of the show (30 May 2019 - 10am-12 noon) for a couple of hours for a meeting of the FPHS. This will be the Society’s first overseas meeting. He has also invited other military societies from Sweden, Norway and North America to join us.

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