News Archive

Soldiers Rates of the British Empire to 1898

The FIP Championship Class Collection formed by Gerald Sattin, FRPSL

Gerald Sattin’s interest in Indian Military mail started when he was a young boy. After a chance meeting with an elderly lady on his way to school, she sent him a parcel of stamps and covers on his birthday for several years. These parcels contained Indian covers from her family who served in India from the 1840’s to the 1920’s. On a surprise visit home at a later date his mother greeted him with the news that she had tidied his room and in the process had torn all the stamps off his precious gifts of covers. He was so distressed that he only retained the pre-stamp entires and so began a life times interest in the military postal history and his collection of Campaign Mails of India to 1909. This collection was subsequently enlarged and refined to form the collection that is to be offered in part in London on 5 May. Gerald had decided to retain the African and Asian sections of the collection for further expansion and so maintain his interest in researching military and postal history.

The sale contains a wealth of scarce and rare pre-stamp and stamped covers sent at the soldier’s privilege rate, mostly addressed to friends and family at home, and some giving graphic details of the campaigns in which they had been sent to serve. The sale commences with covers sent from the U.K. and Ireland, the earliest being from William Dowles written during the Jacobite Rebellion. An 1807 letter from Capt. Baker at Hastings was carried by Regimental Letter Carriers who have each endorsed the cover with details of where they received the letter, at what time and how fast they would be riding, and each signing alongside these details. There are letters from Miltiamen, substitutes for those chosen to serve, and who received a payment for their service.

Due to the relatively high cost of sending a normal letter there were regular abuses of the soldier’s privilege rate and these are well represented in the sale, some being spotted by postal officials who noted the abuse on the letters and charged the correct non soldier’s rate.

In the U.K. section there are fine sections of Scotland, Ireland with a most interesting envelope addressed to the U.S. Secretary of War at Washington and three items from the Channel Islands, one showing a superb strike of the Jersey “scroll” handstamp.

Covers from the rest of Europe commence with a group of entire letters from the Napoleonic Campaigns of 1793-1817 and from Crete an 1898 envelope from a soldier serving with the International Peace Keeping force stationed at Candia during the war between Greece and Turkey. There are covers from the more usual islands of Gibraltar, the Ionian group and Malta and this section concludes with a selection of covers from the Crimean War.

Australasia includes letters from the States of New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria the latter including a letter from Melbourne bearing Half Length 1d., only the second example recorded, the other being in the Ginger collection housed at the British Library. There is a very rare letter from a soldier on convict duty on Norfolk Island and New Zealand with an extraordinary letter of 1845 written during the 1st. Maori War giving graphic details of the death of one of the Captains who was burnt alive by the Maoris.

North America includes a range of covers from Canada, commencing with a 1799 entire letter from a Sergeant Strachan at Quebec regarding the possibility of a discharge, two covers from New Brunswick, an 1858 envelope from Nova Scotia bearing 1d. red-brown and an 1859 envelope from Vancouver Island written by a soldier serving with a detachment sent to keep the peace in a dispute over the ownership of San Juan Island.

The sale concludes with a wonderful group of covers from the West Indies. These commence with a remarkable 1847 entire letter from Antigua which shows a circle of stitch marks on the reverse where the sender has, most unusually, paid the 1d. rate by sewing a one penny coin to the letter. Barbados includes an 1825 letter from Great Guano Cay and an 1870 envelope from a member of the 2nd. West Indies Regiment sent to Jamaica.

Barbados is well represented with seven items covering the period from 1801, sent via Martinique, to 1894
The ever popular collecting field of Bermuda is well catered for with five covers including an 1851 entire letter from Ireland Isle and an 1875 envelope to England bearing an example of the 1875 1d. on 3d. surcharge, the only example of this provisional recorded on soldier’s cover.

There are also items from British Guiana, Grenade, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago and Trinidad

We feel sure that the interest in military postal history will result in many record priced being achieved in this fascinating auction.