Crewkerne to New York, 1864

The wrapper below was sent from Crewkerne to New York in July 1864, to be collected from the Post Office there  [It is addressed to Wm. Henry Smith, no relation, presumably to W.H. Smith.]

The 1/- stamp is cancelled with the Crewkerne "230" 3HOS cancel, and has a handstamp from Crewkerne on the reverse along with a red London transit mark.  The envelope says in manuscript "Per Mail from Liverpool" but there is no indication that it went from Liverpool rather than from London.

The envelope received a red "5 / CENTS" handstamp, probably applied in in the port where the mail shipped from, along with the red "PAID" handstamp to indicate that there was nothing to pay on the letter.  The 5c is the portion of the 1/- or 24c that was credited to the USA, 3c going to Great Britain for the inland mail and a further 16c going to the (in this case British) contract steamer across the Atlantic.

When in New York the post office advertised that the letter was waiting collection.