Taunton "Not Called For"

The envelope below was sent from within Taunton to the Head Post Office in January 1942.  It was not called for so was opened to find a return address, re-sealed and then returned.

Locking

The Air Mail letter card below was sent from Field Post Office 724 to Weston-super-Mare in December 1943, and received an RAF Censor handstamp.

Dulverton 1952

The windowed envelope below has a red meter mark for Astra Chemicals, who manufactured Calciferol, a vitamin D2 supplement.  It is dated 30th May 1952.

Two and a half  months later Dulverton suffered a heavy flood, part of the same weather system that flooded and killed 34 people in Lynmouth.  Astra Chemicals at Dulverton were badly affected, though put up a poster bearing the words "Business as Usual" whilst warning clients that there might be some delay in dealing with correspondence.

Blue Ball Commercial Inn, Bruton

The item below is more social history than postal history, being a receipt dated January 1869.  The receipt is from the Blue Ball Commercial Inn, Bruton.

Bath "TOO-LATE" Masonic envelope

The envelope below was posted in Bath too late to catch the post, so was handstamped "TOO-LATE" so that the recipient would know why it was late.

The envelope bears the imprint of the Masonic Royal Sussex Lodge No. 53.

Norton Fitzwarren, Wincanton Skeletons

Here are a pair of skeletons, recently acquired, from Norton Fitzwarren (1909) and Wincanton (1912).  The Norton Fitzwarren skeleton is known in use from 25th April to 24th May 1909.

This Wincanton skeleton is known in use from 29th November 1912 to 19th January 1913.

Castle Cary 3VOS 1880

The envelope below has a Castle Cary "949" 3VOS cancel (3-bar Vertical Oval Single) with a datestamp on the reverse from November 1880.  The cancel was issued two years earlier in 1878.

Bridgwater 1706

Below is an example of the first handstamp in use at Bridgwater, from 1706.  The handstamp is known used in 1705-1706.

The letter was to London with a date inside of 8th May 1706 and a London bishop mark receiving mark dated 13th May.  It was charged 3d which was the rate for over 80 miles from 1657 to 1711.

Miscellany - GWR perfin, WWI "More Baccy", Yeovil invoice

A trio of random miscellany, starting with a "GWR" perfin, date unknown, from Athelney railway station.

Next is a  WWI postcard from the front saying thank-you for the gift parcel of "smokes" in 1917.

And finally an invoice from The Western Gazette, Yeovil in 1879.

Express Delivery

There were a number of classes of Express mail but the most common was express delivery on the final leg from the post office to the recipient.  Here are a couple of examples, one from Taunton in 1939 and the second from Bristol in 1963.