Taunton Postage Due

Some postage due items from Taunton starting with a postcard that was underfranked in 1950.  The Postcard Rate was 2d not 1d.

The envelope below was not delivered so the sender was charged 1d for return to sender in 1957.  The cachet was applied in Ilminster.

The envelope below was unfranked and received a green Posted Unpaid cachet in Manchester in 1959, with the postage dues being cancelled in Taunton with oval Registered cancels.

The unfranked postcard (a registration for guarantee for a "Tidyspin Deluxe") was refused in Birmingham in March 1971 so the sender had to pay.

The windowed envelope below had an incomplete meter mark in November 1975 so was liable to postage due.  The green cachet applied was an old one, still referring to old pence ("D").

The postage stamp on the envelope below had been fixed with adhesive tape in April 1978, and was marked as "Stamp Defaced".

And finally an example of the post office being over keen in 1987 and charging postage due on an unfranked envelope that was addressed to a Freepost address - the postage due stamps were "Cancelled".

Some modern TPOs

I don't collect TPOs - Travelling Post Offices - but here are a few that I've found, all philatelic, starting with an envelope posted on a TPO in 1965 without paying the 1d late fee.

The next cover is from 1987 and went on the Great Western Down Bag Tender, with the cancel applied by arrangement.

The final covers all relate to the last Penzance-Bristol and Bristol-Penzance TPO in January 2004.

Some Skeletons - Holford, Midford, Marston Magna, Stoke under Ham, Templecombe SO, West Harptree and Williton

A random accumulation of Skeletons, starting with a Climax rubber skeleton for Holford used on 29th May 1914.

The skeleton below from Midford used on 14th March 1906 was also a Climax rubber cancel.

The skeleton below from Marston Magna is only known used on 2nd October 1942.

... and the Stoke under Ham skeleton was also only known used on 16th February 1904.

This Templecombe S.O. skeleton was in use for about a month, from 2nd April to 3rd May 1912.

West Harptree's skeleton was in use for a month and a half from 19th July to 3rd September 1974.  As in the example below the "P" often does not print.

And finally a Williton skeleton that was in use for about a month, from 12th December 1909 to 10th January 1910.

Random Offices under Bristol

A random selection of postmarks for Offices under Bristol starting with a registered envelope sent from Merrywood, Bristol in 1892.

 Here is a Certificate of Posting postmarked at St Michaels in 1899.

Next is a postcard from Filton with a double circle double-arc postmark in 1952.

This Parcel Post Label is from Redland in 1903 with a "REDLAND / BRISTOL" single ring handstamp as well as "BRISTOL" roller cancels.

The registered envelope below was posted from Whiteladies Road to Clevedon in 1913.

And finally a more modern form from Wine Street, not actually postally used but with the "CITY B.O. / WINE STREET / BRISTOL / BS1 1DD" cachet.  The form was used to provide the Post Office with details of franking machine usage.

Bristol Returned Letter Branch

Bristol Returned Letter Branch handled letters that need returning to the sender in the south-west.  The covers below are from 1887 and 1901, with "R.L.B. / BRISTOL" single ring handstamps.

The letter being returned below in 1897 was compulsorily Registered as it conatained value and the recipient would have had to pay 2d.  It has an oval "REGISTERED / BRISTOL R.L.B" handstamp.

The envelope below from the USA to Plymouth in 1932 was not collected from Plymouth post office so needed returning to the sender, and was routed via the Bristol Returned Letter Branch.

Locking Camp

RAF Locking was opened in January 1939 just before the start of WW2 as a training camp providing training in aircraft trades including flight mechanics, airframes, engines, parachute training and air gunnery. There were satellite camps near Banwell at Knightcott, on Summer Lane and at Hill End. During the war RAF Locking became a huge hutted encampment where it was not unusual to have 6,000 personnel on parade at the same time. Four years after opening the school had trained 30,682 tradesmen for the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. 

In 1950 the ‘No. 1 Radio School’ moved to Locking to provide training for radio and radar technicians, and as radar became an important part of the RAF the site became a specialist school for electronics. The Radio School moved to RAF Cosford in 1998, and RAF Locking closed on 31st March 1999 sixty years after it had opened. The RAF finally left the site in 2000.

See http://www.lockingheritage.org/raflocking.html for more details.

The following sheets illustrate Locking Camp cancellations, from 1958 to 1986.

Ilminster again (part 2)

Some more Ilminster items starting with some meter marks from 1989 to 1998 ...

... and some Packet cancels from 1990 and 1991, with the cancel steadily getting more distorted.

Lastly here is an envelope cancelled with a triangular "IL" telegraphic cancel, typically used on Printed Matter.  Based on the 3d postal rate it must be from 1965-1968.

Ilminster yet again (part 1)

Some more Ilminster starting with an undelivered envelope that had to be opened by the Post Office to find a return address in September 1962.  It was also underfranked.

This next item was returned to sender because of "Insufficient Address".  There is no house number and it is just addressed to "Secretary".

 

This postal stationery envelope was sent within Ilminster in April 1964 and looks like it was sorted in Ilminster as it didn't receive a machine cancel.

In December 1977 the envelope below was cancelled with an Ilminster machine cancel but the dater was inverted.

Here is an example of the Ilminster machine cancel with the dater the correct way up.

Winford and Winsford UDCs

Winford is seven miles south-east of Bristol.  Here is an example of its double-arc UDC from June 1851.

Winford is not to be confused with Winsford, four miles south of Dulverton and some 55 miles to the south-west.  Winsford had a double-arc udc known from June 1854.

.... and later a single ring udc, here used in November 1857.

Here is another example used in blue in April 1858.

Some Mobile Post Office cancels

Here are a few mobile post office cancels starting with a "MOBILE POST OFFICE / A" cancel used under Shepton Mallet in 1954 at the Mid-Somerset Agricultural Show,

The cancel used at the Frome Agricultural Show in 1957 was "MOBILE POST OFFICE 2 / B", as shown below on an uprated 46th Parliamentary Conference airmail to the USA.

The cancel used under Bristol in 1958  at the Royal Agricultural Show was "MOBILE POST OFFICE 2 / A", as shown below.

The cancel was used again in April 1960 at the Taunton Jumping Festival at Milverton, with a typed large unattributed registration etiquette.

In May 1962 a "MOBILE POST OFFICE 2 / B" cancel was used at the Bath & West Show under Taunton.

And finally the "MOBILE POST OFFICE No.3 / B" cancel was used in September 1960 at the Mid-Somerset Agricultural Show, and the "MOBILE POST OFFICE 1 / A" cancel was used in June 1966 at the Bath & West Show, both under Shepton Mallet.