Forestry Commission cachet, 1940

The OHMS registered envelope below was sent from Alma Vale, Bristol to the Forestry Commission, Exeter in November 1940 and received a Forestry Commission cachet, either on despatch in Bristol or on receipt in Exeter.

As was common during WW II, the envelope was reused, with an address label stuck on the front.  Below is another OHMS envelope from March 1946 with a blurred Forestry Commission cachet.  The page also shows an image of handstamps from a ledger of essays and specimens of certifying handstamps for British official mail.

FORESTRY COMMISSION

Before 1919, Britain had no State forest policy in any accepted sense of the term.  Previous action in relation to woodland had been taken ad hoc in relation to specific problems arising in relation to the Crown forests or to the provision of oak for naval purposes.  When this requirement petered out, the country reverted to a laissez faire policy encouraged by a vista of apparently infinite cheap imports from overseas.  The necessities of the 1914-18 war drew the Government's attention to the danger of undue reliance on timber imports.  Following a report by the Acland Committee, and Interim Forest Authority was set up in 1918 and a Forestry Bill passed in 1919.  This Act established the Forestry Commission and gave it wide powers to acquire and plant land, promote timber supply and forest industries, undertake education and research, make grants and give advice to woodland owners.  For Great Britain, the long-term target was to bring into production all the then felled and devastated land in addition, to increase the conifer woodland area by approximately 720,000 ha to an overall total of 1,930,000 ha.

 

Since its inception, the Forestry Commission has been the main driving force in the UK behind forestry refurbishment and expansion in the twentieth Century.  Its programme of afforestation coupled with effective staff training and a programme of applied research has given it a standing of international renown.  The target identified initially by Acland and renewed in 1943 of 5 million acres (ie. 2 million ha) of productive forest by the end of the century was achieved with a few years in hand.  There was only a small net change in the gross woodland area of Great Britain in between 1913 and 1939.  Since then however, the total area has nearly doubled.  The net area of privately owned woodland did not increase however until after 1965.  What increases in woodland area there were until 1965 can be attributed to the activities of the Forestry Commission - the State forest service.  The handstamps for the Interim Forest Authority (1919) and the Forestry Commission (1920, 1926, 1944 and 1947) are from a ledger of essays and specimens of certifying handstamps for British official mail (1901-1964).