src="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@34007@34007-h@images@illus-010a.jpg" alt="" title="" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/> 8     9     10
Figs. 5-10. British stamps found with Crimean postmarks.

The correspondence dealt with by this small staff was considerable, averaging 45,250 letters despatched to and 43,125 received from the seat of war in each month. In one year 543,000 letters were despatched to and 517,500 received from the forces in the Crimea.

The chief officer in charge at the British post offices in Turkey and the Crimea during the war, Mr. E. J. Smith, is specially mentioned in the Postmaster-General's report for 1857 as having discharged his duties in a very creditable manner. In that year his services were offered to and accepted by the Turkish Government with a view to establishing an improved postal service in the Sultan's dominions. Since this date British post offices have been maintained (in common with post offices of other Powers) in various parts of the Turkish dominions, using British stamps with or without a special overprint. These offices were closed in October, 1914, as a result of Turkey's declaration of the "abolition of the Capitulations," just prior to Turkey's open acts of war against the allied forces of Great Britain, France, and Russia in the present war.

Ordinary British stamps used at the British post-offices in the Ottoman Empire may be distinguished by postmarks (Figs. 11-17).

11     12     13
(Constantinople)

14     15     16     17
(Smyrna)     (Beyrout)
Postmarks of British Post Offices in Turkish Empire.

The first three are from Constantinople, the fourth and fifth from Smyrna, and the last two Beyrout. There are also "S" Stamboul, "B01" Alexandria, "B02" Suez, as well as ordinary date stamps of all these places.

The following are illustrations of samples of the stamps which were in use at the British post-offices in Turkey at the time of the abolition of the Capitulations. (Figs. 18, 19).

18     19

20

Special arrangements were also made for maintaining postal communications with the British Fleet in the Baltic, the stamps used being distinguishable by postmarks of diamond-shaped internal configuration (Fig. 20). It is possible that date marks of Dantzig may also be found on British stamps of this period; they appear on the covers of letters bearing British stamps with the diamond cancellations. In the early part of the naval campaign letters were transmitted

exclusively by war vessels or transports, but in the beginning of May, 1854, when the greater part of the Fleet had reached its destination the Admiral commanding in chief was directed to establish regular weekly communication by steamer between the ships under his command and the port of Dantzig. Mails for the Fleet were despatched from London every Tuesday to Dantzig, under cover of a bag addressed to Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at that port, who handed the bag over to the commander of the steamer which was timed to arrive at Dantzig each Friday. This arrangement, while satisfactory in respect of speed and regularity, involved the charging of the high foreign rates of postage, as the route was through Belgium and Prussia, but, as often as facilities offered, mails were made up for transmission by Government transports passing to and from England and the Baltic, by which soldiers and sailors were able to send and receive letters at their privilege rate of one penny each.

Abyssinian Expedition. The following is the type of date stamp used by the British post-office corps accompanying Sir Robert Napier's successful expedition to Abyssinia in 1867-1868 (Fig. 21).

21

The Indian Government sent an army postal corps to Abyssinia, the mails to and from the United Kingdom connecting up with the vessels carrying the Indian mails off Jubbel Teer in the Red Sea. The late Mr. J. G. Hendy of the G.P.O. Muniment Room records[1] that, in April 1868, a direct weekly mail service was established between Suez and Zoulla. The rates for letters under half an ounce were the same as to India, viz.:

He also states that naval and military officers, when serving on colonial or foreign stations, were permitted, under Treasury

Warrant of May 16, 1857, to send or receive letters at the reduced British postage of 6d. per ounce, in all cases where the postage of ordinary letters to or from the same place was higher than 6d. The privilege was withdrawn on January 1, 1870, and then letters became liable to the general rates of postage.

Egypt. The organisation of an Army Postal Corps was authorised on July 18, 1882, for service in Egypt, and it was promptly completed. Colonel du Plat Taylor was instructed to form the corps of two officers and one hundred men from the Post-Office Volunteers (24th Middlesex) for enrolment in the first-class Army Reserve. The men combined the advantages of experience in postal work, as sorters and postmen, with army training. The officers selected were Major Sturgeon (of the Money Order Office) and Captain Viall (Receiver and Accountant General's Department), the former taking command with the army rank of Captain, and the latter seconding him, with the army rank of Lieutenant. The men received their post-office pay, and, while on active service, in addition to free kit and rations, the privates drew army pay of 1s., corporals 1s. 8d., and sergeants 2s. 4d. per day.