Death of Stamp Collecting?

Like many of my generation I was introduced to stamp collecting at quite a young age. Looking back I suppose that I cannot have been more than five or six years of age when my maternal grandfather presented me with my first stamp album. It had quite a colourful cover featuring several dozen stamps and the words, "Stamps of the World," were emblazoned across it just in case I forgot what I was to affix to its ninety six pages. In common with my childhood friends, we all seemed to start collecting stamps at about the same age, I joined the school stamp club and we spent hours swapping stamps and floating them off the corners of envelopes. It was I think seen by our parents as a pastime which had some educational merit and we were encouraged in it.

 

I suspect that if I now returned to my alma mater that stamp collecting would not feature as a hobby undertaken by many of the pupils. The electronic age and the birth and growth of the internet have totally changed how children spend their leisure hours. With the burgeoning of e mail and various other messaging services and social media in general the raw material of stamp collecting is in any event becoming less and less prevalent. The numbers of letters neatly folded into envelopes and with adhesive stamps affixed to the top right hand corner is declining year on year.

 

The world's postal authorities are still producing endless drifts of new stamps but in my view they have for the most part become gaudy sticky labels compared to the results provided by the engravure method of stamp production which arguably reached its apogee in the 1930's.

Maybe this is a pastime which has had its day and should now be allowed to pass into a footnote of social history.

 

 

 

Uniform Penny Post

It was on 10th January 1840 that Roland Hill's efforts finally resulted in a uniform penny postal system throughout the United Kingdom. Prior to that there had however been various local penny post systems, most notably in London and Edinburgh. For a very short period prior to 10th January 1840 there had been a universal four penny post.

 

The Penny Post was undoubtedly a boon to businesses and private individuals alike. No longer were people within the realm having to pay postage charges based not just on weight, but also on delivery distance. Colby's Survey sets out the postal rates which Parliament had determined during the reign of George IV.(Postage Act 1827).

Distances in Irish Miles. Rates of Postage

0. - 7. 2d

7. - 15. 3d

15 - 25. 4d

25 - 35. 5d

35 - 45. 6d

45 - 55. 7d

55 - 65. 8d

65 - 95. 9d

95 - 120. 10d

120 - 150. 11d

150 - 200. 1s

200 - 250. 1s 1d

250. - 300. 1s 2d

(Every additional 100 miles a further sum of 1d).

 

It is reported that in 1832 the mail took nineteen hours for mail to travel from Dublin to Londonderry.

 

Christmas Stamp Inflation

The UK was quite dilatory in the issue of special Christmas Stamps. It was not until 1966 that we had the first Christmas commemorative stamps. It doesn't seem that long ago, but I know that it is really. I must concede that for me the year 1966 is not memorable because of the issue of these stamps but rather because of England winning the World Cup. That of course prompted the issue of the, "England Winners," stamp.

Back in 1966 we were able to post our Christmas cards for the princely sum of 3d. This year I had to pay fifty pence to post each card. That is ten bob in real money. Postage prices have therefore increased by 4000% over forty six years. That I think is rather frightening. It is not too surprising that sales of the traditional card are declining. That said e-cards are rather impersonal.

Drumceatt Convention

I am not quite sure who gave me this commemorative cover or indeed who produced it. I suppose that it could have been the then Limavady District Council which had the idea of celebrating this little known event. It does seem to be slightly unusual to celebrate a fourteen hundredth anniversary. It's not one of those anniversaries that strike you as being particularly noteworthy.

The Convention was called by the then High King of Ireland a gentleman by the name of Aedh (aka Hugh). There were three matters deliberated upon:-

1. The release by Aedh of one Scannlan Mor. - He wasn't!

2. The growing and burdensome power of the Bards. - Their powers and numbers were reduced.

3. The relationship between the High King of Ireland and the Scottish Kingdom of Dalriada. - The Scottish kingdom no longer had to pay tribute to Ireland and a mutual defence alliance was established.

I suspect that this piece of ephemera will end up on e bay or in a postal philatelic auction in the very near future.

 

55th Anniversary of No 204 Squadron

March 1970 marked the fifty fifth aniversary of the formation of No 204 Squadron RAF. To mark this occasion the Philatelic Club of RAF Ballykelly issued a souvenir cover which is apropriately stamped and certified as having been flown on a routine maritime patrol. The date stamp includes the silhouette   of an MK 2 Shackleton.

The planes flown by the Squadron in its early years included many of those flown by the hero of  the Capt. W. J. Johns' books. The montage picture on the Cover includes these old Great War planes such as the Sopworth Pup and the Sopworth Camel as well as the Dakotas and Shackletons flown by the Squadron in more recent years.

After leaving RAF Ballykelly was reformed and was involved in the maintaining of sanctions against Southern Rhodesia from an airfield at Majunga in Madagascar. Thus was its last hoorah. The  Squadron was disbanded on 28th April 1972.

Closure of RAF Ballykelly

RAF Ballykelly opened as a Coastal Command Base on 1st June 1941 and a Coastal Command Development Unit was based there from December 1941 until June 1942. For the balance of the War various squadrons served at Ballykelly as well as Fleet Air Arm Units flying their Swordfish. With the end of the war the Base became the home of the RN/RAF Anti Submarine School for some six to seven months before lapsing from operational standard.

Operational standard was regained by February 1952 when No 269 Squadron, (later renumbered 210 Sqn) and its Shackleton MK1's flew in. That squadron would remain at RAF Ballykelly until October 1970 when it was redeployed. By that time the base had been absorbed into Strike Command. No. 240 Squadron (subsequently 203 Squadron) was stationed at Ballykelly from the middle of 1952 until redeployment in January 1969.  The honour of being the last operational Squadron at RAF Ballykelly went to No 204 which had been reformed in January 1954 and which remained at Ballykelly until its redeployment to Honnington in March 1971. An Air Sea Warfare Development Unit was also based at RAF Ballykelly from September 1958 until April 1970.

The final closure of RAF Ballykelly occurred on 1st June 1971 when the Base was transferred to the Army and renamed Shackleton Barracks. The Philatelic Club, RAF Ballykelly, marked this occasion by the issue of commemorative covers which were carried by train from Limavady Junction to Londonderry on that date. The rear of the covers are date stamped NIR Limavady Junction and NIR Londonderry as well as carrying a "Northern Ireland Railways per Passenger Train," stamp.

Ballykelly Philatelic Exhibition

I watched last night's episode of, " Lesser Spotted Ulster," which was looking at the area surrounding Ballykelly and in particular the slob lands. I enjoy this series. The reference to Ballykelly and indeed RAF Ballykelly reminded me that I had some philatelic memorabilia relating to the village filed away carefully in a brown box. A two hour rummage this morning was all it took to locate the correct brown envelope in the correct box. I knew my system would not fail me.

In September 1970  RAF Ballykelly Philatelic Club and the Londonderry Philatelic Society put on a joint stamp exhibition and fair under the rather grand title of,  "Norwest Ulsterex."  This took place in Ballykelly Primary School. A friend of my father took me along. I cannot remember why my father was unable to take me, but he delegated the responsibility to one of his friends. 

Whilst the event was billed as a joint venture I had the feeling that the airforce chaps were the prime movers, in particular one Squadron Leader T. J. Hanbury. I can't pretend that I have very vivid memories of the day, but I do remember that the school seemed very crowed with people, so it was presumably a reasonably successful event. The organisers produced a set of four commemorative covers (2,000 sets) and a pair of commemorative postcards (500 sets). This does seem a large number, but I do recollect being told by Sqn. Ldr. Hanbury that there was a large demand from other squadrons and ex RAF personnel. All the covers have a certification stamp stating that they were delivered by mail drop from a Shackleton of No 204 Squadron and they are signed by Flt. Lt. Gordon  T. Smyth.

Chelsea Out-Pensioners in Northern Ireland






Letter to the Manager, Belfast
Banking Company  5th Nov. 1844



We are all familiar with the picture of the Chelsea Pensioner in his, and very recently her, red tunic. Certainly in the past when all soldiers' pensions were administered by the Royal Hospital  these individuals should, strictly speaking, have been  referred to as In- Pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The vast majority of pensioned soldiers were not housed in the Hospital. These latter individuals were called Out-Pensioners.

To the left is a copy of a stampless entire dated 5th November 1844  from the Provincial Bank of Ireland, Ballymena  to the manager of the Ballymoney branch of the Belfast Banking Company, who at that time was a gentleman by the name of James Thompson. It appraises the manager that the Staff Officer for the district comprising Ballymoney would be calling with a draft for encashment so that he might pay the District's Out-Pensioners of Chelsea Hospital. This Staff Officer went by the name and style of Lieutenant John Moore Tittle. These pensions were paid to the pensioners on a monthly basis.