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Precancels of Great BritainThis part of the web site is to consolidate information on GB precancels.The site has expanded. Click here for a site-map. |
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According to John G.Hendy (Curator of the GPO records room), W. H. Smith & Son were first granted the use of precancels on 1st August 1876 to cancel wrappers and send mail directly to Euston station. According to Curt N. Fernau, W. H. Smith & Son were issued with five obliterators in total. The first is shown below together with two of the examples I have seen used on W.H.S. wrappers (new style address) to H.M.S. Neptune, Queenstown (C. Cork, Southern Ireland) and Bantry Bay redirected to Galway. The first was dated September 1884, the other 14 August ????. Both wrappers were sold by ebay seller Ray_Cobley who has kindly given his permission to reproduce the top image. I purchased the other one. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The main point in these would seem to be the 'S' in a diamond. The examples I have seen have the outer ring of the Alcock & Holland version with the '71' in diamond
This is another example of this precancel apparently dated 13 Nov 1875 (which is earlier than the date given by Hendy so I think it must be 1876 ?) with a clear '71' in diamond. This one is on a wrapper marked W.Mitchell & Co., 39, Charing Cross, London, S.W. (a Publisher) and posted to Londonderry, Ireland (again). This time the cancellation is complete (perhaps due to the unusual location) on a halfpenny red. This image was found on the GBPS Discussion Board but John does not remember it and suggests it may have been an auction lot. Under the Act of June 30th 1855 which abolished Newspaper Duty, newspapers and periodicals could pass through the post for 1d under certain conditions. One of the conditions was that the wrapper should have no writing on it apart from the name and address of the recipient, the printed title of the publication and printed name and address of either the publisher or vendor sending it. Certainly an interesting item, if anyone reading this has more information on it or knows its' current whereabouts, I would really like to know.
Another W. Mitchell example, again to Captain Cochrane, but clearly dated 27/5/79 and with an updated letterhead. I am guessing that perhaps W.Mitchell & Co., had the same sort of arrangement with W. H. Smith & Son as
This is perhaps more interesting. The date plugs say 1 October 1870, but the date on the cancel is frustratingly hard to read.
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On 13th February 1880 the firms of William Dawson & Sons together with W. H. Smith & Son were issued with the obliterators DS over F and SS over F respectively. They were each done in two sizes, the largest, about an inch (26mm) wide being by far the commonest, with the smaller being only 5/8 inch (16mm) wide. The 'F' is believed to stand for 'Foreign'. |
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For comparison of sizes, here are two examples of the W. H. Smith & Son precancels on their newspaper wrappers: |
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Other values found:
I will refer to the small one as Type-II, and the large one as Type-III, they were used on 'Foreign' mail.
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The other two types illustrated by Fernau are shown below, the first with 4-bar sections, the last with 5-bar sections: 4-Bar Type: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fernau 2nd type | after John G.Hendy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The similarity of the 'Fernau 2nd type', (which is the same as the illustration given by Alcock & Holland), and the Hendy version including the dates, suggests that they are intended to represent the same precancel. I have not seen any examples of the 4-bar type. 5-Bar Type: |
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Fernau 3rd type | after James A. Mackay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I have now seen two wrappers with Type-V precancel. The first looks to be dated 17th August 1896 on a W.H.Smith wrapper to Col. J.S.Young (later knighted try 'googling' him), Nairn, Invernesshire. The second is on an Eason & Son Ltd., cover from Dublin to Leap Co. Cork dated 8th September 1902. Eason & Son Ltd. had 'acquired the business' from W.H. Smith in 1886 but were continuing to use their precancel in 1902! These images come courtesy of Jan Kosniowski Charles Eason had been a manager for WHS, working at Victoria Station, Manchester until he was appointed to run the newsagent (bought as bankrupt from Johnston & Co in 1850) because he was a good manager as well as a good catholic. In 1886, Smith became Chief Secretary for Ireland and to avoid subsequent losses, the whole business in Ireland was sold to Charles Eason (& Son). There are many parallels here to the situation with Smith, Elder and H.S.King 18 years earlier. Perhaps H.S.King also made use of the Smith, Elder precancel after 1868. |
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![]() ![]() It looks like the Victorian one is the Fernau 3rd type, but the Edwardian one could well be the Mackay version. |
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Below, some examples I have which also appears to be the Fernau version. The first one is one seen on ebay and shown here courtesy of Eric M. (the 17th August seems strangely popular !!!) |
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Given the nature of the Rastall business, it seems likely that W.H.Smith
& Son were sending
out pre-stamped wrappers on behalf of
Rastall & Son, just as they did for
Eason & Son above.
Lastly a 're-associated' pair from scans provided by Jeff Turnbull.
W. H. Smith & Son, Type-I Precancel
W. H. Smith & Son, Type-II Small SS/F from February 1880
W. H. Smith & Son, Type-III Large SS/F from February 1880
December 1879 to May 1888
June 1889 to 1894+
This gives an overall minimum range of (about) 20/12/79 to 1894+ but with some big gaps.
W. H. Smith & Son, Type-IV
W. H. Smith & Son, Type-V (1891?)
By 1905, W. H. Smith & Son were using the Milled-Edge precancels.
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There is a lot of information about W.H.S. wrappers at StampDomain.
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The earliest up until at least 1893.
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From 1884 or earlier until at least 1920. | From 1922 or earlier until at least 1960. |
Last updated 21st. Jan. 2016
©Copyright Steve Panting 2010/11/12/13/14/15/16 except where stated.
Permission is hereby granted to copy material for which the copyright is owned by myself, on condition that any data is not altered and this website is given credit.