Telegraph stamps of Great Britain. Select currency. Default = GBP (1.0) GB £   US $   Can $   Aus $ Euro   Other This site has been expanding. Click here for a site-map.

Back to HOME
General Telegraph	Electric Telegraph	Submarine	British Telegraph	English & Irish	British & Irish	London District	UK Electric	S.E.R.	L.C. & D.R.
Bonelli's	Universal Tel.	National Telephone	Army Telegraphs 1	Army Telegraphs 2	Railway	Post Office	Unusual	Unexpected	Contributions

Military and Army Telegraphs.

The Langmead & Huggins book covers the use of these in Cape of Good Hope and a series of Sudan stamps,
but the British Army Telegraphs units operated in many other countries using local stamps.

 

Comments
	Pink highlighting indicates a possible date conflict. You can mark a row by clicking on it and 'un-mark' it by clicking on it again. You can see images by clicking the number under the 'Qty' heading. This listing is based on the work of Peter Langmead (who built on the work of Commander Brown) and has been updated by Richard Stroud, Alan Drysdall and Andrew Higson. I have added a column for 'Earliest' because I think it is important. In most cases at the moment it is the same date as 'Last-known' because I only know one example. There is therefore plenty of opportunity to extend the known range if anyone wants to send me a scan (300+dpi). I will happily update the record, display the item and give credit for it.

Bechuanaland 1884-85.

Military operations in Bechuanaland from January 1885 prompted the production of overprinted unappropriated types .
These had been produced for earlier use in Egypt and the Sudan.



A selection of my specimens and two used examples courtesy of Steve Lawry that were used in Taungs. There was also a larger £1 value. Further details on Page 1.

A Military Telegram from Mafeking to Setlagoli, Bechuanaland 14 July 1885 showing the type of cancel that was used on these.

This is illustrated by L & H (Fig171, page 95) - Courtesy of Mark Gibson.

Bechuanaland 1884-85 shown BK Bank's Drift L BL Barkly L BR Brussels Farm L DH Dry Hartz L GC Groot Choing L GU Gunning's Store L LP Leeuw Pan L MF Mafeking L ML Muller's Store L MZ Maritzani L SA Saanies L SH Setlagoli   (No.92) TS Taungs   (No.44 and No.3?) VR Vryburg   (No.32 and No.71) As can be seen from the table above, quite a few stations have been reported/recorded, though most are rare. The codes marked with L are listed by Langmead & Huggins on their page 94, though it would be nice to verify them. only about a quarter are common enough for me to be able to illustrate them currently. A shortage of 6d and 1s stamps resulted in the use of other values being overprinted in manuscript for the purpose. Examples can be seen at half my normal scale, on the right.

GB-H11 Taungs GB-H13 Taungs GB-H13 Vryburg Courtesy of Spink and Son. GB-H11 Taungs GB-H13 Vryburg GB-H12 Taungs GB-H14 Taungs ? Courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

Cape of Good Hope stamps for Bechuanaland 1884-85.

Subsequently, stamps of the Cape of Good Hope were overprinted to fill the gap.

GB-H9	GB-H10	GB-H10 with 'MILITARY' doubled

Langmead & Huggins (page 95) mentions the 6d (Wmk: Cabled Anchor) and 1s (Wmk: Crown over CC) of Cape of Good Hope being used after September 1885 in Bechuanaland by British forces,
but I have not yet found any with clearly British cancellations. The first one shilling is cancelled with what looks like a censor mark, but they are mostly cancelled with initials, the date, or simply a stroke of the pen.

More images of these can be seen on the www.cghstamps.com website with a direct link to the military telegraphs at www.cghstamps.com/R35.html

Used block of 4   GB-H9 'l' in 'Military' missing serif on top-left stamp.	Used block of 4   GB-H10 Broken 'y' in 'Military' bottom-left stamp. Blind 'g' of 'Telegraphs' top-right stamp.
Images showing typical cancellations courtesy of Rene Gerritsen.

Hiscocks lists the variety 'Telegraphs' over 'Military' for the 6d, but it also exists on the 1/- value.
It appears to be the result of a vertical shift in the overprint.

This image and the one below are courtesy of Andrew Higson.

These appear to have been used at least until April 1886.

There appear to be numerous examples of defective letters on these, the doubled 'Military' is more significant.

'Military' doubled - courtesy of Rene Gerritsen. And one of mine (shown above) on 1s

Numerous broken letters. Image courtesy of Rene Gerritsen

Anyone have any ideas on this postmark?
Cape postmarks normally have the number in a box. This looks like a rather ornate '65' without box and reminds me of the Natal type.
Comments welcome.

A selection of these.

Courtesy of Spink and Son.

The Cape [of Good Hope] did more though than simply supply stamps for use in Bechuanaland.The British Military Telegraph stamps were also used there.

Barkly West in Northern Cape was the jumping off point for Bechuanaland, though examples the Code GL is very scarce.
Anybody have one ?

Bechuanaland Protectorate 1900.

A pair of Bechuanaland Protectorate stamps used at Ootsi (Outsi). Cancelled   O--S16.V.00.	Hand drawn for clarity.
Images courtesy of Brian Fenemore.

This O.A.S. cover, using the same stamps and also on the same date of 16th. May comes courtesy of Nick Harris. Ootsi was the base for the Mafeking Armoured Train

This cover sent from Mafeking on 8th May 1900, has an Ooatsi Army Telegraph backstamp of 15th May Reinforcements began arriving at Mafeking on the 16th. May, ending the siege. Courtesy of Nick Harris.

I would really like to hear from anyone with any other stamps from this series with Army Telegraph cancellations.

The covers above prompt me to add the halfpennies, 2d, 3d, 4d and 6d to the list below.
Even though I have not (yet) seen them, they may well exist.




This is an earlier series, but there may also be forgeries of the later ones.   Image courtesy of   Bridger & Kay Ltd.

Look here for an explanation of the table.

Another interesting item, a letter from Mafeking, CGH to London, sent 7/12/1900, arriving 29/12/1900.
It bears the Telegraph cancel for Mafeking on the back.

Image courtesy of the Transvaal Study Circle.

(Second) Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902.

For an in-depth description of the Telegraph and Telephone operations see History of the Telegraph Operations during the war in South Africa, 1899-1902 by Leut.-Colonel R. L. Hippisley, C.B., R.E. (PDF)
GB Army Telegraph stamps were used initially in Cape Colony, Natal and Transvaal, but ran out of them in the Transvaal and used what was available subsequently.
The book mentioned above gives a list of offices with opening and closing dates, it makes no mention of the telegraph codes used, or even the stamps.
Associating the codes with office names/locations is sometimes based on hard evidence, but has also been done by guesswork.
The evidence shows that either the list is incomplete, and/or some guesses are wrong.
Keep in mind that Hippisley left in 1902, before many of the offices closed, and probably before some opened.
I have made this page giving easier access to cleaned-up copies of most of his diagrams.

 
DA 4.XII.99 M- De Aar Military in the Cape (Source Andrew Higson) and 'NP  7.V.00  M-' thought to be Naauwpoort or Norvals Pont.



Enslin Military in the Cape, 22/1/1900, courtesy of Andrew Higson.

British Army Telegraphic cancellations are found on stamps of other states in the area also.

But they were not always cancelled in this way.

For some reason, these were not cancelled with the standard canceller. Perhaps it was captured or lost in the conflict, or perhaps there had not yet been time to set it for a new date and/or location. Patersons list of office opening dates does not list any offices opening on 16/8/1900, though it lists Twyfelaar for the day before, and Buffelsboek and Ventersburg Town for the day after. There seems to have been a shortage of 1/- stamps. The low values would quickly run out at that rate. Images courtesy of Steve Lawrie.

Orange Free State / Orange River Colony.

When the British Army arrived in the Orange Free State, they had little or none of the British Army Telegraph stamps left.
There are a number of unidentified cancels known on them that may have been in the OFS, but I know of no definite examples.
A (28.7 MBytes) PDF file prepared and made available by Robert W. Hisey and R. Timothy Bartshe, does have a chapter that could be very helpful for this.
It contains maps and a list of offices. I have therefore created this V2Ch1 html version of the chapter for convenience.

British troops under Lord Roberts entered Bloemfontein on 13th March 1900 and declared the stamps and stationery of the Orange Free State invalid.
Local Bloemfontein printers Curling & Co., prepared the V.R.I. overprints within a few days, V.R.I. standing for 'Victoria Regina Imperatrix'.
On Monday March 19, the Post Office opened for business with supplies of ½d, 1d, 2½d and 1s stamps. On the 21st., the 4d, 6d carmine and 5s were issued.
On the 24th, the 6d carmine was exhausted and replaced by 6d blue. Friday, March 30th., the 2d was issued, and Monday, April 2nd., the 3d was issued.
The earliest known use of stamps overprinted with V.R.I. and used by the Army Telegraphs being this 21st March 1900, on a block of four ½d on ½d stamps,


Image courtesy of Andrew Higson. Click image for listing.

but examples are known used outside Bloemfontein, by the Army Telegraphs without the overprints long after that.

The O.F.S. was formally annexed to the British Crown and renamed the Orange River Colony on 28 May 1900.

No overprints, a block of 4 halfpenny postage stamps. FR 12.VI.00 AT was not on my list, but Bram Leeflang who kindly supplied the scan tells me it is Frankfort, with the reference: Orange Free State Philately Vol.2 by Robert W.Hisey and R.Timothy Bartshe (2004) allocates this datestamp FR date AT to Frankfort. It is shown in their book on page 141. Perhaps Frankfort had not yet received a supply of overprinted stamps. I have subsequently seen a similar block in an email from Tim Bartshe. It has the same date and colour, but stamped the right-way up. He described it as the second earliest date reported and surely philatelic.	Card sent from Bloemfontain. Contents say "Telegraph broken down...". Could 'TS M' stand for 'Telegraph Section Military'? (Source: Andrew Higson)	An Army Telegraph cancel on the V. R. I. ½d on ½d stamps. Notice that in V. R. I. all the stops are at the bottom. This is the first issue. In later issues they were raised, though with some odd low ones. I have listed this as AT-OFS-P5 at the bottom of this section. Image courtesy of Tim Walsh. This is the only one I have seen so far.	The Army Telegraph cancel is also known used on the V. R. I. 1d on 1d stamps. Three examples are shown lower down of covers from Brandfort Military to Green Point Prisoner of war Camp in Capetown. These have cancels of B- 29.V.00 DN   the day after annexation, B- 6.VI.00 DN   and   B- 23.VI.00 DN This stamp is likely to be from such a cover. Image courtesy of Ian Paterson.

Narrow TF

Prior to the occupation, the Orange Free State used definitive stamps overprinted 'TF' for Telegraph purposes.
Though stamps were available overprinted V.R.I. / AT from July 1900, these can be seen dated much later than that.
Some of these were additionally overprinted 'V.R.I.' and used by the British Army for Telegraphs from 1900:

1d   AT-OFS-40b (Kroonstad Military) 3d   AT-OFS-41 6d   OFS-H42   6d   H42b (positions 6,30,55) 6d   H42b (Large stops, position 53) 6d   OFS-H42e (perhaps ?) Images of and information for H42b kindly supplied by Bruce Warrender.   1s   AT-OFS-43 1s   AT-OFS-43n*

H40c and H40d, courtesy of Bruce Warrender. The cancel of  HS  7.V.01.  M-  confuses things.

The various positions of the stops and other errors have been plated with the aid of blocks.



The code HN -X was at one time thought to be Heilbron, but research by Tim Bartshe lead to the conclusion that it was in fact Honningspruit Siding.
The image above and the one below are kindly provided by Tim Bartshe. These, together with a £1 example shown below, are all dated 21 August 1900, HN 21.VIII.00 X



It seems that some expensive telegrams were sent from Honningspruit Siding. Anyone have any other examples ?

Look here for an explanation of the table.
The overprints were in panes of 10 rows of 6. Numbers in brackets are positions within the pane of 60.

*AT-OFS-43n has been added due to the example shown above, courtesy of Bruce Warrender.

Wide T F

6d   AT-OFS-44 (wide 'T F')	1d on 1d(H40)   OFS-H45	1d on 1d   OFS-H46

Type OFS-H46 is similar to OFS-H45 but with a tall-thin 'TF' in blue-black ink.  

Can anyone provide scans of H45 and/or H46, preferably with Army Telegraph cancels ?

1903

6d on 2d   OFS-H47 (OFS Pmk)	1s on 3d   OFS-H48 (OFS Pmk)	1s on 3d   H48c   (position 21)
Images courtesy of Bram Leeflang.		Image courtesy of Bruce Warrender

The additional image provided by Bruce Warrender shows how the overprints are combined,
The 'V. R. I.' plus '3d' was originally for postage stamps, followed by 'T' and also 'One Shilling' and bar
It seems strange that they did not simply apply a 'TF' to the 6d on 6d and 1s on 1s values ?
The 'T' aligns differently to the 'Shilling' on these two. Also the 'g' is very different.

Can anyone provide scans of these with Army Telegraph cancels ?

Types 44-48 are all relatively scarce, even without an 'Army Telegraph' cancellation.

A T

By July 1900 the definitive stamps were being overprinted 'V.R.I./AT' and used by the British Army:
Hiscocks lists 1d, 3d, 6d, 1s and 5s as types 49-53.

1d   OFS-H49	3d   OFS-H50	6d   OFS-H51a (thick 'V')	1s   OFS-H52a (thick 'V')	5s   OFS-H53

UDes. Hisc. Description Mint Used AT-OFS-49 H49 1d deep mauve 8.00 6.00 AT-OFS-49a H49a         thick 'V' (5, 17, 23, 39, 45, 48) 12.00 10.0 AT-OFS-49b H49b         dropped 'V' (24) 30.00 20.00 AT-OFS-49c -         broken 'V' (37) 30.00 20.00 AT-OFS-50 H50 3d ultramarine 15.00 12.00 AT-OFS-50a H50a         thick 'V' (5, 17, 23, 39, 45, 48) 24.00 15.00 AT-OFS-50b H50b         dropped 'V' (24) 40.00 30.00 AT-OFS-50c H50c         overprint inverted 120.00 100.00 AT-OFS-50d H50d         overprint inverted and thick 'V' 200.00 150.00 AT-OFS-50e H50e         overprint inverted and dropped 'V' 240.00 200.00 AT-OFS-50f -         broken 'V' (37) 40.00 30.00 AT-OFS-50g -         inverted and broken 'V' 240.00 200.00 AT-OFS-51 H51 6d ultramarine 8.00 6.00 AT-OFS-51a H51a         thick 'V' (5, 17, 23, 39, 45, 48) 30.00 12.00 AT-OFS-51b H51b         dropped 'V' (24) 30.00 25.00 AT-OFS-51c -         broken 'V' (37) 30.00 25.00 AT-OFS-52 H52 1s light red-brown 12.00 8.00 AT-OFS-52a H52a         thick 'V' (5, 17, 23, 39, 45, 48) 20.00 12.00 AT-OFS-52b H52b         dropped 'V' (24) 30.00 20.00 AT-OFS-52c H52c         overprint inverted (one weakly printed) 150.00 120.00 AT-OFS-52d H52d         overprint inverted and thick 'V' 200.00 150.00 AT-OFS-52e H52e         overprint inverted and dropped 'V' 250.00 200.00 AT-OFS-52f -         broken 'V' (37) 30.00 20.00 AT-OFS-52g -         inverted and broken 'V' 250.00 200.00 AT-OFS-53 H53 5s green ('AT' 7.7mm long) 50.00 40.00 AT-OFS-53a H53a         thick 'V' (2, 14, 20, 40, 43, 46) 80.00 60.00 AT-OFS-53b H53b         low and larger stop after 'V' (60) 100.00 80.00 AT-OFS-53c H53c         no stop after 'V' (31) 100.00 80.00 AT-OFS-53d H53d         broad short 'A' (35) 100.00 80.00 AT-OFS-53e H53e         large stop after 'I' (24, 41) 100.00 80.00 AT-OFS-53f H53f         overprint slanting and vertically misplaced 200.00 200.00

Nearly all of the used examples of these have Army Telegraph cancels. The 5/- has a more widely spaced 'A T' as used for the high values below. The position of the overprint is variable. Here is an extreme example courtesy of Bruce Warrender. Presumably this is from the right side of the sheet, otherwise I would expect to see the beginning of the next overprint.     H52f, courtesy of Bruce Warrender.

-K 22.XI.00 DN (Kroonstad) on a piece of Telegraph Form. (interestingly with the same date as the Transvaal Xmas card one below)

B  22.VI.01.DN   Brandfort Military on H52 pair.

These have the same overprint as the 5s (H53, 'AT' 7mm long) above and hence share the same error varieties.
The large size of these is helpful in seeing the whole telegraph code.
According to Steve Hiscocks, the V. R. I. / AT overprint came out in 1901, but there is evidence that it was in 1900.
According to Langmead & Huggins, on 1 January 1902 the civil and military telegraphs in South Africa were amalgamated
to form the South African Telegraph Union.
OFS/ORC became part of the Union of South Africa in June 1910, but a couple below are dated August 1910. Date errors ?

10s   H54      -R 25.VII.00 -R (Rhenoster Bridge, opened 26/6/1900)	10s   OFS-H54      B- 6.XI.01 -U (Bethulie, opened 16/3/1900) Courtesy of ibredguy.co.uk.	£1   OFS-H55   -K.16.VII.00. DN   (Kroonstad Military) opened 12/5/1900. Image courtesy of Victor Gugliano.. (click image for listing)
£1   H55   -S 28.VII.00. FN   (Springfontein, opened 18/3/1900) Image courtesy of Les Bottomley.	£1   OFS-H55    with scarce   HN 21.VIII.00 X (Honningspruit Siding) Courtesy Martin Robinson.	£1   OFS-H55       B 16.VIII.10 FN (Bloemfontein, opened 13/3/1900)

£1   OFS-H55   H- 30.V.90. N   (Heilbron) with a date error. Image courtesy of Elizabeth Hitchcox.	£4   OFS-H56   B     FN   (Bloemfontein)

Nearly all of the used examples of these have Army Telegraph cancels.




The top Bloomfontein one is using OFS forms, whereas the (scarce) Winburg Military one below is on a British Army form.
Images courtesy of Andrew Higson. Click images for listing.

Army Telegraph cancel on other items.

Telegram from Pretoria (Transvaal) to Bloemfontain dated 19/12/1900

This was handed in on 13th December but did not reach Bloemfontain until the 19th, suggesting that the line had been cut.
It also appears to be unfinished. Image courtesy of Mark Gibson.

This card uses an ORC overprint on a Cape of Good Hope stamp to make up the 1d rate for a Xmas card to England.

he back has a Bloemfontein Army cancel. Similar cards are known with Army cancels on the stamps.
Images courtesy of Ian Paterson.

I am told that In Nalder's book on the Royal Corps of Signals, he confirms that the Telegraph Battalion was abolished in 1905 and its constituent parts reformed with a subsequent restructure in 1907.
My table shows a lot of entries for Sudan in that time period, one entry for Transvaal (Machadodorp 16/3/1905), but nothing for ORC until a reference for  FP 21.VII.07 KO and the following two:

Orange River Colony letter,   -N  31.VIII.07  F-   on 1d embossed.

Image courtesy of Michael Wigmore. Associated with this item was a handwritten note in pencil :
“Northfield Farm - nr Bloemfontein - De Brug 9 miles - where Durban Light Infantry was sent in 1907 before the ORC elections.”
This is the earliest date I have seen for this.

Orange River Colony letter,   -N  8.IX.07  F-   on 1d  postage stamp on envelope - courtesy of Mark Gibson.
 
The back shows it was sent from the Sutherland Highlanders.
Below is another with the same date.

Image courtesy of Ian Paterson.

The other 1907 code I have seen is   S  10.IX.07. F-

This is thought to have been Springfontein, despite that previously being -S  FN
Perhaps this is now a civilian code for it. Image courtesy of Ian Paterson.

Prison Camp letters.

Brandfort Military

Prisoners letter,   B- 29.V.00 DN  (the day after annexation) on 1d   V.R.I. postage stamp - courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

Prisoners letter,   B- 6.VI.00 DN   on 1d   V.R.I. postage stamp - courtesy of John Church.

Prisoners letter,   B-  23.VI.00  DN   on 1d   V.R.I. postage stamp - courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

Taaibosch Camp

Letter - inside - dated 22/11/1900,  ( T22.XI.00.H   on ½d on ½d  V.R.I. and  4d on 1d postage stamps
This is intended as an Xmas card, and for the end of the year 1900 and beginning of a New Century.

From R. H. Becker. On Active Service on Lines of Communication with Lord Loch's Mounted Scouts.
Taaibosch Camp, O. R. Colony. 22/11/00. It was folded in four, with the outside being :

The penny stamp is cancelled "Field Forces / British Army / No 24 / 00" - presumably these were applied somewhere in Africa.
The London E. C. backstamp is dated 14 December 1900.
Images courtesy of the OFS Face Book Group.

There is an interesting reference (dated 16/4/1901) to an exchange of telegrams about four months after the letter above :
"[2?]nd, DA to GOC, Kroonstad: 'I have been in communication with G.O.C. Vereeningen [sic] who says that owing to re-arrangement of garrison he cannot give protect to a Refugee Camp at Taaibosch.
Can you possibly arrange that white & black refugees being brought into Wolwehoek can be permitted to retain for a day or so as shelters the wagons in which they are brought in.
It will be necessary I am afraid to bring these people to Kroonstad but before doing so I will try & get tents for them unless there are any in your Ordnance Stores which I can obtain.
Would you consent to a Refugee Camp being started at or near Koppies Station it appeared to me a suitable place if water obtainable." To which the response was :
"Wolwehoek highly unsuitable for refugee camp please arrange to send them to Vredefort Rd. Have no tents in Ordnance here & I fear the wagons
will be required immediately by Gen Elliot for transportation. Kopjes is also unsuitable. When you can arrange for tents better rail them to Kroonstad."

The letter above refers to Lord Loch's Mounted Scouts. "Loch's Horse" was disbanded in England in April 1901. Clearly the exchange of 16 April 1901 had severe consequences for the camp.

Hippisley listed Taaibosch Spruit from 26 May 1900 to 28 May 1900, and Taaibosch (Sutherland) from 6 December 1901 to 12 December 1901.
He apparently knew nothing of the Taaibosch involved with any of the communications above, perhaps because "Loch's Horse" were South African Irregulars.

		Presumably 1900 T xxxxxx ?		An AT stamp of 1901 TC xxxxxx ?
		Two interesting scans from R. T. Bartshe. — The stamp on the left probably has the same type cancel as on the ZAR stamp. The stamp on the right is 1901 or later. — When Loch's Horse left, and later disbanded (April 1901), T ... H could have been changed to TC ... ? for Taaibosch Camp.
Same date and cancel as the letter above, but on an 1895 stamp of the Z. A. R. T H could have been Taaibosch Horse from Loch's Horse Corps.

Clearly the Army Telegraph cancel was used on postal items.
In some cases it was because the telegraph was out of action and mail was used as an alternative.
I will list the items with apparently postal use of the cancel, providing designations for items that probably existed.

I am sure there are many more to add. The P5-P14 was a series issued in 1900 with Anglicized overprints.
The 1d KEVII Orange River Colony postage stamp shown above was issued in 1903 along with 8 other values.

Note: I have been given some scans of a list of the code letters used in the Boer War which I am told came from The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist of 1988.
It is a great pity that Langmead & Huggins did not include a more complete listing.

Hiscocks does not distinguish between stamps used with British Telegraphic markings and those used with Boer telegraphic markings,
but it is likely that both sides used captured stocks of the other side, sometimes from sheer necessity, but perhaps other times as an expedience.

There is more information and illustrations at: ORANGE FREE STATE STUDY CIRCLE
Varieties are documented in Stamps from the Orange Free State by Buckley & Marriott available from the study circle.

ZAR / Transvaal.

The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, or ZAR was independent from 1856 to 1877, and 1881 to 1900 when it became the Transvaal.

1900

From the evidence, by the time the British Army entered the Transvaal, they were low on stocks of all but the high values.
When stocks ran out they used local stamps overprinted V. R. I. Later these stamps were overprinted "Telegraphs" and those items were listed by Hiscocks.
Provisionally however the Army Telegraphs used this series for low values without the "Telegraphs" overprint.

A better trio, courtesy of Bram Leeflang.

       
A series courtesy of Ian Paterson that includes the very rare penny stamp and the previously unrecorded 10/-.

Although Hiscocks did not list them, they are documented in 'The Transvaal Philatelist' journal of the “Transvaal Study Circle” TP 150 (May 2004) page 41.
These are normal postage stamps known used for telegraphic purposes from July 1900 to April 1901.
All the ones I have seen appear to have been used by Pretoria Military.

This is a pair with a clear Pretoria Military cancel, dated 2 weeks before the date the office was thought to have opened (25/8/1900).

As an indication of the scarcity of these stamps, the 'accumulation' of the actor Kenneth Griffith, a friend of Peter O' Tool
and avid collector of Boer War items, had 143 x 1s stamps, 16 x 2s6d stamps and single 1d, 2½d and 6d stamps.


Here is an even earlier one, 5 June 1900 courtesy of Ian Paterson.

Front and back of a Boer delivery envelope used at Pretoria on 15 September 1900. Enkom means Arrived. This is stamped P  15.IX.00.RM   note the marks under the letters. This different code appears to be associated with "Box 309"
"De aflevering is Kosteloos" means "Delivery is free of charge". Images courtesy of Ian Paterson.

     

A similar envelope used in Johanneburg and a P.P.S.M. Form No. 179 sent Army Post to Castleford, Yorks. England. Images courtesy of the Transvaal Study Circle.

A piece from a form of the N.Z.A.S.M. This was the 'Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij' (Dutch South African Railway Company.
Used 16 September 1900 at Irene Military with the only non-philatelic use of the halfpenny that I've seen, courtesy of Ian Paterson.

Similar to the last, but now with a clear hyphen after the 'P' P-20.X.00.RM   note again the marks under the letters. Courtesy of Ian Paterson.	2 days later, 'M' replaced by hyphen. P-22.X.00.R-   note again the marks. Is this the same place? Courtesy of Ian Paterson.	18 months later. (probably) P-18.IV.02.R-   note again the marks. Courtesy of Ian Paterson.

-N-26. I .01.-S   Nylstroom. Courtesy of Ian Paterson.	P-11-IX-00-NM   Early Pan Military. Courtesy of Ian Paterson.	P-6-X-00-NM   Later Pan Military. Courtesy of Ian Paterson.

-P 4-VIII.00 K-  latest known date of Paardekop, courtesy of courtesy of Ian Paterson.

A convenient Transvaal Telegraphs form, used to write a letter home. It also bears a cancel of R- 8.XI.01.-O for Rooidraai.

ZEGELREGT

After stocks of the GB Army Telegraph stamps ran out, Revenue stamps were also overprinted V.R.I and used by the British Army for telegraph purposes.

These are known used from July 1900 till about June 1902 (some later than others) with various perforations.
Anyone interested in Revenue stamps may find The Revenue Society of interest.

Hiscocks lists 1d, 6d, 1s, 1s6d, 2s, 2s6d, 5s, 10s, £1, £2 and £5 as types H1 to H11.
They are normally perf. 11½   but can be   11½ x 14.

1d   Trans-H1	6d   Trans-H2	1s   Trans-H3
Fiscal stamps used telegraphically, images courtesy of Oscar Van der Vliet.
1s6d   Trans-H4   (Source: Andrew Higson)	2s   Trans-H5   (Fiscally used)	2s6d   Trans-H6   (Source: Ian Paterson)
I need Telegraphically used images of H4 and H5 if anyone can supply them.
5s   Trans-H7   B 7.XI.01 MR (Balmoral ?)	10s   Trans-H8   Johannesburg Military ( J- HN )	10s   Trans-H8
Courtesy of Mark Gibson.	One of mine.	A better H8, courtesy of Oscar Van der Vliet
£1   Trans-H9	£1   Trans-H9	£1   Trans-H9
Another Johannesburg ( J- HN ) in blue and Pretoria Military. These two scans and the block of 4 x 10s below were kindly supplied by Bram Leeflang		One from Oscar Van der Vliet

£2   Trans-H10   (Source: Andrew Higson)	£5   Trans-H11   (Source: Ian Paterson)	£5 used at Pretoria Military courtesy Mark Gibson.

4 x 10s   Trans-H8     dated June 1902, latest known usage - courtesy Bram Leeflang.

I presume  J  H  is also Johannesburg, but have not seen it listed.

Note: Hiscocks designations and prices were regardless of cancels used. My designations are intended to be specifically with GB Army Telegraph cancellations.
Whilst H4 and H5 used are given modest values, AT-Tran-4 and AT-Tran-5 used may be very scarce.

Look here for an explanation of the table.

1901

From about September 1901 stamps were overprinted 'Transvaal / Telegraphs' instead of 'V.R.I.' to segregate
them from normal postage/fiscal stamps.

Hiscocks lists 1d, 3d, 4d, 6d, 1s and 2s6d of the series below as H12 to H17.

1d   Trans-H12	3d   Trans-H13	4d   Trans-H14
6d   Trans-H15	1s  Trans-H16	2s6d   Trans-H17  Source: Andrew Higson

here are H12, H15, and H17.

Can anyone provide scans of H13, H14 or H16 ?

There are forgeries about. Here is an example:

This is a Fournier production
'r' of 'Telegraphs' looks different and no stop on end.
courtesy of James Bendon
(Click on image to see source).

Note: Hiscocks designations and prices were regardless of cancels used. My designations are intended to be specifically with GB Army Telegraph cancellations.
Whilst H13, H14 and H17 used are given high values suggesting they are scarce with ANY cancel. AT-Tran-13, AT-Tran-14 and AT-Tran-17 used will be scarcer or even nonexistent.
It is possible that they only ever existed with forged overprints.

C.O.G.H.

Below is Hiscocks type H18. They are Revenue stamps of Cape of Good Hope overprinted 'TRANSVAAL'.

The 1s value took over from the earlier 1s value and is known used from March 1901 to January 1902.
The 6d value was also used but is much scarcer (not listed by Hiscocks).

Scarce 6d (Source: Andrew Higson)	6d   example courtesy of Mark Gibson.

These 1s scans above are kindly provided by Bram Leeflang. a pair from Johannesburg and single from Hectorspruit.	M- D- of Middleburg courtesy of Mark Gibson.

First image from Oscar Van der Vliet  showing a   B  3-XI-01 MR  Another from Mark Gibson. This cancel is of an unknown office.

Provisionals

This is a ZAR 2Sh.6Pence overprinted 'Transvaal Telegraphs / - / One Shilling' (1902).

Rather feint but looks like it starts with 'J-' which would make it J-  HN for Johannesburg.	Rather feint but luckily has 2 strikes so all but the month is visible giving -S 25.??.01 -R which presents a puzzle. The only   -S   -R   that I have on the list for South Africa is Elandslaagte in Natal ! Also this is dated 1901, Elandslaagte supposedly closed May 1900.	Not feint S- 28.IV.02 N- Standerton.
1s on 2/6d   Transvaal - H19

The remaining telegraph stamps listed by Hiscocks are all
overprinted 'Transvaal / Telegraphs'.
They are:

5s   Trans-H20, feint J HN (Source: Andrew Higson)	5s   Trans-H20, another J HN (1902, One of mine)	1s   Trans-H22 mockup
Can anyone provide a scan of a real H22 ? This is a mockup from Hiscocks description of what it should look like !

6d   Trans-H21 (Source: Andrew Higson)	6d   Trans-H21 (Source: SandaFayre.com)	6d   Trans-H21 examples (Source: Ian Paterson)
Note that these examples all have ARMY TELEGRAPHS cancels.

Although looking much 'neater' this is a forgery. Compare letters 'e' and 's', they are much more italic looking.
	It does not look like a Fournier. The 'al' of 'Transvaal' looks different and the 'e's and 's' of 'Telegraphs'.
Courtesy of Andrew Higson.	Courtesy of James Bendon who has many more Fournier examples for sale. (Click on image to see source).

10s  H23, J 31.VII.02.HN (Source: SandaFayre.com)	£1   Trans-H24, Image courtesy of Mark Gibson.	£1   Trans-H24, used courtesy of Ian Paterson.	£5   Trans-H25, Image courtesy of Spink and Son.

There are many forgeries of these, note the genuine overprints shown above.
There are two different though similar types of this overprint which are illustrated along with Hiscocks H21 on
page 44 of 'The Transvaal Philatelist' v39,no2 (150), May 2004

Forgeries

The ones shown below are some examples of forgeries.

NOT H23, H24 and H25   -   These scans with FORGED overprints are kindly provided by Oscar Van der Vliet.   Buyers Beware!   Genuine above.

Illustrations of type H20 and more forgeries of H23, H24 and H25 can be seen at the bottom of  HAVING THE REVENUE ON A LINE.

See also H21 above.

Fournier Forgeries.

François Fournier (1846-1917) is known to have produced forgeries of Transvaal surcharges and postmarks. A useful reference can be found here:
jamesbendon.com

Army Telegraph cancel on other items.

Apart from stamps shown so far, a number of items are found with Army Telegraph cancels that were either postal use or created for philatelic purposes.

These are interesting items, unused, though pre-cancelled ZAR Telegraph forms cancelled with GR 27.VI.00 M- of Germiston. The stamps are overprinted V.R.I. but not 'Telegraphs' or 'TF' or 'AT' or any other Telegraphic marking. Stamps of ½d, 2½d, 3d and 6d were used, adding up to 1/-. I have seen a number of these. They were perhaps made as an investment, or maybe just souvenirs.

This is another interesting one courtesy of David Wiseman, this on an Army Telegraph Form 295A, but still Germiston.

It has 5 stamps totalling 5d (2 x ½d, 2 x 1d, 2d) with GR 26.VII.oo.M Army Telegraph cancels.
It also has another two ½d stamps cancelled with 31 MEI 1900 Johannesburg squared circles that, judging from the positioning,
appear to have been applied after the others despite the earlier date! Why else the odd spacing ? Perhaps it had been unused for a while.
All stamps are 'V.R.I.' but not telegraphic.
Click on the image to enlarge.

For further information on these, see "Army Telegraphs in the Transvaal; an update", The Transvaal Philatelist, v40,no.4(156) Nov.2005 Pg.109
I understand that more similar items are known with a range of values that usually add up to one shilling.
It looks like the first has ½d, 2½d, 3d and 6d adding to 1s, but the second has a total of 6d.

A telegram from Pretoria using a South African Republic form that appears to have been appropriated at Klerksdorp.


The telegram dated 15/10/1901 details the quickest way to destroy crops. It is estimated that this and similar policies including concentration camps,
led to the deaths of 10% of the population, largely women and children.

It was sent from Residency, Pretoria to 'Ventersdorp Via Rooidraai'. This telegram is forwarding it from Rooidraai to Ventersdorp and is cancelled R- 15.x.01 -O
Ventersdorp is thought to be the code V-   TD which supposedly opened on 8/6/00 and closed on 31/7/00 though it is known used 7/1/01

(Lord Kitchener's) Residency, Pretoria is listed as being code PR  -K but the item below shows it was initially PR  K-





The earliest date for Residency Pretoria that I have been given is 05.11.1901. I suspect that 11 may be a mistake for the Roman numerals II meaning 2,
and that "ABWP 17/4 p117" may be a reference to the item above, and the date given for opening of 29.01.1902 may have been for change of code (perhaps due to change of use).
Strangely, this represents the year as '0.1', perhaps causing the confusion over the month. Images courtesy of Ian Paterson.
Does anyone have an example of Residency Pretoria ?

There is evidence that this cancellation was sometimes used for non-telegraphic purposes (as in the OVS).

Apparently Taaibosch Camp used their Telegraph cancel to send Xmas Cards on 22.XI.00 !!!
They mostly used ORC stamps though.
Irene Military is also known to have used its canceller for postal purposes ( IR 14.IX.00 M- ).

-W 25.VII.02 D-   of Wolmaransstad on O.H.M.S. Army Telegraph envelope C377 - courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

I have listed the items with a reasonable expectation of existence.
Remember this is for Army Telegraphic cancellations other than on Designated Telegraph Stamps.

Links of relevance:

Transvaal Study Circle

Oscar Van der Vliet's article on Revenues that first brought some of these items to my attention.

Nigeria.

The Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria was formed at the beginning of 1914 from the Northern Nigeria Protectorate and
the Southern Nigeria Protectorate together with the Lagos Colony.
At the end of World War I it gained some territory on the east side from the former German colony of Kamerun.
I have not seen telegraphically used stamps of Northern Nigeria, but presume that they probably exist.

The cancels I have seen for Nigeria are not strictly speaking Army Telegraphs, though the form of them would seem to be a modification of the Army Telegraph cancels.
I am guessing that these were created in Britain and shipped to Lagos for the purpose. I am uncertain as to whether they were used by military or civil authorities.
I have seen 3 types, inscribed:
'SOUTHERN NIGERIA / TELEGRAPHS' (1910-21),
'S N / TELEGRAPHS' (1915)   and
'LAGOS GOVERNMENT / TELEGRAPHS' (1914-17).

SOUTHERN NIGERIA / TELEGRAPHS

An example of a receipt, from 1910 with King Edward VII stamps


This form is clearly used in the way common in India and Sudan with the stamps being bisected in use.
This image is courtesy of Andrew Higson. It is half size, click it for a full size version in a new window.

A King George V cover of October 1918.


The auction description says: "backstamped Ilesha Oct. 30 and Oshogbo Nov. 2 transit c.d.s.'s
It is understood that this cover results for[sic] an intense period of signals training resulting from the lack of
experienced signallers in the Nigerian brigade sent to reinforce Allied forces in East Africa depleted by sickness."
See: 'Nigerian Brigade info.'   -   Image courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

1d example from 1921 courtesy of Danica Janeckova (lily*19 on eBay)	2d and 4d of mine (bought from Danica)		6d Courtesy of Mark Gibson.

For the sake of interest, here is a 2d cancelled with "GOVT-TELS / UBIAJA", dated 23 MY 21.
Anyone have more examples ?

The following codes are listed in Edward Proud’s book on The Postal History of Nigeria (p.158?).
He also provides these two illustrations:
 

*   Known used postally, examples on loose stamps 3d and above should be assumed to be used telegraphically.

**   Army Signals, the * above also applies.

LAGOS GOVERNMENT / TELEGRAPHS

These two are dated 2 months apart with the same telegraph code. Around the top is 'LAGOS GOVERNMENT' Images courtesy of Mark Gibson.	This later one of 1917 shows that it is Lagos Government Telegraphs. Image courtesy of Andrew Higson.

S N / TELEGRAPHS

This later one of 1915 has the top part replaced by 'S   N' The last 'S' of 'TELEGRAPHS' can just be seen at the bottom. The date is 7.IX.15 which is too late for a Güller production. Only the last 'U' of the code can be seen ('Yoruba ?). Was this the fore-runner of the similar cancel inscribed 'SOUTHERN NIGERIA / TELEGRAPHS' as shown below with code   S 25.X.18 AK courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions. I understand these were used until 1921 at least.

Since the same stamps were generally used with the different cancels,
I will combine the list and add a suffix for the type of cancel used.
The basic number will be for the SOUTHERN NIGERIA cancel, with 'S' added for the S N cancel and 'L' for the LAGOS cancel.

For Victorian Lagos stamps with Telegraph cancels, see under Other Africa

German East Africa/Tanganyika.

Stamps of East Africa and Uganda were overprinted GER from 1917 to 1922.

     
DSM is presumably Dar es Salaam. Some were additionally punctured in use and the 75c here has an 'Army Signals' cancel.
The 12c image is courtesy of Danica Janeckova

1c, 6c, 12c and 15c apparently used in Dar es Salaam. Perhaps all together on 4 November. The year is unclear, but perhaps 1918. Images courtesy of Mark Gibson.

3c and 6c looks like used 25 November 1920. The code is unclear. There are quite a few possible places beginning with K. Image courtesy of Mark Gibson.

The Army Signals cancels were in use by 1921, these dated 9.IV.21.

 
Army Signals cancels are larger and often in mauve. The left one is mine, the right image is courtesy of Andrew Higson.

In the listing, I will take ARMY TELEGRAPHS as the default and add ARMY SIGNALS with an 'S' Suffix.

SIGNALS

		The front has an 'Army Signals' cancel coded 'W N ... ' - (WIEDHAFEN). on stamps of German East Africa Source Andrew Higson.
		The back is more complicated : There is a 'dumb' Army Signals cancel coded 'TDA 7 - 11.21' - (TANDALA). An Army Telegraphs cancel coded 'IRA-14.II.21' - (IRINGA). An Army Telegraphs cancel coded 'KL-21.II.21--' - (KILOSSA). And finally a Daressalaam CDS dated 23 FE 1921 Source Andrew Higson.

For G. E. A. with other cancels, see under Other Africa

Egypt.

Nile Expedition 1884.

A failed attempt to suppress the Mahdi uprising in Sudan required the use of these stamps. These were unusual in that due to the urgency, the leads used in the overprinting
were of a reduced "temporary" size (a third) compared to the later permanent versions.
The pence leads had 40 impressions out of the later 120.
The shilling leads had 28 impressions out of the later 84.
The pound leads had 20 impressions out of the later 60.

A presentation sheet using the Cairo cancel. This is the only recorded usage of the bisected 1d value. Courtesy of Spink and Son.

The Cairo cancel is unusual in that it was black and Cairo had 'CAIRO' inscribed between the rings around the bottom where the others had a number, instead of being as a code above the date.

A real life example of Cairo showing that the cancel was used for more than presentation sheets. Ex. Andrew Higson, image courtesy of Spink & Son.

Egypt     1884 - 1886		shown
--	Cairo
LL	Luxor Legal ?   (No.25) ? (9.5.1885)

"Army Book, 295c." form printed by Harrison & Sons, London and completed in Arabic.
Like Cairo, the cancel is in black, rather than the usual purple.

The date is said to be "9 MAY" with apparently no year. It is to the Council of Egyptian Decisions.
The code is LL which is thought to be Luxor Legal. - Image courtesy of Andrew Higson.

Sudan.

Suakin Expedition 1885.

The requirements of accounting for non-military use of their facilities necessitated the use of stamps.
The same stamps were used as shown under Bechuanaland at the top of this page, and various offices were opened, using their own codes as shown in the table.

A selection of Military Telegraphs, used at Quarantine Island.

'QI'   -    Courtesy of Steve Lawrie.

Sudan   20.03 to 15.05  1885 shown HL (Wadi) Halfa   (No.4)   (10.2.1885) X HQ Headquarters x QI Quarantine Island   (No.3)  (20.3.1885) SK Suakin   (No.16)  (19.3.1885) WR Western Redoubt x ZA No.1 Post, and later, 2nd Brigade HQ x

Quarantine Island (No.3), 20th March 1885. The form is of the Eastern Telegraph Company whose office on Quarantine Island was shared by the Army telegraph, base of operations. Illustration is courtesy of Steve Lawrie. Click on it for a larger image.

Earliest known use of 'SK' on 19 March 1885 courtesy of Dr. David Sher.

Another example, but clearly on a different kind of form. - Ex. Andrew Higson.
Image courtesy of Spink & Son.

There was a problem with the above, in that what was needed were stamps in the local currency.
Initially, stamps were overprinted locally in Cairo.

0.1 PT on 1d, GB-RH15	0.25 PT on 3d, GB-RH16	1 PT on 6d, GB-RH17	5 PT on 1s, GB-RH18

10 PT on 2s, GB-RH19	25 PT on 5s, GB-RH20	50 PT on 10s, GB-RH21	100 PT on £1, GB-RH22

The last three are specimens courtesy of Steve Lawrie.

There was a problem with these too, in that overprinting previously gummed sheets in very humid conditions was problematic.

Overprinted in London February 1887.

1 dime on 1d, GB-RH23	2 dime on 2d, GB-RH24	5 dime on 3d, GB-RH25	1 piastre on 6d, GB-RH26	2 piastre on 8d, GB-RH27

5 piastre on 1s, GB-RH28	10 piastre on 2s, GB-RH29	25 piastre on 5s, GB-RH30	50 piastre on 10s, GB-RH31
The GB-H23-31 are mine, but the illustration of the GB-H32 is courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.				100 PT on £1, GB-RH32

With Army Telegraph cancel only.

1897

Egyptian stamps overprinted السودان / SOUDAN (Sudan in Arabic and French) were available since 1 March 1897 in the Sudan.
These were used initially (pre-provisional, not listed by Hiscocks) for Army Telegraphs and examples of them are known from June 1897 according to Langmead & Huggins.

AT-Sud-2	AT-Sud-3	AT-Sud-5

There are many forgeries of this overprint, identification is made harder by the variability of it.
In combination with a (presumed genuine) Army Telegraph cancel gives more credibility.
(It is much less convincing with an Egyptian cancel)

Some blocks of stamps, courtesy Spink and Son.

Soon after (L & H give 14 September 1897 as earliest known use) the stamps were additionally overprinted 'TEL' in a horizontal oval (provisionals).
All values (1m, 2m, 3m, 5m, 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p) exist with a black overprint (Hiscocks 1-8),
additionally the 5m, 1p, 5p and 10p exist with a blue overprint (Hiscocks 9-12). These overprints can be quite feint.

Note: Forged 'TEL' overprints exist John Barefoot says: "Forgeries are often seen, and tend to be neater than the original,
and often with TEL in thinner letters. On the genuine stamps, the letter 'T' of 'TEL' is always longer than the other two letters".


Neatness is not something easily quantified, but the cancel can give you a hint. The rest I agree with.
Compare this to the other examples. The Soudan overprint looks genuine though.
Image of 10p with forged 'TEL', courtesy of Armen on eBay.

E- 13.VI.98 -C   of the Egyptian Corps (Cavendish sale 676 lot 268 was for a form with 720 of these !)

A couple more (Hiscocks H4) from the Egyptian Corps.

T 12.V.98 I	K- 1.V.98 -R   (Kerma)

Hiscocks H6     M 23.II.98 -R   (Merawai / Merowe)

H4
H5
H6
H7
H9

H10 & H11

Courtesy of Mark Gibson.

5p with blue cancel, courtesy of Armen on eBay.

An unused selection, courtesy Spink and Son.

This is a block of H9 stamps used at Halfa on1st May 1898 - courtesy of Mark Gibson.
It is interesting in that the 'ELE' of 'TELEGRAPHS' and part of the date seem to be partly in the same ink as used for the 'TEL' overprint !
Were overprint and cancel applied at the same desk and the canceller had hit the wrong pad first ?

Al Soodan (backwards) in Arabic. This overprinting was done at Boulaq, Cairo by the Imprimerie Nationale. Stamp panes were in 10 columns of 6 vertical stamps. Each of the 6 stamps had a slightly different overprint as shown on the right. Images courtesy of Simon Andrews of London-stamps.com   Additionally 'TEL' overprint in black. (Wmk. Egyptian Star) UDes. Hisc. Description Mint Used AT-Sud-9 H1 1 mil dark brown (SG2) 100.00 75.00 AT-Sud-10 H2 2 mil blue-green (SG3) 100.00 75.00 AT-Sud-11 H3 3 mil yellow (SG4) 100.00 75.00 AT-Sud-12 H4 5 mil carmine (SG5) 15.00 5.00 AT-Sud-13 H5 1 pias blue (SG6) 20.00 10.00 AT-Sud-14 H6 2 pias orange-brown (SG7) 20.00 10.00 AT-Sud-15 H7 5 pias grey (SG8) 20.00 15.00 AT-Sud-16 H8 10 pias mauve (SG9) 25.00 25.00 Look here for an explanation of the table.     'TEL' overprint in blue. UDes. Hisc. Description Mint Used AT-Sud-17 H9 5 mil carmine (SG5) 30.00 15.00 AT-Sud-18 H10 1 pias blue (SG6) 30.00 25.00 AT-Sud-19 H11 5 pias grey (SG8) 50.00 40.00 AT-Sud-20 H12 10 pias mauve (SG9) 100.00 75.00

1898

Special Military Telegraph stamps were provided 1 March 1898 with central perforation for easy bisection.

Sudan-H18	Sudan-H19
-
Sudan-H20	Sudan-H21
-
Sudan-H22	Sudan-H22 separately used halves
-
Sudan-H23	Sudan-H24

These exist with 3 watermarks,

initially (1 March 1898) the 'rosette' for 5m, 1p, 2p and 5p values (Hiscocks 13-16).
Followed by the Egyptian Star and Crescent (as used on the pyramid and sphinx series) June 1898, only used for the 10p value (Hiscocks 17, scarce).
Lastly (Sept 1898 for 10p, 1899 for the rest) by the Sudanese Star and Crescent for the 5m, 1p, 2p (scarce), 5p, 10p and 25p (Hiscocks 18-24).

I have to say that given the obvious importance of cancelling both halves, I wonder why so many have only half cancelled.
Were a lot of them cancelled to order perhaps ?

A couple of 5m stamps with a Berber cancel.	A couple of 1 piastre stamps on piece with Khartoum cancel. Courtesy of ibredguy.co.uk.

This is -Q   -N which could easily be confused with the O   N below. I have not heard of it before. I recently got the (rosette wmk.) set of these all together in an eBay lot. They all have the same date so were probably 'by favour'.

Wmk. 'rosette'.

Wmk. 'Egyptian Star and Crescent'.

I have reduced the mint price on these due to several recent finds of mint blocks and a sheet.

Wmk. 'Sudanese Star and Crescent'.

			Ashraf, a member of the EGYPT Study Circle, points out a constant variety on the 5m stamp. The corner block shows the position of it. There is a white dot above the Arabic script below the camels. Images courtesy of Ashraf (nasrstamps on Delcampe, click images for listing)

Army Telegraph cancel on Telegraph Forms.

G- 28.XI.99. G- unknown location with a total of 134 half-stamps. (Source: Andrew Higson)

This is a Telegraph received at Wadi Halfa with cancel   'H 19.V.98 L'   on a complete form. The telegraph was sent from the Sirdar at Abadia.
This was shortly after the battle of Abadia on 8/4/98, the turning point in the conquest of Sudan, and the Sirdar (Kitchener) was requesting boats (except SS.Nubia a 430ft P&O passenger steamer).
The Battle of Omdurman (across the Nile from Khartoum) on 2/9/98 was a defeat for Mahdist forces by Kitchener
(with the support of gunboats on the Nile).
Image: courtesy of Stephen Murray, Professional Philatelic and Archive dealer with an eBay shop.

Another Telegraph from the Sirdar

Cancel   H 23.VII.98 L

A Telegram Receipt dated 19th November 1899 to Berber.

Ex Andrew Higson, courtesy of Spink & Son.

A Telegram Receipt dated 25th May 1900 to Omdurman.

Ex Andrew Higson, courtesy of Spink & Son.

Army Telegraph cancel on other items.

Used on postal stationery, courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions (vendor thought it from Taufikia (later called Halfa), upper Nile)

M 28.VIII.10. L Malakal on 3m O.S.G.S. overprinted postage stamp. (Source: Andrew Higson)         plus similar on normal stamps.	S   A (Sarras) dated 13 X 06 on 10P,   Blue cancel on 'Army Service' overprinted 2P,   O   B(reversed) (El Obeid) dated 14 X 06 on O.S.G.S. overprinted 1P Images courtesy of Andrew Higson.

Abadiah cancel   A  24. V. 98. D-   on 12 x 3m stamps.

Other postal stationery 5m (C. 1902) and 3m brown, 5m red (C. 1905-10).       'KO 27 III 26 KT' on 10m cover, courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions (Stated to be Kongor).   Army Telegraph cancel on an Army Service, SG A24. Army Telegraph, Obeid cancel O- 11.XI.06 B with backwards 'B'.   This is the latest use of Omdurman I have seen with O 14.IX.06 -N for 14 September 1906. Image courtesy of ibredguy.co.uk.

Abadiah cancel   A  23. V. 98. D-   on 10 x 1m stamps. I am not entirely sure of the date on this as the cancel is not so clear. But it is 2? V 98

Here is a useful map   Army Telegraph cancel on normal postage stamps. UDes. Description Known Used AT-SudC-11 Round 5 mil red postal stationery (C. 1902) Yes - AT-SudC-12 5 mil red camel postal stationery (C. 1903) Yes - AT-SudC-13 3 mil brown pyramid postal stationery (C. 1905) Yes - AT-SudC-14 5 mil red pyramid postal stationery (C. 1910) Yes - AT-SudC-15 1 mil camel postman, (Scott 17 / SG 18.) Yes - AT-SudC-16 2 mil camel postman, (Scott 18 / SG 19.) Yes - AT-SudC-17 3 mil camel postman, (Scott 11 / SG ?) Yes - AT-SudC-17a 3 mil camel postman, (Scott 19 / SG 20?) Yes - AT-SudC-18 4 mil    "     ", (Red + Brown, Scott 21 / SG 22.) Yes - AT-SudC-19 5 mil camel postman, (Scott 22 / SG 23.) Yes - AT-SudC-20 1P camel postman, (Scott 23 / SG ?) Yes - AT-SudC-21 10P camel postman, (Scott 27 / SG ?) Yes - AT-SudC-22 10 mil camel postman, (Scott 34 / SG ?) Yes - AT-SudC-23 2P 'Army Service' overprinted (Scott MO10 / SG O8?) Yes - AT-SudC-24 3mil O.S.G.S. overprinted (as above, Scott O4 / SG O6) Yes - AT-SudC-25 1P O.S.G.S. overprinted (as above, Scott O6 / SG O8?) Yes - AT-SudC-26 5P brown and green with 'AS' perfin SG A24. Yes - I know there are more, I will add steadily. The SG catalogue that I have is very simplified, it does not distinguish the 1898 watermark from the 1902 watermark.     I now have a reference for many codes used in Sudan. See Stagg, E.C.W. (Maj.) (1974) Sudan: The Postal Markings, 1867-1970 (Pgs. 35,36) RPSL ISBN 0900631074 (0-900631-07-4)     This is quite late use with C- 10.VIII.19 -L so it is could be from the Sudan, though perhaps more likely Egypt. There are no markings on the back. Langmead & Huggins (page 110) say examples are known from there as late as 1933. However at this time the canceller was in use in UK, Western Europe, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and South Africa, so it could any one of these too. A nice clear example of the cancellation anyway.

Another type of item that I have recently been made aware of. All I know is that these were in eBay lot 114226174395. I thought that I could look up the details from that, but eBay has deleted it. If these are yours, please get in touch. They are Sudanese Postage Tax stamps dating from 1901.

References to publications relating to Military Telegraphs and Army Telegraphs.

This list is kindly provided by Dr Andrew Higson FRPSL

Adams, R.M. (1970) Through to 1970: Royal Signals Golden Jubilee. Royal Signals Institution.

Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, The (2005) “For the Record: The use of unappropriated die Army Telegraph duties in South Africa (from Jim Buckingham)”, Vol.48, No.4, December, pp.88-89.

Austin, B. (2004) “Wireless In The Boer War”, The Journal of the Royal Signals Institution, Vol.XXV, No., Spring, pp.23-29.

Brown, A.J. (1967) “East African Campaign 1914-1918 (continued)”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter No.87, Vol.IX, No.7, pp61-67.

Brown, E.G. (1960) “Army Telegraph Cancellations”, The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.3, No.2, pp25-27.

Cairnes, Captain W.E. (1899) “The British Army Manoeuvres”, Scribner’s Magazine, January, pp.61-76.

Coles, C.W.E. (1970) “Army Signals ‘NR’ 1917”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter No. 101, January-February, p.10.

Creeke, Jr, A.B. (1891) “Military Telegraphs”, Philatelic Record, Vol.XIII, No.48, pp.83-88.

Daniel, F. (1986) “Khartoum? Or not Known? That was the Question”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter No.187, Spring, pp.125-126.

Daniel, F. (1987) “Handstamps of the Royal Engineers Signals in Mesopotamia and Egypt, 1917-1918”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter No.194, Vol.XX, No.4, Winter, pp.58-66.

Dobbs, M. (1986) “Fake Army Signals Covers From Austria”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter, No.187, Spring, pp.118-122.

Dobbs, M. (1990) “JER – A Jersey Code or Not?”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter, No.205, Autumn, p.88.

Drysdall, A.R. (1995) Transvaal: Revenue and Telegraph Stamps.  James Bendon Ltd in association with the Transvaal Study Circle: Limassol, Cyprus.

Drysdall, A.R. and Langmead, P. (1996) “Telegraph stamps – an update”, The Transvaal Philatelist, Vol.31, No.2 (118), pp.70-73.

Drysdall, A.R. and Penycuick, K. (1986) “The East Africa Campaign 1914-18: Cancellations on N.F.F. mail”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter, No.188, Summer, pp.128-131.

Forces Postal History Society Newsletter (1983), “Doubtful Lundy Covers”, No.175, Spring, pp.64-65.

Hippisley, Lt-Col. R.E. (1902) History of the Telegraph operations during the War in South Africa 1899-1902.  HMSO: London.

Hiscocks, S.E.R. (1982) Telegraph and telephone stamps of the world: a priced and annotated catalogue: published by the author.

Hisey, R.W. and Bartshe, R.T. (2004) Orange Free State Philately, Vol.2 The Telegraphs.  The Philatelic Society for Greater Southern Africa and The OSSEWA Press: Sebring, FL.

Jagger, A. (1962) “Army Signals Express Letter Services”, Forces Postal History Society Newsletter, No.58 (Vol.VI, No.8), November-December, pp.71-72.

Langmead, P. (1975) “Early Army Telegraph Cancellations”, The London Philatelist, Vol.84, January, p.15.

Langmead, P. (1980) “Great Britain Telegraphs”, The London Philatelist, May-June, pp.86-95.

Langmead, P. (1986) “British Army telegraph stamps used in South Africa 1899-1900: A plea for help”, The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.29, pp.19-22.

Langmead, P. (1988) “Army Telegraph Cancellations” The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.31, pp.34-37.

Langmead, P. (1995) “British Army Telegraphs in the Boer War”, The London Philatelist, Vol.104, p.21.

Langmead, P. (2003) “Army Telegraph Cancellations of the Anglo-Boer War”, The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.46, No.4, December, pp.89-92.

Langmead, P. and Huggins, A. (2003) The Telegraph Stamps and Stationery of Great Britain 1851-1954.  GB Philatelic Publications Ltd: London.

Lucking, Tony (2002) “Telephony in the Anglo-Boer War”, The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.45, No.3, September, pp.58-62.

Millineaux, Lt-Col. (Ret.) D.S. (2004) “Young Harry’s War”, The Journal of the Royal Signals Institution, Vol.XXV, No.1, Spring, pp.18-22.

Nalder, R.F.H. (1953) History of British Army Signals in the Second World War.  Royal Signals Institution.

Stagg, E.C.W. (Maj.) (1974) Sudan. The Postal Markings 1867-1970.  London: RPSL.

Stanford, Tony (2002) “The Half-Penny QV Jubilee Army Telegraphs Overprints”, The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.45, No.1, March, pp.17-18.

Stroud, R. (2004) “Army Telegraph cancellations of the Anglo-Boer War”, The Anglo-Boer War Philatelist, Vol.47, No.3, September, pp.74-76.

Tamsen, E. (1902a) “The fiscal and telegraph stamps of the Orange Free State”, Morley’s Philatelic Journal, Vol.3, No.10, pp.73-75.

Tamsen, E. (1902b) “The telegraph stamps of the Transvaal”, Morley’s Philatelic Journal, Vol.3, No.11, pp.81-83.

The Sphere (1900) “How the telegraph is worked in the field”, March 31, p.314.

Stamps (circa 1985) “More on Fake Army Signals Covers”, p.45.

Ward, G (1953) “Army Signals Service”, Philatelic Magazine, November 6th, p.911.

Watson, G. (2001) “British Second Army, 11th November 1918”, http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/uk/secondarmy1918.html (downloaded 10/01/2007).

This page has given me a steep learning curve

A am obliged to the following for helping me with this web-page :

Peter Langmead & Alan Huggins for "The Telegraph Stamps and Stationery of Great Britain 1851-1954" the book that got me started on this.
S.E.R. Hiscocks for the book that filled in many of the gaps: 'TELEGRAPH and TELEPHONE Stamps of the World, a Priced and Annotated Catalogue'.
The Anglo-Boer War Philatelic Society
Orange Free State Study Circle
Transvaal Study Circle
GB Overprints Society

Many illustrations provided by Dr Andrew Higson FRPSL
Illustrations provided by Oscar Van der Vliet
Many illustrations provided by Bram Leeflang
Many illustrations provided by Dr. Mark Gibson
Many illustrations provided by Grosvenor Auctions

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

Last updated 9th. November 2023

©Copyright Steve Panting 2012/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23 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.