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Uganda Railway Telegraphs (1902 to 1908).

Steve Hiscocks wrote:
The Uganda Railway telegraph stamps, while very much a 'home-made' job, were clearly based on the Indian telegraph stamps of the time in that
each stamp was vertically double. The stamps were attached across the counterfoil/message junction so that both customer and telegraph operator
had evidence of payment in that each had half the stamp on his part. They were typeset in sheets of 56 (14 x 4) for Anna values and 48 (12 x 4) for
Rupee values. In preparing the plates a half row was evidently set in each case and repeated eight times since there are seven and six subtypes of
Anna and Rupee respectively. Only major varieties are given below. All were printed in black on various coloured papers and roughly pin-perforated
between stamps but not between halves. Used copies consist of upper halves only. I am not aware of any leakage of lower halves from the checking offices.
They were used between 1902 and 1908 and are rare.

My note:
There are several examples of used lower halves shown below.

Here is a counterfoil of 1903 used in Mombasa (the only one I have seen)


Image courtesy of Steve Taylor.

H1, H2 and H3, courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

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H1, H2a and H3a 'CANCELLED', courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer.

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H4, H5a 'CANCELLED' with H1 used and H10a used, courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer.

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These Rupee values are larger and have different varieties.

H6a, H7a and H8a 'CANCELLED' courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer.

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H9a, H11a and H12a 'CANCELLED' courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer. Ex Grosvenor Sale 99, Lot 182.

Roger de Lacy-Spencer has a mint set (minus the 5R) punctured with "CANCELLED. 3." (some upward, some downward)
These are not listed by Hiscocks. I presume they were used as specimens.

1902 Type-set and printed on wove papers of various colours as indicated in
No watermark, pin-perf. 12

The Anna values were in sheets of 56 (4 rows of 14) and the Ruppee values were in sheets of 48 (4 rows of 12).

According to Hiscocks "Used copies consist of upper halves only. I am not aware of any leakage of lower halves from the checking offices."
The used examples below include both upper and lower halves.

Used H5b, H11a and H12b, courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer.

Roger de Lacy-Spencer also has a complete set, all used in Kenya mostly cancelled (in violet or black) with "PORT FLORENCE" on Lake Victoria (later renamed Kisumu City)
but the two highest values are cancelled with "NAIROBI". Though named Uganda Railways, the entire length was within Kenya.

*   The 12A above clearly shows the 'G' with serif at top variety that Hiscocks did not list, but see his Note 1.
I have added H4a and H5b to his list with the same 50% mark-up.
All of Rogers high values have the "stop instead of comma after lower 'TELEGRAPHS' " variety, which suggests this was actually the norm.

Here are another three used in Kenya.
Nick of kalombo on eBay has informed me that the website revrevd.com gives information on the Kenyan usage.
All the used ones I have seen so far are cancelled with Kilindini, Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Naivasha or Port Florence.
I have also seen a top half of a 1 Rupee stamped in black with 'MNARA'. This has to be a forgery, since Mnara is on an island north of Mombasa
and a long way from the rail route, in addition to which, these cancels are not normally black.


Postmarked 'NAKURU' derived from Wikimedia Commons.

No stop after 'RUPEE/S' on used 1R, 4R and 20R(above),   courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer.		Used in Naivasha, Kenya,  courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

**   Roger has pointed out to me (something I had missed) that his used one Rupee has no stop after 'RUPEE' and his used four and twenty Rupees have no stop after 'RUPEES'.
I have added them to Hiscocks list (with a similar mark-up). This may also be present on other values.

	A rather unusual 1R stamp on the left. It has a thick border all the way round, wrong fonts and has no sign of a connection to the other half. It also does not have any 'Italic' style characters and some of the characters are very different. Compare the 'G' of 'UGANDA' with the stamp above, the curve at the top in particular. 'RUPEE' is narrower. The top-left looks like it has the remains of another couple of small letters. The stamp also appears to be on green paper. It would be easy to dismiss this as a fake, and indeed it may be, but the cancel looks fairly convincing. If it is a fake, then whoever made it could have done better. Perhaps it is a contemporary forgery ? Possibly an early Edwardian forgery, or possibly a genuine second issue ? UPDATE: I noticed this image in the Grosvenor Archives. It was part of a lot 181, Sale 99 they sold   for £780 with description: "2a. to 20r. set (less 6a) also extra 2a. and 1r. forgery, upper or lower halves". John Barefoot brought to my attention the item on the right. This could be the 2a referred to. It is without any cancel. I understand that it was sold on eBay, but do not know who to attribute. If you, then please get in touch.
Image courtesy of  Roger de Lacy-Spencer.		Is this yours? Please get in touch.

Hiscocks added the following 4 notes:

Route Map.

This map shows the route taken. Mentioning place names that I have seen on cancels, ships would dock at the newly created Kilindini Harbour on the south side of Mombasa.
The Train would then go up through Nairobi, Naivasha, Nakuru, eventually arriving at Port Florence, now called Kisumu.
Initially there were no steamers on Lake Victoria, these were disassembled ferries from Scotland, shipped to Mombasa and carried up by train.
This allowed crossing of the lake to a place that would later be named Port Bell, a little to the east of Port Alice (now Entebbe).
From Port Bell it only needed 7 miles of track to reach Kampala. Port Florence was named after the wife of George Whitehouse, the chief engineer of the project.
It was only called Port Florence for a year.

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

Last updated 6th. November 2021

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