Great Britain Philatelic Society

Have you ever wondered from where many of the finer used Victorian definitives came from that have a circular date stamp, then look no further than this little article I recently posted in the back-lot relating to telegrams past and present which also includes a telegram sent in 1900 that must have at least 70 used CDS stamps attached !

https://www.gbps.org.uk/boards/viewtopi ... =34&t=1829

This is a typical cancellation when the stamp has been sent through the post. This is a typical cancellation when the stamp has been obtained from a telegram. Therefore many of the cds stamps (which are preferred by most collectors) that you come across have originated from telegrams and not from a letter or parcel that has actually gone through the postal system. WM.

I seem to remember that from 1872 you get the plethora of CDSs from telegraph usage, even though the Post Office took over the running of the private telegraphs in early 1870.

Tell me Winston were stamps affixed to telegrams as proof of payment prior to the GPO taking over from the private sector in the early 1870s, or was this an adopted method used only by the GPO after taking over ?

Knowing very little about telegrams prompted me to ask you the question Winston, however, I have since decided to look into the matter further, and discovered the answer that I needed from an article in Linn's stamp news of the 13th of October 2003 by Rick Miller under "insights", which covers the advent of the telegraph system. >
https://www.linns.com/insights/stamp-co ... tamps.html
WM.

Wilding Mad wrote:Tell me Winston were stamps affixed to telegrams as proof of payment prior to the GPO taking over from the private sector in the early 1870s, or was this an adopted method used only by the GPO after taking over ?

SK, If you mean Post Office stamps, the answer is no. If however you mean the private company labels/stamps that were issued from the 1850s, I don't know to what extent they were affixed to telegrams.
I have since read that the use of Post Office postage stamps on telegraph forms was prohibited in 1876, so presumably CDSs after then would be postage (letters or parcels) use, I guess until the postage stamps from tobacco duty payments were recirculated.

Winston, you state that from 1876 normal postage stamps was prohibited from use on telegraph forms, so why am I finding Victorian postage stamps being used by 1900 on telegrams, and at what stage did the prohibition cease ? WM.

SK, Good question. I am always learning something new. The answer can be found in the SG Concise Post Office Telegraphs Stamps section.
Postage stamps were once again used for telegraph services when telegraph stamps were withdrawn after a little over five years in use, which I take to be c. 2nd half of 1881.

Thanks for the general overview relating to the telegraph stamps Winston, on searching the web I have now found a very comprehensive coverage of these Cinderella type issues of bygone years introduced by Steve Hiscocks followed by numerous images, lists and graphs regarding these issues compiled by Ian Pinwill and Paul Ramsay.

You was quite correct Winston, as all telegraph stamps were withdrawn on 1 November 1881 and remaining stocks were destroyed. Postage stamps have been used ever since.
I'm sure that anyone interested in telegraph stamps will find much to be appreciated with regards to the information given on this site. >
https://www.gb-precancels.org/Telegraphs/PO.php
In the meantime have a nice Christmas everybody and stay virus-free. WM