GBPS Programme 2023-2024

John says, "The display is an account of the history of the Bells' Photo Company, Limited and its postcards. This company was a significant producer of topographical photographic picture postcards of Great Britain with these appearing under their own name, without a publisher's name and a few under the names of other businesses from the early 1900s to the mid 1950s. Up to about 1920 they also produced a number of postcards showing ships of the Royal Navy and other naval topics, while just after World War II they produced some comic postcards. The display includes examples of all of these and also postcards and other documents which throw a light on the business and the production of its postcards."

Hugh says: "The Royal Mail, from its inception by Royal Proclamation in 1635, employed a network of 'Post Boys' riding horse to carry the mails between London and the provinces and on cross post roads. The transmission of letters was limited to an average speed not much faster than a brisk walk and the mails were not secure. The post boys were frequently robbed of their pouches, or they themselves absconded with the mail as some mails carried either financial instruments or valuables.

In the early 1780s the former theatre owner, John Palmer of Bath proposed the use of coaches to carry the mail. He suggested in 1784 to William Pitt the Younger, the recently installed Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, that an experiment be conducted on the Bristol to London Road to prove the effectiveness of this form of transport. The first Royal Mail coach left Bristol on 2 August 1784 for London taking just 15 hours for the journey compared to the 48 to 60 hours taken by a horse rider. Palmer was appointed Controller of the Post Office and within two years had established a network of mail coach routes.

For the next 50 years Palmer's system carried securely an ever-increasing volume of mail, the coaches being accompanied by an armed guard. With the establishment of the railroads the mail was gradually moved from road to rail with the last mail coach being retired in 1857. The display illustrates the carriage of the mails on the principal post roads to and from London between 1784 and 1840."

Dave says: "My display is for the postmarks used in the London Districts – oval cancellers with the numbers in circles, from 1844 to the 1900s. This seems a long period, and it is, but the variants in cancellers are quite interesting. I think so anyway!

The collection starts with the 1st series and, to some, the best. These were first issued on the 20 May 1844 and continued for a long time for some offices (the latest I have seen used is 1889 of Bow12), there were recuts of these cancellers with some striking differences and other times subtle differences. There was a transition from the 10 rides or routes to the division of London into districts in 1857 and this gave rise to the use of district initials when addressing a letter. Then the 1861 series and the introduction of the letter B to the office numbers and generally these were all sub offices, their parent office holding the 1st series canceller. Finally, we lead to the 3rd series - vertical ovals, which in my opinion are much understudied and just as scarce as the earlier issues.

As a conclusion there are examples of town office cancellers which are different in format so can be regarded in a different light. Also, unusually, some of these offices were issued duplex cancellers."

Ian says: "This will have a slightly different format to previous meetings, with the Zoom/PowerPoint presentation split into two parts (with a 30-minute break in the middle to allow those in the room to view the first laydown). The 'room' will then rejoin the Zoom call for the second half of the presentation. This means the Zoom meeting itself will be of a longer duration than previously.

The display will show the regular issues from 1971, the stitched and folded books prior to Window books. It will include the vending books into the 1990s, the earlier Christmas and Greetings and so called Prestige books.

During the first decimal years, there was considerable involvement of the Post Office advertiser contractor, Stan Hills, who liaised on production aspects with philatelic reporter Len Newbery. Ian has been lucky to obtain much of their trial and proof material which will be shown. The sheet make-up and perforation of the issues will be illustrated as well as examples of the production of the books.

In addition, there will be ancillary material - dummy books, specimen overprints, examples of packaging and Post Office cards. It will be a multi-coloured display."

Unfortunately, David Leathart will not be able to present his display of "Specimen Stamps 1694 to 1902" due to illness.

However, Chris Harman has stepped into the breach and will present a selection from his extensive collection of GB revenues.

Chris says: "I will be showing a new presentation on the various British revenue stamps printed by Perkins, Bacon.

Frank Walton and I were working towards a book on these, which would include new information from the PB archives that are held by the Royal Philatelic Society London. Without Frank's drive, this will take a bit longer to do but one of the advantages has been that much of Frank's material is now in my collection and the process of combining the two has revealed new material and new information. In subjects such as revenue stamps it is even more the case that much information has not yet been discovered and new material is constantly appearing.

The display on Saturday will include examples of all the British revenue stamps that were printed by PB in my PowerPoint display. For those attending in person, there will be the newly written up material from the combination of my and Frank Walton's collections. Included will be Bank Notes (which were taxable), Playing Cards, Paper Duty, Life Policy, Customs, the Irish Registration of Deeds and Record of Title, and the fee stamps of the City of London courts."

This will be the annual Stanley Gibbons Christmas Evening Reception from 6:00pm-8:00pm at their premises, 399 Strand, London WC2R 0LX. They are good hosts, providing a variety of food and drink as well as generous discounts on their stock on the night. An invitation from Stanley Gibbons to the event is included with the Nov/Dec mailing. Please remember to RSVP (to SG not the GBPS) regarding your attendance in good time so they know how many people they are catering for.

Members are invited to bring up to two frames (of 12 sheets per frame in 3 rows of 4 sheets) of material to show during the evening. Please dig out something to bring along, as it is a highlight of the evening to see a mix of material from as many members as possible. As usual, if bringing a display, it helps if you can let us know ahead of time so we can get a head start on a running order and determine the number of laydowns we will need (out of a maximum of three for the evening) so please contact our Meeting Manager, David Griffin, via meetings@gbps.org.uk or ring David on 07450 113084 with details (i.e. your name, how many sheets/frames you wish to bring and a title/subject).

Matthew says: "Social-welfare reforms on the eve of the First World War resulted in vast numbers of British workers being required to contribute weekly to insurance schemes for health and unemployment. This was done by employers affixing small stamps, each with an exact denomination and distinctive colours, to personal cards for each employee. Within a couple of decades, hundreds of millions of these stamps, in hundreds of different denominations and colours, had been issued. Yet because the standard practice was to destroy the cards after they expired, many of these insurance stamps are today increasingly rare and few philatelists have seen more than a handful of them. Much of the information on their production and use, and the often arcane rates they paid, remains buried in official archives.

Their beauty, rarity and importance to the social history of the United Kingdom is undeniable, and the myriad of ways their story intertwines with that of postage stamps is simply fascinating and will be told here for the first time.

Edward says: "This will consist of two halves.

The first half is dedicated to the De La Rue surface printed issues. The display includes used stamps, multiples, covers and colour trials, anything other than mint stamps.

The second part of the morning display covers the rates and routes from 1840 until approximately 1875 (the latter date is when the GPU system came into effect). The dates are approximate, however, as not all countries adopted the GPU system straight away. There will be examples of line engraved, embossed and surface printed issues on cover. There will be a range of countries included of which much interest can be found."

This display will cover the 50 years that the British Postal Services in Morocco were managed by the British Post Office, from the issue of the KEVII stamps and stationery in January 1907 to the Centenary of the Tangier Post Office in April 1957.

In the first half, Tony Stanford will show the overprinted KEVII and KGV stamps and stationery used in the Morocco Agencies until the 1938 closure of the British Postal Agencies in the French Zone, and continue with the overprinted KGVI and QEII stamps and stationery used at Tangier and Tetuan in the Spanish Zone from 1949 until the closure of the Tangier Post Office on 30th April 1957.

For the second half James Bendon will show the use of un-overprinted GB stamps and stationery during the period from 1937 when the decision was taken that only the low value definitives and commemorative issues would be overprinted. James's display will continue through WWII until the overprinted higher value definitives and stationery were re-introduced on 1st January 1949 and all un-overprinted stock was withdrawn. Many of these items will feature mixed usage with overprinted low value stamps and commemoratives.

Followed by display of Competition entries and judges' critique (entry details)

The afternoon session, commencing at 2:15pm, will consist of the society A.G.M. followed by Members' Displays. The A.G.M. will be held over Zoom for the benefit of those unable to attend in person. The Members' Displays that follow will not be accessible over Zoom.

For those who are able to attend the meeting in person, please bring something along to show – any GB subject matter is acceptable. As always, advance notice of what you plan to bring (subject and quantity) is useful for planning the running order on the day; please email our Meeting Manager, David Griffin, via meetings@gbps.org.uk or ring him on 07450 113084 with brief details.