Page 45 - Sutclifffe-APD_Censorship_PoW

Prisone r o f War, Int ernment Camps and Gibra1tar Camp , Jamaica .

There were, of course, exceptions to the general framework outlined above, for
example , Sandy Gully was a Post Office from it's date of opening , whilst often a
Postal Agency might have the facilities and duties of a Post Office in a sparcely
Inhabited area .

To return to the office at the Camp, there is no doubt that from the lO ~h May,
1943, or earlier a "Birmingham" type was used there. This would normally indicate
that the office was either a Postal Agency or a Post Office.

A s t udy of the Camp's mail up to the lO ~h May, 1943, shows it was all cancelled at
the G.P.O . Kingston or Cross Roads Post Office , nor is there any evidence of the use
of registration labels bearing the Camp' s name other than an amended label mentioned
later . The evidence appears to indicate the until May 1943 the Camp office was
merely a Sub Postal Agency or Postal Agency . On the 1st May, 1942 , it may well be
that the office became a Postal Agency .
It interesting to note the different in the rates of postage on mail from the
Camp posted at the same time to the same destination - usually Gibraltar. The probable
explanation is that the civilians in the Camp, usually the ladies, had to pay the normal
surface or air mail rate whilst their husbands in the Pioneer Corps had free postage or
reduced privileged military rates of postage . It would also appear that the Camp
Order ly Room did not use a Censorship marking - as there are no markings bearing the
words Censor or Censored are recorded from the Camp, unless some of the unit handstamp
appearing below served a dual purpose. It should be added that Jamaican censorship
markings sometimes appear on the Camp's mail.

The Jamaican markings referred to above are those of the Jamaica Postal Censorship
Service, but the bulk of the Camp' s mail would appear to have been passed without
examination by the Service, reliance no doubt being placed on the Orderly Room handstamp,
as was the case with other Army mail. All mail was handed into the Orderly Room, fully
prepaid, where the unit handstamp was then applied; as with other Army Camps the unit
handstamp was not used to cancel any stamps but merely to show to the postal authorities
that the letter was from a military establishment.

Many letters from the Camp to Gibraltar bear a red handstamp reading Passed by Censor,
it is now established that this marking is that of the Gibraltar Censorship Service,
applied to the mail when it reached the Rock .

Before turning to the postal daters appearing on the Camp's mail it appears there were
only two of these used by the Post Office. The first is not strictly a Camp marking as it
was not applied there but at the G. P.O. Kingston, by the clerk or clerks who dealt with
the Camp's mail , using the same dater.