Page 9 - Sutclifffe-APD_Censorship_PoW

Prisoner of War, Internment Camps and Gibraltar Camp, Jamaica .

Section IV, Camp Censorship handstamps.
Prisoner' s mail was censored in the Camp Orderly Room by a military censor .

POWC 1 . Passed Censor .
This is the usual handstamp seen and reads Passed Censor , 2 or 4 x 48mm with a period
after Censor. The mar king is enclosed by a single line frame , 16 x 58mm. It is known struck
in either purple or grey black ink .
Purple ink EKD : 10 October 1914 LKD : 26 May 1915
Grey/black ink EKD : 23 March 1916 LKD:

This marking may be seen on the two covers above listed under POW 2 .

POWC 2 . PASSED MIL : CENSOR/JAMAICA.
This marking is a recent discovery and it has been suggested that it was a replacement for
POWC 1 as its first recorded usage was about the last recorded usage of POWC 1 .
This is a double circle item, 38mm in diameter with the above wording in heavy block serif
type , 3mm in diameter. The centre has Date and two rows of dots , and the mark is recorded in
blue ink .

The cover bearing POWC 2 above raises several points of interest, firstly the marking
on the front are struck in blue ink instead of the usual purple ink and as the POW 2 is
a lso in the same ink i t supports the beli ef that the FREE notation was added to covers
after they were handed back to the Orderly Room for dispatch .
Secondly, the date, 1916, is also of interest as by then most of the prisoners had
been moved to Canada . Covers bearing POWC 2 are extremely rare .