BECHUANALAND
Postal History, Postmarks
- POSTMARKS
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GUBULAWAYO 1888 Unappropriated Dies 6d lilac and black surcharged ‘Protectorate / 6d’. Bearing a manuscript ‘B’wayo’ and dated ‘15/9/88’. Overstruck with a light but readable MAFEKING (OC 9? 88) single circle datestamp. SG 45
Note: the Mafeking–Gubulawayo Runner post, which covered nearly 500 miles, was organised by Rev. J.S. Moffat and put into operation early in August 1888. However, it is now believed the datestamps assigned to Tati and Gubulawayo with the territorial designation ‘Bechuanaland’ at base were never used in that form at those offices. The earliest recorded use of the subsequently modified Gubulawayo datestamp is on a cover dated 10th November 1888 (RSCJ 129, p15). In the period before datestamps were available, it appears the Rev C.D. Helm, who was acting postmaster at Bulawayo (and witness to the Rudd Concession six weeks later) applied a manuscript cancellation to stamps on letters in the same manner as Samuel Edwards, the postmaster at Tati. Such use can be seen on the ‘Matabele Thompson’ cover illustrated in Knight and Mitchell (page 2). And like the stamps on that cover, this stamp has also been cancelled in transit with a Mafeking datestamp, also dated ‘OC’ though unlike the Tati strike, this appears to show ‘9’ as the date.
An amazing find and quite possibly the earliest recorded postal item out of Bulawayo following the start of the Runner Post.
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