BECHUANALAND
Postal History, Postmarks
 -  POSTAL HISTORY
AB4323
1900 (26th June), envelope addressed to England. Bearing a single QV ‘Jubilee’ 4d green and purple-brown (SG 35) tied by a ‘95’ Barred Oval Numeral Canceller and also tied by a FRANCESTOWN / S. AFRICA (26 Jun) single circle datestamp. With ‘TATI’ printed on the flap in red. Newcastle-on-Tyne (21 Jul) arrival backstamps. The envelope rather battered and with heavy vertical crease, though unique, being the sole recorded proving item for BONC ‘95’, which is rare even on a loose stamp.
 
Note: the addressee was Sir John Swinburne who had originally been granted a concession by Lobengula to mine gold at Tati. He was later a director and major shareholder in the Tati Mining Group. The writer appears to have been his son, Lieutenant Umfreville Percy Swinburne who was instrumental in preparing Boer War defences for Francistown and the nearby mine at Tati.
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