BECHUANALAND
Postal History, Postmarks
POSTAL HISTORY
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| VV493 |
1892 (30th December), incoming envelope from the Cape addressed to ‘L(ance) Corp(oral) W.A. Atkinson / (G Troop) / Bechuanaland Border Police / Fort Gaberones / Southern Protectorate’. Bearing a pair of Cape 1d carmine-red (SG 49a) tied by East London (DE 30) hooded datestamps. Backstamped Vryburg (JA 1?), Mafeking (JA 9) and Gaberones (10 JA) transit / arrival datestamps. A ‘4d’ in blue manuscript indicates an underpayment of postage as the letter rate from Cape Colony to the Protectorate was 4d per ½ ounce, the ‘4d’ presumably representing double the 2d deficiency. Some cover spotting, though a very scarce example of incoming mail to a member of the Bechuanaland Border Police.
Note: the addressee had previously served with the Bechuanaland Border Police (BBP) at Macloutsie and was later stationed at Fort Gaberones. The (BBP) was an Imperial unit raised on 4 August 1885 by Lt. Col. Frederick Carrington of the South Wales Borderers, and comprised 500 men. Approximately 150 men from BBP Troops A, B and C escorted the Pioneer Column into Mashonaland, this force being officially referred to as the ‘British South Africa Company Police’.
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| £375 |
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