H. C. DANN THE CANCELLATIONS OF THE RHODESIAS AND NYASALAND by H. C. DANN Published by ROBSON LOWE LTD. 50 Pall Mall, London, S.W. I Also at Bournemouth, Philadelphia, Melbourne and Bombay Printtd in Grt4t Britain bl' William Brendon and Sott, Ltd. The Moyflowrr Press (/ato of Plymo11tll), nt Bushey Mill La11c Watford, Herts. Hoisting the Union Jnck at Salisbury, 1890 7 "0 CONTENTS FOREWORD II PREFACE I3 SOUTHERN RHODESIA: Post Towns and Agencies r6 The Barred Diamond 40 The Barred Oval 4I )l'oRTHERN RHoDESIA: Post Towns and Agencies 42 Derivation of Names sr BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 53 NYASALAND 57 OFFICIAL FRANKS 6r PLATES APPENDICES I. PosTAL HISTORY 70 II. POSTA!. RATES 75 III. The RHODESIAN REMAINDER CANCELLATIONS 77 IV. CANCELLATIONS SINCE 1935: Southern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia Nyasaland V. CANCELLATIONS OF THE R.A.F. CAMP POST OFFICES IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA ss MAPS CENTRAL AFRICA IS THE EARLY MAIL RouTES 70 9 1902. The Post Office at Nawalia-now closed 10 FOREWORD HENRY C. DANN was born m June r863. The particular reason for his mterest in the postal history of Rhodesia is not known to me but he contributed a long series of interesting articles on the subject in the London Philatelist during the years 1931 to 1947 (Vols. XL to LVI). In 1940 he wrote a book, largely reprmted from these articles entitled "The Romance of the Posts of Rhodesia"* This volume has become a standard work of reference. He had hoped to bring out in 1941 the smaller work which is here offered to t.he student. The difficulties of wartime production an.d his failing health were the reasons for the delay. Dann joined the Royal Philatelic Society in 1927. He was a founder member of the Postal History Society in 1936, being elected an Honorary Life Member on his eightieth birthday in recognition of his pioneer work in aiding the studies and pleasures of his fellow studen.ts. He died on 28th November, 1948, and will be remembered by those who knew him as one of the most kindly and helpful philatelists they had met. For some time before his passing, he had been unable to keep these records up to date and through the research work necessary, to produce the African volume of the Encyclopaedia, t I have been able to add less than one per cent to his original work on the cancellations. A summary of the postal history of Rhodesia appears in the Addenda which is reprinted from the Encyclopaedia. This is appropriate, for this was almost entirely based on Dann's writings. I have to acknowledge the assistance of three friends for their help­ J. H. Sinton, who has checked the galley proofs with his collection (untiL recently owned by C. E. Nelson and which incorporates the Dann collection of cancel­ lations) and lent certain rare items for illustration, Arthur Strutt who lent me the drawing from which the illustrations on pages ro and so were made, and W. G. Nodder, the Secretary of the Rhodesian Study Circle, who read the proofs, adding the most recent amendments and supplying the supplementary information in the Appendices IV and V. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the Council of the Royal Philatelic Society for giving me the opportunity of publishing this tribute to the memory of a dear friend. RoBsoN LoWE. rst january, 1950. * Published by Frank Godden Ltd. t The Encyclopaedia of Empire Postage Stamps, Vol. II. 11 12 PREFACE URING the last twenty years the study of Postal History has become increasingly popular, and this has stimulated the collecting of used D stamps and covers. There are few countries within His Majesty's dominions in which the creation and expansion of the postal services has been of such fascinating interest as Rhodesia. It is a land where adventure and hardship have been closely interwoven with its romantic development. British enterprise and justice have so efficiently worked within the short space of fifty years, that where tnurder, torture, rapine and bloodthirsty raids were of almost everyday occurrence, a well-organized community has been brought into being. Southern Rhodesia has become an important dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations, whilst the vast territory of Northern Rhodesia, under its enterprising Legislative Council, is making steady progress. With regard to postal markings-it is only those who attempt to collect and classify them who know how extremely difficult it is to find Rhodesian cancellations, other than those of a few places, especially in a complete or decipherable condition. One must remember that during the prospecting and opening out of the then unknown country-of some 438,200 square miles-especially in the wilderness of the north, a roadside hut often served as a post office for travellers and prospectors. Many of these answered their temporary purpose and have been long since closed, and in some cases a mystery exists as to their actual sites. Many never appeared on any map (as far as I can trace), and it is only by information from those who used them that one can locate the places where they existed. When we consider that many of these offices were opened to deal with an emergency, such as an outbreak of cattle plague, or sleeping sickness, and in the north as a check on slave-raiders, and where in some cases there were only three or four white men, one can easily realize how few letters Were collected by the "runners," and consequently how few cancellations can possibly exist-this scarcity being affected by the fact that many cancellations are incomplete, the stamps having been removed from the covers. Another cause of scarcity is that the northern district was found to be unsuitable for settlement because of the unhealthy climate, and the presence of tsetse fly-so the country south of Lake Tanganyika was described as "deadly" and consequently closed to settlers. Many post offices which appeared for a time on the maps ceased to be shown later on. Postal markings of these offices are usually very rare, and I think it is not an unsafe prophecy to make that Rhodesian stamps and covers with these cancellations will become "classics" in years to come. As evidence of the difficulty of locating post offices (and by tbat term I include postal agencies) which have disappeared, I had occasion to make inquiries 13 14 PHEFACE as to the position of a certain post office of which I had three or four date-stamps (one of which is now in the Royal Collection). I was officially infonned that no such place existed, or had ever existed, i.It the territory, but from personal evidence I had from those who knew the country in the old days and had direct work in the administration of the dishict, I was able to prove that a post office had existed at the spot, although it had been closed and reopened, and then finally closed, n1any years ago. I know of no less than eighty-four post offices in Southern and Northern Rhodesia that have been closed (and there a:re probably others), havmg served their temporary purpose or having been rendered unnecessary by the substitution of quick intercommunication for the old "runner" services. After intensive search durmg several years I have managed to collect more than nine hundred different postal cancellations, inclusive of those used in British Central Africa during the administration of the British South Africa Company, and I am extremely grateful to the late Postmaster-General of Southern Rhodesia, Mr. Collyer, who is now retired, for the great amount of trouble to which he went in order to obtain information for me, with full details of the opening of the post offices in his territory, and dates of closing, where such happened. Also to the late Postmaster-General of Northern Rhodesia, J.\ilr. Storm, who went to a lot of trouble, entailing corre;;pondence with outlymg places which took weeks to obtain. Both these gentlemen also supplied me with numerous copies of obsolete postmarks of much interest. Mr. C. J. Swift, the present Postmaster­ General of Southern Rhodesia, has not only supplied me with valuable information, but has also sent me impressions of old and interesting cancellation stamps discovered after many years in the G.P.O. at Salisbury. Colonel Stephenson, of Ndola, informs me that up to a few years ago every post office off the railway line, except Fort Jameson (N.E.R.) and possibly Abercorn at tin1es, was run by a District Officer or a native clerk. This would account for many curiosities in the defacing of stamps. Anything that might be handy, such as a rubber office dating stamp, would be used for postal defacing purposes if the proper cancelling stamp happened to be mislaid or out of order. Similarly any ink-pad would be used if the post office pad "'ras dried up. Hence the use of coloured defacing inks, and I have seen some brown ones which look suspiciously like blood. These outside post offices functioned only for the receipt and despatch of mails, and, owing to the small population they served, the postal work was spasmodic and a corner of the district official's office used, only to come into action for a jew mim~tes of every week. The old pattern defacing stamps used in Northern Rhodesia and British Central Africa had removable type, hence errors and inversions. These stamps were frequently changed by office-cleaners (natives) a:nd semi-educated clerks. At one time a few defacing stamps were purchased in which the whole of the type (name, country, date, etc.) was removable.