Field Post Offices 2 FPO Marks with No Suffix Or Prefix 2 FPO Mark Prefixed a 3 FPO Mark Suffixed B 4 FPO Mark Prefixed C 5

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Field post offices 2 FPO marks with no suffix or prefix 2 FPO mark prefixed A 3 FPO mark suffixed B 4 FPO mark prefixed C 5 FPO mark prefixed D 7 General and Corps Headquarters 11 FPO mark prefixed T 19

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You can download this work and share it with others as long as it is credited, but you can’t change it in any way or use it commercially © John Sheen. Email contact: [email protected]

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Field Post Offices (FPOs)

FPO No Prefix or Suffix.

From being taken into use in January 1915 until June 1916 the number of the FPO indicated the Infantry Brigade that it was serving.

But in June 1916 it was realised that the Order of Battle of the British Forces in France could be worked out from the post marks. So a system of security exchanges was introduced and every six months FPOs would exchange their date stamps with another FPO. The exchanges are too complicated and lengthy to go into here but are well covered by Proud and Kennedy & Crabbe.

Phase I, 18.6.16 – 30.9.16,

Phase II, 1.10.16 – 31.1.17,

Phase III, 1.2.17 – 30.6.17,

Phase IV 1.7.17 – 31.1.18,

Phase V 1.2.18 – 31.7.18,

Phase VI 1.8.18 – 1.2.19,

Thus it was that FPO 1 was serving 1st Brigade of the 1st Division and FPO 151 was serving 151 (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade of 50th (Northumbrian) Division.

As a small example of the security changes, FPO 151 (Durham LI Brigade)used the following date stamps according to Proud page 218.

Phase I, 18.6.16 – 30.9.16 used FPO 106,

Phase II, 1.10.16 – 31.1.17 used FPO 168,

Phase III, 1.2.17 – 30.6.17 used FPO 151,

Phase IV 1.7.17 – 31.1.18 used FPO 118,

Phase V 1.2.18 – 31.7.18 used FPO 115,

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Phase VI 1.8.18 – 1.2.19 used FPO 7.P.

FPO prefixed A, Army HQ Post Office.

FPO A1, First Army HQ.

FPO A2, Second Army HQ

FPO A3, Third Army HQ.

FPO A4, Fourth Army HQ.

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FPO A5, Fifth Army HQ. Originally Reserve Army, re-designated 30 Oct 1916.

FPO AR, Reserve Army HQ, see above.

FPO Suffixed B, Guards Brigades, Guards Division, formed in France August 1915.

FPO 1.B, 1st Guards Brigade.

FPO 2.B, 2nd Guards Brigade.

FPO 3.B, 3rd Guards Brigade.

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FPO 4.B 4th Guards Brigade formed in France 8 February 1918, served with 31st Division.

FPO prefixed C, Cavalry Brigades.

FPO C.1 through to FPO C.9 original Cavalry Brigades of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Divisions.

FPO C.1. Headquarters 1st Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C.2. Headquarters 2nd Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C.3. Headquarters 3rd Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C 4.. Headquarters 4th Cavalry Brigade.

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FPO C.5. Headquarters 5th Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C.6. Headquarters 6th Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C.7. Headquarters 7th Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C 8. Headquarters 8th Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C.9. Headquarters 9th Cavalry Brigade.

FPO C.10, 10 Cavalry Brigade, 4th Cavalry Division originally 2nd (S Midland) Mounted Brigade, 2nd Mounted Division.

FPO C.11, 11 Cavalry Brigade, 4th Cavalry Division originally 4th (London) Mounted Brigade, 2nd Mounted Division.

FPO C.12, 12 Cavalry Brigade, 4th Cavalry Division re-designation of 22nd Mounted Brigade which was originally the North Midland Mounted Brigade.

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FPO C.13, 13 Cavalry Brigade 5th Cavalry Division, the Yeomanry Mounted Brigade formed 19 January 1915, re-designated 5th Mounted Brigade.

FPO C.14, 14th Cavalry Brigade 5th Cavalry Division, Originally 3rd Mounted Brigade (Notts & Derby).

FPO CP.1 1st Canadian Cavalry Brigade re-designation of CX.1.

FPO CX.1 1st Canadian Cavalry Brigade re-designated FPO CP.1

FPO C2X 2nd Canadian Cavalry Brigade. Unit never formed date stamp used by FPO 4Z.

FPO Prefixed D, Divisional HQ Post Office.

FPO D.1 through to FPO D.75. As with the Brigade FPO’s the Divisional FPO’s originally used the number of the Division, so FPO D.1 was used by 1st Division and FPO D.50 was used by the 50th (Northumbrian) Division.

As a small example of the security changes, FPO D50 (Northumbrian) Division used the following date stamps according to Proud page 254.

Phase I, 18.6.16 – 30.9.16 used FPO D35,

Phase II, 1.10.16 – 31.1.17 used FPO D55,

Phase III, 1.2.17 – 30.6.17 used FPO DW5,

Phase IV 1.7.17 – 31.1.18 used FPO D41,

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Phase V 1.2.18 – 31.7.18 used FPO D5,

Phase VI 1.8.18 – 1.2.19 used FPO D66.

FPO D.B, The Guards Division HQ.

FPO D.C.1, 1st Cavalry Division HQ.

FPO D.C.2, 2nd Cavalry Division HQ.

FPO D.C.3, 3rd Cavalry Division HQ.

FPO D.C.4, 4th Cavalry Division HQ.

FPO D.M.3. These date stamps were used by the Dismounted Cavalry Division when the Division was in the line in the Infantry Role.

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FPO D.C.4, & FPO D.C.5 were used by the 1st & 2nd Indian Cavalry Divisions when they were re-named 4th & 5th Cavalry Divisions. They were served by the Indian Army Postal Service.

FPO D.HD used by 51st (Highland) Division HQ while it still used its Territorial designation in April 1915.

FPO D.K Spare Date Stamp.

FPO D.L2 used by 47th (2nd London) Division HQ while it still used its Territorial designation in April 1915.

FPO D.L.L, used by 52nd (Lowland) Division HQ while it still used its Territorial designation in April 1915.

FPO D.M. used by 46th (North Midland) Division HQ while it still used its Territorial designation in April 1915.

FPO D.M.2 used by the Australian Mounted Division.

FPO D.M.3 and FPO D.M.4 see the Indian Cavalry Divisions.

FPO D.M.T.1 used by the Divisional Train of the A & NZ Mtd Div.

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FPO D.N used by 50th (Northumbrian) Division HQ while it still used its Territorial designation in April 1915.

FPO D.N.L, used by the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division – July 1915 – January 1916.

FPO D.P.1 – FPO D.P.4, re-designation of DX1 – DX4 used by the Canadian Division HQ’s

FPO D.Q, Tank Corps HQ.

FPO D.S.M, used by 48th (South Midland) HQ while it still used its Territorial designation in April 1915.

FPO D.W.1 - D.W.5, 1st – 5th Australian Divisional HQ.

FPO D.X.1- D.X.4, used by 1st – 4th Canadian Divisional HQ.

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FPO D.Y, used by 2nd Mounted Division HQ at Gallipoli, then as spare date stamp.

FPO D.Z. used by the New Zealand Divisional HQ.

FPO E.Y used by 1/1st Eastern Mounted Brigade Gallipoli.

FPO F.D.1 – FPO F.D.10, Field depots on the Italian Front. FPO F.D.9, Field depot on the Italian Front

General Headquarters and Corps Headquarters

FPO G, General Headquarters B.E.F.

FPO G.M, General Headquarters Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. Re-designated GHQ E.E.F 20 March 1916.

FPO G.M.1, General Headquarters Egyptian Expeditionary Force 1st Echelon.

FPO G.Q, General Headquarters Italian Expeditionary Force.

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FPO G.Q.2, General Headquarters Italian Expeditionary Force 2nd Echelon.

FPO G.X, General Headquarters Salonika Force.

FPO G.Z, General Headquarters Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Dardenelles).

FPO Prefixed H, Corps Headquarters.

FPO H.1 Headquarters I Corps.

FPO H.2 Headquarters II Corps

FPO H.3 Headquarters III Corps

FPO H.4 Headquarters IV Corps

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FPO H.5 Headquarters V Corps

FPO H.6 Headquarters VI Corps

FPO H.7 Headquarters VII Corps

FPO H.8 Headquarters VIII Corps

FPO H.9 Headquarters IX Corps

FPO H.10 Headquarters X Corps

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FPO H.11 Headquarters XI Corps

FPO H.12 Headquarters XII Corps

FPO H.13 Headquarters XIII Corps

FPO H.14 Headquarters XIV Corps

FPO H.15 Headquarters XV Corps

FPO H.16 Headquarters XVI Corps

FPO H.17 used by Headquarters XVII Corps.

FPO H.18 used by Headquarters XVIII Corps

FPO H.19 used by Headquarters IXX Corps

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FPO H.20 used by Headquarters XX Corps

FPO H.21 used by Headquarters XXI Corps

FPO H.22 used by Headquarters XXII Corps

FPO H.C.1, Headquarters I Cavalry Corps.

FPO H.C.2, Headquarters II Cavalry Corps. This Corps never formed and date stamp was used by an unknown unit in 1917.

FPO H.C.3, Headquarters III Cavalry Corps. This unit never formed and the date stamp was used by various units from phase III onwards.

FPO 1.HD, FPO 2.HD & FPO 3.HD used by the Brigades of the Highland Division before being numbered as FPO 152, FPO 153 and FPO 154.

FPO H.M, Headquarters Desert Column.

FPO H.P, Headquarters Canadian Corps, re-designation of FPO H.X.

FPO H.R, Headquarters Reserve Corps.

FPO H.W, Headquarters I ANZAC Corps.

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FPO H.W.2. Headquarters II ANZAC Corps.

FPO H.X. Headquarters Canadian Corps.

FPO H.Y, Headquarters Highland Mounted Brigade.

FPO 1.K through FPO 3.K spare set of date stamps for Divisional HQ’s used for security purposes. After January 1918 allotted to U.S. Army .

FPO 1.K through to FPO 24.K allotted to U.S.Army formations Brigaded with the British Army.

FPO 4.L, FPO 5.L & FPO 6.L used by the Brigades of the 2nd London Division before being numbered as FPO 140, FPO 141 and FPO 142

FPO LH.2, used by 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade.

FPO LH.4, used by 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade.

FPO LH.5, used by 5th Australian Light Horse Brigade.

FPO 1.L.L, FPO 2.L.L & FPO 3.L.L used by the Brigades of the 52nd Lowland Division before being numbered as FPO 155, FPO 156 and FPO 157.

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FPO L.Y, used by 1/1st Lowland Mounted Brigade.

FPO 1.N, FPO 2.N & FPO 3.N used by the Brigades of the Northumbrian Division before being numbered as FPO 149, FPO 150 and FPO 151.

FPO NL.1, FPO NL.2 & FPO NL.3 used by the Brigades of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division before being numbered as FPO 188, FPO 189 and FPO 190.

FPO NMY, North Midland Yeomanry Brigade.

FPO NZ, New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade.

FPO 1P – 12P, Canadian Brigade Headquarters – re- designation of the X Series.

FPO PB1, Provisional Brigade formed in Egypt.

FPO PB11, used in Russia.

FPO PB12, used in Russia.

FPO PB13, used in Russia.

FPO PB14, used in Russia.

FPO PB15, used in Russia.

FPO PB16, used in Russia.

FPO PB22, used in Russia.

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FPO PB33, used in Russia.

FPO PB44, used in Russia.

FPO PB55, used in Russia.

FPO PB66, used in Russia.

FPO PB77, used in Russia.

FPO PB88, used in Russia.

FPO PB99, used in Russia.

FPO Q.1, 1st Brigade Machine Gun Corps, re-designated 1st Tank Brigade.

FPO Q.2, 2nd Brigade Machine Gun Corps, re-designated 2nd Tank Brigade.

FPO Q.3, 3rd Brigade Machine Gun Corps, re-designated 3rd Tank Brigade.

FPO Q.4, 4th Tank Brigade.

FPO Q.5, 5th Tank Brigade.

FPO S.A.1, South African Brigade.

FPO S.E.Y, South East Mounted Brigade, became 3rd Dismounted Brigade.

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FPO 1.SM, FPO 2.SM & FPO 3.SM used by the Brigades of the South Midland Division before being numbered as FPO 143, FPO 144 and FPO 145.

FPO S.W.Y, South West Mounted Brigade, became 2nd Dismounted Brigade.

FPO Prefixed T, Divisional Train HQ Post Office

FPO T.1 through to FPO T.74 used at the Headquarters of the relevant Divisional Train.

As with the Divisional FPO’s the number up until June 1916 reflected the formation that the FPO was serving thus FPO T.1 served the Divisional Train of 1st Division and FPO T.50 served the Divisional Train of 50th (Northumbrian) Division.

FPO TAN4 & FPO TAN5, 4th and 5th Australian Divisional Trains.

FPO T.B, The Guards Divisional Train.

FPO TC & TC4, Dismounted Cavalry Division Train, The Train was only attached to the Cavalry Division when it was fighting dismounted.

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FPO TG, General Headquarters Train.

FPO THD, Highland Divisional Train, became FPO T51.

FPO TK, spare date stamp.

FPO TL.2, 2nd London Divisional Train became FPO T47

FPO TLL, Lowland Divisional Train became FPO T52.

FPO TM, North Midland Divisional Train became FPO T46.

FPO TN, Northumbrian Divisional Train became FPO T50 in 1916 FPO TN was allocated to the 63rd Divisional Train.

FPO TNL, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.

FPO TP1 – FPO TP5, re-designation of Canadian Divisional Trains from FPO TX1 – FPO TX5.

FPO TSM, South Midland Divisional Train became FPO T48.

FPO TW, Western Frontier Force Train, Egypt.

FPO TW1, FPO TW2, FPO TW3, FPO TW4, FPO TW5, Australian Divisional Trains. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You can download this work and share it with others as long as it is credited, but you can’t change it in any way or use it commercially © John Sheen. Email contact: [email protected]

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FPO TWR, West Riding Divisional Train became FPO T49.

FPO TX – FPO TX2, FPO TX3, FPO TX4,

Canadian Divisional Trains.

FPO TY, Spare dates stamp.

FPO TZ, New Zealand Divisional Train.

FPO V.5, FPO’s V1 – V5 were destined for a party of Royal Engineers Postal Staff going to East Africa, a British service was never started and the only date stamp used was FPO V5.

FPO W1 & FPO W2, Western Frontier Force Egypt 24 November 1915.

FPO W1, British Military Mission Rome, 1 February 1916.

FPO W2, British Military Mission Greece.

FPO W3, British Military Mission Adriatic.

FPO W4, Field Post Office on Corfu.

FPO 1W – FPO 8W, FPO W9 – FPO W11 FPO 15W. used by the Australian Brigades. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You can download this work and share it with others as long as it is credited, but you can’t change it in any way or use it commercially © John Sheen. Email contact: [email protected]

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FPO WBY, Welsh Border Mounted Brigade.

FPO 1WR, FPO 2WR & FPO 3.WR, used by the Brigades of the West Riding Division before being numbered as FPO 146, FPO 147 and FPO 148.

FPO WSY, South Wales Mounted Brigade, probable that this FPO never operated.

FPO 1X , Headquarters 1st Canadian Brigade.

FPO 2X , Headquarters 2nd Canadian Brigade.

FPO 3X , Headquarters 3rd Canadian Brigade.

FPO 4X , Headquarters 4th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 5X , Headquarters 5th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 6X , Headquarters 6th Canadian Brigade. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You can download this work and share it with others as long as it is credited, but you can’t change it in any way or use it commercially © John Sheen. Email contact: [email protected]

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FPO 7X , Headquarters 7th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 8X , Headquarters 8th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 9X , Headquarters 9th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 10X , Headquarters 10th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 11X , Headquarters 11th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 12X , Headquarters 12th Canadian Brigade.

FPO 1Y, 1st Mounted Brigade, (1st South Midland)

FPO 2Y, to May 1916 see FPO C.11.

FPO 4Y, to May 1916 see FPO C.13.

FPO 5Y, to May 1916 see FPO C.10.

FPO 7Y, to May 1916 see FPO C.14.

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FPO 8Y, to May 1916 see FPO C.11.

FPO 22Y, to May 1916 see FPO C.12.

FPO 1Z , Headquarters 1st New Zealand Brigade,

FPO 2Z , Headquarters 2nd New Zealand Brigade,

FPO 3Z , Headquarters 3rd New Zealand Brigade,

FPO 4Z , Headquarters 4th New Zealand Brigade,