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ERRORS AND VARIETIES IN EARLY SOUTHERN AFRICAN POSTAL CANCELLERS AND OBLITERATORSFranco Frescura PREAMBLEThe development of a Colonial administration in the Cape of Good Hope during the eighteenth and nineteenth century relied heavily upon the ability of officials in Cape Town to maintain efficient and regular links of communication with their remotest outposts. Initially the Dutch used their network of military Field Cornets to also deliver mails and disseminate government ordinances to illiterate burgers living on the outskirts of the Colony. However, after the British annexation of the Cape in 1806, these were gradually supplanted by a system of post offices based upon the English model. After the introduction of pre-paid postal adhesives to the Cape in 1853 similarities between the two postal services increased to the point when, in 1864, they began haring the same form of cancelling instruments, which usually also originated from the same English suppliers. Thereafter, the postal infrastructure in the two countries underwent parallel, if not quite simultaneous, developments. However the process of translating a postal system designed to meet the needs of an industrialised country to a region lacking in the most basic infrastructural support, imposed a variety of stresses and demands upon the local Post Office. Owing to the distances involved, these could often only be resolved by using local ingenuity and the limited technology available to colonists. Thus we find that although the first hand-held stamp with movable dating type was issued to Cape Town as early as 1816 (figure 1), and possibly a little earlier (Goldblatt, 1984: 48), its use did not become widespread until 1853 (figure 2). Even then it was limited to only a relatively small number of post offices, possibly as few as 109 (Goldblatt, 1984: 255-257). It was only after 1864 that dating stamps began to be issued to post offices as a standard item of equipment (figure 3)(Frescura, 1982). However the practice of cancelling postal adhesives with them did not become official policy until after 1882 when they began to replace the triangular and oval barred obliterators used previously (figure 4)(Frescura, 1983). INTRODUCTIONSince the introduction of an official postal service in Southern Africa during the latter part of the eighteenth century (Goldblatt, 1984), a variety of errors have occurred, from time to time, in the make-up of hand-held postal instruments used in the cancellation and processing of local mails. Considering the nature of the early colonial postal infrastructure and the manner in which its development took place during the mid-nineteenth century, it is surprising that such mistakes are relatively few and far between. When they did occur they may be attributed to two major causes.
Although research in the field of southern African postal history is now reaching an advanced stage of documentation, to date such variants have tended to be treated as little more than oddities within the larger framework of postal development. This is incorrect. Not only does their study reveal much of the inner workings of a post office infrastructure, but the abuse of a canceller does not cease at the misspelling of its name. Instruments are known to have been damaged, worn out, vandalised and amended. They have also been altered, either in jest, or as part of a publicity stunt. For the purposes of this paper it is proposed to distinguish between those errors which have arisen as the result of the initial preparation of, or the subsequent tampering with, the hand-canceller itself, and those which are the outcome of day-to-day practical usage. ERRORS OF STRUCTURAL MAKE-UP1. ERRORS OF ORTHOGRAPHYAlthough not common, these are known to have occurred from time to time. They can probably be attributed either to a misspelling on the part of the Post Office official responsible for drawing up the brief to the die-cutter, or to the latter's unfamiliarity with local languages. The first such errors were recorded in 1853 when some ninety post offices in the Cape were issued with double oval dated town cancellers. Included amongst them was an instrument for Sir Lowry's Pass inscribed SIR LOURY’S PASS, one for Oudtshoorn inscribed OUDSTHOORN, and one for Houw Hoek, a small village in the division of Caledon, inscribed HOUW HOCK (figure 5). This canceller was to remain in use for the next forty-eight years until recalled to stores in 1901 (Goldblatt, 1984). Subsequently, in 1857, a double arc dated town canceller for Nelspoort was dispatched from England to the Cape Colony (Putzel, 1981). This post office's name was given at that time as NELLS-POORT (figure 6), probably the result of an English official's Anglicisation of the Dutch surname Nel to Nell, both names being derived from the same Irish Gaelic root (Verstappen, 1982). Another example was recorded at the Cape post office of Kraankuil, near De Aar, which was known as KRANKUIL (figures 7-8) throughout the colonial era until the mis-spelling was rectified soon after Union (figure 9). Haenertsburg, in the Transvaal Republic, suffered a similar fate in the early 1880's when the London firm of TB Berri, who manufactured their postal canceller, transposed the A and the E to read HEANERTSBURG (figure 10). It is not known when, if ever, this error was rectified. Since then similar errors have also been noted for Mount Moorosi in Lesotho, issued with a double circle canceller inscribed MOUNT MOROSI (figure 11), and at Ezulwini in Swaziland where this post office was issued with a double circle canceller inscribed EZULWENI (figures 12-13). In both these cases the error was rectified at a later stage when new instruments were issued to them. One canceller which, in the past, has been the subject of some discussion (SA Philatelist, June 1965 and February 1966), was issued by the Cape Colonial Administration in or about 1891 to the post office of Wartrail (figure 14). Although it is doubtful that its name was ever meant to be read as Wart Rail, official sources put the issue beyond doubt in 1978 when they confirmed it to be War Trail (Place Names Committee, 1978). 2. ERRORS OF DIE-CUTTINGThis is probably the most common source of error in the make-up of a canceller. It arises from the fact that the die-cutter has to engrave a mirror image of the name upon the steel plate. Whilst most of the alphabet seems to have offered few problems to this process, over the years the letters N and Z have proved to be singularly awkward. Cancellers with reversed letters have been recorded for Darling, Clanwilliam, Taungs Station, Upper Zwart Kei, Zastron and Dwaleni, Swaziland (figures 15-20). In most cases these were either replaced or amended within a year or two of usage, but in Dwaleni's instance this canceller is recorded to have been in service for nearly thirty years. Similar die-cutting difficulties appear to have been experienced at various times in the manufacture of the Barred Oval Numeral Canceller (figures 21-23) issued at Cape Town in the 1860s and 1870s. 3. RELIEF CANCELLERSThe single circle relief canceller has been a feature of the southern African postal service since at least 1898 (Frescura, 1984) when the first such instruments were issued to a small number of post offices in the Cape Colony. Their function was to replace, on a temporary basis, those cancellers which had been returned by post masters to stores for repairs and maintenance. It is doubtful that they were ever intended to serve as permanent office cancellers in their own right although some are known to have remained in use for as long as nine years. In spite of the fact that Cape reliefs were larger and generally better finished than their counterparts elsewhere in the country, issued from about 1902 onwards, at least two errors of make-up have been recorded to date. The relief for River Zonder End is unique in that its wording runs across the top of the canceller in an anti-clockwise direction (figure 24) while that for Beaconsfield shows a reversed letter E (figure 25). Relief cancellers issued subsequently by the Union Postal Administration, also known as skeleton cancellers (Berry, 1966), are noted for their rough appearance and uneven lettering (figure 26). At least one, recorded to have been used at Worcester between 6 December 1912 and 5 February 1913, was mis-spelt as WORCESTOR (figure 27), an error which appears to have been rectified on or about 4 February 1913 when a new relief canceller was issued with a broadly spaced S.A. at the base (figure 28). Similarly the relief at Caledon Square, Cape Town, delivered a strike more likely to be read as CALEDON SORE, CT, possibly indicating a shortage of the letter Q (figure 29). 4. CANCELLERS MODIFIED WITH OFFICIAL SANCTIONIt is probable that, wherever possible, alterations of a minor nature were carried out locally without necessarily referring the canceller concerned back to its original manufacturer. When the Tembuland post office of Umtentu revised its name to Mtentu in April 1884, the initial letter U was removed, either locally, or in Cape Town, thus giving its canceller strike its subsequent unbalanced appearance (figure 30). It is thought that this alteration may have taken place on or about 23 September 1887. The village was subsequently renamed Qunu in May 1905. Similar action was taken at Klipdam No. 1 when this post office, near Barkly West, simplified its name to Klipdam in July 1894 (figures 31-32). Its canceller was probably amended sometime between 23 March 1893 and 3 July 1894. Structural changes could also be made to instruments for the sake of greater efficiency. One such case was recorded at Spelonken, in the ZAR, which originally used a squared octagonal dated town canceller similar to that of Krugerspost (figure 33). This type of instrument, manufactured by the firm of DC Berri of London (Postal Canceller Collection, National Cultural and Open Air Museum, Pretoria), was introduced in southern Africa in the late 1880s as part of a larger group of experimental cancellers which delivered squared circle, crested circle, and compass wheel impressions (Frescura, 1983). Like the squared circle canceller, the squared octagon's sharp corners had a tendency to tear letters and wear unevenly. It would appear therefore that at some stage during the 1890s the postmaster at Spelonken took unilateral action and amended his instrument to deliver an octagonal strike (figure 34). It is not recorded how his superiors in Pretoria reacted to this initiative but, in view of the fact that none of the other post offices employing squared octagon cancellers are known to have followed suit, it is unlikely to have met with official sanction. 5. VANDALISED CANCELLERSVarious cases are known where official post office instruments have fallen into private or enemy hands and have either been vandalised or somehow altered in the process. However few instances have been recorded where such instruments have subsequently been returned into official postal use. For this reason the canceller of the Cape post office of Lady Grey Bridge raises a number of interesting questions. Up to about 1897 this office used a canceller of a type where the name was split into two (Nethersole and Frescura, 1983), LADY GREY being placed in the upper segment of the circle and BRIDGE in the lower (figure 35). At the same time, a second instrument appears to have been in use with the name running sequentially in a clockwise direction about the inner perimeter of the circle (Nethersole and Frescura, 1983). Between 21 April and 24 August 1900 the face of this canceller was altered, with its outer circle being deliberately broken, probably filed, into small segments (figure 36). Strikes recorded to date indicate that it found use in its mutilated form between 24 August 1900 and 4 November 1901. The circumstances behind this action are not known but it is unlikely to have been done with the official sanction of the central Postal Administration in Cape Town. It cannot be precluded that it was an isolated act of protest on the part of a bored or disillusioned postal official, done in the knowledge that this office was scheduled to be closed in the immediate future. The closure of the Lady Grey Bridge postal agency was announced in Post Office Circular No 249 of 1 August 1902 (Post Office of the CGH, POC No. 249, 1 August 1902). However this appears to have been a temporary measure for in 1904 this office was re-commissioned as a Railway Telegraph Office, which therefore was not involved in the processing of mails. In August 1905 it was renamed Huguenot (Post Office of the CGH, POC No. 286, 1 September 1905) and in August 1906 its status was revised and upgraded to a Telegraph, Money Order and Savings Bank Office, thus returning it to full postal service (Post Office of the CGH, POC No. 298, 1 September 1906). Another and perhaps better documented case of a vandalized canceller was recorded in Johannesburg in the late 1890s when the instrument at the De Beurs post office, the Bourse, was amended, quite sardonically, to read DE BEERS (Putzel, R. 1986). 6. DAMAGED CANCELLERSThese are distinct from Vandalised Cancellers (above) in that the instrument concerned may have become damaged accidentally and not as a deliberate act. One such example is recorded to have been used at Bremersdorp, Swaziland, from 1927 to about 1938, although it may have been damaged as early as November 1932 (figure 37). 7. WEAR AND TEARAlthough most cancellers used in southern Africa since the 1860s were relatively sturdy and capable of delivering a consistently clear strike, some types of instrument appeared to have been particularly susceptible to wear and clogging up through an accumulation of dirt and dried ink. This was particularly true of the squared circle canceller, an experimental instrument issued to a limited number of Cape post offices from about 1882 onwards (Frescura, 1983), which had a tendency of clogging up (figures 38-40) as well as wearing badly on its outer corners. 8. ERRORS OF TERMINOLOGYSouthern Africa's social norms and linguistic practices are rooted deeply in the country's colonial past. One of the results has been the fact that the local geographical and infrastructural nomenclature has, from time to time, found itself out of phase with the changing political climate. As a result such anachronisms as POTCHEFSTOOM NON-EUROPEAN, DURBAN INDIAN and KAFFIRSKRAAL have only been done away with in more recent times. Others however, such as Kaffir Rivier (figure 41), have yet to be obliterated from our records. FUNCTIONAL VARIETIES1. INDUCED ERRORSUntil recently few postal historians challenged the long-held belief that the use of inverted or reversed date and time code slugs in a hand canceller was the result of carelessness on the part of some junior postal official. However a perusal of official documents from the colonial era presents a somewhat different picture. Instructions given to post masters in the Cape Colony's Post Office Circular Number 5 of 1 June 1882 state, among other things, that: The figures of the Dated Stamp must be carefully adjusted at the beginning of each day, and so soon as this is done, a clear impression must be made in a book to be kept as a record." (Post Office of the CGH, POC No. 5, 1 June 1882) This point was reiterated later in the same document when postmasters were also warned that “The impression of each Stamp should be not only legible, but perfect in every particular”. In view of the frequent references made to these instructions in subsequent Post Office Circulars, it becomes obvious that the Post Office Establishment laid particular stress upon the correct use of their postal instruments. Similar regulations were published in about 1903 under the title of "Instructions for the Guidance of Head Postmasters in the Cape of Good Hope" where it was stated that: “Every precaution must be taken for the safe custody of the office date stamp, obliterating stamp and seal ... At the close of business each day all date and obliterating stamps, and seals, must be collected and placed under lock and key by a responsible officer.” (Post Office of the CGH, c1903) The significance of these instructions is clear. Cancelling instruments were handed out daily by postmasters of larger offices to the various counter clerks employed under them. Upon issue, an impression of the canceller concerned was struck into a specially designated Impressions Book where the official taking delivery of the instrument also signed it out to his name. During the course of the day this instrument was to be in his constant possession and leaving it unattended was considered to be a serious breach of Post Office conduct. The Instructions of 1903 also stated that: “When a stamp is fitted with an index letter, or figures, indicating the time, the index letter or figures must be changed punctually at the appointed times, and each of these changes must be shown in the stamp impression book. The object of the index letter or figures is to indicate the hour at which a letter is received or despatched; if, therefore, they are not changed punctually, a Postmaster may become answerable for a delay which is not real, but apparent. All impressions must be made in the book and initialled by the officers effecting the changes”. (Post Office of the CGH, c1903) Thus it is clear that postal officials were also expected to make regular changes to the time code of the instrument in their charge at predetermined times of the day. This was done because the time and dating applied by a postal official to a letter was considered to be contracturally binding and valid evidence in a court of law. Thus extreme care had to be taken that the information applied by them to the mails was as accurate as possible. In the eventuality of a dispute or a delay, the Post Office administration could then identify the official responsible through its records. Therefore, the strike delivered by a cancelling instrument did not only apply certain information to a letter, such as its origins, date and time of mailing, but it also served to identify the person in charge of the instrument at any particular time. If this was indeed the case, then the time code must also be seen to have been functional as a security device, a hypothesis supported by other studies of the Colonial Post Office elsewhere in the British Empire (Pullan, 1980). Thus, in such cases where a postal official was permitted, through any number of reasons, to absent himself from his post during the day, then his or her canceller would be passed onto another person who, in order to indicate that the instrument was now in their possession, would make subtle, but temporary, changes to its make-up and enter a strike of this under their own name in the Impression's Book. Such changes would have been in force for a few hours or a day at most. Whatever the truth of the matter, it must be concluded that changes such as those illustrated for Aliwal North, Vryburg and Sand Pits (figures 42-44) were brought about by unpredictable and transient conditions, significant only in that they record a momentary hiccup in the daily routine of a post office. The same may also have been true of the Johannesburg strike with the transposed day slugs (figure 45). 2. CORRECTIVE ERRORSPost Masters were expected to take good care not only of their finances, stock of stamps and cancellers but also of the letter and numeral type necessary to make the daily update of their instruments. The Instructions to Postmasters of 1903 stated that: “If the type is required to replace pieces lost, twopence in stamps, for each type required, must be enclosed (to the Controller of Stores)”. (Post Office of the CGH, c1903) Additional type was also distributed sparingly and postmasters were expected to requisition their Stores in good time for the numeral type to be used in a coming new year. Old type was similarly expected to be returned. Often however matters did not run smoothly: type could be lost in the mail, a requisition be delayed, a wrong slug be despatched. Upon such occasions a postmaster would be forced, by circumstances, to take interim measures, which would provide him or her with temporary relief until such a time as the necessary materials arrived from Head Office. As a result a number of ingenious short-term solutions are known to have been used. Often these would involve the simple use of a stand-in numeral or letter: the letter S for a 5, B for an 8 and, as in the case of Zastron on 4 October 1890 (figure 14), a D substituted for the zero. In the case illustrated (figure 46) the postmaster at Sea Point used an inverted 4 as a surrogate 7. On New Year's Day, 1900, however, the postmaster of Lady Grey must have run out of zeros for he used the numbers 19 to represent that year (figure 47). By the 6 March, nearly three months later, his additional type had still not arrived (Welz, 22 February 1989. Plate 13, lot 175) and this abbreviation was still in use. The postmaster at Burghersdorp, faced with a similar problem on 15 January 1900, merely omitted the year type from his canceller altogether (Welz, 22 February 1989. Plate 13, lot 172). Where no surrogates were possible, locally-made hand stamps could always be used (figure 48) and when all else failed the necessary additions were made in manuscript (figure 49). CONCLUSIONSVarieties to be found in the make-up of southern African postal cancellers and obliterators may thus be ascribed to three major factors:
Their rarity tends to vary considerably from factor to actor. Some, by their very nature, were transient and may have been the result of some postal official's temporary indisposition. Others however may have found use for much longer periods, months or even years, before the error was finally rectified. Generally speaking however scarcity ought to be measured according to three major criteria:
Thus, although an inverted time code or date type may be a relatively rare occurrence in the life of an individual post office, this was a practice which found daily use in the running of a larger postal infrastructure. As such it was not rare and, barring some interesting exceptions, is probably not worthy of individual in-depth research. Similarly, a study of reversed and inverted letters and numerals may produce a number of striking and amusing varieties but will reveal little of the social, political and economic factors involved in the running of a postal service. Their scarcity need only be measured according to the size of post office concerned and the instrument's duration of service. On the other hand the deliberate alteration or vandalisation of postal instruments provides a field rich in historical research and discovery. The structural form of a canceller may be tampered with for any number of reasons but, be they acts of war, wilful destruction or deliberate re-utilisation, they are all the product historical factors and human events. As such then each impression delivered by such a canceller retells a story and reveals something of the human condition. Therefore, whatever their nature, it becomes obvious that variations in the make-up and usage of post office instruments are not the esoteric manifestation of technical failing or human error, but are direct reflections of the inner workings of a postal infrastructure. POSTSCRIPTI wish to extend my grateful thanks to my colleagues Mike Nethersole, Athol A Murray, Gustav Bulbring, Colin Johnson and Werner K Seeba whose assistance in the formulation of these ideas has been invaluable. This paper was originally published in the South African Journal of Cultural and Art History, 1989, 3(3): 195-202, under the title Errors and Varieties in Early Southern African Postal Cancellers and Obliterators. It was subsequently reprinted in the SA Philatelist, Vol 65, No 3 and 4, March and April 1989. 54-56 and 85-87, and in Forerunners, Vol 6, No 1, 38-46 (March-June 1992). California. BIBLIOGRAPHYBERRY, TB. 1966. South African Post Marks. Johannesburg, Philatelic Federation of South Africa.
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