1809 letter to the Captain of HMS Tartar, part of the British Baltic Fleet, from his wife. The cover that started me researching the Harwich packets since nothing then published could tell me why it was charged 2/2d, why endorsed “via Gottenburg”, and how it got to destination. Six years later have now written two books, volume 1 covering the war period 1793-1815, volume 2 the peacetime period 1816 to end of the Harwich service in 1834.

An engraved letter sheet depicting the fire at the Tower of London on 3rd October 1841 published by Crosland & Co and posted by a late Sergeant Major in the Rifle Brigade at the Tower to the Chelsea Pensioners’ Office in December 1841

“1676 entire letter from Corfu to Venice inscribed ‘Con un huomo in ferro’ (‘with a man in irons’). The letter accompanied a recaptured prisoner being returned in shackles to complete his sentence as a galley slave.”

The Post Office Harwich Sailing Packets in War and Peace 1793 – 1834 – Colin Tabeart, RDP
Colin Tabeart was born in 1940, & educated at Sir John Lemn School in Beccles and Jesus College, Cambridge. Spend 31 years as an engineer in the submarine service of the Royal Navy. Started collecting maritime postal history in 1970. Invited to join Society of Postal Historians in 1980, becoming a Fellow and President. First book on UK Letter Rates published 1989 sold over 1000 copies in 3 editions. Nine further books published subsequently. The first Englishman awarded the Research Medal of the Australian Philatelic Society plus research medals from the Forces Postal History Society and the British Society of Australian Philately. Invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2017. Does not exhibit competitively but displays to local Societies in the south of England regularly.

Writing Paper 1800 – 1870 – John Scott
John Scott is the Librarian of The Postal History Society, a Fellow and past Council Member of The Royal Philatelic Society London and the Immediate Past Keeper of The Royal Philatelic Collection. He is also an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society on the theme of written
communication and is studying for a PhD at the University of Reading on the impact of societal and technological changes on the development of topographical and comic writing paper in the UK between 1830 and 1870. He is also a Life Member of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society.

Mail to and from the Ionian Islands to 1864 – Keith Brandon
” Keith Brandon was born in Coventry, England in 1946 and is a retired businessman. His main collecting interest is the postal history of the Austrian Empire, but in the last few years he has developed an interest in the postal history of the Ionian Islands. He does not exhibit competitively.
He has been on the committee of the Austrian Philatelic Society for some twenty years, serving as President, Auctioneer and Secretary, and is a member of several other national and specialist societies. He is co-author of ‘The Story of the Austrian Post to 1850’, which won an International Gold Medal in 2022.”
The Islands were part of the Republic of Venice until 1897. Control changed hands several times during the Napoleonic Wars before becoming a British protectorate in 1815. In 1864 the Islands were handed over to and unified with Greece.

Register Now