This was issued by overprinting the first (and the only other) Soldiers' and Seamen's Envelope of India i.e. 1879 9P Vic. vermilion on white wove paper cover (14cmX7.8cm) (H&G IB1/Lang ME1), printed by Thomas de la Rue and Company, London, England and originally released on April 1,1879.
The envelope was printed in 2 different lengths of the inscription COMMANDING OFFICER OR HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, in 53.5mm and 52mm.
Two different One Anna overprints of H&G IB2 have been recorded.
1.
2.
The envelopes were sold in packets of 16, fastened by a paper band, on which was printed 16 Soldiers' and Seamen's Envelopes Duty 9Pies.
The packets were sold to the Commanding Officers at 14A each i.e. 10½P per envelope which was variable. The packet values increased when supplied to Indian Expeditionary/Field Forces serving outside India.
These envelopes are mostly found in mint state and are very uncommon postally used.
Indian Post Office Manual 1855, edited and
published by Henry Philip Archibald Buchanan Riddell, Director General
of Post Office in India and printed by Kolkata Gazette Office, Kolkata,
in Para. 207, p.59 defines Soldiers' and Sailors' letters as those
written by and addressed to soldiers and sailors of East India Company's
or British Army/Navy.
Such letters, weighing upto 14.18gm (½oz), if franked by the Commanding Officer of the regiment or ship, could be sent from India to England or any of its colonies for 9P concessional postage, provided it was fully prepaid.
Soldiers' letters addressed to Australia or Zhongguo, if not prepaid, 2d was charged on delivery.
Ordinary rates of Indian postage were applicable on the Soldiers' letters for delivery in India.
Such letters, weighing upto 14.18gm (½oz), if franked by the Commanding Officer of the regiment or ship, could be sent from India to England or any of its colonies for 9P concessional postage, provided it was fully prepaid.
Soldiers' letters addressed to Australia or Zhongguo, if not prepaid, 2d was charged on delivery.
Ordinary rates of Indian postage were applicable on the Soldiers' letters for delivery in India.
The postage for soldiers' letters weighing upto 14.18gm (½oz), sent from
India to England and its colonies was 8P from August 18,1855 onwards,
before which soldiers' letters were carried free.
Soldiers' and Seamen's Envelopes without the
signature of the Commanding Officer of the regiment or ship in the
designated left panel, were treated by the Post Office as ordinary
civilian mail and thus were not entitled to concessional postage.
As this cover was without the signature of the CO and the sender's rank and unit information panel was left blank, the cover was required to be additionally franked with 1882 ½A (SG 85) and 1883 1A (SG 88) stamps as the postage for a letter weighing upto 14.18gm (½oz), sent from India to England was 2½A from January 1,1891 to December 24,1898.
Most likely, the cover was knowingly used by the sender as ordinary envelope.
The cds dt. October 17,1895 on the reverse of the cover is definitely the postmark of Mumbai-Adan Sea Post Office, originally established as Mumbai-As Suwais Sea PO in 1868 for sea sorting of the India-England mails but later cut short between Mumbai and Adan from 1890.
This cds type was introduced in 1873 in 6 sets, A to F.
The Mari? dispatch cds dt. October 13,1895 (4-30 p.m.) with hour type was introduced in 1895 to selected Head/Sub POs in India.
1. Lang type OS1/Samuel type 1 SPECIMEN (18.25mmX2.75mm)
2. Samuel type 8 SPECIMEN (14mmX2mm) (red ovpt.)
3. Lang type OC1/Samuel type 9 CANCELLED (17.25mmX1.75mm) (ovpt. printed by Thomas de la Rue)
4. Lang type OC2/Samuel type 11 CANCELLED (15mmX1.75mm)
5. Lang type OC3/Samuel type 13 CANCELLED (15.5mmX2.5mm) (ovpt. printed by Thomas de la Rue)
6. Lang type OC8 oval CANCELLED black mark of Stamp Office, Mumbai
For more info on this visit : http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=59966
Thanks to Joy Daschaudhuri
