Postal History Corner

Sunday, July 17, 2011

1965 Sir Wilfred Grenfell

Sir Wilfred Grenfell

On July 6, 1965, Canada Post Office issue a commemorative stamp to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, British sailor and medical missionary who founded a series of hospitals, nursing stations and orphanages along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.

The Post Office press release provided this brief outline of Grenfell's accomplishments:

Wilfred Grenfell was born at Parkgate, England, in 1865. He was educated at Oxford and London Hospital and, in 1889, he joined the Mission of Deep Sea Fishermen which fitted out a hospital ship serving fishermen in the north Atlantic trade. Grenfell came to the coast of Labrador in 1892 and spent the rest of his life serving its inhabitants. He cruised the coasts each year in his hospital ship, and, in 1912, he founded the King George V Seamen's Institute in St. John's. Sir Wilfred retired from active work in 1935, but continued to work to raise funds for his welfare projects in Newfoundland and Labrador. He wrote a score of books, mostly on Maritime subjects. He was made C.M.G. in 1906 and K.C.M.G. in 1927. The stamp itself illustrates Sir Wilfred at the height of his humanitarian activities.

STAMP DESIGN

Approved Model

Designer : Harvey Thomas Prosser

National Archives of Canada

Issued Stamp

First Day Covers

Schering

H & E

Manitoulin Stamps

Chickering

Overseas Mailers

Canada Post Office Publicity First Day Cover

To Portugal

Rosecraft

Canada Envelope Company

Usages

Domestic Forward Letter

Kingston to Picton, September 13, 1965

5 cents forward letter rate

Domestic Special Delivery

Montreal to Vancouver, September 27, 1965

5 cents forward letter rate + 25 cents special delivery fee

Grenfell Mission Anniversary 1941

On December 1, 1941, Newfoundland issued a stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Grenfell Mission by Dr. Grenfell.

The cover was produced by the International Grenfell Association (I.G.A.) and mailed from St. Anthony, site of the Grenville Mission. An I.G.A. cancellation. was used to postmark the cover.

I.G.A. oval cancellation

St. Anthony, December 1, 1941

I.G.A. Post Office Cancellation

The cover below was sent from St. Anthony to St. Martin, French West Indies, April 29, 1958.

The letter was postmarked at the I.G.A. Post Office, St. Anthony. It is unusual for an organization to have its own post office.

St. Anthony (partial strike)

AP 29

I.G.A. P.O. (International Grenfell Association Post Office)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Boer War Patriotic :
Red Cross Nurses

Canada sent troops overseas for the first time to serve in the South African (Boer) War. From 1899 to 1902, over 7000 Canadians including 12 nurses served overseas. The first group of nurses sailed with the Second Canadian Contingent, arriving in Capetown between February 17 and March 21, 1900. There were four nurses : Miss D. Hercum, Miss M. Horne, Miss M. Macdonald and Miss M.P. Richardson. The nurses were assigned to Col. G.S. Ryerson, Canadian Commissioner of the British Red Cross Society and saw active service stationed at Bloemfontein.

Ed Richardson wrote about Boer War auxiliary service covers in a 1956 BNAPS Topics article, from which much of the information used for this post has been obtained.

"Daughters of the Queen" cover

Among the patriotics discussed in the Richardson article was a cover prepared for the Red Cross Society of Canada which was described as follows:

In sepia green, miniature portraits of the four nurses appear superimposed upon four maple leaves, arranged around the emblem and words in red, "Red Cross Society." At the bottom is a legend, in three lines: "DAUGHTERS OF THE QUEEN"/ Nurses With The Canadian Contingent/ South Africa. Along the left end of the envelope and reading up is "Authorized for the benefit of the Society,-Copyright apld."

The cover shown in Mr. Richardson's article was mailed from Toronto on September 11, 1900.

"Daughters of the Queen" Post Card

The design of the post card shown below is similar to the cover described by Mr. Richardson except that all written references to the Red Cross Society have been omitted and "ADDRESS ONLY THIS SIDE" was printed on the front of the card.

Berlin, Ontario to Bienne, Switzerland, November 6, 1900
2 cents UPU post card rate

The sender writes that he had received a post card that morning from Miss Bertha Gartner requesting that he send a Canadian illustrated post card to the addressee, Ms Landolt. He tells Miss Landolt that these cards weren't yet popular in Canada as they were in Europe and advises that he was only able to obtain this card in Berlin!