British W.i. In Triangle Cancel?

The lists linked to above only provide the codes for locations outside London.

A code you will not find in the list is MTP, which was the Mount Pleasant factory. Mount Pleasant was the main parcel sorting office, but also handled enormous numbers of second class mail and printed matter.

The MTP cancels are quite distinctive as they also employed numbers in addition to the MTP code letters. The first series was numbered 1 to 60, replaced by a second larger series 1 to 100 in 1908. There were various types including those with minted corners and those with the numerals breaking the sides of the triangle.

Triangles can also be found with stops after the letters (M.T.P.) and inserted numbers, and it appears these were used as replacements for regular cancels that were lost or damaged and awaiting repair/replacement.

Here is an example of a temporary replacement cancel M.T.P. 37



The numbered cancels had specific functions. Numbers 1 to 5 were used for Morning Duty; Numbers 6 to 25 for Mid-day Duty; Numbers 26 to 45 for Evening Duty; Numbers 46 to 50 for Mid-Night Duty; Numbers 51 to 55 for use on items other than printed matter, and Numbers 56 to 60 were held in reserve as replacements or if an unusually large volume of articles required processing.




With the three-lettered cancels there were 18,000 possible combinations that could be used. The Post Office used approximately 7,000 before the introduction of numbered triangular stamps.

Nice information
duly squirrelled away for later study.

Thanks for the link also. If I used it correctly, then the FS is Fenchurch Street?



What does the L stand for in the machine cancel and the 111 in the handstamp?

Waiting on shipment of my Great Britain Printed Matter Cancel catalog

That is a good one there Battlestamps.

Generally the provincial cancels only had letters, no numerals. Your cover was actually sent from one of the special offices in London.

For the Swedish destination, the cover was dealt with by the Foreign Section (hence F.S.).

According to my notes, the numbers 1 to 90 were used at the Foreign Section, with 91 to 100 held in reserve. The number 111 seems unusually high, and I can't explain it. I am sure someone else will have the answer.

The second machine triangular cancel is interesting. The 'L' denotes that the article was posted too late for the night mail.

In all, a nice cover.

Thanks for the information Plateflaw. There's a little information in the "Collect British Postmarks" book, but not much detail at all.

Don't know how I missed plateflaw's lists the first time around, but glad I found them.

At the bottom of the pages is a link to an explanatory article, and at the bottom of that article is a link to the New Zealand codes.

Fantastic stuff. Thanks.