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1862 Wreck Cover Tenterfield NSW To London On P&o Colombo

 
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
323 Posts
Posted 11/12/2025   06:39 am  Show Profile Bookmark this topic Add Flightle_Bee to your friends list Get a Link to this Message



This came from an auction lot of ephemera last Saturday, mis-labelled as a letter about a wreck, not a wreck letter.

P&O Colombo sank off Ceylon 19 November 1862. All on board were rescued. P&O used divers to recover the boxes of mail. According to Dr Andrew Cheung (Hong Kong Philatelic Society) the stamps were washed off the majority of mails. The "saved" cachet was applied in London.

The cover's an entire. The missive's from a man, name at the moment unreadable, to his uncle Robert (Mawes?). Haven't worked out yet whether he's farming or prospecting.

Address is London Hele Farm Old Brouford Njidderley England.

London post office suggested trying Turnham Green, which at the time had a population of around 2,500.

The small cancel that looks like a Bishop mark I presume is a London mark of some sort?


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Pillar Of The Community
Netherlands
6564 Posts
Posted 11/12/2025   07:54 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add NSK to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
The small mark at top front with the four letters is for missorted letters.
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Netherlands
6564 Posts
Posted 11/12/2025   09:51 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add NSK to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
Must "London Hele Farm" be in London? Might that not be the reason it was missorted for London.

Could Brouford be Bromford, near Birmingham? Before WWII, the Bromford area was farmland. "Old Bromford" might have been an incomplete address that should have added street, lane, or something similar. There are both a Bromford Lane and Old Bromford Lane in the area.
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United Kingdom
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Posted 11/12/2025   10:15 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add Flightle_Bee to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks NSK! The upside-down word near the Tenterfield cancel appears to be "Walker", in the same hand as the Turnham Green note.
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Australia
156 Posts
Posted 11/15/2025   01:36 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add langtounlad to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
Could the town name be Old Bradford?

Regards
Frank
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United Kingdom
197 Posts
Posted 11/15/2025   06:51 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add pjr to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
The word you read as Njidderley is Middlesex. I think the word before it may be Brentford with the t left out.

I can't read the word between London and Farm, but I think it begins with St, not H.

Edit: It's London Stile Farm, which was near Kew Bridge. So the letter was correctly addressed!

An old Ordnance Survey map of Old Brentford might help.
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Edited by pjr - 11/15/2025 07:21 am
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