Indian Contingent To The China Expeditionary Force

This example has a cancel F.P.O.N and a squiggle and 4. I am aware of simple F.P.O. overprints but not F.P.O.N. Could somebody please explain the cancel.
Winston

It's an FPO No. 4 CDS. Sorry I can't tell you where it was used.

I think you'll find that it is F.P.O. No.4. The o in No. has a hyphen under it.

Some interesting information about the C.E.F. stamps can be found here:

http://indianpostagestamps.com/mili...mps_CEF.html

The Br. India C.E.F. FPO 4 cds dt. March 12,1904? (12 MA 04) on this Br. India 1900 8A SG C8 is Virk type 54/Proud type D6/Franks type F1/Hurt type 4/Padget type 40, used in Tianjin where FPO 4 functioned from May 2,1901 to March 1908 during its second stint there.

This cds type having 25mm diameter is recorded to be used in black earliest on August 8,1900 by Proud and latest use is recorded by Virk on January 23,1908 as receiving mark on a Pension Circular (sent from Rawalpindi).
Proud erroneously recorded the latest date of use as June 1,1907.

But both Franks and Hurt reported this cds used in purple ink but only on a single cover.

It may also be mentioned that Virk records an example of Br. India C.E.F. stationery used in India bearing Virk type 54 cds of FPO 4 used as a receiving mark.

A Br. India 1900 ½A C.E.F. turquoise green H&G IB3/Lang ME3 envelope was used in Kanpur on January 7,1901 which was received by FPO 4 on February 9,1901.

References:
1. Postal History of Indian Milirary Campaigns C.E.F. The China Expeditionary Force 1900-1923. Diljit Singh Virk, John Chandler Hume, Derek Lang and Gerald Sattin.
Ed. Diljit Singh Virk and Gerald Sattin.
Philatelic Congress of India, New Dilli and The Army Postal Service Association, New Dilli 1992
Part I: Postal History
Chapter VII: Postal Markings and Their Recorded Use Types of Recorded Postmarks; p.45
Table II: The Types of Postal Markings of the Field Post Offices of the C.E.F. 1900–1923; p.51
Table III: Field Post Offices–Earliest and Latest Recorded Use; p.52

2. History of thr Indian Army Postal Service (Vol.I: 1854-1913).
Edward Wilfried Baxby Proud.
Proud-Bailey Company Limited, Heathfield, England 1984
Chapter XVII: Chinese Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.); p.311

Locations of Br. Indian C.E.F. FPO 4 (1900-1908)

07.31.1900.–10.31.1900. Tianjin
11.13.1900.–04.30.1901. Tanggu
05.02.1901.–3/1908. Tianjin

Brief History of Br. Indian C.E.F. FPO 4 (1900–1908)

FPO 4 arrived in Tianjin on July 30,1900 and opened there next day in the premises of Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China as the Station PO Tianjin but later moved to 2 Victoria Terrace.

FPO 4 forwarded the Guzzi mailbags sent from FPOs 1&2 in Tianjin and it also prepared closed mail bundles for FPO 9 in Weihaiwei, FPO 11 in Sinho and Base PO in Hiong Gong vide Memorandum 2½ dt. August 1,1900 of WT van Sommeren, Chief Superintendent of Post Office CFF.

It functioned as an Advance Sorting PO till October 31,1900 when Base PO B took this charge but before that van Sommeren sent some more personnels to reinforce FPO 4 which was very busy FPO which explains why FPO 4 postmarks are relatively common among other C.E.F. FPOs.

After the opening of the rail line between Shanhaiguan and Tongshan on November 9,1900 for RMS, FPO 4 was sent to Tanggu on November 10,1900 where it opened on November 13 as a link post office for mail to Tongshan and it then functioned as an Advance Sorting Office for 3 Infantry Brigade led by AIF Reid when Dagu Port reopened in March 1901.

FPO 4 returned back to Tianjin on May 1,1901 where it reopened next day and in August 1901, AB Thompson, CSPO CFF made arrangement of daily visit by a postal clerk of FPO 4 to sort out and bring back Indian mail lying undelivered at the Russkií FPO in Tianjin.

FPO 4 closed down in March 1908.

Ref. Postal History of Indian Milirary Campaigns C.E.F. The China Expeditionary Force 1900–1923.
Part I: Postal History
Chapter II: Postal Organization and Deployment; p.7
Chapter IV: Mail Arrangements (2); p.23
Chapter VIII: Relations with Other Postal Administrations; p.60
Appendix B: List of Field/Base Post Offices with Locations and Dates of Operation; p.96