London District Office (GB)

Illustration Ref:H.C.Westley- Postal Cancellations of London, 1840-1890

As the postal operations increased, it became necessary to split the operations of The London GPO into Mail that was circulating within London and Mail that was going out of London. Mail that was posted and staying in London became the domain of the London District Post. Mail going out of London went to the Inland Office. These Postal cancellations came into being in 1844. The postal offices within the London Districts were each given a numbered cancellation for use on mail. Each of these offices were grouped into what were known as Routes or Rides, feeding post into the center of London to the Chief Office and feeding from the Chief Post office back out into the London area. The following link is a zoomable map of the London Rides (in Red). London Rides

Ref: John Parmemter - Low Number Suburban Ovals

The London District Post consisted of three catergories:

1 - Suburban Receiving Houses in the Country Area of the London District Post, Numbers 1- 42, 49 and 59 to 62

2 - Town Receiving Houses in the Town Area of the London District Post, Numbers 43 to 48

3 - The Chief Office, Numbers 50 to 80

The following are examples of the Low Number Cancellations from the Suburban offices in the London District Post. The first series were issued during May 1844 and consisted of numbers 1 to 48. Each is a number within a circle enclosed by an oval of horizontal bars. These cancellations are all scarce to very rare.Some exist only within the GPO Proof book. Generally coloured black but many also exist in blue, and occasionally in green or other colours.

The Rides were as follows, generally ending in an office of the General Post:

ROUTE 1 Highate (1) - Finchley (2) - Whetstone (3) - Barnet (937)

ROUTE 2 Hampstead (4) - Hendon (5) - Edgeware (6)

ROUTE 3 Stoke Newington (7) - Tottenham (8) - Edmonton (10) Enfield (11)

ROUTE 4 Bow (12) - Stratford (13) - Ilford (17

ROUTE 5 Leyton (14) - Woodford (15) - Chigwell (16) ) - Later addition of Romford (668)

ROUTE 6 Deptford (18) - Greenwich (20) - Woolwich (21) - Eltham (22) - Bexley (23)

ROUTE 7 Dulwich (24) - Sydenham (25) -Beckenham (26) - Later addition of Bromley (144)

ROUTE 8 Clapham (27) - Tooting (28) - Mitcham (29) - Carshalton (30)- Later addition of Croydon (938)

ROUTE 9 Wandsworth (31) - Putney (32) - Mortlake (33) - Richmond (34) - Twickenham (35) - Hampton (36) - Later addition of Kingston (422)

ROUTE 10 Brompton (37) - Kensington (38) - Hammersmith (39) - Acton (40) - Brentford (41) - Later addition of Hounslow (394)

• Note: Paddington (42) In August 1850 Paddington was changed to number 59 and three additional offices were added to the Harrow ride, which became:

Paddington (59) - Kilburn (60) - Willesden (61) - Harrow (62)

Low Number Suburban Oval Cancellations of the London District Post 1 - 42

Note: No. 49 (Greenwich) is known used from September 1859, the date of issue is unknown.

No. 1A Highgate - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 01a.jpg No. 1A Highgate - Blue	No. 2 Finchley - Black More Images	No. 2 Finchley - Blue More Images
No. 3 Whetstone - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 03a.jpg No. 3 Whetstone - Blue	File:London District Office (GB) 04a.jpg No. 4 Hampstead - Black
No. 5 Hendon - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 05a.jpg No. 5 Hendon - Blue	No. 6 Edgeware - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 06a.jpg No 6 Edgeware - Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 07.jpg No 7 Stoke Newington - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 07a.jpg No 7 Stoke Newington - Blue	No 8 Tottenham - Black	No 8 Tottenham - Blue
No. 10 Edmonton - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 10a.jpg No 10 Edmonton - Blue	File:London District Office (GB) 11.jpg No 11 Enfield - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 11a.jpg No 11 Enfield - Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 12.jpg No. 12 Bow - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 12a.jpg No. 12 Bow - Blue	No. 13 Stratford - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 13a.jpg No 13. Stratford - Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 14.jpg No. 14 Leyton - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 15.jpg No. 15 Woodford - Black	No. 15 Woodford - Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 16.jpg No. 16 Chigwell - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 16a.jpg No. 16 Chigwell - Blue	File:London District Office (GB) 17.jpg No. 17 Ilford - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 17a.jpg No. 17 Ilford - Blue
No. 18 Deptford - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 18a.jpg No. 18 Deptford - Blue	No. 20 Greenwich - Black	No. 20 Greenwich - Blue More Examples
No. 21 Woolwich - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 21a.jpg No. 21 Woolwich - Blue	No. 22 Eltham - Black	No. 22 Eltham - Dark Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 23.jpg No. 23 Bexley - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 23a.jpg No 23 Bexley - Blue	File:London District Office (GB) 24.jpg No. 24 Dulwich - Black
File:London District Office (GB) 25.jpg No. 25 Sydenham - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 26.jpg No. 26 Beckenham - Blue	File:London District Office (GB) 26a.jpg No. 26 Beckenham - Black
No. 27 Clapham - Black	No. 27 Clapham - Blue	No. 28 Tooting - Black	No. 28 Tooting - Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 29.jpg No. 29 Mitcham - Black	No. 29 Mitcham - Violet	No. 30 Carshalton - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 30a.jpg No. 30 Carshalton - Blue
File:London District Office (GB) 31.jpg No. 31 Wandsworth - Black	No. 32 Putney - Black
File:London District Office (GB) 33.jpg No. 33 Mortlake - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 33a.jpg No. 33 Mortlake - Blue	No. 34 Richmond - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 34a.jpg No. 34 Richmond - Blue
No. 35 Twickenham - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 35a.jpg No. 35 Twickenham - Blue	No. 36 Hampton - Black	No. 36 Hampton - Blue
No. 37 Brompton - Black	No. 37 Brompton - Blue	No. 38 Kensington - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 38a.jpg No. 38 Kensington - Blue
No. 39 Hammersmith - Black	No. 40 Acton - Black
No. 41 Brentford - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 41a.jpg No. 41 Brentford - Blue	File:London District Office (GB) 42.jpg No. 42 Paddington - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 42a.jpg No. 42 Paddington - Blue

Low Number Town Oval Cancellations of the London District Post 43 - 48

File:London District Office (GB) 45.jpg No. 45 Portland Street - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 46.jpg No. 46 Stepney - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 48.jpg No. 48 Shoreditch - Black
File:London District Office (GB) 49.jpg No. 49 Greenwich - Black	File:London District Office (GB) 49a.jpg Greenwich - Black

Chief Office Numbers 50 to 80

52 District Office cancel of Chief Office

52 District Office cancel of Chief Office on Plate 3 with Guideline through value and RH letter

53 District Office cancel of Chief Office

53 District Office cancel of Chief Office on cover	55 District Office cancel of Chief Office	54 District Office cancel of Chief Office
55 District Office cancel of Chief Office on 1d Red Plate 99 DL	60 District Office cancel of Chief Office	60 District Office cancel of Chief Office

63 District Office cancel of Chief Office 62 District Office cancel used at the Chief Office until 1850

62 District Office cover with Up(per) Baker Str(eet) straightline cancel in blue. 63 Holborn E C straightline cancel

64 District Office cancel of Chief Office 66 Chief Office cancel on Plate 57

67 Chief Office cancel on Plate 64

71 District Office cancel of Chief Office. With Long Acre receivers.

72 District Office cancel of Chief Office.

GB 1d Red Plate 200 JK 73 District Office cancel of Chief Office.

77 District Office cancel of Chief Office

79 District Office cancel of Chief Office sent from Lombard Street to King's Cross with 2 x 1d Die II Reds from Plate 27 79 reverse of cover District Office cancel of Chief Office sent from Lombard Street to King's Cross

Numerals transferred out of the Chief Office due to expansion of Districts

56 Smallbury Green Isleworth

Formerly used at the Chief Office between 1844-1858 it was transfered from t Chief Office to Smallbury Green on 11th October 1858 and remained there until August 1890 when it was transferred to South Woodford according to the records, but probably not issued.

56 on cover from Smallbury Green, Isleworth backstamp 1869 to Bangor Penny Plate number 120

56 on cover from Smallbury Green, Isleworth backstamp 1869 to Bangor

Tottenham

Tottenham was issued with the #8 district cancel then the #45 district cancel and finally the #74 district cancel before eventually receiving the 117 English cancel in 1874. It was then again issued with the #80 district cancel of London after further changes to the London offices.

74 Tottenham cancelling 1855 Die II Plate 30

Miscellaneous Cancels

Duplex cancels

A series of Duplex cancels were issued in 1853 with numbers from 71 to 80
They were succeeded by another type in 1855 again numbered 71-80 and again by a third series in 1857.

#72 duplex from the first 1855 issue of handstamps. '8MG Aug 24 53 signifying morning post usage.

#72 duplex from the first 1855 issue of handstamps. '2 JU 16 53. Also shows Leadenhall-St Receivers mark

Kentish Town

KENTISH-TOWN NW 9 in circle District Office cancel 1881

Despatch marks

London District Despatch mark on letter to Nova Scotia, for Packet letters. Codes used included L, D and N, with L for London