London Inland Office Branch (GB)
Pre-stamp to 1899 | 1900-1999 | 2000-Present |
The office came into existence with the end of the Two Penny Post in 1844 The Main office itself was generally known as E.C.D.O.,St.Martin’s-le-Grand, the Inland Office being a department therein. |
By 1907 ‘London Chief Office’ had moved to King Edward St, EC1 Closed 22 April 1994 |
CURRENT PAGE 1843 -1852 INLAND OFFICE (IO)
1852 -1855 PAGE TWO IO
1857-1860 PAGE THREE IO
1860 PAGE FOUR IO
1861 -1864 PAGE FIVE IO
London Inland Office Branch Cancels on the Imperf Plates a short collection up to 1855
The Inland Office (IO) which later became the Inland Branch (IB), was one of the main departments of the early developing stages in the GPO.
When the London Postal system was developing during the large increase in post, that came from Rowland Hill's Postal reforms.
Contents
The Inland Office was set up to handle mail going outside of London to the Counties and Countries of Great Britain, whilst what was the London Two Penny Post became the Other Main department at the GPO - the District Post, handling mail in and around London.
At its inception this new office was given it's own set of numeral Maltese cross cancellation devices, followed
a year later by the numeral in diamond hand-stamps.
All the numeral Maltese Cross devices has a cross at the top, however, the cross on top of the hand-stamp number 3 was damaged very early on in its history and remained in use without the cross until the Inland numerals in diamonds were introduced.
1843 Maltese Crosses
The first series of distinctive cancellations used at the London Inland Office were the numbers in Maltese Cross with crosses at the tops. MORE IMAGES
1844 - 1847 14 or 16 Bars
The first series was a set of Oval Diamond cancels issued in 1844 numbered 1-20. These had 14 or 16 Bars surrounding the oval.
Before the issue of the second series a cancel numbered 22 was issued to the Ship Letter Office This had 24 Bars.
For a complete run from the first issue see here >> 1844 Inland Diamond Series
File:London Inland Office Branch (GB) 1844 1a.jpg 16 Bars 3-10-10-3 bars |
File:London Inland Office Branch (GB) 1844 5.jpg 16 Bars 2-12-12-2 bars | |||
File:London Inland Office Branch (GB) 1844 22.jpg Issued in April 1847 to the Ship Letter office with 24 Bars. |
1844 16 Bars - later issue
1844 15 Bars - later issue
1845 14 Bars - later issue
1846 13 Bars - later issue
1847 12 Bars
The second series was a set of Oval Diamond cancels issued in 1847 numbered 1-22. These had 12 thinner Bars surrounding the oval.
1847 - 1850 12 Bars
Between 1847 and 1850 the numbers were extended beyond 22 (to 31)
1850 9 Bars
Believed to have been a full set issued in 1850 These 9 Bar cancels are very difficult to find.
Numbers known in the GPO records are 4,5,9,19 & 22, but others have been seen.
Some numbered cancellations were comprised of two or three impressions to cancel multiple stamps at one time
1851 - 11 Bars
1851 - 13 Bars
1852 - 13 Bars
1852 - 1853 12 Bars
In July of 1852 the numbers were further extended to number 37
1853 11 Bars dated duplex
In the summer of 1853 a new double, (duplex,) handstamp was introduced which for the first time, (since the introduction of postage stamps), had a box containing the date and year. The numeral was 38. It had a square boxed date portion and only 6 copies are known, 3 on cover, 3 on piece. It was replaced after about a month with a box with chamfered corners.
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Often said to be used on letters requiring a late fee, but there are many examples where there is no evidence of a late fee being paid.
1852 11 Bars singles
By the end of the year the numbers had been extended yet again to include up to number 44 and any replacement devices of the earlier numbers were done in this format
Replacement numbers
New numbers
PAGE::Adapted from Westley and other sources::