News

With nearly 2,400 Library Books available to members, our Webmaster Mark Bailey FRPSL has added a plugin to the website (Ivory Search) that has allowed him to add a search box to the Library pages. It searches just the library books that we have detailed on the website. The search has been configured so that […]

Aprils ZOOM displays  were well received by all attendees. “The Legacy of British Slavery” which was timed to coincide with a similar themed exhibition at the Postal Museum London, from April 5th. And Michael Waugh’s ” Pre-stamp Mail from the Straits Settlements.”  

Our third ZOOM display of 2025 was held on Monday 3rd March at 2.30pm. Julian H Jones FRPSL  gave a display entitled “Communications from onboard Ship” which went into a lot of detail about Ocean Mail. That is the use of wireless to send personal messages from off a ship when it was out of

We heard today, that our Honorary Life Member, Prue Henderson, died in January, she was 94. Some of you will remember George and Prue who were long standing members of the society. Prue was the librarian from 1978 until 2007 and both were very knowledgable collectors of French material.  

Our second ZOOM display of 2025 was held on Monday 3rd February. Michael Waugh FRPSL  gave a display entitled “Getting mail out of Siam from early times to the 1940s” . It proved to be a fascinating account of the history of  the Postal service of Siam from  prestamp up until the turbulent times in

It is with much sadness that we received the news of the passing in late December of Constanza Dennis (1990-2024). She was Managing Director of Grosvenor’s. So very young. Such very sad news.

Our first ZOOM Display of 2025 was held on January 6th 2025.  John Scott FRPSL kindly agreed to give a display entitled “The evolution of the Postcard in the Victorian Era” which included the material with which he won the Society Cup at our Conference at Redditch in October. We had 15 members in attendance 

We have updated our Privacy Policy in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act (2018) and it can be viewed at the bottom of every page of our website. Rest assured we take our responsibilities with regards how we store/use the personal information you give us very seriously. If you have any questions

Severn Valley Railway Museum Kidderminster Our Membership Secretary Clive Jones has been able to finalise our Joint meeting with the Midlands Postal History Society. It will be taking place on 1st November 2025 at the Severn Valley Railway Museum in Kidderminster

It has been announced that the final day of our Conference in Torquay on Sunday the 5th of October 2025 will be a joint event with the SW region of the RPSL. Watch this space for more details.

We have taken the decision to publish a list of all those men & women who have been instrumental in making the Society what it is today. It can be viewed on the Members section of the website. Click on a link below to see the appropriate list Presidents    Hon. Secretaries    Hon. Treasurers    Hon. Editors

The December ZOOM meeting was heralded a success by all present. 18 members were in attendance to see 8 displays on the theme of Christmas. We began with a Christmas themed competition which had been arranged by our Webmaster and Treasurer Mark Bailey. He showed 6 Christmas Airletters from the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s and

The ZOOM meeting held on November 5th did not disappoint. The displays were from 2 well known collectors in their chosen fields. Julian Bagwell showed pieces from the Guernsey Occupation period & Gerald Marriner FRPSL showed Channel Islands Destination Mail. The displays were interesting and informative and were met very positively by all present.

Details of the 2024 Conference. The 2024 PHS Conference at Redditch had 20 members in attendance. The Gilbert Cup was won by Julian H Jones FRPSL, The Society Cup was won by John Scott FRPSL and the Presidents Prize was won by the President Elect Clive Jones. The AGM Minutes, Treasurers and Secretary’s report will

The ZOOM Meeting dates for the coming year have been added to the website. 2025 sees a return to the first Monday of the Month at 2.15 for 2.30pm. Once again there will be no ZOOM meeting in August due to holiday commitments. Finally we are always looking for members to give displays. Please contact

October’s ZOOM Meeting was on Monday October 7th at 2.30. Adrian Pearson gave a fascinating display entitled “Charles 1st to Charles 3rd – All change at the top” with much emphasis on Postal History from the 17th & early 18th Centuries. Of particular interest were an original Pengelly letter (which it is thought was the

In advance of our upcoming AGM on October 20th, nominations are needed for a Conference organiser. Our current Conference organiser Claire Scott is stepping back from the role after a number of years in post. The Conference Organiser is responsible for organising the Society’s annual Conference. A task which will hopefully be shared by a

September’s PHS ZOOM display was given by Terry Woods, the Editor of “The Scottish Post” The Journal of the Scottish Postal History Society. Entitled “Scotland’s First Registration Labels” it began with the introduction of Registered mail from 1841 up to the start of registration labels in 1907 and then showed the different types used in

The Editor of the PHS Journal asked that a message be sent to all members who were considering sending an article to the Journal, with details of font sizes that are best suited for the purpose. She does not have software to convert PDFs and asked that articles be sent to her in Word using

We have created a new email address enquiries@postalhistory.org.uk to act as a single point of contact for all enquiries relating to the Society and Postal History in general. This has been necessitated by an increase in requests to the Society for information that needed a focussed response. Members will still be able to contact the

The recent joint meeting held with the RPSL in York was hailed a success by all attendees. There were 44 delegates on the day with just over half giving displays which were described as interesting and varied. Ranging from displays of rarely seen Freefronts to correspondence from Ambulance barges in WW1 there was something for

Our Webmaster Mark Bailey FRPSL has been updating the website. We now have the Minutes and Accounts from the last 3 AGMs available to all members through the members portal. He has also been busy uploading back numbers of the Journal, starting with the first Issue in 1936, he is up to 1951. They are

Our 7th ZOOM Meeting for 2024 was held on Monday 1st July at 2.15 for 2.30. We had two displays, the first from Robert McMillan FRPSL and the second from his wife Daphne McMillan FRPSL. Robert showed recent acquisitions to his collection of the Postal History of Kingston upon Hull and Daphne gave a display

The decision to implement a Relative support initiative was approved at June’s Council meeting. You will shortly be receiving the latest copy of the Society Journal which will include a flyer with more details. This has come about due to questions being asked by the families of members who have died, who were unsure who

By now you may have noticed some changes to the website. On the Members page you will see details of up and coming events with the relevant Booking Forms available to download. We have also introduced a Links page which can be viewed by clicking the link on the Home page. If you know of

The June PHS ZOOM meeting held on 4th June was very well received. We had an informative talk on the pre-stamp Postal History of Kings Lynn given by Mike Kentzner. It was punctuated with fine examples of the Mileage marks, Penny Post stamps and Town stamps of Kings Lynn up to 1840. The display was

The fourth PHS ZOOM meeting of 2024 was on Monday 6th May at 2.30pm.  We had 12 members attend and saw 2 fascinating displays. The first was given by Julian Bagwell on the British Levant 1855-1923 and we spent a very interesting hour in his company learning all about British Post Offices in the declining

At the Council meeting held on Friday 26th April, Council were very pleased to appoint Mike Hoffman as Council Member2. He will be assisting our Webmaster Mark Bailey FRPSL, as Deputy Webmaster. Another very influential addition to the team running the PHS. A warm welcome to him.

At the recent ABPS Spring National Philatelic Exhibition 2024 the following PHS members won prizes Paul Latham-Warde Ephemera GB Postal Scales Best in Class Kim Stuckey Postal History West Falkland Large Gold Julian Jones Postal History Freight Money Letter Era 1838-1848 Large Vermeil Gerald Mariner,German Occupation of the Channel Islands – Disruption to the Mail

We had 11 participants for the April 2024 ZOOM meeting. 2 displays were shown, the first by a Canadian PHS Member Duncan Barber which dealt with GB Registered Express Letters 1912-1982 and the second by our Treasurer Julian Tweed FRPSL entitled Robert Mitford A Life in 11 letters a Napoleonic Gentleman. All present agreed they

At the Council meeting held on Monday 4th March Council were very pleased to appoint Joan Harmer from New York. Joan is the first Overseas representative on the Council and will be an important and hopefully very influential addition to the team running the PHS. A warm welcome to her.

The March ZOOM meeting was made up of 2 displays. The first was given by Claire Scott FRPSL. A fascinating display of “Context Postal History” being a collection of letters home from the British Submariner William Greenall Coe covering the time from his basic training in 1912 up until his final letter, following the loss

Today we learnt the sad news that Gavin Fryer, RDP, FRPSL has died. Our condolences to his family.

Last nights ZOOM meeting (6th February) proved to be very informative. 19 members were in attendance. Malcolm Coe began by giving a detailed account of the use of Talismanic numbers on Sudanese Postage at the beginning of the 20thcentury. They were written on the front to encourage all concerned to speed them to their destination

Hello, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself to you as the new Honorary Secretary of the Postal History Society, following the very sad and sudden passing of my predecessor Steve Ellis FRPSL in November 2023. Steve was a very hard working secretary for the Society and I’m sure he will

Steve Ellis’s funeral will take place on the 19 December at Stoke on Trent. Please see your e-mails for details.