Field Post Offices

[SGarnett]

Is it possible to locate the position of a Field Post Office from its postmark and if so, how?

Thank you.

[Terry_Reeves]

It's possible to tell which formation they were attached to, however, you might want to post a scan of the actuall post mark here. It's not just the FPO number and the date that are required, but also the style of ring that is important as well.

If you are unable to do that, try and find a copy of Kennedy and Crabb's "The Postal History of the British Army in WW1 - before and after - 1903 to 1929"

Terry Reeves

[SGarnett]

Cheers Terry,

I won't be able to scan the mark as I haven't got the letter at the moment. However, the mark reads:

Field Post Office

X

18 00

16

149

Would any body be able to locate that before I go after the book?

[Terry_Reeves]

It appears to have been posted on an unknown date in 1916. The actuall date should be on the postmark. 149 FPO serviced the following Brigades:

to June 1916 - 149 Brigade

June 1916 - September 1916 - 104 Brigade

October 1916 - January 1917 - 142 Brigade.

Feb - June 1917 - 166 Brigade

June 1917 - Feb 1918 - 116 Brigade

Feb - July 1918 - 182 Brigade

Aug 1918 -Feb 1919 - 2nd Tank Brigade

Feb 1919 - 149 Brigade.

Terry Reeves

[SGarnett]

Thanks Terry,

The letter was written by a Pte. William Holmes in the 1/24th London Regiment on 12th/13th October 1916, while they were being transfered to Ypres from the Somme. It is to 'one of the boys' back home in Canterbury, brief but very revealing of Holmes' reaction to his experiences, asking the recipient to advise another friend to avoid coming out for as long as possible! I haven't asked his family if I can publish it yet but as the War Diary contains a lot of locations over these days I was trying to pinpoint the exact location that he sent it.

Holmes is listed as having died on 1st January 1917 and is buried in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, near Ypres.

Steve