1958-1971 The Time of Day in the Mobile Office.
The commemorative handstamp postmarks allowed for a time to be shown. All mail requesting registration needed to be dealt with in the mobile office at Ground as a registration service using the commemorative postmarks was not provided in the main office. The main purpose of the mobile office was to provide a registration service.
Generally, the space for the time in the handstamp was left blank but there were two exceptions. Ordinary non-registered mail posted in the mobile office Mondays to Fridays was normally brought to the main office for postmarking where a time was always shown in the handstamp. The main office did not stay open on Saturday afternoons and on weekdays it closed late afternoons, therefore, ordinary mail posted in the mobile office on Saturdays and during the week after the last collection of mail for the main office had gone, was then postmarked in the mobile office. This led to some non-registered mail being postmarked in the mobile office with no time shown and some registered mail being postmarked showing a time. The situation was further complicated when in years 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1971 it become a rule that all mail postmarked in the mobile office, including registered mail, for some reason did show a time, unlike other years when a time was not generally shown.
Like the main office nine different times were used in the mobile office beginning with 12.45.PM but as the mobile office stayed open later and 8.15.PM and 8.30.PM were also used.
It was not readily practical to keep changing the time in the handstamp when stamping registered mail requiring receipts so, the space for showing the time was left blank. As there was no immediate requirement to deal with ordinary mail a time was inserted in the handstamp and dealt in batches at different times throughout the afternoon, although, for some reason, this did not apply to years 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1971 when both registered and non-registered mail were handstamped showing a time as done in the main office.
Postmarked in the mobile office 8.30.PM, Friday, 30th June 1961, the last time in the day
8.30 PM was only used in the mobile office and it was the last time in the day to be used before closing.
1969 Time in the Mobile Office
This stamped and addressed envelope would have been mailed to the main office requesting that it be dealt with in the mobile office. It would have been taken to the Ground when making the last collection of the day for the main office about 4 pm. As it was being dealt with by post there was no need to deal with it immediately (the receipt was returned in the envelope) and could be handstamped together with the ordinary unregistered mail that had missed the last day’s collection for the main office. From 1958 to 1966 and again in 1968, it had been normal for registered mail to be handstamped without a time shown however, in 1967,1969,1970 and 1971 it was the practice to show a time in the handstamp. It could have the case that there was hardly any call for registration at the mobile office, all such requests being made by post. For those four years there are no examples known where the handstamps do not show a time when used to cancel stamps, only as a cachet.
A register letter postmarked 8.15.PM Friday, 27th June 1969. That year the handstamp with smaller gap between the words ALL ENGLAND was used in the mobile office.
The receipt would have been returned in the envelope.
1971 Time in the Mobile Office
It is likely that the addressee prepared this letter for registration asking for it to be postmarked in the mobile office with the commemorative handstamp showing no time, as was done in earlier years. However, since 1967 (apart from 1968) the rule was to include a time in the handstamp when cancelling stamps. Here, it was decided to cancel the stamps with the circular date stamp and apply the commemorative handstamp as a cachet with the time left blank to get round the rule. It is unusual cover.
A registered letter postmarked on the first day of The Championships, Monday, 21st June 1971. In 1971 the handstamp with the smaller gap between the words ALL ENGLAND was used in the mobile office.
The receipt would have been returned in the envelope. The mobile circular date stamp was for use on registered items, principally for registration receipts.
1965-1971 Without Time in the Mobile Office
As in previous years in 1965, 1966 and 1968 ordinary non-registered letters posted at Ground after the last collection of the day of mail for the main office had gone, and on Saturdays, was postmarked in the mobile office without a time shown in the handstamp, as was also generally the case with registered mail. Other years, 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1971, a time was always required to be shown. It is not known why the practice introduced in 1967 of always showing time was not applied in 1968.
1968 was the last year that stamps were cancelled with the handstamp with the space to show a time left blank. That year the handstamp with the smaller gap between the words ALL ENGLAND was used in the mobile office.
Non-registere mail postmarked Wednesday, 26th June and Monday, 1st July, with no time shown.
An ordinary non-registered letter handstamped on Saturday 6th July, the last day of The Championships.
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