Services Mail

This section only deals with Services mail within the UK. For an excellent introductory history of the BFPO system, go to : www.tafsc.com/PostalHistory.htm : and for the Army Postal Service in the Second World War : www.remuseum.org.uk/specialism/rem_spec_pcsww2.htm

The Fleet - Most of the mail for the fleet went to the Foreign Section in the King Edward Building, London for sorting, (the remainder was dealt with at a special Admiralty Fleet Mail Office at Reading). Mailbags were labelled with the names of ships with a code number only indicating the location for security. Each bag was sent for a destination tag affixed by a special team of men. The bags were then placed upside down in another bag bearing a destination label, but not the name of the ship.

Mail for the fleet being sorted by wrens >

Army / RAF - The Army Postal Service is operated by the Royal Engineers (RE). The APS also handled RAF mail. The organization of the APS was detailed in a manual issued in 1937.

Mail being sorted in Italy

In 1939 the main operating centre for mail to and from the army / RAF overseas was the Home Depot in the Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, London. The Home Depot was then relocated, first to Reading (16 September 1939) and then Bournemouth (1 December 1939).

'Home Depot R.E.P.S.' postmarks numbered 1 to 20 lasted from 1939 to 1942

'Home Depot' rubber postmarks from 1940.

Following the fall of France, the Home Depot became the Home Postal Centre - (HPC RE) of the Army Post Service. The HPC was based in various buildings in Nottingham from May 1941 until 1947. G.P.O. officials were enlisted into the Royal Engineers Postal Section [R.E.(P.S.)] to control this office. It was mainly staffed by women from the A.T.S. and men unfit for active service. By 1944 there were over 3000 staff at the HPC.

'Home Postal Centre' postmarks numbered 1 to 16 lasted from 1942 to 1947

For an excellent account of the work of the ATS at Nottingham, click here

The HPC was organised into various branches and departments such as sorting offices, telegrams, airgraphs, pow mail.....

.....Returned Letter Branch - mail that could not be delivered was returned via the Army Post Office or Field Post Office. Some mail could then be redirected, other mail was returned to the HPC to be dealt with by the Returned Letter Branch. Field Records were searched and if the mail was still unable to be redirected it was returned to the sender. Care was taken that returned mail intended for those missing or killed was not returned to the sender until after official notification.

Example of mail returned by the HPC in 1943 >

Closed addresses c/o APO were used for security to ensure that unit locations would not be known. The Home Depot contained a Central Location Service under high security which held army and RAF unit dispositions. Mail sent care of the Army Post Office only needed number, rank, name and unit.

Until 1940, army and RAF personnel within the UK would mainly use the civilian mail services. After the withdrawal of British Forces from continental Europe it was decided to create a Home Forces Postal Organization. This allowed for greater censorship, increased security (some base locations need to be kept secret, and also prepared in case of German invasion.

From July 1940, mail to and from British Forces in the UK was to be addressed to 'Home Forces'. Six Army Postal Distribution Centres were set up in August 1940 at London (APDC 1), Bristol (APDC 2), Leeds (APDC 3), Crewe (APDC 4), Edinburgh (APDC 5) and Belfast (APDC 6) - a seventh centre was set up in 1941 at Inverness to distribute mail from northern Scotland. These centres received mail from the HPC or direct from the Post Office and handled mail from army / RAF units.

In October/November 1942 an RAF Postal Service was created as an emergency measure (until 1947). As well as RAF Post Offices and Post Rooms in the UK and overseas, there was a RAF Postal School at Morpeth. The RAF PS worked alongside the Army Post Office.

In 1947 the Home Postal Centre was moved to Sutton Coldfield taking over the buildings previously used by the American Army Postal Depot.

Contact : Malcolm Sanders : kg6gb@hotmail.com