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The Forces PHS meeting on July 19 was dedicated to material of all periods to or from Somaliland - in all its varieties - Abyssinia/Ethiopia and Eritrea. Cliff Gregory, a newly joined member, opened the afternoon with a 30 sheet display of mail to and from members of the Somaliland Field Force which carried out expeditions between 1901 - 1904 in the attempt to arrest the "Mad Mullah". Then followed guest Simon Kelly with a correspondence from a sailor aboard HMS Octavia between 1865 and 1869 as it sailed from Portsmouth to India before providing the main support for an expedition to Abyssinia to release hostages taken by Emperor Theodore II. There were covers with the 1d soldiers/sailors rate round the Cape, the 2d rate via Suez and the 10d penalty levied when the envelopes were not endorsed by an Officer. Then followed material from before World War II displayed by John Daynes, Alistair Kennedy, Edmund Hall and Simon Kelly which focussed mainly on the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 - 36 with Italian APOs. Nick Colley also showed Italian hospital ship mail from this campaign, courtesy of Peter High. The next round covered the World War II period with John Daynes showing British Military mission mail from Ethiopia, from the British Somaliland campaign, and from Vichy French Somaliland and Italian mail from the 1941 - 42 defence of Italian East Africa. Nick Colley showed RAF covers, with Alistair Kennedy covering the entire area and all campaigns! Other displayers included: Bill Collingwood (USAAF mail from Gura), Peter O'Keefe (UK stamps with MEF and BMA overprints), Simon Kelly (unissued stamps from Ethiopia) and Michael Goodman (EA APOs). |