The Mrs. Bailey Southwell correspondence - W.W.II.
Sometime during the early 1980's this correspondence came onto the market. I remember Mike Nethersole had a box full of it as did others, there was so much in fact that to the pure philatelist they were hardly worthy of a second glance; to the Postal Historian they had everything you could wish for.
Mrs Bailey Southwell held a high position in the South African Red Cross and part of her duties was to collect and distribute gifts and comforts for the troops up north. A high percentage of the G&C was books and magazines the best of which were sent to the military leaders and the rest were distributed to the troops. This can be deducted from the 'Thank You' letter cards.
At that time I was putting my first South African W.W. II collection together and was often given the pick of what was available. In that collection I had letters from Harry Oppenhiemer and General Smut's son - Japie (I will add here that Mrs B.S. must have had a relationship with 'Ouma' Smuts as both worked with G&C for the troops up north); Both of which were with armoured cars in North Africa. General McKenzie's son was with the Red Cross in Egypt and was responsible for exchanging POW with Italy. I remember a letter from General Stephen Melville S.S.A., O.B.E. who commanded Air Force Formations in East Africa, North Africa, Madagascar and Italy and later rose to become Air Chief of Staff (and who incidentally I am distantly related to through marriage). Then of course there were Generals Everard Poole and Frank Theron. And many other who I was unable to identify at that time. On top of this among those letters I found my one and only 'Free Christmas issue Air Letter' (If you have or find any of these air letters always check across the middle of the opened letter. If I remember correctly there is a single row of printing identifying that issue). all of those letters must still be there in a dealers box or even your collection!
The letter I now have in my collection and attach is from General Everard Poole, you can see his 'self censored' signature under the censor's cachet and also his name and address appear on the inside of the letter. this was sent in July 1943 while he was G.O.C. South African U.D.F. in the Mediterranean (Armoured forces in Italy). This letter seems to be more of a personal letter to a friend as opposed to the more normal 'thank you' letters. from this air letter can be seen the historical importance of the correspondence.
Happy hunting.
Uploaded files:
