Today in Postal History

Orange River Colony to Ceylon

October 18, 1901

This mourning cover  was sent from Winburg a little more than 100 km northeast of Bloemfontein.
There are two Winburg O. R. C. CDS.
t was addressed to a prisoner of war in Diyatalawa Camp, Ceylon.
Note the Hut. No/19 detail in the address.
The prisoner was taken in the Boer War.

Diyatalawa was the largest POW camp in Ceylon.
I do not know its specific location.

There is a triangular censor marking with red script initials of the censor and the date 18 - 10 - 01.
The censors didn't let the work pile up!

There is a crude straight line Pr of War handstamp
which was probably applied before the cover got very far.

There is no information on when the cover arrived in Ceylon.

The stamp is a subsequent  printing of the British Occupation
stamps of 1900 1d on Orange Free State 1d purple (SG 113).
The Orange River Colony was created by the official annexation of the Orange Free State on Ocotber 6, 1900.
The surcharge for the subsequent printing has a
narrow V and raised stops (periods) after the V, R, and I.
The surcharge was added by Curling & Co. in Bloemfontein.

The most poignant part about this cover is its condition.
It has the look of a cover which was carefully kept but also read a number of times.
Mr. Scott must have kept it carefully and read it often.
Mail is important to P.O.W.s and is often saved long after return.

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