Now our Stella’s collection of first day issues is a fascinating mix of British and international history, and each envelope offers up a story.
And the two from Khartoum and Cyprus also threw up mysteries of which The First Camel Post has yet to be resolved.
I like the idea of the “Camel Post”, and there will be someone who knows much more than me about its origin and subsequent history.
What makes the Khartoum to Libya service a lot more intriguing is the over stamped message, “Camel Post Interrupted By Revolution Returned to Khartoum”, which I take was the overthrow of King Idris of Libya by Muammar Gaddafi in 1969.
So, I await chapter and verse from someone with a detailed knowledge of all things posty and Libyian.
The second card remained a mystery only until I spoke to my friend Sophia Kanaouti who lives in Athens, and translated the Greek on the envelope which reads, “Cyprus a member of the European Council”, “Cypriot stamp collecting company , first day of issue”.
It is dated 1962, and was the year Cyprus joined the Council of Europe which “is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.[3] Founded in 1949, it has 47 member states, with a population of approximately 820 million, and operates with an annual budget of approximately 500 million euros”*
The island had a troubled and violent history during the 20th century, culminating with its independence from Britain in 1960, a period of communal violence through the next decade, leading to the Turkish invasion in 1974, and the division into a small Turkish area in the north east and the rest.
More recently efforts to resolve the division had failed.
Leaving me just to explain why Mr. A. Medawar's address has been left on the envelope, which is something I wouldn't normally do.
But a quick search showed that 30/32 Gray's Inn Road no no longer exists, having been replaced sometime after 1962 with modern shop and office buildings.Location; Khartoum, Libya and Cyprus
Pictures; first day of issue stamps, 1962 and 1969, from the collection of Stella Simpson
*Council of Europe, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Europe#Member_states,_observers,_partners
