2x Normal size
2x Normal size
S.G. India BR133b green surcharge-
Used at Shanhaikwan.
Sold in the RPSNZ's postal bid sale June 1999 for NZ$130
Following the outbreak of the Boxer Rising in North China, the Peking Legations were besieged by rebels in June 1900. An international force, including an Indian Army division, was assembled for their relief. The Legations were relieved on 14 August 1900, but operations against the Boxers continued in North China with Allied garrisons at key cities and along the Peking-Tientsin-Shanhaikwan railway.
Field Post Offices accompanied the Indian troops and commenced operations on 23 July 1900 using initially unoverprinted Indian stamps but from August onwards, with the C.E.F. overprint.
As a vital communications link, the North China Railway was captured by Russian forces during operations against the Boxers. Control of the line was subsequently, in February 1901, assigned to the Chine Expeditionary Force and a British Railway Administration was set up to run it. By international agreement the line was to provide postal services for the other national contingents and also, to a lesser extent, for the civilian population. Travelling post offices were introduced, and on 20 April 1901, a late letter service for which an additional fee of 5c was charged.
The stamp above was used for the collection of the 5c late letter fee and was affixed to correspondence by a postal official at the railway station. The late fee was abolished on 20 May 1901 and the stamp withdrawn.
In use for only 30 days, genuinely used examples are very rare.
Reference: Stanley Gibbons Catalogue - Part 1 British Commonwealth (1992, p481).
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