rnished with
eighteen horses and mules for the exclusive use of his office. The
Postmaster was supplied with the postage stamps of the home country,
then (so far as the penny and twopence denominations were concerned)
in the early and beautifully engraved design of William Wyon's "Queen's
Head." This was the first use of British postage stamps on foreign
territory, or indeed anywhere beyond the limits of the British Isles,
and stamp collectors take a considerable interest in the English stamps
which survive with the various Crimean postmarks specially supplied to
the Postmaster of His Majesty's Forces in the East. Stamps used on
letters from the forces may be recognised by either the Crown and Stars
or Cypher and Stars or the circular dated postmarks (_Figs._ 1-4). A
range of the early penny red stamps, from the imperforate red-brown
stamp of 1841 to the Die II. large Crown perforated 14 stamp may be
found, as well as the twopence blues of the same period, and the 4d.
rose (1857), 6d. violet (1854), and 1s. green (1847) (_see Figs. 5-10_).
There are possibly others not yet known to collectors.

[Illustration: 1 2 3 4 _Figs. 1-4. Crimean Postmarks._]

[Illustration: 5 6 7 8 9 10 _Figs. 5-10. British stamps found with
Crimean postmarks._]

The correspondence dealt with by this small staff was considerable,
averaging 45,250 letters despatched to and 43,125 received from the
seat of war in each month. In one year 543,000 letters were despatched
to and 517,500 received from the forces in the Crimea.

The chief officer in charge at the British post offices in Turkey and
the Crimea during the war, Mr. E. J. Smith, is specially mentioned
in the Postmaster-General's report for 1857 as having discharged his
duties in a very creditable manner. In that year his services were
offered to and accepted by the Turkish Government with a view to
establishing an improved postal service in the Sultan's dominions.
Since this date British post offices have been maintained (in common
with post offices of other Powers) in various parts of the Turkish
dominions, using British stamps with or without a special overprint.
These offices were closed in October, 1914, as a result of Turkey's
declaration of the "abolition of the Capitulations," just prior to
Turkey's open acts of war against the allied forces of Great Britain,
France, and Russia in the present war.

Ordinary British stamps used at the British post-offices in the
Ottoman Empire ma