Page 8 - BWISC 60th Anniversary Display at RPSL, November 2014
P. 8
Frame 3
CAYMAN ISLANDS – THE PROVISIONALS
from the collection of Graham Booth, FRPSL
In the space of 15 months in 1907/08 the Commissioner, who was the de facto Postmaster, found it necessary
to issue five provisional adhesives, and on two separate occasions had to resort to manuscript provisionals.
This was termed the ‘Great Scandal’ in the philatelic community of the time, as it was believed that it was done
to benefit the Commissioner, or other Caymanians, especially as shortly afterwards a consignment of low
value stamps was placed in the London market. The Commissioner, George Hirst, was found not guilty of any
wrongdoing by an enquiry in Jamaica and philatelists have traditionally blamed the inexperienced, 20-year old
Postmistress Miss Parsons, as she appeared shortly afterwards to have been demoted to Assistant.
Recent investigation in the Cayman archives has proved that this was not the case. She was actually promoted
to be Clerk to the Commissioner and only styled herself ‘Assistant’ because the Commissioner wanted the Post
Office to stay open during the new Postmaster’s lunch time. The real villain was the Commissioner himself,
who withdrew the low value Edwardian and Victorian issues shortly after his arrival on the island in early
1907 because he thought they were obsolete, and then refused to re-issue them when supplies of subsequent
requisitions were exhausted. Subsequently he persisted in ordering very small quantities of new supplies.
There is some evidence that he also benefited personally from the issue of the 2½d on 4d which was unnecessary,
two sheets of which ended up in the hands of Adutt, the Cayman collector, who was a family friend.
A cover addressed to New York franked with 3 x ½d on 5s and 3 x 1d on 5s paying the correct
1oz registered UPU rate, the only known such franking. The adhesives were cancelled by Georgetown Type 4
on 27 November 1907 and the cover sent on the ‘OTARI’ to Mobile, where it received a US registration
etiquette and was back stamped on 9 December. It arrived in New York on the 11th.
CAYMAN ISLANDS – THE PROVISIONALS
from the collection of Graham Booth, FRPSL
In the space of 15 months in 1907/08 the Commissioner, who was the de facto Postmaster, found it necessary
to issue five provisional adhesives, and on two separate occasions had to resort to manuscript provisionals.
This was termed the ‘Great Scandal’ in the philatelic community of the time, as it was believed that it was done
to benefit the Commissioner, or other Caymanians, especially as shortly afterwards a consignment of low
value stamps was placed in the London market. The Commissioner, George Hirst, was found not guilty of any
wrongdoing by an enquiry in Jamaica and philatelists have traditionally blamed the inexperienced, 20-year old
Postmistress Miss Parsons, as she appeared shortly afterwards to have been demoted to Assistant.
Recent investigation in the Cayman archives has proved that this was not the case. She was actually promoted
to be Clerk to the Commissioner and only styled herself ‘Assistant’ because the Commissioner wanted the Post
Office to stay open during the new Postmaster’s lunch time. The real villain was the Commissioner himself,
who withdrew the low value Edwardian and Victorian issues shortly after his arrival on the island in early
1907 because he thought they were obsolete, and then refused to re-issue them when supplies of subsequent
requisitions were exhausted. Subsequently he persisted in ordering very small quantities of new supplies.
There is some evidence that he also benefited personally from the issue of the 2½d on 4d which was unnecessary,
two sheets of which ended up in the hands of Adutt, the Cayman collector, who was a family friend.
A cover addressed to New York franked with 3 x ½d on 5s and 3 x 1d on 5s paying the correct
1oz registered UPU rate, the only known such franking. The adhesives were cancelled by Georgetown Type 4
on 27 November 1907 and the cover sent on the ‘OTARI’ to Mobile, where it received a US registration
etiquette and was back stamped on 9 December. It arrived in New York on the 11th.
