Page 35 - 148 Years of the Royal Philatelic Society London
P. 35
In 1901: Queen Victoria dies, Edward VIII ascends to British throne, U.S. President McKinley
assassinated, Marconi's first trans-Atlantic radio transmission, first Nobel Prizes awarded.
At the PSL: Effingham House lent as a venue for International Philatelic Union exhibition in
February, and then the Society held a 'War in South Africa' exhibition in November.
PSL President was H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. Membership stood at 265.
REUNION: USE OF POSTAGE DUE STAMPS
TO PREPAY LOCAL MAIL
From the collection of Edward Grabowski FRPSL.
Member since 1999. Lives in United States of America.
The use of postage due stamps on local mail was authorized in Reunion for a three-week period from
31st December 1900 - 20th January 1901 because of a shortage of French Colonial Group type
stamps. This declared value cover {lSOOf) represents the most spectacular of the ~60 recorded
examples from this period. It was posted from Saint Denis on 7th January 1901 at a rate of 2.60f
corresponding to lOc postage, 25c registration and 2.25f insurance, and received on January 19th. It
is uncertain if the addressee was the famous French General Henri Giraud of WWl-WWll fame, who
was on an early assignment in the African Colonies in 1901.
