by Ray Murphy » Sat Jan 07, 2017 2:09 pm
Hi,
Re Jamaican censorship. The most recent reference is Volume 9 of the Jamaican Encyclopedia of Philately, Military Mail which also covers civil censorship. As noted, the D or ID on the censor label is a good clue. For labels without a D or ID code, look to see where it is going - other than the UK, it was probably done in Jamaica - a list of the known censors is also in the book. For those going to the UK, look for the censor number and the type of label. Some mail wasn't censored in Jamaica but caught in the UK
The time in-transit is goofy - some mail got out right away, but some, especially at the start of the war was delayed up to a month or longer. From what I can see, the actual transit time took about 2-3 days depending on direction and the frequency of flights. Northbound, there usually was an RON (overnight) in Cienfuegos Cuba, southbound, the same. The frequency of flights ranged from 2 a week to daily later on.
Another problem was who was doing the censoring. The Jamaican censor service (blue labels, then vermilion/carmine, and finally PC 90's until Oct 42) ; the Imperial Censor Service using PC90's from 1940 onward; and M.I.5 which used the octagonal hand-stamps. M.I.5 also looked at covers already censored by either service. You can find M.I.5 stamps with Caymans or Turks numbers (D40-42, D43) on Jamaican origin covers. Make life interesting!
Regards,
Ray