In 1949, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first French postage stamp, a group of British philatelists set up a pioneering specialist philatelic society devoted to the study of the stamps of France and the then French Empire. From small beginnings, the France and Colonies Philatelic Society now unites over 250 collectors in Britain and overseas in the many and varied delights of the stamps and postal history of la Francophonie.
The Society provides an extensive programme of meetings in several locations, holds an annual Philatelic Weekend, publishes a well regarded and authoritative Journal and series of monographs as well as several more extensive specialist philatelic books, operates a magazine circuit, two thriving exchange packets and three postal Auctions a year. It is a friendly and informal group to which non-members are welcome to attend any of our meetings.
THE NORTHERN GROUP.
25 APRIL 2026 - theme: Easter. Regular attendees will be notified. The suggested theme is Easter.
Meetings will be held as previous, at Ravenfield Parish Hall, Birch Wood Drive, Ravenfield, Rotherham S65 4PT
THE LONDON GROUP.
The London Group will next meet at the Royal Philatelic Society of London, 15 Abchurch Lane, London EC4N 7BW on 27 May and 14 October. Please let Roger know if you are attending
JOURNAL 310
Journal 310 has been dispatched - look out for it in the post. If you are a digital subscriber and haven't received your copy please contact the
Articles in the Journal include:
– “A France at Peace and a France ripe for development” Some perspectives on the Second Empire through Postal History - Part 2: Foreign policy and transatlantic mail (Roger Niven)
– There’s No Business… Like Show Business – Connections on French Stamps - Part 12 (David Parmley
– Senegal: Catalogue of newly introduced postmarks of the Société Nationale la Poste as from 2014
– A Brief Overview of Postal History in Senegal since Independence (Marc Parren)
– Precursors of the French postal card Part 8: Continuation and conclusion (Frans Jorissen)
– The Life and Times of Dr Delafon (Mick Bister)
– A Doctor Delafon Late Cover (Rodney Gent)
– Réunion and the Mauritius Government Colonial Packet Service - from Mauritius to Ceylon 1848-1856 - Together with a study of part-payment of mails during the period (Peter R.A.Kelly)
Shorter Items - including Questions and Answers
• Cameroun – Specimen Overprints on London-Issue Stamps (Marty Bratzel)
• Spectacular Yaoundé Cameroun Postmark (Marty Bratzel)
• Usage of the Série Sites et Monuments/ Série touristique (Edwin Voerman)
• Madagascar - 1942 Airmail variety (Miles Cerny)
• Cameroun – Censorship of Mail Outside the Postal System (Marty Bratzel)
• Beyond the Book: the Senegal Baobab Officials of 1965-91 (Michael Round)
• Gabon 1910 - 18 shades (Miles Cerny)
• Sir Winston Churchill (Richard Broadhurst)
• Guadeloupe 1884 (Miles Cerny)
• The demise of the Yellow Postbox. Reprinted from The Times Newspapers
Bookshelf (Compiled by Michael Round)
• Yvert & Tellier ‘Timbres de France’ 2026 Catalogue (Reviewed by Richard Broadhurst)
• The Postage and Revenue Meter Stamps of Cameroun by Marty Bratzel Jr. and Dr. Marc Parren (Reviewed by Rob May FRPSL)
Reports of Meetings
• London Group Meeting 21 January 2026 (Roger Niven)
List of Recently Published Articles (Maurice Tyler)
New-issue listings from: Gibbons Stamp Monthly (GSM): August 2025 - February 2026 (Compiled by Michael Round
Society Notes
Obituary - David Bailey
The Geoff Gethin Award
Advertisement - Journals & Bulletins Sale
THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to to Journal WE ARE ALWAYS IN NEED OF ARTICLES, large or small, if you have something of interest please consider sending it for inclusion in a later edition. Let us know what YOU collect. If you are concerned about privacy - we won't publish your name. Type your text in Word or plain text, add any images, scanned at 300dpi as separate jpeg attachments and email them to
Join us on Zoom! 28 July 2026
There will be two presentations each treating a contrasting facet of our hobby. Roger Niven will open the meeting with his presentation entitled “Transatlantic Mail during the Second Empire” (a magnificent example of which is featured close by. This is a fascinating period of postal history with rates set under multiple bilateral agreements, and with much French mail carried on foreign vessels.
Mick Bister will take over the second half with his presentation entitled “Stamps of the 1960s”. This will examine the period when arguably the foremost stamp designers and engravers worked for La Poste and we shall look at how stamp production developed with the TD-3 and TD-6 presses capable of printing in three or six colours … or even more. Contact Chris Hitchen
Zoom meetings are a convenient way by which we can meet face to face and share our interests so please join us in what will be an highly entertaining and informative occasion. Those without a webcam can of course still view the displays but will not be seen by others. If you have a display that you would like to give on Zoom or you would like to join in in any way please let Chris Hitchen know by email
All previous Zoom meetings are available to view here
Information on Zoom meetings will only be sent to those who express an interest, however the programme will be advertised on the website. Read more
Cameroun - Plating the Occupation Française du Cameroun Issue of 1916
A4, viii + 135 pages, full colour plus a searchable CD. Fully referenced.
This publication is the culmination of a 30-year study by the authors to identify and illustrate the unique characteristics for each position in the plate used to overprint Cameroun Yvert 53-66 / Scott 116-129. The authors lead the reader through their forensic analysis, utilising a 30X magnifier to directly examine the overprint on each stamp, coupled with utilising the distinctive stamp characteristics associated with each position in a full sheet of the basic Congo Français Bakalois woman stamps, which were among the stamps selected for overprinting.
The result is a detailed plating of each of the 50 overprint positions - composed of two groupings of 25 - with distinctive overprint characteristics identified throughout the study and presented on enlarged, annotated stamp images in an Appendix
Full details are listed on the Publications page
JOIN OUR PHILATELIC FORUM
Please consider using the FORUM - perhaps share your latest acquisitions or any query or comment you may have. You can join our Forum without being a member of the Society - just contact the Website Manager with your name and preferred password and you will be supplied with a username - you don't have to be a member!.
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