Today in Postal History

This registered cover was struck with three CDS when it was posted in Nassau.

Registration was noted by the oval bold R handstamp,
the crayoned blue cross, and numerous handling numeral markings.

The addressee was 'The Sheriff of Southampton' presumably in Southampton.
Southampton is in the middle of the English Channel coast.
It is interesting to note that the office and England were all that were used to address the cover.

The stamps used include two WAR TAX overprints from 1918,
a 1d. carmine George V and a 3d. purple on yellow paper
Queen's Staircase, Nassau (SG 92 and 94).
There is also a 1917 semi-postal 1d. gray-black and deep carmine-red
overprinted in red with a red cross and 1.1.17 (SG 90).
Half the proceeds of the red cross overprint were donated to the British Red Cross Society.
(Incidentally, the semi-postal was to have been issued on January 1, 1917;
however, the stamps did not arrive in the Bahamas until May.)

During World War I a number of British Colonies issued stamps overprinted with 'War Tax.'
These stamps raised funds for the war effort over and above the cost of postage.