Aberdare Urban District Council

Aberdare Urban District Council (Glamorgan) was formed in 1894, following the Local Government of England and Wales Act. It took over the functions of Aberdare Local Board of Health. The Council's area of responsibility was the parish of Aberdare, Glamorgan. The Urban District Council ceased to exist on 31 March 1974, and was merged with Mountain Ash and parts of Neath Rural District Council and Vaynor and Penderyn Rural District Council to form Cynon Valley Borough Council.

Walton-le-Dale

Walton-le-Dale is an ancient village in Lancashire. It is home to the church of St Leonard, originally erected in the 11th century, but the community's history goes back to at least Roman times.

According to legend, in 1560 Dr. John Dee summoned a spirit in the churchyard of St. Leonard's and learned the whereabouts of the dead man's wealth and received prophecies the fate of many of the townspeople. Apparently this was not an outrageous assertion in those times.

As for Walton-le-Dale, the local government of this community of 11,000 or so used commercial overprints on at least SG 573 and 727.

East and West India Dock Company

The East India Company's principle warehouse in the City of London was the Cutler Street complex, constructed in the late 18th century. The West India Dock Road was a toll road laid out in 1802 as part of the Commercial Road to transport company goods from the East India Dock to the City of London. In 1838, after it's monopoly ran out (1833), the East India Dock Company ran into financial difficulties and decided to merge with the West India Dock Company to form the East and West India Dock Company.

In 1866 the company negotiated an 80-year lease for
their building. Among the uses of the warehouses during this period was the storage of tea.

The freehold of the warehouses was acquired in the 1880s. The company struck a medal commemorating the opening of the East and West India Dock Company's Tilbury Docks in 1886.

The companies were eventually incorporated into a single entity called "The Port of London Authority".

Map of Local Government Overprints on SG 518

There are many ways we can organize information about commercial overprints. For example, to see a map of all the reported local governments that used commercial overprints on issue SG 518, click here.

You can make maps of your own using Google's "My Maps" feature.

Arthur and Company, Limited, Part 2

Tom Sanford sent a scan that shows that Arthur and Company used commercial overprints at least as late as the Edward VII era.

The Sloper Records

This is something special: an example of a sample overprint from the Sloper records; J. Sloper & Co. Ltd. being a firm that produced perfins and commercial overprints.

The astounding story of how the Sloper records were saved can be found in the COSGB newsletters.

Donald Currie and Company

In 1862, Donald Currie purchased controlling shares in the Leith, Hull and Hamburg Steam Packet Company and set up his shipping company as the Castle Shipping Line. The London ship repair yards of the Castle Shipping Line were established under the trading name of Donald Currie and Company.

Donald Currie became Sir Donald Currie in 1881 while he was member of parliament for Garth. He passed away in 1909 at the age of 83.