unavoidable in the
stirring times of war.

To-day many thousands of letters and postal packets are being sent
to and received from the troops of the British Expeditionary Force in
France, yet it is a simple fact that but a small percentage of the
civilian population in this country knows anything of the existence,
far less of the workings, of the Army Postal Service as an organisation
separate and distinct from the postal department of the home Government.
The Army Postal Service is administered under a Director of Postal
Services, who is responsible to the Commander in Chief of the Army, and
whose system is established with the co-operation of the Inspector-General
of Communications.

The formation of a British Army Post Office Corps is of comparatively
recent date. It was first suggested by Colonel du Plat Taylor in the
seventies, as a means of using the services of the Post Office Rifle
Volunteers in war time, but it was not until the Egyptian campaign in
1882 that the corps was formed.

Prior to this, however, bodies of servants of the Post Office had done
duty with the army in organising and maintaining postal communication
with the armies in the field and with the links connecting up with the
home service. During the Crimean War extensive arrangements were made
by the Post Office to maintain postal communication with the forces in
Turkey, the Black Sea, and the Baltic. Prior to the war, the British
Government did not maintain any postal packets between Mediterranean
ports save some steam vessels for the transport of the Indian mails,
and some of these were taken up by the military and naval authorities.
Letters for Constantinople and the Levant ordinarily went through the
French and Austrian administrations and were chargeable at the then
high foreign rates of postage. With the assistance of the French
Government, letters were sent _vi[^a]_ Marseilles to Constantinople
(or _vice-vers[^a]_) at first at intervals of three times a month, but
afterwards six times a month, and during the latter period of the war,
twice a week.

But the French mail packets went no further than Constantinople, so
the British Postmaster-General sent out an experienced officer, Mr. E.
J. Smith, of the London General Post Office, to Turkey as Postmaster
of His Majesty's Forces; and three Assistant Postmasters, together
with seven Letter Sorters. As the facilities for land transport
accorded the Postmaster proved insufficient he was fu