We are a third of the way through July but so far I have had no reports of new slogans. Royal Mail has featured in many news articles about dog attacks on postal workers, and by now we would have expected to see a Dog Awareness slogan, but no.
So once again we have the British Heart Foundation, and I can show both examples received here. Bristol Mail Centre 04/07/2026 and Norwich Mail Centre 08-07-2026.
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| BHF Norwich Mail Centre 08-07-2026 |
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| BHF Bristol (BA,BS,GL,TA) Mail Centre 04/07/2026 |
OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS
Our reader in Canada (SS) has sent a picture of a cover with a new counter datestamp. This is another case of not identifying the town or area because the inscription on the SID is simply VICTORIA ROAD. This could be in north London, in Romford, Leeds, Swindon and Kirkby in Ashfield. Fortunately, being tracked, we can see that it was posted in the Swindon area.
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| Victoria Road, Swindon, self-inking datestamp 01 07 2026 |
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| International Tracked and Signed letter from Swindon to Vancouver, Canada. |
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| Victoria Road, Swindon, from Google maps. |
Update 13 July I've just posted details of summer post office closures, but here is news from Northern Ireland of a new opening. Thanks to GF for this:
Illustrations of the three self-inking datestamps. The new one is another one without a town name.
Update 24 July. Another contribution from our correspondent SS in Canada of part of a Moths first day cover sent by special delivery. This is often done because the place has an association with the subject of the stamps: I can't find any such link here, and it's not a first day of issue either. The self-inking datestamp shows only the name of the village.
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| Benenden self-inking datestamp, 13 July 2026 |
Benenden is near Cranbrook in Kent and the Community Shop incorporates the post office.
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| Benenden Community Shop, Post Office and Cafe, Google streetview 2016 |
Benenden is probably best known for Benenden School, a private girls boarding school located to the north of the village.
Update 25 July. It may not be a busy month for slogans but readers have made many contributions with other postmarks - thank you. MikeM has sent a picture of a 1990 postcard to Australia which I have covered in more detail on the Modern British Postal History blog, but it is notable for this ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL LETTERS postmark which, I suppose, must have been applied in Mount Pleasant, London.
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| Royal Mail International Letters 25 May 1990 packet-size stamp used on postcard to Australia. |
I don't remember seeing one of these before, but then I don't remember much these days! If you have any other examples, please do send them.
Update 29 July. The last addition for this month has been sent by JohnH and is this self-inking datestamp from Billericay in Essex. I often used to pass through there en route from Kent to the northern parts of Essex back in the 1960s. I expect it has change a lot since then. This was the post office until 2012, but I expect the town mourned the loss of the blacksmith's shop which was previously on the site.
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| Billericay Post Office (1938-2012): Billericay Community Archive |
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| Billericay self-inking datestamp 25 July 2026 |
Unfortunately there isn't a current 'street view' on Google Maps - given how quickly our High Streets change you would think they could get their car down there more often than every two years!
Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in July will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.
A reminder of what these monthly listings are for.
For each month I record the different slogans in use, plus the default slogan that is used when there is nothing else.
For each of these I try to record only one of each of the basic two types, plus any that are reversed on square envelopes, which normally only gives three or four.
Occasionally a slogan appears with different line spacing in the same format.
I do not record multiple versions of the same as any of these unless I later get a much better example of one that I showed purely for the record, but which is otherwise not very clear.
The only exception to this, which doesn't seem to happen much these days, is when a slogan is used well out of time.
I mention this only to avoid readers unnecessarily duplicating what has already been provided.
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