Free Front Signature Database: By George!

Thursday, 28 August 2014

By George!

It's difficult enough identifying signatures on free fronts, but when there are two army officers of the same name, who are MP's at the same time it's doubly so. Often wishful thinking seems to take precedence over accuracy, as in the case of this example where the original collector has got it wrong, annotating the front with the name of the more famous Sir George Anson, MP for Lichfield at the time, when in point of fact and after much research I can confirm that the signature is in fact that of Major-General George Anson, MP for South Staffordshire, who despite being less well known, at a young age fought at Waterloo with the 3rd (Scots) Guards and went on to become in 1856 Commander-in-Chief in India.

Major-General George Anson - MP for South Staffordshire 1837 -1853

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Introduction & Aims

Welcome to my blog dedicated to the deciphering of signatures from free fronts, also known as free franks. Free front is the term given to the front of an envelope to which the privilege of free postage was given, which was cut out and collected mainly by Victorian ladies and pasted into albums. The reason they were so collectable was because in order to use the privilege those who were entitled to it had to address, date and most importantly sign the envelope, usually in the bottom left corner. The people who were entitled to the privilege were either peers with a seat in the House of Lords, members of parliament, bishops or holders of high office in government, including the army and the navy.

In more recent times collectors have fallen into two groups, those like myself who collect the signatures as autographs and the stamp collectors who are more interested in the franks and the postal history. Although the privilege began as early as the 17th century, it is from the first four decades of the 19th century that most of the fronts come, the privilege ending with the introduction of the postage stamp in January 1840.

I personally was originally drawn to free fronts due to my interest in the Napoleonic Wars and with so many of the senior officers of both the army and the navy also being MP's, peers or officials, I realised it was possible to amass quite a large collection of fronts with the signatures of veterans of for example, Waterloo or Trafalgar. With so many people being entitled to the free franking privilege over so long a period of time it was necessary to specialise in order to have a manageable and affordable collection.

It's not just the signature though, much of my interest is in deciphering the signature and researching the biography of not just the sender but also the recipient, as this is often an interesting reflection on the relationships of the people. For example I have a front from the Duke of Wellington to Sir David Wilkie, the artist who painted the Dukes portrait.

My aim with this website is to carry a database of deciphered signatures, which I hope to continuously update, to point out some commonly seen errors and to hopefully generate some interest and debate from like minded people.

Martyn