United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Chatham - The Dutch Raid on Medway

In June 2017 the 350th anniversary of the Raid on the Medway was celebrated, one of the most iconic Dutch victories by national hero Michiel de Ruyter who sailed his ship through the chain across the river Thames.

The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English battleships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the time, the fortress of Upnor Castle and a barrier chain called the "Gillingham Line" were supposed to protect the English ships.

The Dutch, under nominal command of Willem Joseph van Ghent and Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, over several days bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames estuary to Gravesend, then sailed into the River Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they engaged fortifications with cannon fire, burned or captured three capital ships and ten more ships of the line, and captured and towed away the flagship of the English fleet, HMS Royal Charles.

Politically, the raid was disastrous for King Charles' war plans and led to a quick end to the war and a favourable peace for the Dutch. It was one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy's history, and one of the worst suffered by the British military. Horace George Franks called it the "most serious defeat it has ever had in its home waters."

On 9 June 2017 a special postmark was used in Chatham on request from Internet Stamps Ltd. from Folkestone, Kent. It is the parent company of Buckingham Covers and GB First Day Covers. Both companies issue special made 'first day covers' and other collectable envelopes.

I sent a cover to the London Special Handstamp Centre. I used a regional England definitive of £ 1,17 which was the standard international postage rate. It arrived back in sixteen days in a plastic protective bag.

Date sent: 5 June 2017

Date postmark: 9 June 2017

Date received: 21 June 2017

Number of days: 16

Envelope in collection: 183

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Windsor

As a service to collectors Royal Mail has a number of pictorial postmarks in use for different cities. Each postmark shows a famous landmark and is available at one of the Special Handstamp Centres.

The Europa stamps 2017 have the central theme 'castles'. The British stamp has Windsor Castle on it. Since there is just one Europa stamp and it is only possible to buy the complete series of six stamps, I decided to use two stamps to obtain the Windsor postmark. The envelope was sent back in a plastic bag, a perfect service by Royal Mail.

Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is notable for its long association with the English and later British royal family and for its architecture. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I, it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle's lavish early 19th-century State Apartments were described as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms widely regarded as the finest and most complete expression of later Georgian taste". Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic" design. Originally designed to protect Norman dominance around the outskirts of London and oversee a strategically important part of the River Thames, Windsor Castle was built as a motte-and-bailey, with three wards surrounding a central mound. Gradually replaced with stone fortifications, the castle withstood a prolonged siege during the First Barons' War at the start of the 13th century. Henry III built a luxurious royal palace within the castle during the middle of the century, and Edward III went further, rebuilding the palace to make an even grander set of buildings in what would become "the most expensive secular building project of the entire Middle Ages in England". Edward's core design lasted through the Tudor period, during which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made increasing use of the castle as a royal court and centre for diplomatic entertainment.

Windsor Castle survived the tumultuous period of the English Civil War, when it was used as a military headquarters by Parliamentary forces and a prison for Charles I. At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rebuilt much of Windsor Castle with the help of the architect Hugh May, creating a set of extravagant Baroque interiors that are still admired. After a period of neglect during the 18th century, George III and George IV renovated and rebuilt Charles II's palace at colossal expense, producing the current design of the State Apartments, full of Rococo, Gothic and Baroque furnishings. Queen Victoria made a few minor changes to the castle, which became the centre for royal entertainment for much of her reign. Windsor Castle was used as a refuge by the royal family during the Luftwaffe bombing campaigns of the Second World War and survived a fire in 1992. It is a popular tourist attraction, a venue for hosting state visits, and the preferred weekend home of Elizabeth II.

The postmark (number 4680) can be obtained by writing to London Special Handstamp Center, Royal Mail, Mount Pleasant, Farringdon Road, London, EC1A 1BB, United Kingdom.

Images of all pictorial postmarks can be seen on the website of Norvik Philatelics: norphil.co.uk/postmarks/perm.

Date sent: 18 April 2017

Date postmark: 24 April 2017

Date received: 26 April 2017

Number of days: 8

Envelope in collection: 18

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The area now called England takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century, and since the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law - the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world - developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.

The capital is London, which has the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. England's population of over 55 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom.

The Kingdom of England - which after 1535 included Wales - ceased being a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Royal Mail issues country definitives (originally: regional definitives) for the four countries in the United Kingdom showing local motives. The first definitives for England were issued in 2001. The stamp for the international tariff was affixed by myself. After being cancelled at the City of London Post Office the envelope was put through the normal channels and thus received a second cancellation from the machine in the Mount Pleasant sorting centre.

Website of Royal Mail, definitives page: shop.royalmail.com/definitives.

Date sent: 14 April 2017

Date postmark: 20 April 2017

Date received: 25 April 2017

Number of days: 11

Envelope in collection: 12