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Stationery & Stores used by The Waterguard |
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Stationery & Stores used by The Waterguard |
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Ballpoint pens were made 'official issue' in the early 1960s. After the initial issue of one per person, they were only replaced on the return of the exhausted one. OWO 35/1964, item 14, announced that the Board of HMC&E '. . . decided that officially provided black ballpoint pens may in future be used for all official documents and records. Officially provided red ballpoint pens may, as previously notified, be used for checking duties only. Ballpoint pens of other colours must not be used for official purposes unless specially authorised.'' Non-retractable versions with a 'pocket clip', and retractable versions were later supplied to officers whose duties required them.
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Each Waterguard office, grade or function had a date stamp to be applied to any form, record, memo or document issued. Select the 'button on the right to see some examples. |
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Many of the Headquarters Branches of HM Customs & Excise employed embossed letterheads. |
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The first Customs flag had been introduced by Royal Proclamation in 1694. Between 1815 and 1817, when the Royal Navy operated the Revenue fleet, Customs vessels flew a Red Ensign with a yellow crown above an eight-pointed yellow star with the letters CH in a red circle, while the Excise vessels flew a Blue Ensign with a similar badge except that the star was white and blue and the letters EX. In 1822 the United Kingdom Board of Customs and Excise, formed by merging the English Board of Customs, English Board of Excise, Scots Board of Customs, Scots Board of Excise and Irish Board of Customs and Excise, took over responsibility for the Revenue Cruisers. In 1864, by an Order in Council, Blue replaced Red as the colour of the ensigns of 'all vessels employed in the service of any public office'. Customs changed over to a Blue Ensign with crown, which was also flown ashore on Custom Houses. The Customs were authorised by the Admiralty to have their 'small blue flag', in the form of a swallow-tail flown from the mast. It came to be used to indicate that a Waterguard Superintendent or higher Customs Officer was on board a vessel flying it. In 1949 the crown and portcullis badge was introduced at the request of Customs and Excise, who wanted a more distinctive badge than that used by other government departments of the time. |
Customs Ensigns and Flags were normally seen flying on Revenue Cutters and HQ Buildings. The 'Knotted Red Ensign' which forms part of this web site's Logo is not a Customs flag at all. A ship flying a 'Knotted Red Ensign' at its masthead whilst in port was indicating to the Waterguard that the crew were in need of an issue of duty free stores!
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The work of the Waterguard, like the rest of the Civil Service, was greatly assisted by the use of official forms. When first introduced, HM Customs & Excise forms produced and supplied for general use were prefixed 'Sale' and sold to the general public. Later these forms were issued free of charge and renumbered in a series prefixed 'Ex. Sale'. Other forms were prefixed 'C', 'C&E', 'Ex', 'HO' etc. to indicate what area of work they were used in. Select the 'button on the right for a list of PDF images of the Official Forms referred to on this site. |
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These books were standard Civil Service issue produced by HM Stationery Office. In the main they were blank or ruled page notebooks in a range of sizes, both in soft and hard cover, and with or without an index. However some were more specialised in use:
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SO Book 22A - An early filing system where copies of documents and letters were stuck with glue into the book with its specially constructed spine of narrow card pages. Select the 'button' on the right to see an example. |
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SO Book 241 - A 'Foolscap' size notebook - roughly A4. Select the 'button' on the right to see an example. |
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