The Paper 2

Since the last post, I have looked again at both the pages the poem is typed onto. They are two different pages. The first is the foolscap sized paper with the watermark mentioned in the last post. The second page is A5 and of a lesser quality.

When you look closely at both pages they have stains on them. I believe the stains were on the pages before the poem was typed onto them as some of the carbon smudge is on top of the stains in one spot. Another reason why I believe the stains were first on the paper as they appear inside the folds of the paper (when the pages are folded you can not see any stains), also the stains are not mirrored, so the paper must have been flat when they got the stains.

The Paper

I have been undertaking research into the paper that the poem was typed on. It contained a watermark that had a capital S, then a picture of a crown, then a capital O. It also had under this the word 'absorbent'.

I have discovered that this watermark was on paper used by the British Army in the First World War. At this point in time I have not discovered for sure if the British Army was still using this paper during the Second World War, though after the searching I have done, I believe I can assume they were still using it.

I have discovered that this paper was referred to as the Scrowno paper and was used for much of the British government's security printing. The 'S' and 'O' stood for Stationery Office.

One thing I need to consider is how my grandfather (or whom ever wrote/copied this poem) got this paper, as he was serving in the New Zealand Army at the time. Possibly my grandfather traded for it and/or obtained it while in jail (my grandfather had a habit while at base to drink to much, or go wondering off while on marches, which got him in trouble a bit). The jail was run by the British Army. If my pop obtained the paper while in jail this would have occurred within a period of a couple of months during 1941/1942.

I will keep searching to try and locate when and where this paper was in use and by whom. All this information will help me narrow down when my grandfather could have obtained his copy of / wrote the poem.

Looking for information

Hello to anyone that reads this.

I am trying to locate any information (author / when and where written) for a poem that was found amongst my grandfather's World War 2 items. It was amongst photographs and documents he had kept.

In the following posts I will include details about the paper it was typed on and items like this is see if anyone can provide me with any information.

Thankyou
Leeta