Commercial Overprint Society of Great Britain
Vol. 1 No. 11; May 1, 2004
Pfeil & Stedall
by Bill Waggoner
Pfeil & Stedall is a company that is reported to have overprinted the small 1d. Inland Revenue stamps in the late 1860s. I have never seen this overprint and can report only that it was supposedly done in black.
The company's long history dates back to its founding in 1755 at St. John's Gate, London, as a supplier of horse-drawn carriage fittings. Presently operating out of a modern warehouse facility north of Bristol, the company diversified over the years to better serve the needs of the commercial body-building industry. As the company's web site also reports, it has gone through a number of organizational and name changes over the past two-and-a-half centuries.
Useful details are given in a 2002 book, Hunting from Hampstead, written by Robert Stedall, the great-great-grandson of the first partner of that name. According to this reference, the company—then known as Parkes & Company—wholesaled "building materials, carriage and horse equipment, monumental masonry, etc." About 1806, after one of the Parkes family was hanged for forgery, the firm was acquired by the Pfeil family, who changed the name to Pfeil & Company. About 1851, the author's ancestor, Robert Stedall, merged his own smaller business into the company and became manager and a 50% partner with Frederick Pfeil. The company name was changed to Pfeil & Stedall. The firm prospered.
In 1867, Robert's son, Henry Stedall, joined the firm, which then became Pfeil, Stedall, & Son. In 1882, Horace Stedall, Henry's brother, and Adolph Pfeil, Frederick's son, became partners and the name was changed to Pfeil, Stedall, & Sons. In 1890, however, a quarrel among the partners resulted in the Stedalls buying out the Pfeils. With the start of World War I, anti-German feelings ran high in England and the German-sounding name "Pfeil" became a liability. Consequently, the name was changed to Stedall & Company in 1914, and Stedall & Company, Limited in 1923.
The business was acquired by Pillar Holdings, Limited, in 1961. Subsequently, in 1970, RTZ took over Pillar. More recently, the company web site refers to Stedall, Limited, and notes that, "we are now part of the Dutch Hagemeyer Group." Robert Stedall's son, Oliver, added that, "The company is no longer in the family but still runs very successfully."
East London Water Works Company
by Michael Behm
The East London Water Works Company used two overprints:
Received / for East
London / Water Works Co. / _____18
Received / for East
London / Water Works Co.
Both patterns have been reported only on SG
#172.
As you can see from the receipt below, the second pattern was used at least as late as 1900.
Send comments or questions to mjbehm@kw.igs.net