1900 SOLDIER'S LETTER in the required format endorsed from "Trooper R Read, 2nd Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, 32 Com, Lake Erie.". Written on board the troopship Lake Erie en route to South Africa and mailed to England. London PAID in red 15 FE 00. VF, scarce Troopship mail also being a letter from the cavalry Scouts of the Imperial Yeomanry who would later be attached to the Rhodesian Field Force. See additional image. The Lake Erie was built by Barclay Curle & Co, Glasgow, for the Beaver Line. She exclusively carried cavalry troops being engaged by the Admiralty from 6 January 1900 until 6 June 1902. Likely then that the subject letter carried on her first service voyage.
