Monday, 23 September 2013

Officials admit mistake in British passport

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE PASSPORT No 1
Spelling mistake in British passport of 1924

The French text was removed from British passports in 1851 and did not reappear until the blue passport was introduced in 1921. Despite French being the language of diplomacy and the Foreign Office being responsible for issuing passports, it would seem that their command of the language had deteriorated in the intervening years. Illustrated is the title page of the first British passport booklet. In 1924, when they had been issuing these passports for three years at a monthly rate of at about 12,000, the Foreign Office realised that the French translation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had been rendered incorrectly. It should have read, ET D'IRLANDE.

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