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The Straits Settlements of the Malayan Peninsula have a postal history distinct from the other Malayan areas.
Mail was originally handled privately by passing ships; the earliest known postal markings date from around 1806, used by a post office on Prince of Wales Island (now Penang). [1]
Service was regularised by the Indian Post Office Act of 1837, by which the East India Company was granted a monopoly of the mail services. All private vessels were required to carry letters at prescribed rates for postage. [2] Handstamps were applied to preadhesive ship letters. Postage stamps of India were used from 1854, the Settlements being considered part of the "Bengal circle", then from 1861 they became part of the "Burma circle". The cancellations used were B/109 at Malacca, B/147 at Penang, and B/172 at Singapore.
When the Settlements became a crown colony in 1867, they began issuing their own stamps, not least because they adopted a currency based on 96 cents to a silver dollar. Beginning on 1 September 1867, nine types in the existing stocks of Indian stamps were overprinted with a crown and a new value in cents. Then, stamps printed by De La Rue for the Settlements started arriving in December; they are notable for a prominent white frame around the profile of Victoria, inscribed "STRAITS SETTLEMENTS POSTAGE". The set of nine values, 2c to 96c, appeared gradually, with the 30c value not being issued until 1872.
Shortages from 1879 through 1882 necessitated the production of various surcharges, until new 5c and 10c stamps arrived in January 1882. Additional surcharges appeared regularly until the end of the century.
In 1892, key plate stamps went on sale, a number of them printed in two colours. A notable feature of this issue is the $5 stamp issued in 1898. The accession of King Edward VII necessitated new stamps in 1902, still in a key plate design, supplemented in 1903 with a design using oval vignette.
The island of Labuan was incorporated into the colony in 1907, the remainder of Labuan Colony's stamps were overprinted "STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.", some with new denominations. In 1910 new stamps appeared with values of $25 and $500 (although available for postage, their more usual use was fiscal). George V replaced Edward VII on stamps beginning in 1912, reusing the frames and replacing only the vignettes. These stamps were overprinted in 1922 to mark the Malaya-Borneo Exhibition. The Straits Settlements also joined in the Silver Jubilee issue for George V in 1935. The last issue of the Straits Settlements was the 1937 George VI series.
In March 1942, Japan issued stamps for their occupation, by overprinting existing stamps with Japanese inscriptions. After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the British military administration issued provisionals by overprinting Straits Settlements stamps with "BMA / MALAYA". These stamps were used until 1948, when stamps were produced for Singapore, Penang and Malacca. The Straits Settlements was dissolved in 1946, with Singapore becoming a separate Crown colony, while Penang and Malacca joined the new Malayan Union.
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under British Raj control in 1858 and then under direct British control as a Crown colony in 1867. In 1946, following the end of the Second World War and the Japanese occupation, the colony was dissolved as part of Britain's reorganisation of its Southeast Asian dependencies in the area.
The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays, the union was reorganised as the Federation of Malaya in 1948.
The Federation of Malaya, more commonly known as Malaya, was a country of what previously had been the Malayan Union and more previously, British Malaya. It comprised eleven states – nine Malay states and two of the Straits Settlements, Penang and Malacca. It was established on 1 February 1948.
The Federated Malay States was a federation of four protected states in the Malay Peninsula — Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang — established by the British government in 1895, which lasted until 1946, when they, together with two of the former Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay States, formed the Malayan Union. Two years later, the Union became the Federation of Malaya, which achieved independence in 1957, and finally Malaysia in 1963 with the inclusion of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore.
States of Malaya has a number of possible meanings:
North Borneo, located in the northern part of the island of Borneo, was a British protectorate from 1888 and a British Crown colony after 1946.
Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham was a British colonial administrator who became the first Resident general of the Federated Malay States, which brought the Malay states of Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang together under the administration of a Resident-General based in Kuala Lumpur. He served from 1 July 1896 to 4 November 1901. He was also an amateur painter, photographer and antique collector.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the British post office in Bangkok, Thailand.
The history of postage stamps and postal history of Malaysia, a state in Southeast Asia that occupies the south of the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak and Sabah in the north Borneo, includes the development of postal services in these periods:
The term "British Malaya" loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. Unlike the term "British India", which excludes the Indian princely states, British Malaya is often used to refer to the Federated and the Unfederated Malay States, which were British protectorates with their own local rulers, as well as the Straits Settlements, which were under the sovereignty and direct rule of the British Crown, after a period of control by the East India Company.
Pos Malaysia Berhad is a postal delivery service in Malaysia, with history dating back to early 1800s.
The postage stamps and postal history of Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, was linked to its original economic situation until 1993. Mainly ruled by a phosphate production commission, the island was part of the British Straits Settlements colony from 1901 to 1942, then of Singapore from 1946 to 1958. Although it was placed under Australian control in 1958, the island remained postally and philatelically independent until 1993 when Australia Post became the island's postal operator.
Postage stamps and postal history of Singapore surveys postal history from Singapore and the postage stamps issued by that country and its various historical territories until the present day. Postal service in Singapore began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps. Singapore is an island country off maritime Southeast Asia, located between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.
Sarawak issued stamps that functioned as both postage and revenue purposes from 1869 to 1949 from the period of Raj of Sarawak, Japanese occupation, British Military Administration, to Crown Colony of Sarawak.
Malaysia first issued revenue stamps as the Straits Settlements in 1863, and continues to do so to this day. Over the years, a number of entities in modern Malaysia have issued revenue stamps.
Over the years various Malay States issued their own revenue stamps. Now most states use Malaysian revenue stamps, except for Singapore which is independent and no longer uses revenue stamps.
The Penang and Province Wellesley Volunteer Corps, also known as Penang Volunteer Corps and Penang Volunteer Rifle was a militia unit in Malaya. It was established on 1 March 1861 and together with Singapore Volunteer Corps and Malacca Volunteer Corps, they were a part of the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (SSVF). The Penang Volunteer Rifle was the 3rd Battalion SSVF while Singapore is 1st and 2nd Battalion SSVF and Malacca was the 4th Battalion SSVF. After the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965, the Penang Volunteer Rifle became the oldest military unit established in Malaysia.
James Lornie CMG was a Scottish colonial administrator who became the 14th British Resident of Selangor, Federated Malay States, serving from 1927 to 1931.
