The first Europeans to arrive on the island were probably the either the Spanish or Portuguese in about the year 1500. In 1605 Sir Olave Leigh[1] landed on the island and claimed it for King James. The first group of English settlers, about 30, arrived on the island in about 1624. More English settlers continued to arrive and by 1650 some 20,000 people[2] had settled on the island.
Pre-stamp period
The British Post Office established a Packet Agency on the island of Barbados, in Bridgetown, during the reign of Charles II in 1663.[3] The Agency at first relied on casual ships to carry the mail. In 1702[4]Edmund Dummer started a monthly services from Falmouth, changing to Plymouth in 1705. The return trip took three to four months. The service ended in 1711 when Dummer was made bankrupt. In the previous nine years Dummer had lost two packets at sea and had seven captured by the Spanish. In 1711 his remaining seven packets were seized by creditors and the service lapsed.[4] The Packet Agency again had to use casual ships to carry the mail until 1745 when a service, based on Dummer's original plans, was reintroduced by the Post Office.
Postal markings first appeared on mail from Barbados in the 1760s.[1] At the time the name of the colony was spelt 'Barbadoes', this lasted till about 1850.[1] The British Post Office was responsible for the internal postal system until 1 August 1851 when it was handed over to the Barbados Legislature. The British continued to operate the Packet Agency, for overseas mail, till 1858.[5] So during this period, 1851 to 1858, there were 2 separate Post Offices on the island. Unlike several other British Colonies, Barbados did not use British Stamps at any time.
1851 postage rate
Postage rates were set at one penny per half ounce. Newspapers published in Barbados were post-free; other printed matter was charged a halfpenny. Barbados was the first British Colony to have a halfpenny rate; even preceding the Great Britain 1870 issue.
The packet rate for letters to Great Britain was six pence per half-ounce. The rate for letters to other islands in the West Indies was four pence plus one penny if not posted at the Post Office plus another one penny if the letter was delivered and not collected at the Post Office of destination.
Barbados Britannias
1873 5/- rose used Nov 1873 - note the old spelling of BARBADOES in the postmark.
In order to save on die costs, the stamp order for Barbados was combined with that of Mauritius and Trinidad. Each colony had the same 'Britannia' design with different wording. The design is based on a watercolour by Henry Corbould and it is believed to have been engraved by Frederick Heath. Henry Corbould provided the sketch from which the Penny Black was engraved. The first despatch of ½d green and 1d blue stamps was sent on 30 December 1851 on board the RMS Amazon; the vessel was lost at sea and failed to reach the island. Further supplies were sent in January and February 1852 including a 2d greyish slate. The local Post Office was opened on 15 April 1852 and these stamps went on sale the same day. The stamps did not show the denomination. The 2d greyish slate stamp is known bisected and used as a one-penny stamp, these were authorised for use during a shortage of 1d stamps between 4 August 1854 and 21 September 1854.[5]
Sometime after January 1855 a supply of 4d red-brown 'Britannia' stamps were made available in the Barbados Post Office. Although at the time the island authorities were not responsible for external mail it would appear that they had decided to facilitate payment for letters going to the other West Indies islands.
The British Packet Agency office was amalgamated with the Barbados Post Office in 1858. Six pence red and one-shilling brown-black stamps were ordered and sent to the island in October 1858. These stamps did show the value. Up till 1860 all the stamps were imperforate,[5] from 1860 the stamps were supplied perforated. In 1873 two new values were supplied a three pence and a five shilling stamp.[5] It is believed that the purpose of the three-penny stamp was to pay for postage to Great Britain by vessels other than the regular mail packets. The five-shilling stamp was not intended for any special rate and was used on heavy postal packets.
There was an unexpected shortage of the one-penny stamps in March 1878. To remedy the situation five-shilling stamps were overprinted 1d twice and perforated vertically. They were printed and perforated locally by the West Indian Press. Post Office staff then cut off the value tablets from the bottom of horizontal strips of 12 surcharged five-shilling stamps. A total of 9,600 provisional 1d stamps were produced.
In 1874 the Barbados stamp-printing contract was terminated with Perkins Bacon & Co and given to De La Rue & Co. De La Rue & Co made use of the plates handed to them to print further supplies of stamps.
1899 2 pence.
The Barbados Queen issues
Halfpenny green, one-penny red, two and halfpence blue and four-penny grey stamps were ordered in February 1882 and were issued on 28 August 1882. In September 1884 the order for stamps by the island Post Office included three-penny purple and four-penny brown. An order for stamps in June 1886 included the six-penny black, one-shilling brown and a five-shilling bistre.
In July 1892 a surplus of four-penny brown stamps were overprinted HALF-PENNY. The printing was done by the West Indian Press.
Later issues
Current stamp catalogues list over 1,000 different stamps[5] as having been issued by Barbados since 1892.
Barbados attained self-government on 16 October 1961 and independence within the Commonwealth on 30 November 1966.[6] An independence issue was issued in 1966 which included stamps of the Hilton Hotel and cricketer Gary Sobers.
Barbados 1892 newspaper wrapper with ½d overprint on 1d wrapper, used 30 October 1894 to Ulm, Germany with arrival datestamp on back (not shown) 16 November 1894
†Physiographically, these continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.
#Bermuda is an isolated North Atlanticoceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —which they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. Next the item is delivered to its addressee.
Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain surveys postal history from the United Kingdom and the postage stamps issued by that country and its various historical territories until the present day.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Falkland Islands.
This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history of Australia.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of New South Wales, a former British colony now part of Australia.
Postal services in New Zealand have existed since at least 1831, when the Postmaster-General of New South Wales deputed a Bay of Islands merchant to receive and return mail. Governor William Hobson issued an ordinance covering postal matters, although the British government retained control until 1848.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
The postal history of the Bahamas begins in the 18th century, with the first post office operating since 1733. The earliest known letters date from 1802. In 1804 a straight-line "BAHAMAS" handstamp came into use. The Royal Mail Line initiated a regular mail service in 1841, and from 1846 used a "Crown Paid" handstamp along with a dated postmark for New Providence.
The postal history of Malta began in the early modern period, when pre-adhesive mail was delivered to foreign destinations by privately owned ships for a fee. The earliest known letter from Malta, sent during the rule of the Order of St John, is dated 1532. The first formal postal service on the islands was established by the Order in 1708, with the post office being located at the Casa del Commun Tesoro in Valletta. The first postal markings on mail appeared later on in the 18th century.
The Chalon Head is the name of a number of postage stamp series whose illustration was inspired by a portrait of Queen Victoria by Alfred Edward Chalon (1780–1860).
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Jamaica.
Mauritius, a small island in the southwest Indian Ocean, is important to the world of philately for a number of reasons. Its first two postage stamps issued in 1847, called the "Post Office" stamps, are of legendary rarity and value. They were the first stamps issued in any part of the British Empire outside of Great Britain. The unique cover bearing both “Post Office” stamps has been called "la pièce de résistance de toute la philatélie" or "the greatest item in all philately". The cover was sold at auction, in Zurich, on 3 November 1993, for 5.75 million Swiss francs, the equivalent of about $4 million – the highest price ever paid for a single philatelic item up to that time. In addition, Mauritius is well known for the subsequent locally produced issues known as "primitives," also prized by collectors.
The postage stamps and postal history of Norfolk Island depended on Australia until 1947, when the island, an Australian territory since 1914, received its own stamps and postal autonomy.
The colony of the British Virgin Islands has issued its own stamps since 1866. The first Post Office was opened in Tortola in 1787. At the time postage stamps were not yet invented, and it was not until 1858 that a small supply of adhesive stamps issued by Great Britain depicting Queen Victoria were utilized by the local Post Office. These stamps were cancelled by an A13 postmark and are extremely rare so cancelled.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Cape of Good Hope.
St. Lucia a former British dependency in the Windward Islands began using stamps in 1860. It achieved Associated Statehood on 1 March 1967. In 1979, it gained independence.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Isle of Man.
The Three Halfpence Red, first issued on 1 October 1870, was the first Three Halfpenny postage stamp issued in the United Kingdom.
The Halfpenny Yellow is the first postage stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Malta. Depicting Queen Victoria, it was only valid for local postage and it was originally issued on 1 December 1860. It was the only stamp issued by Malta for two and a half decades, and during this period various reprints were made with differences in colour shade, perforation and watermark. When control of Malta's postal service was transferred to the island's colonial government on 1 January 1885, the stamp was withdrawn and it was replaced by a set of definitive stamps.
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