For many months, starting in 1883, pressure was placed on the British Government to do something in Bechuanaland because of unrest in the area. On 29 October 1884 the British Government appointed Sir Charles Warren as Special Commissioner of Bechuanaland. On 13 November 1884 Parliament voted a sum of £675,000[1] (this is equivalent to over £32 million today) for military operations in Bechuanaland. Sir Charles Warren was authorised to recruit an irregular force of 1,500 in South Africa[1] in addition to the regular troops that would be provided.
A force of 4,000 troops, under Sir Charles Warren, set off to annex Stellaland and Goshen. On 7 February 1885 the force reached Vryburg, the principal town in Stellaland, then continued to Mafeking, the principal town in Goshen. By 8 April 1885 Sir Charles Warren sent a despatch to notify the British Government that he had occupied Bechuanaland and had entirely restored order. The two Boer republics had collapsed without any bloodshed.
On 30 September 1885 Stellaland, Goshen and other territories to the south of the Molopo River were constituted as the Crown Colony of British Bechuanaland.
Stamps
Stellaland stamps, which had been issued in 1884, continued to be used until 2 December 1885.[2] Any external mail had to be franked with both Stellaland stamps and Cape of Good Hope stamps. The cancellations on these stamps was by pen and ink. Stellaland stamps are known used by Warren's Force at Kimberley. These stamps were withdrawn from use on 2 December 1885. All the unused withdrawn stamps were sold to a stamp dealer, Whitfield, King & Company of Ipswich.
Overprinted Cape Stamp, 1885Overprinted British Stamp, 1887British Bechaunaland 1888 overprinted 4d on four pence
On 2 December 1885 stamps from Cape of Good Hope overprinted 'British Bechuanaland' were made available at Vryburg post office.[2] Eight different values from ½d to 1s were overprinted by W A Richards & Son of Cape Town.
On 1 November 1887 a supply of stamps from Great Britain was issued. The ½d stamp was a Great Britain stamp overprinted 'BRITISH BECHUANLAND', by De La Rue. Twelve other value ranging in value from 1d to £5 were produced by De La Rue using blank ‘Unappropriated Die’ designs for British fiscal stamps and overprinting them with 'British Bechuanaland Postage and Revenue'.[2]
The stamps produced using the ‘Unappropriated Die’ designs had values in text. On 7 August 1888 the five low values were overprinted locally in Vryburg, by P Townshend & Co, to show the value in numbers; 1d, 2d, 4d, 6d and 1s.[2]
In December 1888 3d stamps of the 1887 issue were overprinted 'One Half-Penny' and in January 1889 Cape of Good Hope ½d stamps were overprinted 'British Bechuanaland' by the local printer in Vryburg.
In 1893 responsibility for the postal services was transferred from the Postmaster-General of British Bechuanaland to the Postmaster-General of the Cape of Good Hope.
A further seven stamps were produced by overprinting either Cape Colony stamps or British stamps before British Bechuanaland was annexed by the Cape of Good Hope on 16 November 1895 and ceased to issue stamps.
Overprinted British Stamp, 1891
All the remaining stamps of British Bechuanaland were transferred to the Bechuanaland Protectorate and continued to be used there, without any overprints, until 1897.
Postal stationery
All items of postal stationery produced for British Bechuanaland were by overprinting Cape of Good Hope or British items of stationery BRITISH BECHUANALAND or British Bechuanaland.[3]
British Bechuanaland 1d Newspaper wrapper used 3 March 1894 at Mafeking to Kimberley - the newspaper rate at the time was ½d.
The first postcards were overprinted 1d Cape of Good Hope postcards and were issued in July 1886. A total of six different overprints on 1d Cape of Good Hope postcard were printed by W A Richards & Son of Cape Town and there were two printings on 1d British postcards. The 1d rate was for local and southern Africa.[3]
New rates of postage were introduced following the UPU 1891 Congress in Vienna. Local rate was ½d and 1d; Great Britain rate was 1d; International and Mashonaland rate was 1½d. In March 1893 a 1½d Cape of Good Hope postcard was overprinted and issued. In September 1894 a British ½d postcard was additionally overprinted THREE HALF PENCE and at the same time ½d British postcards overprinted BRITISH BECHUANALAND were supplied.[3]
The first newspaper wrappers were issued in January 1897 by overprinting British newspaper wrappers. The newspaper rate was ½d local and 1d for Great Britain. In total there were two different printings on ½d British wrappers, one printings on 1d British wrappers, two each on ½d and 1d newspaper wrappers from Cape of Good Hope.[3]
Registration envelopes were first introduced in July 1886. A total of 17 different printings have been identified of which eleven are on Cape of Good Hope envelopes and six are on British envelopes.[3]
The Republic of Stellaland was, from 1882 to 1883, a Boer republic located in an area of British Bechuanaland, west of the Transvaal. After unification with the neighbouring State of Goshen, it became the United States of Stellaland from 1883 to 1885.
"French Colonies" is the name used by philatelists to refer to the postage stamps issued by France for use in the parts of the French colonial empire that did not have stamps of their own. These were in use from 1859 to 1906, and from 1943 to 1945.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of New South Wales, a former British colony now part of Australia.
British Bechuanaland was a short-lived Crown colony of the United Kingdom that existed in southern Africa from its formation on 30 September 1885 until its annexation to the neighbouring Cape Colony on 16 November 1895. British Bechuanaland had an area of 51,424 square miles (133,190 km2) and a population of 84,210. Today the region forms part of South Africa.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of British East Africa.
The British Central Africa Protectorate existed in the area of present-day Malawi between 1891 and 1907.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Bechuanaland Protectorate.
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.
Stellaland was a short-lived Boer republic from 1882 until 1885, located in southern Bechuanaland, west of the then South African Republic, with Vryburg as its capital. It was incorporated in British Bechuanaland in 1885. British Bechuanaland was subsequently incorporated into the Cape of Good Hope in 1895.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Cyprus. The country's postal history is intricately linked to the island's political past.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Gibraltar.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Barbados.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Cape of Good Hope.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and early postal history of Sudan. Sudan was governed by the United Kingdom and Egypt from 1898. Independence was proclaimed on 1 January, 1956, and independent Sudan became a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on 27 July 1956.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of South Africa.
The coat of arms of Stellaland was the official heraldic symbol of the short-lived Stellaland state in South Africa from 1883 to 1885. It was later revived as the municipal arms of Stellaland's capital, Vryburg.
South Africa issued revenue stamps from 1910 to 2009. Apart from national issues various provinces of the country issued revenues from around 1855 to c. 1970.
Bechuanaland first issued revenue stamps as Stellaland in 1884. Note: this information is wrong. Bechuanaland was split into British Bechuanaland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. British Bechuanaland was added to the Cape Colony and the Bechuanaland Protectorate was governed from Mafeking until the seat of government was moved to Gaberone.
The South African Republic (ZAR), later known as Transvaal issued revenue stamps from 1875 to around 1950. There were a number of different stamps for several taxes.
Cape of Good Hope issued revenue stamps from 1864 to 1961. There were a number of different stamps for several taxes.
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