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Barbados' First Stamps
Barbados was one of the first British Colonies to
inaugurate postal arrangements. Almost as
Early mails were irregular but by the 1700s service became more
frequent. In 1842 the Royal
Mail Steam Packet Co., was awarded a contract to convey mail to and
from the islands.
Unlike several other British Colonies in the West Indies, Barbados
did not use British stamps.
In accordance with the Post Office Act of 1851, the inland postal
service was placed in the
hands of the local government who ordered a supply of stamps from
London.
Postage rates were fixed for inland letters at 1d. for each ˝ oz.
Newspapers and periodicals
published in Barbados were delivered post free. Other newspapers
were ˝d. Other books
and magazines not exceeding 8 oz. were charged 1d.
The stamp order was combined with the orders for stamps from
Mauritius and Trinidad to save
die expense. Each colony used the 'Britannia' stamps with different
inscriptions. The plate
contained 110 impressions in 11 horizontal rows of 10. The reason
for this plate arrangement
is unknown as it must have created accounting problems.
The stamps were printed on unwatermarked white paper. The paper
became bluish as a
result of the moistening which occurred during printing and caused
precipitation of the
prussiate of potassium present in the paper as an impurity. Sheets
were imperforate.
The first stamp order consisting of 10,000 green ˝d. and 50,000 blue
1d. was dispatched on
December 30, 1851, by Perkins, Bacon & Petch. The consignment was
shipped aboard the
Amazon but failed to reach the colony as the vessel was lost at sea.
On January 15, 1852, further supplies were sent. Two stamps were
delivered - the 1d. blue
and one other, the denomination of which is uncertain due to records
which indicate a purple
stamp. It was likely the stamp was the little-used 2d. grayish slate.
The replacements went on
sale to the public on Thursday, April 15, 1852.
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Rodolfo / rtvstamps
Resource: (my Archives) - M Williams. Blandford Press Ltd, 1950
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