A British West Indies miscellany
Display at the Royal Philatelic Society

Charles Freeland

15 March 2007

The Royal has been somewhat starved of displays of BWI material in recent years. Apart from the occasional marvellous excerpts from the Royal Collection, I believe there have been only four full BWI displays over the past 15 years, Jamaica by Hugh Wood in 1992, Grenada by Dan Walker in 1997, British Guiana by Simon Greenwood and Derek Nathan in 2000, and West Indies (including the French and Dutch islands) by Federico Borromeo d'Adda in 2002.

The collection from which the display draws is a broad one covering nearly all aspects of BWI philately up to the George VI period. That comprises just over 20 stamp-issuing countries, though some are no longer "live" issuers. This is essentially a study collection that is still being actively expanded and the exhibitor has never willingly engaged in competition - hence its presentation falls below competitive standards.

The display has been prepared with three principal objectives in mind:

• To provide entertainment. If I have managed to present one frame that arouses the interest of each member, I will have achieved my objective. To that end many of the frames are devoted to themes rather than to individual territories, which are dealt with in one or more frames. In similar vein, I have tried not to show material that has been given a previous airing at society meetings and the like, except where it has been significantly upgraded.
• To remedy the balance for countries that have not been shown in these rooms in depth for many years, hence the three frames each devoted to Montserrat, St Lucia and Tobago – there is even a modest frame for Anguilla.
• To inform and perhaps to arouse a little envy here and there.

The coverage extends a little beyond a strict definition of the British West Indies to include Bermuda in the North Atlantic and the two British territories on the Latin American coast, British Guiana and British Honduras. This coverage is consistent with those countries that fall within the area covered by the British West Indies Study Circle. However, the coverage of Trinidad is weak and that of Cayman Is and Jamaica more so as these collections have been disposed of.

The organisation of the wall frames is random. For the room frames the first 20 or so contain single country material in alphabetical order and the next 20 address themes across the BWI.

Background

The British West Indies was until the end of the 19th century a region largely populated by poor natives plus a sprinkling of estate managers and merchants of mostly British origin. The Caribbean estates were in fact an early example of globalisation. The mail accordingly consisted mostly of estate and merchant correspondence to the UK, with a few personal letters from the small literate population. In Barbados and one of two other islands there was a military presence and this can provide most interesting correspondence, particularly in the late 18th century during the extended wars with France, whose troops at times occupied a few of the islands including Grenada and St Lucia. The larger islands (Jamaica and Trinidad) as well as the principal military base Barbados and the large colony of British Guiana obviously had the greatest mail usage, but for many of the small islands hardly any mail survives before about 1885. Despite, or perhaps because of this, the BWI has long been in vogue among British collectors. The elegance of the Queen Victoria designs and some of their plating challenges made them popular with early collectors, as reflected in the strength of the Royal's own collections of Bahamas and Nevis bequeathed by Bradbury and Bernhard. The best-known correspondences are those of Codrington and Tudway (Antigua) and from the Polignac estates in St Vincent. However, most islands have one or more less well-known correspondences and where they do not it is very difficult to build a reasonable postal history collection. For example, the letters to Duncan from Grenada, to wine-merchant Audebert Frères in Bordeaux from St Lucia and to and from Walters in Tortola provide some substance, but no such set of papers exists for Br Honduras or Montserrat.

Wall frames

Frames 1-2 GB used in the BWI
A display of the usage of these familiar stamps between 1858 and 1860 in those BWI islands that did not already have their own stamps provides a challenge. With the exception of Jamaica, that is not being shown, it is difficult to obtain even the commoner stamps in good condition with clear strikes and few covers survive. By far the most common value is the 6d, that represented the single rate to the UK, followed by the 4d for the Western hemisphere rate. But the 1d, 2d and 1/- values always pose a challenge. The pages displayed show a range of stamps and covers. The two 4d rate covers from the Bahamas and St Vincent, the multiple franking from St Vincent and the Grenada cover franked with a strip of 6d are the highlights, but the double rate from Tobago is the only recorded example.

Frame 3-4 Grenada revenues
The 1884 series of keyplate revenues were printed tete-beche in the same manner as the 1883 postage series. Multiples are therefore visually striking and far less easy to come by than the single stamps. The display commences with a good range of proofs, colour trials and specimens and includes a few issued revenues on covers that passed through the mail, perhaps no surprise as their appearance is very similar to the issued stamps. The second frame contains a study of the 20th century Arms design high values, including some unique archive material and two shades of the rare $5 issued in 1949.

Frames 5-7 The French Connection
Several of the West Indian islands had connections with France, either through occupation or through estate ownership. The French packets serving Martinique and Guadeloupe were therefore supported by various branch lines. Ligne C from Cayenne in French Guyana to Fort de France collected mail from Demerara, Trinidad and St Lucia and the packet office in Martinique applied handstamps of origin to some of this mail. Several examples of these rare handstamps are shown, including the unique cover cancelled on board one of the steamers from St Lucia with the anchor of dots. Several other covers with French connections from British Guiana, St Lucia and St Vincent are shown, including several examples from the managers of the Park Hill estate on St Vincent to the estate owner, the Duc de Polignac. The extensive St Lucia section contains examples of French mail carried by British Packets and mail to London carried on French packets.

Frame 8 The malformed CE flaw
This prominent flaw appears on the 4d values of Dominica and Tobago, confirming that the same duty plate was used for both colonies. The flaw is easy to position as it occurs on the last stamp of the pane (row 6/10). The frame includes examples on all the issued stamps on which it can appear, including the Tobago 4d revenue from the laurel leaves design. It is also shown on the Dominica 4d grey specimen and the Tobago 4d grey imperf, both likely unique, together with a number of covers. The final sheet shows the "squashed fly" flaw that appears on the Tobago 4d grey at the same position.

Frame 9-10 Belize transit
The port of Belize was an important 19th century staging post for the transit of mail from Central America to the Caribbean, Europe and the Eastern side of the US. Mail from Guatemala in particular was carried across country along the Yzabal river to catch the GPO packets to Jamaica. Much of this mail was handled by forwarding agents in Belize, who paid the onward charges and settled bilaterally with their clients. The earliest agent known was Evans (around 1835) and other familiar names were Alexander, Cramer and Antonio Matthé. Several of the agent markings shown, such as the Wozilla handstamp, are the only ones recorded and there is an interesting 1878 fragment with two Br Honduras stamps used in combination with a Guatemalan stamp.

Frame 11 BWI forwarding agents
Since most of the islands were small and experienced little "through-traffic", agent markings are few and far between. The only countries with extensive transit mail were Jamaica, that is not shown, and Belize, shown in frames 9 and 10. Trinidad acted as a transit point for Venezuela but the most interesting agents were those in the Bahamas who handled mail from blockade runners during the American Civil War, of which five examples are shown.

Frame 12 St Vincent presentation Specimens
St Vincent was one of the most prolific creators of presentation specimens in the latter part of the 19th century. This frame shows examples of all but two of the 14 different handstamps recorded, with several complete "sets" including values unrecorded in the Samuel and Pierce Messenger and Lowe handbooks.

Room frames

Frame 13 Anguilla
A small eel-shaped (hence its name) island close to St Maarten, Anguilla only hit the philatelic headlines in 1967 when it sought independence from St Kitts Nevis, some 70 miles away. One can, however, with perseverance, find other interesting postal history, especially from the late 1920s when for a brief period some tiny villages used TRDs. The frame shows postal history of the 20th century, starting with the early AN and A coded handstamps and closing with some WWII censored mail. The comprehensive village markings include a Blowing Point cover but the highlight is a boxed Official Paid mark of 1934, unrecorded until the appearance of the Proud handbook. Surely a first airing for this tiny island!

Frame 14 Antigua village mail
All the early village marks are shown including the rare St James and St Stephen cds. Both English Harbor marks are shown and a unique page shows the short-lived Swetes cds on a 1933 cover and a registration label from the same village a few months later after the loss of the Swetes cds.

Frames 15-16 Bahamas, the 1948 Tercentenary issue
This long commemorative series printed by the Canadian Banknote Company was an early example of globalisation at a time when the three principal main British printers were overwhelmed by the 1948 Silver Wedding omnibus. The CBN engravers could not get a good likeness of the King's head in the tiny space allotted so they sub-contracted it to the more experienced Loiseaux, the chief engraver at their partner American Banknote Company. A selection of the correspondence and filing notes for the two firms accompanies a broad range of archival material, including bromides of the photograph used for the king's head. Although die proofs showing the full frame are relatively common, the display includes several rare progress proofs, including three struck before the King's head was incorporated. There are also a couple of early states of the head, plus the die proof of the complete design for the £1 value.

Frame 17 Barbados The 1906 Nelson issue
This frame commences with a fine range of essays prepared for the competition held in the island to commemorate the centenary of the battle of Trafalgar…a little late as it turned out. There are different states of Mrs Goodman's winning design, die proofs and colour trials. The issued stamps include colour changelings, watermark errors and a small range of varieties discovered by Basil Benwell.

Frames 18-20 Bermuda preadhesive mail
These frames reflect the wide range of markings used by the Bermuda PO in the 19th century. The covers are divided into examples of local, outward, inward and transit mail. They include the distinctive fleuron marks and the rare PM3 of St Georges and PM4 of Ireland Island. See also frames 39-42 for the Crowned Circles and Paid markings.

Frame 21 British Guiana The 1882 issue
One of the most intriguing issues of the whole BWI field is the 1882 pair of 1 cent and 2 cents values locally printed by Baldwin & Co in 1882 and perforated specimen, presumably for security purposes. Their origin was frustration with speculators who had been buying up the many provisional overprints issued during the frequent stamp shortages from 1878 onwards (how times change!). There were seven printings in all, each of 12 stamps, the first three set up as four rows of three and the last four as six rows of two. However, most of the individual clichés differ to a greater or lesser extent and this allows many stamps to be plated by setting, although for some stamps it is necessary to have adjoining examples. In this frame six of the seven complete settings are displayed, together with a good range of varieties including the rare imperf between pair of 1 cent. On a small portion of the printing the specimen perforations were omitted and several positional examples are shown.

Frame 22 Grenada dues
This was another BWI colony that issued a variety of dues (and the dues have plenty of varieties). The 1892 De La Rue issue is reminiscent of the 1885 Trinidad design that was the forerunner of the traditional colonial design, although inscribed surcharge postage instead of postage due. It was quickly exhausted and the interesting series of overprints on the tetebeche 1883 definitives followed. These stamps were extensively used on local drop mail and are common used though mint are another story and the tetebeche multiples provide some of the the rarest commonwealth stamps.

Frame 23-5 Montserrat
This frame shows a traditional exhibit of this small island, tragically still suffering under a cloud of volcano dust. The stamps themselves are not of great interest and early covers and proof material are elusive, making it a difficult territory to present satisfactorily. The 6d green pair on cover and the correctly franked and apparently commercial usages of the 1d and 6d bisects are among the highlights, but even rarer is the innocuous-looking 1880 4d blue uniquely used on a 1881 cover. Among the stamps, there is a full range of the Inverted S varieties and several rarities among the 20th century proof material, with the 1932 tercentenary issue especially well represented. The 1866 revenue issues contain many proof sheets and a unique issued sheet with imperf between two of the rows.

Frame 26-8 St Lucia
St Lucia is a small hilly island in the Windwards Group. The early stamps printed by Perkins Bacon from the elegant Chalon head without any denomination are shown in depth with imperf proofs, specimens, multiples and covers. In the latter part of the 19th century local mail was transported almost entirely by steamer to and from Castries, the capital, and the Steam Conveyance Company that was contracted in 1867 to carry the mails issued a series of primitive labels to signify prepayment. The first of these is one of the rarest local stamps known, with the example displayed thought to be unique. This was succeeded by another rare label of which four are known. The frame also contains the famous cover showing the SS Assistance handstamp. Both these unique items were in the famous Homan collection that was described by Col H G Reid in Vol 2 of the St Lucia Philatelist published by Robson Lowe in 1949.

Frame 29-30 St Lucia Dues
The early dues of St Lucia are among the most primitive but at the same time most interesting stamps of the Commonwealth. In the 1920s there are two series of boxed handstamps, the earlier with italic lettering being of the utmost rarity. The 1d and 5d displayed are the only examples seen. In 1930 the Voice newspaper was commissioned to produce a series of 1d and 2d adhesives which contain a wealth of variety, indeed each stamps is unique as they were sequentially numbered. There were three printings of each value which can be distinguished by varieties but not necessarily by their numbering. On display is a full range of the printings and major errors including the 1d with number omitted. The active creation of philatelic covers by Panton and others have discredited the legitimate usages but the double overprint on a Panton cover is unusual.

Frame 31-33 Tobago
Another country that has not been shown to the Society since the Beach display offers many interesting features, as well as a challenging series of provisional issues. The frames contain a traditional range of stamps, proofs, specimens and covers. Early commercial covers are rare and the 1879 cover bearing a pair of 6d orange is very probably unique. The De La Rue keyplate that is reminiscent of Dominica does not make a very inspiring design but offers a variety of interesting varieties, including the well-known "slash" flaw. The third frame presents a comprehensive range of the provisional overprints. Represented is a full range of settings (the rarest are those without any wide spaces) as well as most of the major overprint varieties, including adjoining strips of the ½ on 2 ½ double overprint with normal stamps above and below from rows 3 and 4.

Frame 34 BWI mails in the 18th century
The emphasis in this frame is on the early postal markings with unique straight line strikes for Antigua and Montserrat and several early dates. There are several early examples of the dated hand-stamps introduced at Francis Freeling's initiative in 1799 following a number of fraudulent insurance claims. Not all the BWI territories had early functioning post offices.

Frame 35-6 Missent markings
This frame contains examples of missent markings from all periods. In the 19th century the normal practice was a manuscript annotation as shown for Br Honduras, Montserrat and Tobago, the first with a flamboyant Belize cds authenticating it. The early handstamps used in the Bahamas, Belize, Br Guiana, Dominica, Nevis and St Vincent are also shown.

Frame 37 Underpaid Mail
This frame illustrates the usage of pen cancels, handstamps and adhesives on West Indian covers for the early 1890s until quite recently in some cases. Apart for Grenada and St Lucia, (shown separately in frames 22, 29 and 30) the most prolific was Bermuda which started with pen cancels and then used a wide variety of handstamps (which are still in use today). Other colonies such as Br Guiana used handstamps until the 1930s and then adopted the De La Rue keyplate in the familiar colonial design. The emphasis in this frame is on the earlier manuscript markings and handstamps.

Frame 38 The detached triangle flaw
In the early 1970s the well-known Antigua and Montserrat specialist E K Thompson reported a constant flaw on plate 2 of the QV general keyplate. Some 30 years later research by the exhibitor in conjunction with Robin Davis has established the full story on this flaw and its appearance on the stamps of some nine territories, including the BWI islands Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, St Lucia, Turks Is and Virgin Is. The frame contains examples of the flaw on all the stamps that were printed from plate 2 except one, plus several rare examples on specimens and covers.

Frame 39-40 Crowned Circles
The GPO's Crowned Circle has a special "sex appeal" and is one of the few such markings commonly collected across different countries. These two frames show a comprehensive range of the markings encountered in the BWI, including all three Bermuda marks and two unusual modern usages for Dominica. The rarest marks shown are the two Montserrat, the single ring Tobago and the Turks Is.

Frame 41-42 Paid markings of the BWI
Many, but by non means all, of the BWI territiories introduced some form of paid datestamp in the 19th century when prepayment became optional and later compulsory. The frame is complete for the early marks except for Jamaica and Trinidad and includes rare examples from Antigua, Bermuda and Br Honduras, as well as a good range of the rate handstamps of Br Guiana. Note also the fine range from St Kitts, including an example on a newspaper.

Frame 43 East of Suez
Unusual early origin and destination mail from Asia and the Australian sub-continent is the feature of this frame. Two particularly fine examples were to and from Persia, one a registered envelope from St Lucia to the Shah's doctor, readdressed to Paris from Teheran. Also of note is an 1883 cover from Br Guiana to New Zealand and one of the 1870 series of covers from New South Wales to Clare Hall in Antigua.

Frame 44 Late fee and too late marks
This frame is devoted to some selected examples of late fee and too late markings used across the Caribbean. Noteworthy are the late fee markings for Br Honduras and Dominica and the too late markings for Barbados and Bermuda.

Frame 45 Oneglia forgeries
The Walske and Lowe handbook told the story of the relationship between Oneglia the engraver and Panelli the marketer. They make very attractive "stamps" and as philately is a visual hobby the material in this frame seems worthy of an airing.

Frame 46 The artists of De La Rue
This is an opportunity to show off some of the most beautiful artwork of the De La Rue designers. Each piece is by definition unique and the quality of some of the paintwork is breath-taking... enjoy!

Frame 47 Waterlow in the British Caribbean
Waterlow were most active in British Guiana, most of whose stamps they printed from the outset until they lost the contract to De La Rue in 1889, but then recovered with the 1931 Centenary issue. This frame contains many rare items including the unique die proof with the value tablets for the 1860 ship issue. Few of the other BWI countries employed Waterlow for their early stamps but the Virgin Is used Nissen and Parker, who sub-contracted Waterlow to engrave the first issues, of which two rare die proofs are shown.

Frame 48-50 Intracaribbean mail
A large proportion of the surviving early mail from the small islands has a British destination. Although there was probably plenty of traffic between the islands, the survival rates would have been low and the humid conditions were not conducive to storage. It is thus quite a challenge to compile a representative sample of early inter-island mail. The original rate for mail within the western hemisphere was 4d but this was raised to 6d in 1863. The rate was reduced as part of the UPU arrangements around 1881, but it remained at 6d until both countries had become UPU members. The agreed UPU rates were 2 ½ within a 300 mile radius and 4d beyond that. On Christmas day 1898 the 1d Empire rate superceded the UPU rates. The frames contain several examples of each rate plus the short-lived 1d rate within the Windward Islands introduced in 1895.

Frames 51-52 A final challenge for the cognoscenti
How readily can you recognise the faces the great collectors of the past? The last two frames are in the form of a mild quiz, with an image of a famous (deceased) collector and some material from his collection. Some of the faces will be very familiar but some will challenge even the cognoscenti, though the names should be familiar to all members. The answers will be available to those staying on for a glass of wine.