British post offices in Crete provided the postal service in the territory of the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. Stamps inscribed in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

were used in the British sphere of administration (

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...

) during the Great Powers occupation of the island in 1898–1899.

Postal history

In 1898 Crete obtained autonomy under Ottoman suzerainty. The

Cretan State The Cretan State ( el, Κρητική Πολιτεία, Kritiki Politeia; ota, كريد دولتى, Girid Devleti) was established in 1898, following the intervention by the Great Powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany ...

was under international guarantee and protection; after the departure of the Ottoman garrison, it was garrisoned by an international military force from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

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and every force controlled one district. British post offices were established by the military administration in the district under British control, but they never operated. They were in Heraklion and in 9 villages. The postmarks are HPAKΛEION, AΓ. ΘΩMAΣ, AΓ. MYPON, APXANAIΣ, EΠIΣKOΠH, KAΣΤΈΛΛΊ, MOIPAIΣ, MOXOΣ, XAPAKAΣ and XEPΣONHΣOΣ.

Stamp issues

Britain issued 5

postage stamp 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 (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s inscribed in Greek. Rossiter, S.; Flower J. (1986). ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald. p. 124. . The stamps had face values in Ottoman Turkish paras (1 piastre = 40 paras) using the word ΠAPAΔEΣ. The first one - a hand struck issue - is shown on the picture above. Also in 1898 followed a 10 Parades blue and a 20 Parades green and in 1899 a 10 Parades brown and a 20 Parades red, all lithographic issues. Former it was thought, that Mail was forwarded via the Austrian office at Heraklion with an Austrian CANDIA postmark, because very few surviving envelopes and some British stamps bear the postmarks of both the British agencies and the Austrian post office in CANDIA. But nearly all Mail from British people bears only Austrian stamps. There is therefore no proof, that the British stamps had international validity or that there was a British postal service in Crete. So full sheets of Nos. 2 - 5 have been pre-cancelled with the HPAKEION postmark. Nevertheless, the rare franked covers and the stamps itself remain attractive for the collectors.

References

External links

* {{PostalhistoryEurope Postal history of the United Kingdom Cretan State Philately of Greece Postage stamps of Crete

Establishments in the Cretan State 1899 disestablishments

Postal history

Stamp issues

See also

References

External links