A forwarding agent was an intermediary who facilitated the routing of
international mail
The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to t ...
before the development of the modern
postal system
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...
.
History
In the early days of postal communications it was often necessary for international mail to pass through a number of hands before reaching its eventual destination. At each stage the agent would add their own mark. For instance, a letter might pass first through the sender's domestic post office's hands, then to a forwarder for a sea journey and then to the post office of the destination country.
The study of the marks of forwarding agents on mail is a popular branch of
postal history
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...
.
See also
*
Thomas Fletcher Waghorn
Thomas Fletcher Waghorn (20 June 1800–7 January 1850) was an English sailor, navy officer, and postal pioneer who promoted and claimed the idea of a new route from Great Britain to India overland through Egypt prior to the development of th ...
Further reading
*
Rowe, Kenneth. ''The postal history and markings of the forwarding agents''. (1st edition 1966, supplement 1974, 2nd ed. 1984, 3rd ed. 1996. {{ISBN, 0-917528-12-3)
External links
Images of Forwarding Agents marks used on Venezuela Stamps.
* ttp://rodsell.com/hksmsic/fwdagtlist.html List of Hong Kong Forwarding Agents.br>List of Forwarding Agents from Kenneth Rowe's book.
Philatelic terminology