This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the British post office in Bangkok, Thailand. The earliest recorded mail from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

dates back only to 1836 when American missionary

Dan Beach Bradley Dan Beach Bradley (18 July 1804 – 23 June 1873) was an American Protestant missionary to Siam from 1835 until his death. He is credited with numerous firsts, including, bringing the first Thai-script printing press to Siam, publishing the first T ...

sent a letter to his father in a

stampless cover Pre-adhesive mail, also called pre-stamp mail, are letters carried in mail systems before the issuance of postage stamps. A stampless cover is another description and generally also refers to any item of mail sent before the issuance of postage st ...

. The British Consular Post Office in Bangkok was established by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 1858 as a consequence of a treaty signed between Great Britain and

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

(now known as Thailand) on 18 April 1855, and in response to a demand by expatriate merchants and missionaries. It ceased to provide service on 1 July 1885, the day Siam joined the

Universal Postal Union 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 ...

and started its own international

postal service 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 ...

. During that time most of the mail from Bangkok was sent by diplomatic pouch to Singapore for forwarding. Thus most such mail has a Singapore cancel. Initially,

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 fa ...

s of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

were used here and throughout the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

. This lasted until 1867 when Straits Settlements stamps were first produced. When Honorary Postmaster Gardner complained in 1881 that he should be compensated for the increasing amount of work that was required of him it was agreed that a portion of the revenue for stamp sales would be retained. This led to the overprinting during 1882 of Straits Settlement with the letter B, representing Bangkok, for use there. The Bangkok 30mm diameter circular date stamp

postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...

was also introduced during this period. Most outbound mail was still sent to enter the postal system at Singapore (for European destinations). Some Hong Kong stamps continued to be used throughout this time for mail forwarded through Hong Kong to Chinese, Japanese, and United States destinations. A few British stamps are also known to have been used in Bangkok. Inbound mail from steamboats was kept at the post office for people to come to pick up. Stamp Bangkok 1882 10c

After the closure of the post office in July 1885, the B overprinted stamps were seen used elsewhere. An example is a cover sent from Singapore in December 1887 bearing postage stamps from Straits Settlements both with and without the overprint. Forgeries of the overprinted "B" stamps are very common.Robson Lowe, ''Encyclopedia of British Empire Postage Stamps,'' v. III London, Robson Lowe, Ltd. (1951), p. 381.

References

, ''The Encyclopædia of British Empire Postage Stamps, 1775-1950'', London, Robson Lowe Ltd., 1950, pp. 380–381. (Reprinted as Volume 40 of ''Billig's Philatelic Handbook'') * Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald, 1986. * Pipat Choovoravech, ''Chronicles of Thai Postage Stamps'', Bangkok, Aroonkarnpim Ltd. Part., 2003. * Prakaipet Indhusophon, ''แสตมป์ไทย และ ประวัติไปรษณีย์ สมัยรัชกาลที่ ๔ และรัชกาลที่ ๕'' (''The Prakaipet Indhusophon collection of Siam : a selection of Thai stamps and related materials from pre-stamp period (circa 1835) to 1910''), Bangkok, 1989. * David Feldman, ''Classic Siam 1833-1899, formed by Surajit Gongvatana FRPSL'', Geneva, David Feldman SA, 2010, pp. 34–57. {{PostalhistoryAsia Communications in Thailand Philately of Thailand

See also

References

Further reading