The first postal service took place using mail sent with captains of packet ships, using agents in the England and in the islands for the end delivery. The cost was normally 3d. The first

pillar box A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cyprus, India, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, New Ze ...

es in Britain were introduced in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

as an experiment in 1852, to collect mail for the Royal Mail

packet boat Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed for domestic mail, passenger, and freight transportation in European countries and in North American rivers and canals, some of them steam driven. They were used extensively during the 18th and 19th ...

s. The oldest pillar box in use in the British Isles is in Guernsey. The first postage stamps printed for use in Guernsey were issued during the occupation of the island during World War II.''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth and British Empire Stamps 1840-1970''. 112th edition. London:

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...

, 2010, p. GB31. Victorian post box Guernsey

In the 1950s Guernsey used British regional stamps marked specifically for use in Guernsey but valid for postage throughout the United Kingdom. Guernsey has issued its own stamps since the creation of

Guernsey Post Guernsey Post is the postal service for the island of Guernsey, Channel Islands. It includes a Philatelic bureau, and regularly issues both Definitive stamp, definitive and Commemorative stamp, commemorative stamps. It also provides postal ser ...

, 1 October 1969. The

Bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

of Guernsey incorporates

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...

Herm Herm (Guernésiais: , ultimately from Old Norse 'arm', due to the shape of the island, or Old French 'hermit') is one of the Channel Islands and part of the Parish of St Peter Port in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It is located in the English ...

and

Sark Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of l ...

which all used the Guernsey issues from 1969. From 1983 Guernsey began issuing specific stamps designated

for use in that island which are also valid throughout the Bailiwick of Guernsey.. In 1998 postage stamps were issued without a price stated on the stamp, the terms "Local" and "UK" being used to distinguish the values. In 2010 "EUR" (Europe) and "ROW" (Rest of World) were issued. In 2012 this was expanded further with "UK Letter", "GY letter" (Guernsey) "INT letter" (International) "UK large" and "GY large" designating envelope size and destination. Starting in 2015, Guernsey also issues

Post & Go stamps Post & Go stamps, also called Faststamps, are variable rate postage stamps printed on self-adhesive labels and sold by stamp vending machines by Royal Mail in the United Kingdom, as well as by Jersey Post, Guernsey Post, the Royal Gibraltar Post ...

References

* Danan, Yves Maxime. ''Histoire Postale des îles de la Manche''. Paris: "Le Monde des philatélistes", 1976/78. Comprising: Vol. 1: Les Affranchissements de guerre de 1870 à 1944; Vol. 2: La Libération, compléments depuis 1945, les conséquences de l'indépendance postale. * Gurney, David. ''Postal History of the Guernsey Sub-Post Offices''. Ilford: CISS Publishing, 1996 , 265p. * Martin, F. ''Story of Guernsey Postage Stamps 1940-1941, during the occupation by the German military authorities''. Guernsey: The Guernsey Press Co., n.d. 15p. * Mohle, Heinz. ''Die Briefmarken von den Kanal-Inseln: Guernsey & Jersey, Deutsche Besetzung 1940-1945''. Frankfurt am Main: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neues Handbuch der Briefmarkenkunde e.V. im Bund Deutscher Philatelisten e.V., 1970, 43p. * Newport, William. ''The Airmails of the Channel Islands''. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists' Society, 1957, 12p. * Newport, William. ''The Channel Islands: France mail services, 1683-1939''. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists' Society, 1956, 20p. * Newport, William. ''Early Channel Islands postal history and notes on other material''. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists' Society, 1958, 39p. * Newport, William. ''Stamps and Postal History of the Channel Islands''. London: Heinemann, 1972 , 214p. * Newport, William and John O. Simpson. ''Numeral obliterations and instructional marks of the Channel Islands''. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists' Society, 1957, 12p. * Newport, William and John O. Simpson. ''Postal affairs during the German occupation of the Channel Islands 1940-1945''. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists' Society, 1957, 32p. * ''Stanley Gibbons Channel Islands Specialised Catalogue of Stamps and Postal History''. London: Stanley Gibbons, 1983 , 451p. * Summers, Howard. ''Bibliography of the Philately and Postal History of the British Isles''. Borehamwood
Howcom Services
2020 210p. * Wieneke, Michael. ''The German Field Post Office in the Channel Islands: communications of the military and of the civilian inhabitants through the German Field Post Service 1940-1945''. Grouville, Jersey: The Channel Islands Occupation Society (Jersey Branch), 1981, 16p.

Alderney, Herm, Jethou & Sark

* Backman, Anders and Bob Forrester. ''The Channel Island of Jethou: its stamps and postal history''. Stockholm: A. Backman, 1978 * Backman, Anders and Robert Forrester. ''The Smaller Channel Islands Catalogue''. Stockholm: A. Backman, 1989 * Newell, Peter E. ''Stamps of Alderney: An Illustrated Priced Guide and Handbook''. Brighton: Channel Islands & Lundy Auctions, 1988 * Newport, William. ''The Island of Herm and its Posts''. Sidcup: Channel Islands Specialists' Society, 1970 * Newport, William and Stanley Newman. ''Postal History & Stamps of Sark: An Illustrated Priced Guide and Handbook''. Brighton: Channel Islands & Lundy Auctions, 1990

External links

Guernsey Post

''Lions, Leopards, Unicorns & Dragons: The first "Regional" stamps''

The British Postal Museum & Archive The Postal Museum (formerly the British Postal Museum & Archive) is a postal museum run by the Postal Heritage Trust. It began in 2004 as The British Postal Museum & Archive and opened in Central London as The Postal Museum on 28 July 2017. Si ...

{{PostalhistoryEurope

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

Communications in Guernsey

See also

References

Further reading

Channel Islands & Guernsey

Alderney, Herm, Jethou & Sark

External links