http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk JANUARY 2016 59ST LUCIA STAMPS AND COVERS
communication to correspond with
England, France and other countries;
but pre-stamp covers are rare and
little is known about them, in part
because each time England or France
occupied the island the previous
postal service was totally abandoned,
with something different taking its
place. This happened at least six times
during the pre-adhesive stamps era.
During the first twenty years of
Victoria’s reign little changed for letter
writers on St Lucia. The first post office
had opened in Castries, the colony’s
capital, in 1844; but its counter sold no
adhesive stamps. Anyone with a letter
to send overseas had to take it to the
Castries office, pay the correct postage
and see the cover handstamped ‘Paid at
St Lucia’. The letter then went into a
postbag to await the next ship bound
for Britain where GB stamps of the
correct denominations were applied
and the letter continued its journey to
the addressee.
That system, common to many
other British colonies, continued
in St Lucia for fourteen years until
1858 when Castries received supplies
of GB 1d, 2d, 4d, 6d and 1/- values.
These stamps carried no special
overprint. St Lucia’s letter writers
could now buy stamps and use them
just as letter writers in the Home
Country bought and used postage
stamps; but when islanders’ letters
reached Castries each stamp received
a killer postmark, A11, from the
obliterating tool London had sent
with the first batch of stamps, to
prevent re-use.
St Lucia’s ‘GB used abroad’
period lasted barely two years, until
1860 when the island assumed
responsibility for its postal system
and London supplied St Lucia with
its own adhesive stamps. They were
printed by Perkins Bacon using the
line engraved process. The die for
the first stamps recycled the Queen
Victoria head engraved earlier in the
year for the 9d of South Australia.
Around it a vertical oval band
carried the words ‘ST. LUCIA’ and
‘POSTAGE’. The finished result is
regarded as one of Perkins Bacon’s
most elegant stamps. To further
keep engraving costs to a minimum
the stamps had no other words or
numerals; colour difference aloneindicated face value. 1d red, 4d blue
and 6d green made up the set in
1860, with other colour values added
up to 1881 when printed surcharges
(‘HALFPENNY’ and ‘2½ PENCE’)
were applied. A newly designed
definitive set with six engraved
values (‘HALFPENNY’ to ‘ONE
SHILLING’) was issued in 1883.
With most of St Lucia’s population
concentrated in the port capital, or
in small coastal settlements; and with
no railways or adequate roads offering
alternative transport, the islanders
relied, in the 19th century, on small
schooners to carry local mail, goods
and people. For today’s philatelists
the best-known vessels in the trade
belonged to the St Lucia Steam
Conveyance Company. For a short
period in the early 1870s the company
issued its own stamps in values of 1d,
3d and 6d. As inland roads improved
and the postal system extended, the
capital schooners lost some of the
letter carrying business. More than a
dozen post offices opened across the
island during the reigns of Edward
VII, George V and George VI.
Almost all buildings on the island
were of timber construction during
those years. As a consequence two
disastrous fires burned down the
Castries main post office in 1927 and- The first conflagration destroyed
the entire stamp stock, so a special
dated handstamp (Castries – St Lucia)
was in use for a few days. There was
no loss of stamps in 1948, but the fire
resulted in a special Reconstruction
of Castries stamp depicting a phoenix
rising from flames which was issued
in 1951 to mark the completion of
rebuilding work.
In the 20th century shipping
services expanded and airmail services
were inaugurated, primarily to service
St Lucia’s growing tourist industry.
The Harrison Line, the Alcoa
Steamship Company and the Canadian
National Steamship Company made
regular calls at Castries, carrying
passengers and mail to Britain,
Europe and North America. Local
schooners also found work carrying
mail to connect with larger vessels in
Barbados and Trinidad. Two airfields
were constructed: one at Vigie, near
Castries; the other in the south of the
island. Airlines landing with passengers
Postal Fiscals: 1882 Perf. 14 ‘THREE PENCE/REVENUE’ deep blue, Perf. 12
‘ONE SHILLING/REVENUE’ orange and 1885 ‘REVENUE’ 1d. dull mauve; used
with Postage issue 1876 Perf. 14 (6d.) pale lilac, 1883 1/2d, 2 1/2d and 1885
4d on 1886 (July 11) envelope registered to Bordeaux, with transit and arrival
datestamps. Slight soiling. Realised £200 in 20111891-92 Provisional issue 1/2d on half 6d used on locally addressed envelope in
May 1892Postal Fiscals: 1881 1d, 1/2d, 1882 perf. 14 3d (2), 6d, perf 12 1d and 3d, used
on 1891 envelope to England. Price Realised £280 in 2013and mail included British West Indian
Airways and Pan-American Airways.
In addition to the any airmail cachets
that might have been applied, most
outgoing covers from St Lucia were
adorned with delightful pictorials
celebrating St Lucia’s topography and
other tourist attractions.p58 Empire - PAGE NOs.indd 59 23/11/2015 14:37