Victorian post box in the market
That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
Before 1794 there was no official postal service in Jersey. Mail for England would be handed to a local merchant, who would pass it to the captain of the next ship sailing for England. He in turn would pass it to an agent at the harbour, who would pass it to the postmaster there. Each of the people involved would expect a small payment for their services, perhaps a penny.
In 1794 Charles William Le Geyt set up the first official post office in Hue Street, and he became the first postmaster. Mail for England would travel on the Royal Charlotte, a sailing cutter which sailed once a week. The charge was two pence a letter.
Gradually improvements were made to the service. In the mid 1820s steam ships were first used. There was rivalry between private shipping companies and the Post Office. In fact rivalry at sea for fast crossings from England to the Channel Islands continued until well into the 20th century. The GPO (General Post Office, in England) had three paddle steamers which entered service in 1827 and 1828. They were the Watersprite, the Ivanhoe, and the Meteor.
The Post Office moved to Minden Place in 1816. It later occupied the building now used as the Jersey Mechanics Institute in Halkett Place, before moving to its more imposing building in Broad Street.
In 1852 the first letter boxes in the British Isles were erected in an experiment in Jersey. They were located in David Place, New Street, Cheapside and St Clements Road. There is still a Victorian post box in the Central Market. Each post box has on the front the initial of the King or Queen during whose reign it was made. This one has the letters V R signifying Victoria Regina (Victoria Queen).
The Jersey Railways also play a part in the postal story. The trains of the Eastern Railway provided letter boxes in their guard’s vans. Letters posted here would be carried to Snow Hill where they would be passed into the postal system. Similarly, mail from St Helier for Samares, La Rocque, Grouville and Gorey would be passed to a local post master. A blue pennant was flown from the train when mail was on board.
There is one last curiosity about the early mail service: during the 18th and 19th centuries mail from the Mediterranean and Near East was fumigated to safeguard the local population from the diseases common in those countries.
The Jersey Post Office became independent of the UK service in 1969. Since then the Island has produced all its own stamps, and they are much in demand by collectors. The stamps commemorating the Battle of Flowers were issued in 1970, and show pre-decimal values. The tourism stamps are in decimal values.
