a good reference:
| Up a level | Not my site, but a good reference: |
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| GB | Ceylon | Hong Kong | India | Jamaica | Natal | OFS | Australia and states |
| Up a level | by Dave Elsmore. | ||||||
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| Other Africa | Sarawak | Sudan | Transvaal | Uganda | New South Wales | Western Australia | Other Australia |
I have brought these prices up to date and added currency selection. CheckList Setup |
Steve Hiscocks wrote:
These are amongst the more common of the British Commonwealth telegraph stamps and were in use from 1879 to 1905. Used copies are
normally cancelled with a box slightly smaller than the 1/- stamp and with bevelled corners. This is horizontally divided into three with the date in the
centre portion, Jamaica Telegraphs in two lines above, and the place of use below. An additional 'CANCELLED' is sometimes found. All those I have
seen are in black. Copies are also found postally used although this use was not in fact authorized as was that of fiscal stamps. Various specimens,
proofs, etc., appear on the market from time to time.
According to atlantic-Cable.com, from 1870-73 cables for the West India & Panama Telegraph Co. were laid accordingly:
Santiago de Cuba Holland Bay, Jamaica Colon, Panama
Jamaica San Juan, Puerto Rico St. Thomas St. Kitts Antigua
Guadeloupe Dominica Martinique St. Lucia St. Vincent Barbados.
St. Vincent Grenada Trinidad British Guiana.
A list of 1906 for wireless-Telegraph stations lists nothing for Jamaica.
A similar list for 1910 shows Kingston having one installation, belonging to the West India Cable Co.
The map below show the early cable connections to Jamaica. Holland Bay had an overland connection to Kingston. I have no information about the route used.
In most countries, overland telegraphs are laid by the side of the railway. Though Jamaica had a rail system from early days, it went nowhere near Holland Bay.
It is likely that it therefore followed existing roads/trackways. Telegraph cancels from places marked in green would be of interest.
Much of the early railway history is detailed in a PDF document at
History of Railroads in Jamaica.pdf.
A Government page at Jamaica-railway-corp mentions 55.5 km of rail track linking the US Air Base in Vernamfield, Clarendon in 1900, and also
"The discovery of bauxite deposits in the 1940s, brought about the relative need to utilized railway as the preferred mode of transporting the bauxite extract to be processed and shipped."
1879 - De La Rue, Typographed on white or bluish paper. Perf. 14
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| Type-1 | Type-2 |
Hiscocks added the following 2 notes:
| Note 1. The date of No. 4 is not certain but the changes from Crown and CA to multiple Crown and CA in stamps produced by de la Rue for the Crown Agents (the 'CA' of the watermarks) mostly took place in 1904 or 1905. |
| Note 2. It is not clear when the use of these stamps ceased but it seems likely that it was not long after the issue of No. 4 since that stamp is rare and the issue of stamps of King Edward VII was well under way by 1904 in those countries where the continued use of telegraph stamps was intended. |
My note: I have 5 examples of the 3d stamp. They are all watermarked Crown CA sideways-inverted.
Early and later type of Kingston cancel/ The order of day and month appears to be variable.
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| Kingston | Port Antonio | (November backwards) |
"CANCELLED" marks also found on stamps of this period.
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| Half Way Tree in violet | Manchioneal | Montigo Bay | Port Maria |
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| 1891, May Pen | 1879 St.Anns Bay, courtesy of Bram Leeflang. | 1889, Spanish Town Bay, courtesy of Bram Leeflang. | 1892, Milk River, courtesy of Bram Leeflang. |
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| Port Antonio | Port Maria | "CANCELLED" come in many types | |
"CANCELLED" marks found on stamps of this period.
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| 5s 1905-11 series. | 2d and 2½d of 1912-20 series. "CANCELLED" | 3d Kingston Telegraph CDS | 4d "CANCELLED" | |
The stamps above on a white background are courtesy of Bram Leeflang, the others are mine.
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| 6d with the Kingston Telegraph CDS + "CANCELLED" | 6d used in Malvern (not railway). | 1s and 2s with different "CANCELLED"s. | ||
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| 1916 1½d War Stamp | 1916 3d War Stamp - Mandeville | 1919 3d War Stamp, courtesy Bram Leeflang. | 1921 3d courtesy of Bram Leeflang. | 1921 6d - can anyone make out the location ? |
"CANCELLED" marks found on stamps of this period.
Use of mixed Telegraph and Postage stamps used postally in 1897 :
It would seem that the distinction between Telegraph stamps and Postage stamps was not rigidly enforced.
The following are from 1/- Telegraph forms (known cancels dated in 1892).
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| Port Antonio 29 August 1892 | Old Harbour 25 August 1892 | Black River 4 July 1892 |
| Courtesy of Richard Ross. | Courtesy of Richard Ross. | Courtesy of Bram Leeflang. |
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| Morant Bay 17 August 1892 | Kingston 25 August 1892 | Port Royal (in red) 23 January 1892 |
| Courtesy of Richard Ross. | Courtesy of Richard Ross. | Courtesy of Bram Leeflang. |
The Official forms are different, being darker and not apparently needing space for extra stamps. 1/- covered 20 words, with 3d for each additional 5 words.
A complete Official form, though in a different, perhaps later or earlier colour. The known ones are all from 1892.
The bottom-right says "See Over", but I have no image of the back. Image courtesy of Steve Drewett.
Last updated 2nd. September 2025
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Permission is hereby granted to copy material for which the copyright is owned by myself, on condition that any data is not altered and this website is given credit.
