On Tuesday 3rd December Banbury Stamp Society enjoyed a visit by Eric Holmes with a display entitled “Gibraltar 1850 to 1911”. He explained that Gibraltar had been seized by a British naval expedition in 1704 and until 1972 essentially remained a British military base in the Mediterranean.
The rock endured a number of attacks and sieges but matters began to settle down during the 18th century and a civilian population began to settle in the territory to provide for the military garrison. This population soon required postal services and used the Spanish post office in nearby San Roque to send and receive letters.
In 1850 Spain issued postage stamps. These stamps were made available in Gibraltar but post had to be carried to San Roque to enter the Spanish postal service. Eric showed a number of very attractive early Spanish stamps used in Gibraltar but cancelled in San Roque.
As this arrangement was relatively inefficient demands began to arise for the establishment of a British postal service in the territory. Thus in 1857 Britain opened post offices in Gibraltar and this led to British postage stamps being used in the territory. The colony was provided with a cancel for the stamps which is easily recognizable because it is a large letter “G”. This was soon replaced by the numerical cancel “A26”. Eric was able to show us fine examples of British stamps and letters cancelled with either a large “G” or “A26” demonstrating their use in Gibraltar. Interestingly for some years both British and Spanish stamps were on sale in the Gibraltar post office.
As Gibraltar’s economy and civilian population boomed demand for a postal service under their own control increased and the British post office relinquished control at very short notice. This forced the territory to make urgent provision for new stamps which led to the overprinting of stamps printed for use in Bermuda with the name “GIBRALTAR” applied to the stamp. These were the first specifically Gibraltarian postage stamps but they remained in use for only 10 months before being superseded by stamps specifically inscribed with the name of the territory.
Although sterling was the official currency of the colony most civilians used Spanish currency. This led in 1889 to the issue of stamps depicting Queen Victoria but denominated in centimos and pesetas. The Spanish-American war of 1898 however wrecked the Spanish economy and led to the re-introduction of postage stamps in sterling denominations as the peseta rapidly devalued. Examples of all these stamps were displayed.
Finally, Eric showed us examples of the stamps issued for King Edward VII in 1903. He explained that these stamps were so beautifully designed and printed that they had persuaded him to collect Gibraltar stamps. Eric was thanked for a very interesting display.