Red Cross (Croix-Rouge française)

In 1915, French India issued a special series of stamps featuring a Red Cross overprint and surcharges. These stamps were originally regular postage stamps that had been in circulation, but they were overprinted with a small Red Cross emblem and a surcharge that added a charitable amount to the face value of the stamp.

The stamps were the earlier Brahma and Kali Series issues reprinted with a permanent overprint of the Red Cross and the Surcharge. The surcharge was expressed in centimes (the French currency at the time), and it varied depending on the original face value of the stamp. For example, a 5-centime stamp might be surcharged with an additional 5 or 10 centimes, meaning the total cost of the stamp was slightly higher, with the extra money going to charity.

These stamps were available for regular postage use, so they could be used for mailing letters or packages, but the surcharge meant that part of the proceeds from each sale would go toward the Red Cross’s war relief efforts. The series was sold throughout the French Indian territories during the war years, primarily in Pondichéry, which was the administrative center of French India.