Queen Victoria’s Telegraphs

In the 1850s, the East India Company Administration started a massive exercise of creating the Indian telegraph network. This system played an important role in the Revolt of 1857, to the extent that the success of the British is attributed heavily to the telegraphs.

In 1860, India issued the first adhesive telegraph stamps of the modelled. Modelled on the British revenue stamps, the telegraph stamps were designed by Ferdinand Joubert and printed by De la Rau & Co., London. These stamps were withdrawn in 1869, to be replaced by the Double-head issues.

The new stamps were designed by Col. Robinson, Director of Telegraphs, and printed by De la Rue & Co. They were designed to be torn in half when used, the top half remaining attached to the receipt while the bottom went with the telegram. This was supposed to prevent the indignity of having her image torn into half. The stamps were issued in eight different denominations, with four more added later. They were watermarked with a Crown over ‘INDIA’.

The tariffs changed in 1881 and older stamps were surcharged with lower values to make up for the shortage of stamps. Surcharges were applied in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, in no coherent way, meaning there are wide variations in fonts and sizes. The new watermark had ‘INDIA’ leaner and taller than the previous design.

In 1889, Col. Mallock, the then Director General of Telegraphs, proposed a new design for the stamps. It was suggested that the top and bottom half of the stamps would not be kept identical, to avoid their fraudulent reuse. Instead, the top had the inscription ‘GOVT OF INDIA’ while the bottom carried the head of the monarch. This design was adopted after some debate.

The need for 2 rupees stamps instead of the earlier 2½ rupees ones led to another set of surcharges. Some provisional telegraph stamps were made by overprinting the Foreign bill stamps.