Postmarks: British Kashmir
Britain’s first post office in Kashmir was instituted at Srinagar in spring 1867, first as a sub-PO and later as a head-PO. These operations were followed almost a decade later (autumn 1876) by the opening of another sub-PO at Leh. Aside from a branch of the Srinagar operation at the mountain retreat of Gulmarg in the mid-1880s, British services were limited in this way until the early 1890s when offices in Jammu Province were finally opened, first at Tavi, then at Jammu (the town) proper. Several others of sundry rank were opened in the same period, all in preparation for the eventual amalgamation of the State service with that of the British Imperial system. Some details about the British postal markings of Anant Nag, Bandipur, Baramulla, Chilas, Domel, Gilgit, Gulmarg, Muzaffarabad, and Rampur of this late period can be found in the Bard Papers† link. The British markings from Leh are given in this Ladakh Link.†
The first British marking used within the State of Kashmir (i.e., at Srinagar) was the POST OFFICE CASHMERE + C duplex type shown below. It is known from April 1867 to the end of the 1870 visitors’ season. The datestamp section was used without date inserts in the 1870 season to obliterate State stamps (image right) on mail lacking British postage. It was also used as a transit or sorting stamp on the same class of mail. The detail of the cds potion shown in the center is from a June 1867 cover in the Hellrigl collection. (By the way, the none-too-accurate drawing of the duplex, which was taken from Séfi, should show a circle enclosing the obliterator segment.)
° POST OFFICE CASHMERE with ‘branch’ fleuron. This marking is now attested on only three or four covers, but spread over time from June 1867 to at least September 1869. The drawing is from A. Bard, SG Stamp Monthly, 70, Dec 1982.
October 1867
° 147 obliterator. This numeral, enclosed in a lozenge or rhombus of horizontal bars, is sighted on a Ladakh cover that passed through Srinagar, Jammu, Sialkot, Lahore, and Nirpoor (12 October.) Where was this obliterator applied? The number 147 is to be contrasted with earlier counterparts 244 & 144 attested at Sialkot in the period before the advent of State stamps. Bard reports the 244 for 1855-59 and the 144 (as an error) between 1859-60. The cover is in the Jaiswal collection.
May 1869
In red. The British POST OFFICE CASHMERE + C duplex that first appeared in April 1867 is recorded by A.S. Bard as having been used in red as a sorting mark on two covers dated 29 May 1869 and 5 June 1869.
April 1871
° Serifed CASHMERE + 325 duplex. This implement was used between April 1871 to perhaps May 1875. This image (containing the Kashmir 2a buff in its latest known usage) is a detail from a May 1871 cover in the Hellrigl collection. What follows in an instructive fragment bearing on this duplex:
° Serifed CASHMERE cds in independent use. The upper strike is of the duplex shown in the preceding entry, but now we also see in the lower strike the simultaneous strike from of a second implement used independently. Date insertions (when present) come in both the month-day and day-month formats. The year was discontinued from 1873. Reference: MacGillicuddy & Bard India Post 09, 062 (1975). The separated cds is attested between the same dates as recorded for the duplex.
° Serifed CASHMERE cds in red [rare.] One is familiar with Umritsurs, Sealcotes, and Sealkotes coming in a variety of red and orange shades, but not the CASHMEREs. Collection Hellrigl.
° CASHMERE Triangle. This tds is one of a series of similar markings used in
British India (the SEALCOTE triangle being
another of interest to J&Kers, pictured on the Sialkot page under July 1868.) An early date for the CASHMERE seems
to be April 1871, the year that the British Office at Srinagar became part of the Punjab Circle. Though
rather rare, this marking persisted through several years, evidently into 1874 to judge by the
drawing in Séfi & Mortimer. It was more often employed
as a transit seal, not an obliterator, but it makes a certain ado about missing British postage
in both cases. This detail is from a Calcutta-bound
cover without British postage, October 1871, in the Hellrigl collection.
1873 AD
° All-India obliterators. Each Postal Circle was assigned a letter, usually after the initial letter of the sadr (~ ‘head’) town. Such being Lahore for the Punjab Circle, we see the use of L on the series of obliterators most pertinent to us. Even the L on the Leh obliterator (October 1876) is said to represent Lahore. Quoting from Renouf:
“The obliterator has the merit of effecting a very thorough cancellation—indeed far too thorough in the view of the philatelist. It is difficult to regard it as other than inartistic and even hideous.”
But how to read them? Paraphrasing Renouf: The center line contains the Circle letter on the left and the number of the regional Disbursing Office on the right, the two being separated by a hyphen. If the office in question was subordinate to the disbursing office, its own number was added at the top. If the office in question was a merely a branch of such a non-disbursing office, a third number was added at the bottom. In the case of a branch office of a disbursing office there is of course no number at the top, but only the branch number at the bottom.
May 1875
° KASHMIR + 5/L-6 duplex. This separable implement appeared just before the Special Printings and persisted in service throughout the transitional period and well into the early New Rectangulars period. The type is not seen after the summer of 1880. It is with this implement that the traditional spelling of old ‘Cashmere’ had assumed its final form, which Séfi and descendants tag the Hunterian spelling. The lettering is large and spacious, with the S and the H particularly more ample and airy compared with later constricted versions in one or both of these letters. There is a dot at the end that is sometimes not visible. In the obliterator, L = Lahore, which was the sadr of the Punjab Circle; 6 = Rawalpindi, which was was the disbursing office to which 5 = Srinagar was the subordinate non-disbursing office.
° L-35/4 obliterator. This type is mentioned in the Billig Handbook, and we have not seen other discussions of it. Here is the quotation from Renouf p 508:
“The Punjab series ends at number 22, ..., but I have an entire from Cashmere with the cancellation L-35/4. The letter shows a postmark of Srinagar, which is probably a sorting mark, for the place of origin is doubtless a branch office of Srinagar, Srinagar being the disbursing office. The number 35 for a disbursing office requires some explanation. Is it simply a bad blunder by the central Punjab office?”
Was Srinagar a disbursing office at the time? Our tentative stab at an accounting for the anomalous marking is that it is really an L-3, i.e., disbursal from Sialkot. The 5 is the (non-disbursing) office number for Srinagar, which was simply inveigled into the central line instead of excising the upper bars and carving the 5 at the top. Then the 4 at the bottom (we presume it was at the bottom) was indeed for a mysterious branch office of Srinagar.
° KASHMIR cds. This independent datestamp is found alongside the duplex type from May 1875. In contrast to the cutting shown above, the S here is more constricted, the M is less symmetrical, and the top of the R is not so wide. Its life was also shorter, lasting only until autumn of 1877, the year of the first transitional oilcolors. Unlike its companion it is therefore not seen on covers bearing New Rectangulars. Both types are to be distinguished from later types that have a noticeably narrower H. It is shown in the second part of this chronology (first in April 1878 entry.)
April 1878
° An early dating for the narrow-H KASHMIR cds and the anomalous 1•A postage-due seal may be April 1878. Notes in India Post 36 76 2002 and 37 66 2003 alert one to this variety of British postage-due seal for which the last three letters -NNA are missing from the usual ANNA. This seal is (always?) seen to accompany the narrow-H type, but not conversely, for see next image. So far we have seen only pen-cancelled stamps from this type of cover—originating office in Kashmir here unknown.
The Narrow-H KASHMIR cds that is not accompanied
by the anomalous 1•A seal mentioned above. Either 1878 or 1879.
There is a further type of KASHMIR cds that is to be contrasted with this
narrow-H type; see below in the July 1880 entry where the two are contrasted.
June 1880
Hereby begins the saga of the various L-bar obliterators in an oval of bars. Every time we have a chance to inspect a very clear impression, we seem to discern a distinct variety. The first of interest to J&Kers was issued to one of the British offices at Srinagar in perhaps June of 1880, but the basic type is known from several other venues. Apart from forgeries, authentic variants exhibit both characteristically shorter and longer bases to the L. (A notorious short-base L comes as a forgery.) The Srinagar Ls were long-lasting, much-used, and highly uninformative. We must patiently await their demise after the appearance of the 3-rings of the 1890s period.
° Srinagar L-bar (oval-shaped, long axis vertical.) The detail above is taken from an undated cover from either August 1880 or 1881. Notice in particular the wide spacing between the second bar and the first broken bar from the top. The implement that was employed is thus seen to be different from, for example, that seen in the May 1885 entry downscreen. An example with an apparent (or even real) leftward-slant to the upright can be seen in the January 1892 entry. As for a type not originating in Kashmir, we have the following for contrast:
° Sialkot L-bar (circular-shaped.) Not only is this marking more circular than the preceding, the ratio of the base to the height of the L is significantly less than that of any of the Srinagar types. It is found on covers originating in Jammu in the 1881-83 period, and which passed through Sialkot. We do not know for certain where the marking was applied (conventional understanding would certainly disallow Jammu itself.) We imagine it used at Sialkot for cancelling the British postage, while the Jammu 12-bar that invariably accompanies had been used to cancel the State stamps. The Persian at bottom of this cover reads “from Jammu 21 assûj 1938” ~ 5 October 1881.
Here is more sharply-impressed short-based L-bar taken as a detail from another 1881 Jammu-originated cover seen on the internet. As above, it too sported the Jammu 12-bar obliterating a State stamp. The Persian here says ‘Amritsar’, the destination.
July 1880
° KASHMIR cds. We compare here the type in question with that of the narrow-H KASHMIR mentioned in the April 1878 entry. The new version shows less space between the name and the period, the -I- is more centrally positioned between the M and R, and the characteristic narrow-H does not seem quite so narrow; indeed the width of the full name is measurably wider. Neither type is explicitly distinguished from the early broad-H types in Séfi & Mortimer. From late summer of 1882 yet another Kashmir cds without year is reported (Bard) for which the name is still narrower and there is no dot. The next major departure appears in 1884, when year numerals were added to the date line.
April 1884
KASHMIR with year. These will be known for another seven years, into spring 1891 when the 3-rings supplanted them together with much else. The lettering is the smallest yet. Between 1886 & 1890 inclusive, the December inserts read DFC instead of DEC.
July 1884
Gulmarg was a popular summer retreat that harbored a sub-post office of the British Srinagar Office. A number of postal markings are known for it over the years, all these of the familiar British series types: a barred-L, a registration cachet, a postage-due cachet, as well as a very late circular datestamp, distinguished from the example shown below by the removal of the *KASHMIR* arcing along the lower half. The type shown here is known into 1892.
February 1885
The Srinagar L-bar exhibiting an excessively long base. Its dates are unknown, but this example was found on a Srinagar to Baghowal (Gujrat) cover, arriving on 12 February 1885. Compare next entry.
May 1885
Here again is another style of the Srinagar L-bar oval obliterator. It differs from the example shown in the preceding entry by having a shorter base, and differs variously from the 1880 type shown upscreen. These are also to be distinguished from the short-base Sialkot type (1881) and also from a later variety seen in 1892.
January 1886
Above: This large diameter curved KASHMIR datestamp was used primarily, as here, on registered mail. (Though the date in the scan might look to be 1885, it is actually an 1886.) This type, which is not at all common, was superseded in 1889 with a smaller diameter curved KASHMIR REG type of the same size as the curved KASHMIR 1st and 2nd DELY type shown here next:
July 1886
Above: A small-diameter curved KASHMIR five-line delivery type, known also in the 2nd delivery version. Séfi & Mortimer cite May 1889 for the advent date, and we have seen none earlier than that to display. But the Bard listing cites 1886 for their advent, so here this sits pending verification of the digit. Certainly nothing else is extant that serves formally as delivery stamps at Srinagar during the period in question, so these might well have been the chaps, scarce though they appear to have been at work. The circle is of smaller diameter than the curved Kashmir shown above. As mentioned, a formalized REG(istered) version in this small diameter did appear in spring 1889 [as did as a very rare PAR(cel) type] when the large diameter type was retired after its fairly lengthy if sporadic service.
April 1889
Above: Here as promised is the formalized version of the Srinagar registration datestamp that replaced the large diameter circle extant sporadically since early 1886. This smaller diameter circle will serve together with the 1st and 2nd Delivery types until spring 1891 when the KASHMIR designation is replaced by SRINAGAR. An example of the delivery type is seen at the bottom of the cover in the following entry:
AD 1890
The year 1890 is often cited as the first year that the 3-ring cancels came into use, perhaps very late in the year, but they will take a while to get going. For us they are British, not State, markings.
AD 1891
Above: The J&K literature often refers to this basic style of combined datestamp and corner-bar obliterator as being of TAVI-type, presumably because the Tavi appeared earliest. The simultaneous use of a TAVI JAMMU-STATE datestamp of precisely the same design as seen here, but without the corner bars, is also attested. Were indeed the obliterator bars separable?
April 1891
This month was an unusually active one for new British postal markings. The new spelling JUMMU begins from this time, perhaps to mark its status now as a Head British PO, and it is only now with the snows starting to go away that the new 3-ring cancellations start showing up in earnest. All this provides a natural juncture for what might be called the Late Period.
Above: Other J&K venues came to employ the basic Tavi or corner-bars type. The JUMMU version seen here (from Masson II) may have appeared upon the retirement of the original TAVI (seen upscreen in the January 1891 entry.) Three others in J&K use were the SRINAGAR, DOMEL, and BARA MULLA, the latter not seen until summer 1892. The SRINAGAR is the most common type; but see the September entry below for a caution. But first, speaking of Domel:
The curved DOMEL is known from these April days to just after the closing of the State posts. Domel is not a long walk from Muzaffarabad on the western frontier of Kashmir. You don’t want to be there today, no. The scan is a detail from a postmark-rich postcard in the Jaiswal collection.
More April 1891. The curved JUMMU delivery stamps come in both 1ST and 2ND DELY versions. The REG type also has a fleuron at the bottom, and so we take a hint and put it here with its kind. There was also a PAR(cel). All these are known into 1894. The R/JUMMU registration seal may also have appeared at this time.
September 1891
Non-postal Tavi-type. First our apology for the unhappy hole in the second stamp; we were fighting off dagger-wielding zealots at the time. Séfi and others warn that the SE.4 91 dating is found in the cancellation of New Rectangular remainders, on reprints of Kashmir old rectangulars (as twice here) as well as on circular reprints. That must have been a busy day or three for the happy stampers. It is known again in legitimate use in later years, to spring 1894 it is said.
AD 1892
A large number of covers bearing 1891-91 Srinagar markings, 3-rings and registration boxes, are found with odd combinations of officials and reissues, sometimes in blocks of unseemly size. There is a growing awareness that these were philatelic concoctions for collectors. British stamps are very scarce on Kashmir mail after 1892, Poonch somewhat excepted.
January 1892
Above: The barred-L seen here is a variant, characterized among other features by the shortened bars on the left and the appearance of a back slant to the upright. The Amritsar delivery cds seen here made is first appearance back in September 1888.
AD 1894
Okay, here we go, the final year of operations of the State PO. The system will formally amalgamate with that of British India on 1 November. The transition has been occurring for some time, as told by the advance of the “unified” 3-ring datestamps and the diplomatic absence of British stamps in the final period before they take over entirely.
September 1894
This Z-type JUMMU (there is also a Y-type) are known for this month. There are also earlier W-types in a different format (see the Bard Papers.) We do not know what these letter distinctions were for. But no X, why ever not?
October 1894
Above: The rare RESIDENCY JUMMU uniplex, seen here for 28 October 1894. The design motif combines datestamp and obliteration bars. The scan is from Masson II. The last mail runs under the formal auspices of the State Post Offices are taking place, to end midnight Hallowe’en. A good run. THE END.
Postscript I
Though our story formally ends when the State Offices are amalgamated with those of British India on 1 November 1894, it is no surprise that echoes of the State postal doings linger in the subsequent period. State postcards, for example, used in an unofficial capacity by visitors, persist for many years—the latest example we have seen on the internet is a 1935 with a George V stamp.
November 1894
A number of the British postal markings natually spanned the cross-over date. Shown here is another of the 1st DELY shown above, but for 5 November, just days after the formal closing of the State post. On the same item was this rare MUZEFFERABAD B.O. for 3 November. We have no idea about its time range. These details are from an internal postcard in the Jaiswal collection.
The great sport of philatelic perpetrations also do not end. Numbers of otherwise legitimate Indian covers from the pre- and post-1894 period have been treated with extra helpings of Kashmir State stamps and faked postmarks.
What follows is another sort of curiosity involving State stamps from what is likely the post-1894 period. The British Rajouri Branch Office, established by January 1895 after the closing of the State post, was on the runner line that stretched along the valley of the Tavi river between Nowshera and Thana Mundi:
The Rajouri strikes seen here on ½a black officials are not highly visible from the front, and being of an oily character are better seen in reversed form from the back. We have re-reversed the image for easier inspection of the marking. A suggestion by Anthony Bard is that these datestamps (missing date-slugs) may represent a fiscal use and that some State stamps may have served a revenue function before they were “sold off to the Good Reverend.”