Jersey’s Postal History
Jersey Post is an important part of Island life, and has been, not just for years, but for centuries. Although letters from Jersey have been recorded from the middle of the 15th century, no official postal service existed in the Island until 1794 when Charles Le Geyt was appointed Postmaster and a regular weekly communication by sailing packet to Weymouth was established. For the first three years there was no delivery, everyone had to call at Le Geyt’s house for letters. In 1798 he engaged a woman – Mary Godfray - to deliver letters in the town area, but it was not until 1829 that there was a country delivery.
The first stamp
A penny post was established in 1830 to handle inland letters and a boxed rectangular hand-stamp inscribed ‘Jersey Penny Post’ in italic script was used for the purpose. Adhesive postage stamps came into service in May 1840 and British stamps were used for postal purposes for over the next 100 years. In 1852, at the instigation of the Post Office surveyor Anthony Trollope, the novelist, the first roadside letter boxes erected in the British Isles were installed in St Helier, Jersey. In 2002, Jersey Post celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first British roadside letter boxes with a set of stamps featuring some of the different styles of posting boxes that have been used in Jersey since 1852.
Postal independence
In 1969, when the British Post Office became a corporation, the States of Jersey took the opportunity for postal independence from Britain. It was recognised that the operational and mails side of the business could be run successfully under local management, whereas the philatelic aspect of issuing stamps was a largely unknown area.
Incorporation
In 2006, Jersey Post became an incorporated company. Today, Jersey has a viable and efficient post office organisation handling over 97 million items per year which, although far less than the major administrations of the world, nevertheless compares favourably with a large number of other administrations of greater area and population than Jersey but whose postal requirements are fewer and services less sophisticated.
Jersey Post Ltd now embraces all aspects of mail – physical and electronic – and has partnerships with a number of global organisations including FedEx, Business Post and the Royal Mail.
Today
Jersey Post is very proactive and strives to keep up with various mail trends and can provide further facilities through its mailing house J promail, and fulfilment house J logistics. The ‘mails’ area of Jersey Post has benefited from sophisticated mail sorting equipment and is always looking for new, more efficient sorting practices.
Did you know that Jersey Post…?
...became independent in 1969.
...was the first place in the British Isles to have post boxes.
...now has 187 roadside post boxes that are emptied twice a day.
...issued a "world first" postage stamp to celebrate HM The Queen's Golden Jubilee on 6 February 2002 which contained 22 carat gold, 24 carat gold and 99.9% silver in its design.
...issued its first round postage stamp to celebrate the Centenary of the Jersey Football Association and the Muratti Vase inter Channel Island football competition in May 2005.
...hosts the most southerly sub post office in the British Isles.
...delivery postal workers will walk, on average, 1495 miles each year.
...delivers daily to 41,500 postal addresses in the Island.