Presidency Guide
Bombay Presidency Postal History
The Bombay Presidency controlled the western coast of India, from Gujarat in the north to the Konkan in the south. As the principal port for mail to and from Britain via the overland route through Suez, Bombay’s post offices handled a heavy volume of Ship Letters and overseas correspondence.
Bombay GPO and the port
The Bombay GPO was one of the busiest offices in India. Its handstamps include circular and oval datestamps, Ship Despatch and Ship Receipt marks, and distinctive paid/bearing markings. Because Bombay was the embarkation point for the overland mail route to Britain (via Suez and the Red Sea) organised by forwarding agents such as Waghorn, many of the surviving covers from this office carry combined Indian and British postal markings.
Major Bombay offices
The Bombay postal network extended inland from the coast to the Deccan Plateau and northward into Gujarat:
- Poona — The military and administrative capital of the Deccan, with a range of handstamps
- Ahmedabad — Gujarat's largest city, with early datestamps from the 1830s
- Surat — Historic port city with some of the earliest Bombay Presidency marks
- Belgaum — Southern station with military cantonment handstamps
- Saugor — Central India office with scarce early markings
Bombay postal markings
Bombay handstamps are often struck in black ink, in contrast to the red ink favoured by Bengal offices. The presidency produced a variety of marking types: circular datestamps with the town name, oval marks, straight-line stamps, and the distinctive “INDIA PAID” markings applied to prepaid overseas letters.
This site records 299 handstamps from 89 Bombay offices. Browse them all on the Bombay Presidency page.