Post office · North Western Provinces
RoorkeePostal Covers & Pre-1854 Postal History
Roorkee postal covers and handstruck postal markings of pre-1854 British India, recorded in an open census: 1 Roorkee handstamp recorded in 1854, North Western Provinces.
- Handstamps
- 1
- Recorded
- 1854
Roorkee (Rūṛkī; Hindi: [ɾuːɽkiː]), formerly also anglicized as Rurki, is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 31 km (19 mi) from Haridwar, the district headquarters. It is spread over a flat terrain under the Sivalik Hills of the Himalayas. The city is developed on the banks of the Ganges Canal, its dominant feature, which flows from north–south through the middle of the city.
Roorkee has 1 pre-1854 hand-struck postal marking from 1854 recorded in this census. Each figure links to its covers, rarity and provenance.
Brown border = community submission, verified by editors
Roorkee handstamp summary
All recorded markings at a glance — click any row for full details and covers.
| Mark | Type | Colour | Dates | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HG 1 | Handstamp | Black | 1854 | Scarce |
Roorkee— postal history & markings
Roorkee — later famous for its engineering college and the Ganges Canal works — leaves a single scarce black handstamp, HG 1 of 1854, a two-line slide stamp. The record is minimal — one mark, and a scarce one — a genuine target from a town at the heart of the great irrigation works of the north.
Frequently asked — Roorkee postal history
- What are the pre stamp covers of Roorkee?
- Pre stamp (pre philatelic) covers of Roorkee are folded letters and envelopes that passed through the Roorkee post office before India's first adhesive stamp of 1854, so postage was shown entirely by hand-struck postal markings and manuscript rates. Roorkee was a post office of the North Western Provinces, British India, and this census records 1 distinct postal marking used there, dated around 1854.
- How many handstamps are recorded for Roorkee?
- 1 hand-struck postal marking is recorded for Roorkee in this census. Each mark carries its Hammond Giles catalogue figure number, colour, date range, evidence-based rarity grade, and links to every surviving cover recorded with it.
- How do I identify a Roorkee postmark or cover?
- Compare your cover against the reference impressions on this page — each figure shows the mark's design, ink colour and recorded date range. If your Roorkee cover bears a mark that matches a figure, open that figure's page to see every recorded example with provenance. If it matches none, it may be unrecorded: submit photographs through the form on this page and the editors will review it for inclusion in the census.
For background on the material itself, see the guides to the handstruck stamps of India, the pre covers of India and the pre stamp covers of India, which explain how marks like those recorded at Roorkee were struck, catalogued and graded for rarity.
Also searched as: Roorkee, Rurki, Roorkee HG 1, Roorkee handstruck stamps, Roorkee pre stamp covers, Roorkee postal history.
How to cite
“Roorkee, North Western Provinces — pre-1854 handstruck stamps & covers,” Hand Struck Stamps, https://handstruckstampsindia.com/n-w-provinces/roorkee (accessed 24 September 2026).
Updated: 24 Sept 2026
An unrecorded mark from Roorkee?
If you hold a cover or strike from Roorkee that does not match any figure above, submit it below. Approved additions appear here as new entries in the census — every submission is reviewed first.
Same presidency
Other post offices in the North Western Provinces
Explore the pre-1854 postal history of other North Western Provinces post offices — each page lists its recorded handstruck markings, dates and surviving covers.