Burma British Dominion stamps 1937-1946
Ed Fletcher summarizes the history of Great Britain’s action-packed involvement in Burma; and looks at some selling prices for Burma issues from the reigns of George V and George VI
Burma endured a turbulent 19th century that witnessed border encroachments, local retaliations, punitive expeditions, and three brief and bloody wars (1824–1826, 1852 -1853, 1885-1887). They were fought against a backdrop of vast teak forests; ruby, sapphire, jade and gold mines, and an abundance of rare spices irresistible to British palates growing in fertile plantations. The first war pitted Burmese royal regiments against the private armies of the East India Company. The EIC had British officers leading well-equipped and trained Indian sepoys. Their superior weapons and fire-power forced the Burmese King to cede one-third of his kingdom. Three decades later the EIC made dubious claims that Burmese forces had crossed defined borders to encroach on EIC territory. The outcome of the brief battles brought further territorial losses for the Burmese King and valuable gains for the East India Company.
More than twenty years prior to the third war Britain deprived the EIC of its monopoly on commercial, political and military control throughout the Indian subcontinent, largely as a consequence of mismanagement and endemic EIC corruption. The British Indian Army became the military force putting pressure on Burma’s shrinking borders. In 1885 princes of the Burmese royal family made secret contact with French diplomats in hope of gaining assistance and weapons for an attempt to regain lost lands. Rumours of possible French interference in the region alarmed the British Government and precipitated an immediate declaration of war against Burma. Following a brief campaign Britain gained a major victory that resulted in the total annexation of Burma into the British Empire; but not as a new British colony. Instead, Burma found
itself ranked as a mere province of India. The humiliation would cause rumblings of discontent for the next half century.
Prior to the British annexation, Burma’s postal needs had been met by a system of local messengers and parcel carriers who handled Burma’s internal mail without need for postage stamps. British officials administering Burma after annexation extended the Indian postal system across the borders and used India’s stamps which were, of course, valued in Indian currency. When Burma became a self-governing British colony in 1937 the then-current stamps of India were George V India definitives of 1926-1936 inscribed ‘INDIA POSTAGE’ and with values in rupees and annas. For sale and use in Burma those stamps now received a ‘BURMA’ overprint, and their issue date of 1st April 1937 marked the day when Burma and India separated, both officially and administratively. The following year brought George VI to the British throne. His new stamp issues provided the opportunity to engrave ‘BURMA POSTAGE’ in a tablet above the king’s head.
The first day of issue for those fully fledged stamps of the British colony of Burma was 15 November 1938. The complete set of sixteen included several large formats which, alongside the King’s left-facing bust, displayed vignettes illustrating scenes from Burmese everyday life. The purple (3 annas) was destined to become one of the most popular British Empire colonials, eagerly sought by junior collectors worldwide in the 1950s. Its design showed what appeared to be a very young boy sitting on the neck of a Burmese elephant and directing it to move heavy teak logs with its trunk. In fact, the stamp’s designer later commented that the elephant handler (mahout) he drew from life had been a very young-looking adult. From the same set the 2a 6p stamp (Royal Barge) was also issued overprinted to commemorate the 6th May 1840