Queen Elizabeth II 1952-

ANTIGUA

Discovered by Columbus in 1493. Antigua was first settled in 1632 by a few British families. It is the most important island of the Leeward Group in the British West Indies. Stamps of Great Britain were used from 1858-1860 prior to the issue of its own stamps in 1862.

1953-62 Wmk Mult Script CA

ASCENSION

A British Colony situated in the South Atlantic, 700 miles north-west of St Helena. First occupied in 1815, it was retained as a Royal Naval Base from 1816 until 1922 when it became a dependency of St Helena. Stamps first issued in 1922 prior to which British stamps were used.

1956 Wmk Mult Script CA

BAHRAIN

An archipelago some 20 miles off the coast of Saudi Arabia, about half way down the Persian Gulf. An independent Sheikdom, it had an Indian postal administration from 1884 until 1948 during which time stamps of India were used and then later overprinted for use from 1933. A British postal administration operated from 1948 until 1965 overprinting and surcharging the stamps of Great Britain up until 1960.

1952-54 Surcharges on GB Wmk Tudor Crown

1953 Coronation

1955-60 Surcharges on GB Castles

1956-7 Surcharges on GB Wmk Edward Crown

1957-59 Surcharges on GB New Currency

1960 Surcharge on GB Wmk Mult Crown

BARBADOS

The most northern of the West Indian Islands, Barbados had been a British Colony since 1625 and became independent in 1966. Stamps first issued in 1852.

1953-61 Wmk Mult Script CA

BASUTOLAND

A former British Crown colony which became an independent Kingdom in 1966 and was renamed Lesotho. The country is entirely surrounded by South Africa and issued its first stamps in 1933. Prior to this the stamps from the Cape of Good Hope and South Africa were in use.

1954-58 Wmk Mult Script CA

BERMUDA

A British Colony, first settled in 1609, the Bermudas consist of a cluster of some 360 islands in the Atlantic about 600 miles off the coast of the United States. Provisional stamps were first issued in 1848 with the famous "Perot" issue by the then Postmaster with later adhesive stamps first appearing in 1865.

1953-62 Wmk Mult Script CA