Postage stamps and postal history of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Tuvalu. The Gilbert Islands issued stamps under that name before attaining independence on 12 July 1979 as the Republic of Kiribati. The first stamps of Kiribati were a pair issued on 19 November 1979 to mark the independence of the country. The Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau was established on 1 January 1976, which was the day the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony was dissolved and Tuvalu established as a separate British dependency. The first stamp issue was a set of provisional overprinted definitive stamps and a commemorative set of three stamps. The first postage stamp cancellation devices were put into use
Katherine Ellice and Archives Canada. Her father-in-law, Edward Ellice – who had furnished her with the diary and the task of filling it on her journey abroad – was a frequent host to notable visitors to Scotland, thought highly of "Janie" and so enlisted her, in 1859, as hostess, when the artist Richard Doyle visited; she was given an illustrated diary of a journey to the islands of Rona and Skye. In 1853, her sister, Eglantyne "Tina", married the cousin of her husband, Robert Ellice (1816–1858), son of General Robert Ellice. Following her death, in 1864, Edward Ellice remarried. Katherine Ellice Katherine