Postage stamps and postal history of Guernsey Postage stamps and postal history of Guernsey The first postal service took place using mail sent with captains of packet ships, using agents in the England and in the islands for the end delivery. The cost was normally 3d. The first pillar boxes in Britain were introduced in the Channel Islands as an experiment in 1852, to collect mail for the Royal Mail packet boats. The oldest pillar box in use in the British Isles is in Guernsey. The first postage stamps printed for use in Guernsey were issued during the occupation of the island during World War II. In
History of Guernsey and Jersey were given certain privileges as the English crown needed the Islands to be loyal, not least of which was the Islands neutrality, allowing trade to be pursued with France and England, even when these were at war. The trade creating revenue from taxes to pay for the Island garrisons. During the English Civil War, Guernsey sided with the Parliamentarians, while Jersey remained Royalist. Guernsey's decision was mainly related to the higher proportion of Calvinists and other Reformed churches, as well as Charles I's refusal to take up the case of some Guernsey seamen who had been captured by