Lot 60530 – 1857 (Aug 1) Envelope sent registered to India from Quebec

1857 (Aug 1) Envelope sent registered to India from Quebec by Allan Lines Packet North American via Liverpool, London and Bombay with 1d local registration fee paid by the sender indicated by the red “REGISTERED” s/l handstamp, ms reg’n “No. 31” along with “PAID 6d. Stg.” and ms 1/2 in (8d Sterling postage and 6d Sterling registration fee). As the combined postage had been prepaid to destination the letter then went from Quebec to Agra without any further charge for registration (an example of free registration), received in London Aug 13 from Liverpool in a closed bag and the red “(CROWN)/REGISTERED” hs applied, sent in a closed bag to Southampton for Bombay on the S.S. Columbo arriving in Alexandria Sep 3, thence from Suez on the P&O S.S. Pekin arriving Bombay Sep 19 with arrival cds, a rare registered cover from Canada to India, ex Alan Holyoake RDP FRPSL.

Note: The letter is addressed to an army doctor attached to the 3rd Europeans regiment at the fort in Agra, which was one of the few places that held out during the 1857 Sepoy Indian Mutiny. The state of the Indian Postal Service during the Mutiny and what was done to this letter upon arriving in Bombay is not known.