This page is for the newspaper wrappers issued by the Barbados Postal service.

Barbados have been using news wrappers since 1882, which itself is thirty years after the practice of applying a postage rate for varying newspapers become common. In fact the first stamp of Barbados (SG1) in 1852 was used almost exclusively on newspapers, hence their scarcity today, as newspapers were mostly thrown away.

In this gallery I have attempted to show as many different wrappers as possible, each one with a Higgins and Gage (HG) number after them up to 1953 at which point he HG numbering system finishes. Subsequent issues are poorly recorded so exact issue dates are unclear, but wrappers are still in use today and whilst visiting the Post Office in 2019 I was fortunate enough to see them being applied to papers prior to dispatch.

Typically there will be mint, used and occasionally specimen wrappers in the gallery, and in some cases I’ve provided more than one image where there is interest in, for example, a postmark or the postage rate in use. At some point I will attempt to compile a timeline of dates and rates for the cost of transporting a newspaper, as this will help to illuminate some of the odd uses you can see below, such as the uprated wrappers.

As always, this is a work in progress and there are still some items missing, however, I will over time be looking to fill the gaps and if you have something I am missing please feel free to get in touch with me.