Qatar and the British Postal Agencies

I have already displayed the below cover with regards to the 'On His Majesty Service" (click here to read more on this).

Click to enlarge

The cover was sent to Mr. W. J. Tonkinson from Bahrain. Mr Tonkinson is a known philatelist which also helps us to recognise the spelling mistake both on the cover and on the letter from the Postal Superintendent. The correct name would be Mr. W. D. Tonkinson.

The cover used a 1954 printed official On His Majesty Mail Service postal stationary. Printed for, and used by, the Postal Superintendent. The letter within, not often seen, clarifies some of the rare covers sent from each of the regional states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar some of which will be presented later in this blog.

It is well known that the stamps used by the Gulf States from the 1950’s until their own postal services became independent, were issued by the British Postal Agency in Eastern Arabia. Since all postal services were controlled by the same agency, and as can be red on the letter itself, the British Postal Agency was willing to send the stamps overprinted for one state to another.

It is interesting to note that the British Postal Agency as shown on the top right corner of the enclosed letter, is not "in Eastern Arabia" as is now commonly known, but rather "Persian Gulf". I have already written a blog highlighting the change in the name from Persian to Arabian Gulf (click here to read the blog again). Perhaps the best known book regarding philatelic history of the region for that time frame was written by Neil Donaldson, entitled "The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia and the Gulf".

Clearly, the agency began life as the British Postal Agencies, Persian Gulf (see letter above). All covers until 1958 referred to the Persian Gulf. Towards the end of 1958 the first covers began to circulate referring to the Arabian Gulf. The British Postal Agency remained responsible for postal services in Qatar until 1963. Perhaps the agency itself changed it name from the British Postal Agencies Persian Gulf, to British Postal Agency in Eastern Arabia around the same time.

I would appreciate if anyone could share any additional information or images to validate the name of the Agency over the period of time.