page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Malta
section_title: Malta Post Office (1885–1995)
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Malta / Postal history / Malta Post Office (1885–1995)
caption_attribution_description: English: Auberge d'Italie
context_page_description: The postal history of Malta began in the early modern period, when pre-adhesive mail was delivered to foreign destinations by privately owned ships for a fee. The earliest known letter from Malta, sent during the rule of the Order of St John, is dated 1532. The first formal postal service on the islands was established by the Order in 1708, with the post office being located at the Casa del Commun Tesoro in Valletta. The first postal markings on mail appeared later on in the 18th century.
  The postal service was reformed in 1798 during the French occupation of Malta, and the islands were taken over by the British in 1800. In the early 19th century, two separate post offices were established in Malta: the Island Post Office and the Packet Office, with the latter forming part of the British Post Office. Their operations were amalgamated in 1849, and British postage stamps began to be used in Malta in August 1857. Malta's first postage stamp—the Halfpenny Yellow—was issued in 1860 for use on local mail, while letters sent to foreign destinations continued to be franked with British stamps.
context_section_description: In 1879, Governor Arthur Borton made a proposal to transfer control of postal services to the Government of Malta. This occurred on 1 January 1885, when the Island Post Office and the Packet Office were officially merged into a single Post Office. At this point, the Halfpenny Yellows and British stamps were withdrawn and new Malta stamps and postal stationery were issued to replace them. On 17 May 1886, the General Post Office moved from the Banca Giuratale to Palazzo Parisio, also in Valletta. From 14 August 1889, letter carriers were given a numbered handstamp which they would apply to the mail that they were delivering. This created accountability since it made it easy to identify the postman responsible in the case of misdelivered mail. These markings, which are known as postmen's personal handstamps (Italian: bollo personale), remained in use until 1949.
  By around 1891, police stations in various villages had begun to sell postage stamps. The postal system was reorganised in 1894, and this included the establishment of postal districts. Circular postmarks for various towns and villages were introduced in 1900, but most were withdrawn in 1921. Some of the larger post offices such as those at Cospicua, Notabile, Sliema and Victoria, Gozo retained their postmarks.
  Postal services in Malta were disrupted during World War II, and postal censorship was introduced at this point. Malta was heavily bombarded during the war, and several post offices were destroyed or damaged due to aerial bombardment. The Cospicua post office was hit in June 1940, and its staff and equipment were relocated to a temporary post office in Paola, which was itself bombed on 12 February 1942. It was relocated once again to Żejtun where it remained until 1946. Palazzo Parisio was bombed on 24 April 1942 and the GPO temporarily moved elsewhere in Valletta until returning to its former location on 16 January 1943. During this period, some of the GPO services were transferred to the primary school of Ħamrun.
  Demand for postal services increased drastically after the war, and many new post offices were established in towns and villages between the 1950s and the 1980s. The first postage meter was installed in Malta in 1961. Malta became independent in 1964, and the country was accepted into the UPU on 21 May 1965.
  The Parcel Post Office moved to a new building in Victory Square in Valletta on 12 November 1963. Palazzo Parisio remained in use by the postal authorities until 4 July 1973, when the GPO moved across the street to Auberge d'Italie and the Central Mail Room, the registered letter branch and the Poste Restante moved to the former Garrison Chapel (a building now housing the Malta Stock Exchange). While it was the GPO, parts of Auberge d'Italie also housed other government departments.
  Following the murder of Karin Grech by a letter bomb in 1977, mail addressed to people who were perceived to be at risk of a similar attack was checked for explosives. Once an item was certified as harmless, a marking with the letter X was applied to it before being delivered to the recipient. Such markings are known as "Karin Grech crosses" by philatelists.
  Alphanumeric postal codes were introduced in Malta in 1991.
caption: Auberge d'Italie in Valletta, which housed the General Post Office between 1973 and 1997
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