Overseas Registration Rates 1876-1993

Introduction

1893: registered 1d pink postal stationery envelope to Nicaragua
Total 4½d rate is 2½d postage + 2d registration fee

Registration in the overseas mails operated, to an extent, under different rules to the inland service. The most obvious of these was that it offered only minimal compensation for losses, and there was a separate UPU insurance service for international mail.

Early international registration services developed in a rather ad hoc manner and there were a wide range of fees depending on route and destination. However, between 1876 and 1993 the registration fee on overseas letters was generally the same as the basic inland fee, with the exception of the occasional obscure destination in the early days and a few short periods during the twentieth century (noted below for convenience).

As with the inland services, the overseas registration and insurance services were rebranded in 1993, and further developments are listed under Priority Services.

Rates

Date	Fee	Notes	Date	Fee	Notes	Date	Fee	Notes
1876 (1 Jan)	4d	Date France joined UPU – previously fee to/via France equal to postage. 4d fee to most places from 1st February 1866.	1878 (1 Jan)	2d	Compensation for loss up to £2 while letter was in hands of British Post Office	1921 (13 Jun)	3d
1949 (1 May)	4d		1952 (1 May)	6d	Inland fee 1s from 1st June 1956	1957 (1 Oct)	1s	Equal fees again
1961 (1 Feb)	1s 6d	Inland fee 1s 9d from 29th April 1963	1963 (1 Jul)	1s 9d	Equal fees again	1966 (3 Oct)	3s
1971 (15 Feb)	15p	Overseas fee remained same (converted into new currency). Inland fee 20p	1971 (1 Jul)	20p	Equal fees again	1974 (24 Jun)	25p
1975 (17 Mar)	35p		1975 (29 Sep)	45p		1977 (13 Jun)	60p
1979 (20 Aug)	65p		1980 (4 Feb)	75p		1981 (26 Jan)	90p
1982 (1 Feb)	£1.00		1984 (3 Sep)	£1.10		1986 (20 Oct)	£1.20
1988 (5 Sep)	£1.40		1989 (2 Oct)	£1.55		1990 (17 Sep)	£1.75
1991 (16 Sep)	£1.90	Registration and insurance services were revised and rebranded from 28th June 1993

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