First series of Mauritius postmarks

When the District Post was being planned in 1846, the small amount of franked mail that was handled by the district post offices had the stamps cancelled by the 'Paid' or 'Free' marks or was cancelled on arrival at the G.P.O.

An order was placed 1850 for 16 new cancellations but the order was not fulfilled. As an interim measure, due to the non arrival of the order, a provisional set of 1 to at least 6 was put into service (by May 1853) for the larger offices, being necessary, owing to local stamps being reissued.

The order placed 1850 was fulfilled 1853 and cancellations were distributed to the different post offices. The use of this series was erratic and some district mail was not cancelled until it arrived at the G.P.O. One reason for this is explained in a report dated 8 July 1859 stating that the district post offices had no ink or pads!

Second series of Mauritius postmarks

In 1862 B53, B64 and B65 in the British Post Office series were allocated to Port Louis, Seychelles and Rodrigues respectively. The introduction of the railway service in 1864 highly contributed to the development of the Postal Services as only 8 post offices existed on the territory prior to 1864.

One result of the reorganisation and expansion of the post offices in 1868 was the issue of a new series of cancellations. This type of cancellation is called BONC'(Barred Oval Numeral Canceller). No. 1 to 32 was allocated clockwise from Port Louis, on or close to the railway lines. Further allocations being made as offices were opened. These cancellations were no. 33 to 43 and B44 to B49. Another cancellation is B32 that is believed to be a sorting office in Port Louis.