Bermuda stamp was issued from the Perot Post Office on Queen Street.

At that time, carriages ruled Bermuda's roads and Queen Street held the less dignified title of `Sixth Cross'. Much has changed in the ensuing years, but with the help of a complete overhaul in 1959, the tiny post office still occupies its spot in the heart of Hamilton.

According to records, William Bennett Perot served as postmaster of Hamilton from 1818 to 1862. However, it was a period spanning eight years of his tenure -- from 1841 until 1856 -- for which he is most noted.

It was in 1848 that Mr. Perot issued the first Bermuda stamp, primarily to deal with the problem of people posting letters for free.

"At that time, it was the practice of people mailing letters, to attach single penny to cover the postage. Mr. Perot affixed a box to his office door where the public could drop letters and pennies in his absence, but he often found that the number of pennies did not tally with the number of letters, and, of course, he was unable to determine who had paid and who had not.'' With his meagre salary, Mr. Perot knew that he had to find a more satisfactory system, so he ammended his office cancellation stamp to create his famous postage stamps, which he sold in sheets of one dozen for one shilling. It was in this way, that the postmaster became `the Father of the British Colonial Postal System'.

Experts estimate that there are no more than a dozen specimens of the original Perot stamp in existence. They are divided into two categories -- those printed in black, and those printed in carmine...Today, each ranks among the rarest of philatelic gems.

Well known in Bermuda circles, Mr. Perot married Susannah Butterfield Cranberry Stowe and fathered eleven children during his lifetime, nine of whom survived. He died on a stormy Friday in October of 1871, at the age of 80 without knowing that he had made philatelic history. During that time however, Mr. Perot also inaugurated the first house-to-house delivery of mail in Hamilton.

A keen gardener, the postmaster also spent a great deal of time in the grounds of his Par-la-Ville residence -- which is now the Bermuda Library -- superintending the planting and nurturing of many fine trees, shrubs and flowers sent to him from the West Indies and the US by his sons.

The remains of the innovative postmaster are today interred in St. John's Churchyard, Pembroke.

Perot Post Office GOVERNMENT GVT 100 YEARS ANNIVERSARY ANN