The Bartica Post Office, originally known as Bartica-Grove, is situated at the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni Rivers, in the Essequibo River Postal District. The mail service to Bartica began in 1861, with deliveries from the Georgetown Post Office. During the 1880s, the Mazaruni Steamer handled the mail transport, which was later taken over by the Bartica Steamer in the 1890s.

The post office became a key link between the coastal postal systems and those of the interior, serving as a hub for mail routes from locations such as Manaka and Stampa, which were sent to Fort Island before being picked up by the Bartica Steamer T.P.O. On December 15, 1891, Bartica became a money order office, and on October 9, 1901, it was officially renamed from Bartica-Grove to Bartica.

The following are the Date Stamps used at Bartica with EKD prior to 22 January 1901, the day marking the end of the reign of Queen Victoria. In addition to listing the Panda Type #, for reference, we also list the T&H Type from The Postage Stamps and Postal History of British Guiana by Townsend & Howe, the Type and referenced page from The Postal History of British Guiana by Edward B. Proud, and the referenced pages from British Guiana Coded Postmarks – Study paper No 3 by Michael Rego, for code-marks.

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→ Panda Type # E  4.2 – Bartica Grove
(Used at Bartica)

T&H – Type 3a p. 300 ; Proud – Bartica D2 p. 143

EKD: 1 Mar 1881 / LKD: 2 Sep 1901

The Bartica Grove Circular Date Stamp (C.D.S) is a Panda Type E5 postmark.  The Panda Type E5 is Double Ring (D.R.), 22.5-24mm, 2 line date (2 L.D.) with year abbreviated (Y.A.).  Colony not shown.

The Panda Type E4.2 is cataloged as Type 3a and is listed as “Common” in The Postage Stamps and Postal History of British Guiana by Townsend & Howe.

The 1881 strike below has the date garbled and inverted. 1890 strikes missing the zero. The LKD strike of 2 Sep 1901 is in the Panda Collection. See image below.