The stamps shown here include:
8c - Red/Black - Tongkang - Labuan Postage Due 1901 State of North Borneo
10c - Blue/red - Crown Colony - Labuan 1902 Labuan Colony
10c - Crown Colony
Labuan is a small island about the size of Miami off the coast of North Borneo. Uninhabited when the Portuguese discovered it in 1497, its harbor served as a safe anchorage for ships waiting to enter port of Brunei back when the region was a haven for pirates.
James Brooke, “the white Rajah of Sarawak,” aggressively expanded British control over the Sultan of Brunei’s lands on the northern coast of Borneo. He and the British Navy decided Labuan would be a valuable coaling station as well as a base for fighting piracy. In October 1844, when they sailed into Brunei harbor to ask the sultan to give Labuan to Queen Victoria, the Sultan reluctantly agreed. The fact that a British warship near the Sultan’s palace lined up with cannons ready to fire enhanced the persuasiveness of their proposal.
Labuan became a Crown Colony in 1848, hoping it might one day rival Singapore as a trading centre, but these hopes did not bear fruit. The colony survived on grants in aid until 1869, going deeper into debt each year, until administration was transferred to the British North Borneo Company on 1 January 1890. That did not work out well either, and on 1 January 1906, Straits Settlements assumed responsibility for the colony, incorporating Labuan entirely two years later.
James Brooke, “the white Rajah of Sarawak,” aggressively expanded British control over the Sultan of Brunei’s lands on the northern coast of Borneo. He and the British Navy decided Labuan would be a valuable coaling station as well as a base for fighting piracy. In October 1844, when they sailed into Brunei harbor to ask the sultan to give Labuan to Queen Victoria, the Sultan reluctantly agreed. The fact that a British warship near the Sultan’s palace lined up with cannons ready to fire enhanced the persuasiveness of their proposal.
Labuan became a Crown Colony in 1848, hoping it might one day rival Singapore as a trading centre, but these hopes did not bear fruit. The colony survived on grants in aid until 1869, going deeper into debt each year, until administration was transferred to the British North Borneo Company on 1 January 1890. That did not work out well either, and on 1 January 1906, Straits Settlements assumed responsibility for the colony, incorporating Labuan entirely two years later.
Source: American Philatelic Society
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