Sark issues Man Posted To stamps marking Harry Turner’s extraordinary 1905 postal journey

Sark released a new se-tenant stamp issue on 1 September 2026 commemorating Harry Turner, whose 1905 journey from Guernsey to Sark became one of the most unusual episodes in Channel Islands postal history. Turner is remembered as the first man to arrange to be carried as a postal item, and the new issue forms the companion half of Guernsey Post’s Man Posted To series.

Turner’s journey relied on an obscure provision associated with the Post Office’s Exceptional Express Service. With official approval, he boarded the Sark boat accompanied by a postal escort and travelled to the island under postal arrangements rather than as an ordinary passenger. Guernsey Post records the cost of the journey as five shillings and ten pence, an amount that became part of the story’s enduring novelty.

On arrival in Sark, Turner and his escort took a carriage drive and had luncheon at the Dixcart Hotel before returning to Guernsey later the same day. The episode demonstrates the flexibility that could exist within historical postal regulations and shows how postal systems occasionally produced events far outside the normal movement of letters, parcels and printed matter.

The Sark issue was designed by Keith Robinson and printed by bpost using offset lithography. Guernsey Post lists the format as a £2 x 2 se-tenant pair, with each stamp measuring 33 mm by 40 mm. The stamps use Tullis Russell Tru White Litho Gummed 110gsm paper and are produced in sheets arranged as two rows of five se-tenant pairs, with a listed perforation of 1.1 x 1.667.

The companion Alderney issue tells the story of Major “Peabod” Palmer, who travelled from Guernsey to Alderney as a parcel in 1940. Together, the two releases deliberately bookend the Channel Islands story: Turner as the first man to be posted and Palmer as the last. For collectors, the pairing creates a coherent modern issue rooted directly in genuine postal history rather than a purely decorative theme.