The History of the British Post Office
by Joseph Clarence Hemmeon · English · Gutenberg #42983 · 625,676 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of the British Post Office
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The History of the British Post Office
Author: Joseph Clarence Hemmeon
Release date: June 18, 2013 [eBook #42983]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42983
Credits: Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Eric Skeet, The Philatelic
Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH POST OFFICE ***
Transcriber's Notes:
(1) Obvious spelling, punctuation, and typographical errors have been
corrected.
(2) Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
(3) Table V in the Appendix has been split into two parts (Scotland and
Ireland), in view of its page width.
____________________________________________
THE HISTORY OF
THE BRITISH POST OFFICE
BY
J. C. HEMMEON, PH.D.
_PUBLISHED FROM THE INCOME OF THE
WILLIAM H. BALDWIN, JR., 1885, FUND_
[Illustration]
CAMBRIDGE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published January 1912_
PREFACE
In justice to those principles which influenced the policy of the Post
Office before the introduction of penny postage, it is perhaps
unnecessary to call attention to the fact that no opinion as to their
desirability or otherwise is justifiable which does not take into
consideration the conditions and prejudices which then prevailed. Some
of the earlier writers on the Post Office have made the mistake of
condemning everything which has not satisfied the measure of their own
particular rule. If there is anything that the historical treatment of a
subject teaches the investigator it is an appreciation of the fact that
different conditions call for different methods of treatment. For
example, the introduction of cheap postage was possibly delayed too
long. But during the era of high postal rates a large net revenue was of
primary importance, nor were those conditions present which would have
made low rates a success.
The consideration of such debatable subjects as the telegraph system of
the Postal Department and the department's attitude toward the telephone
companies, as well as the intention of the Post Office to acquire the
business of the latter, must necessarily give rise to controversy.
Thanks to the magnificent net revenue obtained from letters in the
United Kingdom the department has been able to lose a good deal of money
by the extension of its activities into the realm of affairs not purely
postal. Possibly a _democratic_ type of government should, from the
financial point of view, interfere least in the direct management of
economic institutions, on account of the pressure which can easily be
brought to bear upon it for the extension of such institutions on other
than economic grounds. If non-economic principles are to be substituted
in justifying the initiation or increase of government ownership, a
popular form of government seems the least suitable for the presentation
of such as shall be fair to all concerned, not to mention the difficult
problem of dealing with those members of the civil service who do not
hesitate to make use of their political power to enforce their demands
upon the government.
In the treatment of a subject so complex as the history of the British
Post Office it is not easy to decide how far its presentation should be
strictly chronological or how far it should be mounted in "longitudinal
sections," exposing its most salient features. Both methods have their
advantages and their disadvantages. In order to obtain what is useful in
both, I have described chronologically in the first four chapters the
progress of the Post Office, while in the remaining chapters I have
examined separately some of the more important aspects of postal
development. But I am aware that by this compromise I have not entirely
escaped the dangers of abrupt transitions from subject to subject and of
the accumulation of dry details. I can only plead in extenuation, in the
first place the nature of my subject, an institution with a long and
varied history, characterized by the steady extension of its field of
activity, and in the second place my desire to make my study as thorough
as possible, even at the risk of some sacrifice of unity and interest of
treatment.
The material for this sketch has been obtained from the Harvard
University Library, the Boston Public Library, and the Canadian
Parliamentary Library. Work was also done in the Library of the British
Museum. I wish to acknowledge the help I have received from the advice
and criticism of Professor Gay, under whose supervision the larger part
of this history was prepared.
J. C. HEMMEON.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORTED DIRECTLY BY THE STATE--PRIOR
TO 1635 3
Methods of postal communication in vogue before the establishment of the
Post Office. The first Postmaster-General and his duties. Alternative
systems. The posts in Elizabeth's reign. Appointment of a Foreign
Postmaster-General. Rivalry between the two Postmasters-General.
Witherings as Foreign Postmaster-General.
CHAPTER II
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT A SOURCE OF REVENUE TO THE STATE--1635-1711 13
Condition of the postal establishment at the beginning of the
seventeenth century. Witherings' project adopted. Disturbance produced
in the Post Office by the struggle between the two Houses of Parliament.
Rival claimants for the office of Postmaster-General. The Civil War and
its effects upon the Post Office. The Post Office during the
Commonwealth. Farming of the Post Office. Complaints about the delivery
of letters after the Restoration. Condition of the postal establishment
at the close of the seventeenth century. Dockwra's London Penny Post.
Extension of the foreign postal service. Conditions in Ireland,
Scotland, and the American Colonies.
CHAPTER III
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT AN INSTRUMENT OF TAXATION--1711-1840 34
The Post Office Act of 1711. The Post Office as a whole ceases to be
farmed. Allen undertakes the farm of the bye and cross posts.
Improvements in postal communications during the first half of the
eighteenth century. Controversy over the delivery of letters.
Competition from post coaches. Establishment of mail coaches by Palmer.
Abuses in the Post Office and their reform. Opening and detention of
letters. Franking of newspapers in certain cases and other privileges
abolished. The Newspaper and Dead Letter Offices. Registration of
letters. Money Order Office. Changes in the London Penny Post.
Consolidation of different branches of the Post Office in London. Dublin
and Edinburgh Penny Posts. Question of Sunday posts. Conditions under
which mail coaches were supplied. Conveyance of mails by railways.
Condition of the postal establishment during the first half of the
nineteenth century. Irish Post Office and postal rates. Scotch Post
Office. Sir Rowland Hill's plan. Investigation of postal affairs by a
committee. Report of committee. Adoption of inland penny postage.
CHAPTER IV
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT AN INSTRUMENT OF POPULAR COMMUNICATION--SINCE
1840 63
Reductions in rates of postage, inland, colonial and foreign; and
resultant increase in postal matter. Insurance and registration of
letters. Failure of attempt to introduce compulsory prepayment of
postage. Perforated postage stamps. Free and guaranteed delivery of
letters in rural districts. Express or special delivery of letters.
Newspaper postage rates. Book or Halfpenny Post. Pattern and Sample
Post. Use of postcards. Parcel Post. Question of "cash on delivery."
Postal notes. Their effect upon the number of money orders. Savings
banks. Assurance and annuity privileges. Reform in these offices by Mr.
Fawcett. Methods of conveyance of the mails. Condition of postal
employees. Sunday labour. Dissatisfaction of employees with committee of
1858. Mr. Fawcett's reforms in 1881 and 1882. Mr. Raikes' concessions in
1888, 1890, and 1891. Appointment of Tweedmouth Committee in 1895 gives
little satisfaction to the men. Appointment of a departmental committee.
Grievances of the men. Report of committee accepted only in part by the
Postmaster-General. Continued demand of the men for a select committee.
Concessions granted to the men by Mr. Buxton, the Postmaster-General.
Select committee appointed. Their report adopted by Mr. Buxton.
Continued dissatisfaction among the men.
CHAPTER V
THE TRAVELLERS' POST AND POST HORSES 89
Horses provided by the postmasters. Complaints concerning the letting of
horses. Monopoly in letting horses granted to the postmasters. Reforms
during Witherings' administration. Fees charged. Postmasters' monopoly
abridged. Licences required and duties levied. These duties let out to
farm. Licences and fees re-adjusted.
CHAPTER VI
ROADS AND SPEED 97
Post roads in the sixteenth century. Speed at which mails were carried
in the sixteenth century. Abuses during first part of the seventeenth
century. New roads opened. Roads in Ireland and Scotland. First cross
post road established in 1698. Improvement in speed. Delays in
connection with Irish packet boats. Increased speed obtained from use of
railways.
CHAPTER VII
SAILING PACKETS AND FOREIGN CONNECTIONS 109
Establishment of first regular sailing packets. Sailing packets in the
seventeenth century. Difficulty with the Irish Office. Postal
communications with the continent during the sixteenth century.
Witherings improves the foreign service. Agreements with foreign
postmasters-general. Expressions of dissatisfaction. Treaties with
France. King William's interest in the Harwich sailing packets. Effect
of the war with France. Postal communications with France improved.
Dummer's West Indian packet boats. Other lines. Increase in number of
sailing packets. Steam packets introduced by the Post Office. They are
badly managed and prove a financial loss. Report against government
ownership of the steam packets. Ship letter money. Question of carriage
of goods. Trouble with custom's department adjusted. Methods of
furnishing supplies for the packet boats. Abuses in the sailing packet
service reformed. Expenses. Sailing packets transferred to the
Admiralty. Committee reports against principle of government ownership
of packet boats and payment of excessive sums to contractors.
Abandonment of principle of government ownership. General view of packet
services in existence at middle of the nineteenth century. Contracts
with steamship companies. Controversy with the companies. General view
of the packet service in 1907 with principles adopted in concluding
contracts. Expenses of sailing packets.
CHAPTER VIII
RATES AND FINANCE 135
Foreign rates, 1626. First inland rates, 1635. Rates prescribed by
Council of State, 1652. Rates collected by the Farmers of the Posts.
First rates established by act of Parliament, 1657. Slightly amended,
1660. Separate rates for Scotland, 1660. Scotch rates, 1695. Rates to
and within Jamaica. In American Colonies, 1698. Increased rates, inland,
colonial and foreign, 1711. Controversy over rates on enclosures. Slight
reductions in rates, 1765. Increases in 1784, 1796, 1801. In Ireland,
1803. For United Kingdom a further increase, 1805. Culminating point of
high rates, 1812. Changes in Irish rates, 1810, 1813, 1814. Rates on
"ships' letters," 1814. Irish rates to be collected in British currency,
1827. Reduction in rates between England and France, 1836. Consolidating
act of 1837. Rates by contractors' packet boats, 1837. Rates charged
according to weight in certain cases, 1839. Inland penny postage adopted
and basis of rate-charging changed to weight, 1840. Franking privilege,
1652. Abused. Attempt to curtail the use of franks only partially
successful. Curtailment so far as members of Parliament are concerned.
Estimated loss from franking. Enquiry into question of franking. Further
attempts to control the abuse prove fruitless. Extension of franking
privilege especially on newspapers. Abolition of franking privilege,
1840. Reductions in letter, newspaper, and book post rates. Re-directed
letter and registration fees. Inland parcel post established. Postcards
introduced. Concessions of 1884 and Jubilee concessions. Foreign and
colonial rates reduced. Reductions in money order and postal note rates.
Telegraph money order rates.
Finances of the Post Office before the seventeenth century. From
beginning of seventeenth century to Witherings' reforms. From 1635 to
1711. During the remainder of the eighteenth century. Finances of Scotch
and Irish Posts. Of the London Penny Post. From bye and cross post
letters. Finances of the Post Office from the beginning of the
nineteenth century to 1840. Since the introduction of inland penny
postage.
CHAPTER IX
THE QUESTION OF MONOPOLY 189
Rival methods available for the conveyance of letters. Government's
monopolistic proclamation the result of an attempt to discover
treasonable correspondence. Competition diminishes under Witherings'
efficient management. House of Commons declares itself favourable to
competition. Changes its attitude when in control of the posts. Monopoly
of government enforced more rigorously. Carriers' posts largely
curtailed. London's illegal Half-penny Post. Attempts to evade the
payment of postage very numerous during the first half of the nineteenth
century. Different methods of evasion outlined.
CHAPTER X
THE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM AS A BRANCH OF THE POSTAL DEPARTMENT 202
The telegraph companies under private management. Proposals for
government ownership and Mr. Scudamore's report. Conditions under which
the telegraph companies were acquired. Public telegraph business of the
railways. Cost of acquisition. Rates charged by the government.
Reduction in rates in 1885. Guarantee obligations reduced. Underground
lines constructed. Telegraphic relations with the continent. Position of
the government with reference to the wireless telegraph companies.
Attempts to place the government telegraphs on a paying basis do not
prove a success. Financial aspect of the question. Reasons given for the
lack of financial success.
CHAPTER XI
THE POST OFFICE AND THE TELEPHONE COMPANIES 219
Telephones introduced into England. Judicial decision in favour of the
department. Restricted licences granted the companies. Feeble attempt on
the part of the department to establish exchanges. Difficulties
encountered by the companies. Popular discontent with the policy of the
department leads to granting of unrestricted licences. Way-leave
difficulties restrict efficiency of the companies. Agreement with
National Telephone Company and acquisition of the trunk lines by the
department. Demand for competition from some municipalities leads to
granting of licences to a few cities and towns. The department itself
establishes a competing exchange in London. History of the exchanges
owned and operated by the municipalities. Struggle between the London
County Council and the company's exchange in London. Relation between
the company's and the department's London exchanges. Agreement with the
company for the purchase of its exchanges in 1911. Financial aspect of
the department's system.
CHAPTER XII
CONCLUSION 237
APPENDIX
EXPENDITURE AND REVENUE TABLES 241
BIBLIOGRAPHY 253
INDEX 259
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
Acc. & P. Accounts and Papers.
A. P. C. Acts of the Privy Council.
Add. Additional.
Cal. B. P. Calendar of Border Papers.
Cal. S. P. Calendar of State Papers. A. & W. I., Col., D.,
For., and Ire., added to Cal. S. P., indicate
respectively to the America and West Indies,
Colonial, Domestic, Foreign, and Ireland sections
of this series.
Cal. T. B. Calendar of Treasury Books.
Cal. T. P. Calendar of Treasury Papers.
Cal. T. B. & P. Calendar of Treasury Books and Papers.
D. N. B. Dictionary National Biography.
Fin. Rep., 1797. Finance Reports 1797-98.
Hist. MSS. Com. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.
Jo. H. C. Journals of the House of Commons.
Jo. H. L. Journals of the House of Lords.
Joyce. Joyce, H. The History of the Post Office to 1836.
L. & P. Hen. VIII. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic,
Henry VIII.
Parl. Deb. Hansard, Parliamentary Debates.
Parl. Papers. Parliamentary Papers.
P. & O. P. C. Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council.
Rep. Commrs. Reports from Commissioners.
Rep. Com. Reports from Committees.
Rep. P. G. Reports of the Postmasters-General.
Scobell, Collect. Scobell, H. A Collection of Acts and Ordinances
made in the Parliament held 3 Nov., 1640 to
17 Sept., 1656.
THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH POST OFFICE
CHAPTER I
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORTED DIRECTLY BY THE STATE
The history of the British Post Office starts with the beginning of the
sixteenth century. Long before this, however, a system of communication
had been established both for the personal use of the King and for the
conveyance of official letters and documents. These continued to be the
principal functions of the royal posts until well on in the seventeenth
century.
Before the sixteenth century, postal communications were carried on by
royal messengers. These messengers either received stated wages or were
paid according to the length of the journeys they made. We find them
mentioned as early as the reign of King John under the name of _nuncii_
or _cursores_; and payments to them form a large item in the Household
and Wardrobe accounts of the King as early as these accounts exist.[1]
They travelled the whole of the journey themselves and delivered their
letters personally to the people to whom they were directed. A somewhat
different style of postal service, a precursor of the modern method, was
inaugurated by the fourth Edward. During the war with Scotland he found
himself in need of a speedier and better system of communication between
the seat of war and the seat of government. He accomplished this by
placing horses at intervals of twenty miles along the great road between
England and Scotland. By so doing his messengers were able to take up
fresh horses along the way and his despatches were carried at the rate
of a hundred miles a day.[2]
[1] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 21.
[2] _Notes and Queries_, 1st series, iii, p. 266.
From an early period private letters were conveyed by carriers and
travellers both within the kingdom and between it and the Continent. The
Paston letters,[3] containing the correspondence of the different
members of the Paston family, throw some light upon the manner in which
letters were conveyed during the latter half of the fifteenth century.
Judging from such references as we find in the letters themselves, they
were generally carried by a servant,[4] a messenger,[5] or a friend.[6]
The later letters of this series, written towards the close of the
fifteenth century, show that regular messengers and carriers, who
carried letters and parcels, travelled between London and Norwich and
other parts of Norfolk.[7] From the fourteenth century down, we have
instances of writs being issued to mayors, sheriffs, and bailiffs for
the apprehension and examination of travellers, who were suspected of
conveying treasonable correspondence between England and the
Continent.[8] For the most part these letters were carried by servants,
messengers, and merchants.[9]
[3] These letters were sent principally between London and different
places in Norfolk.
[4] _The Paston Letters_, ed. J. Gairdner, 1872, nos. 34, 305, 435, 609,
624, 663, 905.
[5] _Ibid._, nos. 540, 688, 723, 727.
[6] _Ibid._, nos. 656, 905.
[7] _Ibid._, nos. 688, 723, 745.
[8] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 96 (68).
[9] _Cely Papers_, ed. H. E. Malden, 1900, nos. 41, 72, 123, 124, 129,
132.
Sir Brian Tuke is the first English Postmaster-General of whom we have
any record. The King's "Book of Payments" for the year 1512 contains an
order for the payment of £100 to Sir Brian for his use as Master of the
Posts.[10] As the King's appointed Postmaster, he received a salary of
£66 13_s._ 4_d._[11] He named the postmen, or deputy postmasters as they
were called later, and he was held responsible for the performance of
their duties.[12] All letters carried by the royal postmen were
delivered to him, and after being sorted by him personally were carried
to their destination by the court messengers.[13] The wages of the
postmen varied from 1_s._ to 2_s._ a day according to the number of
horses provided, and they were paid by the Postmaster-General, who had
authority to make all payments to those regularly employed.[14] If
messages or letters were sent by special messengers, their payment
entailed additional expense upon the state and the use of such
messengers, when regular postmen were available, was strongly
discouraged.[15]
[10] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, ii, pt. 2, p. 1454.
[11] _Rep. Com._ 1844, xiv, app., p. 21 (8).
[12] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 32 (7).
[13] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, 1515-18, 64; _ibid._, 1526-28, 4359, 4406;
_ibid._, 1540-41, 540.
[14] _A. P. C._, 1542-47, p. 20.
[15] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, 1535, p. 27.
In addition to his other duties Sir Brian was supposed to have a general
supervision over the horses used for the conveyance of letters and of
travellers riding on affairs of state. Of course on the regular roads
there were always horses in readiness, provided by the postmen. Where
there were no regular post roads, the townships were supposed to provide
the necessary horses, and it was part of the Postmaster-General's duties
to see that the townships were kept up to the mark.[16] It was largely
on account of the fact that the same horses were used for conveying
travellers and mails that the systems of postal and personal
communication were so closely interwoven as well in England as in
continental countries.[17]
[16] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 32 (7). _A. P. C._, 1542-47,
p. 20.
[17] A. de Rothschild, _Histoire de la poste aux lettres_, Paris, 1873,
pp. 95-97, 114-15.
The postmen along the old established routes and on the routes
temporarily established for some definite purpose received a fixed daily
wage. These men were called the ordinary posts.[18] If, however, letters
should arrive in Dover after the ordinary post had left for London, they
were generally sent on at once by a messenger hired for the occasion
only. He was called a special post and was paid only for the work which
he actually performed.[19] Those regular posts, who carried the royal
and state letters between London and the place where the Court might be,
were called "Court Posts."[20] During the sovereign's tours, posts were
always stationed between him and London to carry his and the state's
letters backward and forward. These were called extraordinary posts and
received regular wages while so employed.[21] In addition there were
always messengers employed to carry important despatches to foreign
sovereigns. These received no fixed wages, but were paid according to
the distance travelled and the expenses incurred on the road.[22]
[18] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, xiii, 226; _A. P. C._, 1547-50, pp. 111, 278,
307, 319, 413.
[19] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, x, 33, 136; xvi, 202, 236, 284; _P. & O. P.
C._, vii, p. 72; _A. P. C._, 1550-52, pp. 56, 79, 108, 225, 270, 298.
[20] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, xvi, p. 540; _P. & O. P. C._, vii, p. 133; _A.
P. C._, 1558-70, p. 238.
[21] _L. & P. Hen. VIII_, xi, 726; _A. P. C._, 1547-50, p. 360; _ibid._,
1592, pp. 128, 150; _Cal. S. P. D._, 1547-80, pp. 599, 637, 677.
[22] _A.P.C._, 1558-70, pp. 39, 58, 111, 207, 216, 257, 258.
Apart from his regular duties as outlined above, the Postmaster-General
had little initiative power. He could not on his own responsibility
order new posts to be laid. Such decisions always originated with the
King or the Council and Tuke simply executed their orders.[23] Any
increase in the wages of the posts also required the consent of the King
or Council.[24]
[23] _L. & P. Hen. VII_, xvi, 540; _A.P.C._ 1556-58, pp. 248, 309.
[24] _A.P.C._, 1556-58, pp. 136, 188, 385. For instance, in 1557 the
Council issued orders to increase the wages of the London-Berwick posts
from 12_d._ to 16_d._ and eventually to 20_d._ a day; but as soon as
their work had again become normal, their wages were reduced to the old
rate.
During the sixteenth century there were three ways to send letters
between England and the Continent: by the Royal Post, the Foreigners'
Post, and the Merchant Adventurers' Post, apart from such opportunities
as occasional travellers and messengers offered. The Royal Posts were
presumed to carry only state letters, and consequently the conveyance of
a large part of the private letters fell to the other two. Owing to
industrial and later to religious motives there had been a large
emigration of foreigners from the Continent to England. Edward III had
induced many Flemings to leave their native country in the middle of the
fourteenth century.[25] Froude says, probably with exaggeration, that in
1527 there were 15,000 Flemings in London alone.[26] In the fifteenth
century many Italian artisans came over to reside but not to settle.[27]
They were a thrifty people, who did much to place the industrial life of
England on a better footing, and were probably more intelligent and
better educated than the majority of the English artisans among whom
they settled. It seems therefore only natural that they should seek to
establish a better system of communication between their adopted and
native countries. Their business relations with the cloth markets of the
continental cities made necessary a better and speedier postal system
than was afforded by the Royal Posts. In addition to this, it was only
by act of grace that private letters were carried by Tuke's postmen. In
the opening year of the sixteenth century, by permission of the state,
the foreign merchants in London established a system of posts of their
own between the English capital and the Continent. This was called the
"Foreign or Strangers' Post," and was managed by a Postmaster-General,
nominated by the Italians, Spanish, and Dutch and confirmed by the
Council.[28] These posts were used largely by the English merchants in
spite of considerable dissatisfaction on account of the poor service
afforded and on political grounds. Their grievances were detailed in a
petition to the Privy Council. They considered it unprecedented that so
important a service as the carriage of letters should be in the hands of
men who owed no allegiance to the King. Such a procedure was unheard of
in any of the continental countries. "What check could there be over
treasonable correspondence while the carriage of letters continued to be
in the hands of foreigners and most of them Dutchmen?" In addition they
were not treated so well as were their fellow merchants of foreign
allegiance. Their letters were often retained for several days at a
time, while all others were delivered as soon as they arrived. The
foreign ambassadors could not complain if a change were made, for most
of their correspondence was carried on by special messengers.[29] The
"Strangers' Post" seems to have come to an end after the Proclamation of
1591 was issued, forbidding any but the Royal Posts from carrying
letters to and from foreign countries.[30]
[25] W. Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, 1896, i,
pp. 305-306.
[26] J. A. Froude, _History of England_, 1862, i, p. 127.
[27] Cunningham, i, p. 430.
[28] Stow, _London_, 1720, bk. v, p. 401. _Cal. S.P.D._, 1547-80, pp.
312, 321, 432. There was considerable rivalry between them concerning
those nominated for Postmaster-General. See _Cal. S.P.D._, 1547-80, pp.
312, 314.
[29] Stow, _London_, bk. v, p. 401.
[30] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 36 (14).
Sir Brian Tuke died in 1545 and was succeeded by Sir John Mason and Mr.
Paget, who acted as joint Postmasters-General. Mr. Paget was the
sleeping partner, and what little was done was by Mason.[31] They were
succeeded in 1568 by Thomas Randolph.[32] He was occasionally sent as
special ambassador to France and during his absence Gascoyne, a former
court post, performed his duties. From Sir Brian's death until the end
of Elizabeth's reign was a period of little advance in postal matters.
The regular posts, and it is with them that our chief interest lies,
appear to have fallen into disuse. The payments for special messengers
are much larger than they had been during Henry's reign. In 1549, a
warrant was issued empowering Sir John Mason to pay £400 to the special
messengers used during the summer. If anything was left, he was
instructed to use it in paying arrears due the ordinary posts.[33]
Elizabeth is generally credited with being economical to the extreme of
parsimony so far as state expenses were concerned. However this may be,
she is responsible for an order to discharge all the regular posts
unless they would serve for half of their old wages.[34] The postmen did
not receive their wages at all regularly. Randolph was accused by the
Governor of Berwick of withholding all of their first year's wages, of
receiving every year thereafter a percentage of their salaries, and of
demanding certain fees from them, all for his personal use. The Governor
considered that Randolph's extortions were largely the cause of the
general inefficiency in the posts,[35] but the accusation may have been
due to personal grudge. At any rate one measure of postal reform may be
credited to Randolph. In 1582, orders were issued to all the
London-Berwick posts to the following effect. Every post on the arrival
of letters to or from the Queen or Council was to fasten a label to the
packet. On this label he was to write the day and hour when the packet
came into his hands and he was to make the same entry in a book kept for
the purpose. He was also to keep two or three good horses in his stable
for the speedier conveyance of such packets.[36]
[31] _A. P. C._, 1542-47, p. 267; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 21
(8).
[32] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 21 (11).
[33] _A. P. C._, 1547-50, p. 360.
[34] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1547-80, p. 306.
[35] _Cal. B. P._, 1560-94, p. 299.
[36] _Cal. S. P. D._, _Add._, 1580-1625, pp. 75-76.
In 1590, John Lord Stanhope was appointed Postmaster-General by order of
the Queen. The office was given to him for his life and then was to go
to his son for his son's life.[37] Both the Stanhopes were men of
action, but they looked upon their position rather as a means of
enriching themselves than as a trust for the good of the state. They
proved a stumbling block to the advancement of better men and it was not
for sixty years that they were finally swept away to make room for men
of greater ability. In 1621, the elder Stanhope was succeeded by his son
Charles according to the terms of the original patent.[38] It had been
the custom for the Postmasters-General to demand fees and percentages
from their appointees. So lucrative were many of their positions from
the monopoly in letting horses and the receipts from private letters
that many applicants were willing to pay for appointments as deputy
postmasters. The ordinary payments when Lord Charles was at the head of
the posts amounted to 2s. in the pound as poundage and a fee of £2 from
each man. These payments were considered so exorbitant that the Council
ordered them to be reduced.[39] One, Hutchins, entered the lists as the
champion of the postmasters. He himself was one of them and acted as
their solicitor in the contest. Stanhope was glad to compound the case
by the payment of £30. Hutchins gave the Council so much trouble that
they gave orders that "turbulent Hutchins" should cease to act as the
postmasters' solicitor and leave them in peace.[40] His object, however,
seems to have been accomplished so far as Stanhope was concerned. The
struggle with the Paymasters of the Posts was not so successful, for,
supported by a report of the Treasurer, they continued to receive their
shilling in the pound.[41]
[37] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1581-90, p. 676; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p.
22 (13).
[38] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1619-23, pp. 238, 404.
[39] _Ibid._, pp. 568, 572. A postmaster's salary at this time was about
5_s._ a day. (_Ibid._, 1623-25, p. 130.)
[40] _Ibid._, 1623-25, pp. 117, 130, 153.
[41] _Ibid._, 1619-23, pp. 567-68.
By a Privy Council Proclamation issued in 1603, all posts receiving a
daily fee were required to have two leather bags, lined with "bayes" or
cotton, and the post himself was to sound a horn whenever he met any one
on the road or four times in every mile. The packet of letters was not
to be delayed more than fifteen minutes and was to be carried at a rate
of seven miles an hour in summer and five in winter. The time at which
it was delivered into a post's hands and the names and addresses of the
people by whom and to whom it was sent were to be entered in a book kept
for the purpose. All posts and their servants were exempted from being
"pressed" and from attendance at assizes, sessions, inquests, and
musters.[42]
[42] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 38 (18).
It is doubtful how far the postmasters were held responsible for the
delivery of letters to the persons to whom they were addressed. This did
not become a burning question, however, until after the recognition of
the fact that the letters of private individuals should receive as good
treatment at the hands of the postmen as the letters of the state
officials. Lord Stanhope in 1618 issued an order to the Justices of the
Peace in Southwark to aid the postmaster of that place in the delivery
of letters within six miles.[43] This was followed two years later by a
general order to establish two or three foot-posts in every parish for
the conveyance of letters.[44]
[43] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1611-18, p. 601.
[44] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._ 15, app., pt. 7, p. 63.
During the early part of the seventeenth century, Stanhope had employed
a foreigner, de Quester, as one of the King's posts "beyond seas." He
commended himself to the notice of his superiors by his promptitude in
dealing with the foreign letters.[45] In 1619 James appointed him
Postmaster-General for "foreign parts" and henceforth he was his own
master.[46] This was followed four years later by a formal proclamation,
confirming to de Quester and his son the position already granted to the
father.[47] He was to have the sole monopoly of carrying foreign letters
and was to appoint the necessary officials. All persons were formally
prohibited from entrenching upon the privileges granted him in 1619.
From this time until 1635, the foreign and inland posts were under
separate management and the accounts were kept separate until long after
the latter date. Stanhope was unwilling to submit to the curtailment of
his profits, which necessarily followed the appointment of de Quester.
There was much to be said for Stanhope's contention that the patent of
1623 was illegal for, ever since there had been a Postmaster-General,
his duties had extended to the foreign as well as to the inland office.
The question was referred to a committee, composed of the Lord
Chamberlain, one of the Secretaries of State and the Attorney-General,
who decided that Stanhope's patent extended only to the inland
office.[48] The whole question was finally brought before the Court of
King's Bench, which decided the case in favour of Stanhope.[49] This was
in 1625, but de Quester seems to have paid no attention to the decision
for it is certain that he continued to act as Foreign Postmaster until
1629[50] and in 1632 he resigned his patent to Frizell and Witherings.
It can be imagined what must have been the chaotic condition of the
foreign post while this struggle was going on. The Merchant Adventurers
established posts of their own between London and the Continent under
Billingsley. The Council issued the most perplexing orders. First they
forbade Billingsley from having anything to do with foreign letters.[51]
Then they decided that the Adventurers might establish posts of their
own and choose a Postmaster.[52] Then they extended the same privilege
to all merchants. Next this was withdrawn and the Adventurers were
allowed to send letters only to Antwerp, Delft and Hamburg or wherever
the staple of cloth might be.[53] These orders do not seem to have been
passed in full council for, in 1628, Secretary Coke in writing to
Secretary Conway said that "Billingsley, a broker by trade, strives to
draw over to the merchants that power over foreign letters which in all
states is a branch of royal authority. The merchant's purse has swayed
much in other matters but he has never heard that it encroached upon the
King's prerogative until now." He adds "I confess it troubleth me to see
the audacity of men in these times and especially that Billingsley." He
enclosed a copy of an order "made at a full Council and under the Broad
Seal," which in effect was a supersedeas of the place which de Quester
enjoyed.[54] When de Quester resigned in favour of Frizell and
Witherings, the resignation and new appointments were confirmed by the
King.[55] Of these men Witherings was far the abler. He had a plan in
view, which was eventually to place the foreign and inland systems on a
basis unchanged until the time of penny postage. In the meantime he had
to overcome the prejudices of the King and get rid of Frizell. In order
to raise money for the promotion of his plan, Witherings mortgaged his
place. Capital was obtained from the Earl of Arundel and others through
John Hall, who held the mortgage. The King heard of this and ordered
the office to be sequestered to his old servant de Quester and
commanded Hall to make over his interest to the same person.[56] There
were now three claimants for the place, Frizell, Witherings, and de
Quester. Frizell rushed off to Court, where he offered to pay off his
part of the mortgage and asked to have sole charge of the Foreign Post.
"Witherings," he said, "proposes to take charge of all packets of State
if he may have the office, but being a home-bred shopkeeper, without
languages, tainted of delinquency and in dislike with the foreign
correspondents, he is no fit person to carry a trust of such secrecy and
importance."[57] Coke knew better than this, however, and through his
influence Witherings, who had in the meantime paid off the mortgage and
satisfied Frizell's interest, was made sole Postmaster-General for
Foreign Parts.[58]
[45] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1629-31, pp. 71, 247.
[46] _Ibid._, 1625-26, p. 231.
[47] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (26).
[48] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 49 (27); _Cal. S. P. D._, 1625-26, p.
478; Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._ 12, app. 1, p. 295; _Cal. S. P. D._,
1627-28, p. 405.
[49] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1627-28, pp. 436, 591.
[50] _Ibid._, 1625-49, p. 332; 1628-29, pp. 46, 427, 558; 1631-33, p.
384.
[51] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1603-10, pp. 162, 397, 426, 491, 512, 521, 545,
576, 583, 588, 611.
[52] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 45 (23).
[53] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 45 (23).
[54] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1623-25, p. 131.
[55] _Ibid._, 1625-26, p. 30; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (25).
[56] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1634-35, pp. 11, 38, 48, 389.
[57] _Ibid._, 1625-49, p. 489.
[58] _Ibid._, 1635-36, p. 32; 1634-35, p. 48.
With Witherings' advent a new period of English postal history begins.
His dominant idea was to make the posts self-supporting and no longer a
charge to the state. It had been established as a service for the royal
household and continued as an official necessity. The letters of private
individuals had been carried by its messengers but the state had derived
no revenue for their conveyance. The convenient activity of other
agencies for the carriage of private letters was not only tolerated but
officially recognized. The change to a revenue-paying basis tended
naturally to emphasize the monopolistic character of the government
service.[59]
[59] See chapter IX.
CHAPTER II
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT A SOURCE OF REVENUE TO THE STATE
1633-1711
For some time there had been dissatisfaction with the services rendered
by the inland posts. It was said that letters would arrive sooner from
Spain and Italy than from remote parts of the kingdom of England.[60]
The only alternative was to send them by express and this was not only
expensive but was not looked upon with favour by the Postmaster-General.
The five great roads from London to Edinburgh, Holyhead, Bristol,
Plymouth, and Dover were in operation. From the Edinburgh Road there
were branches to York and Carlisle, from the Dover Road to Margate,
Gravesend, and Sandwich, and from the Plymouth Road to Falmouth, but the
posts were slow and the rates for private letters uncertain.[61] In
1633, a project was advanced for the new arrangement of the Post Office.
The plan was not entirely theoretical, for an attempt was made to show
that it would prove a financial success. There were about 512 market
towns in England. It was considered that each of these would send 50
letters a week to London and as many answers would be returned. At 4_d._
a day for each letter, this would amount to £426 a week. The charge for
conveyance was estimated at £37 a week, leaving a weekly profit of £389,
from which £1500 a year for the conveyance of state letters and
despatches must be deducted. Letters on the northern road were to pay
2_d._ for a single and 4_d._ for a double letter, to Yorkshire and
Northumberland 3_d._, and to Scotland 8_d._ a letter. The postmasters in
the country were not to take any charge for a letter except one penny
for carriage to the next market town.[62] It is probable that this
project originated with Witherings. At any rate it resembles closely the
plan which was introduced by him two years later. He had already
reformed the foreign post by appointing "stafetti" from London to Dover
and through France and they had proved so efficient as to disarm the
opposition even of the London merchants. His name is without doubt the
most distinguished in the annals of the British Post Office. Convinced
that the carriage of private letters must be placed upon a secure
footing, he laid the foundation for the system of postal rates and
regulations, which continued to the time of national penny postage. He
introduced the first legal provision for the carriage of private letters
at fixed rates, greatly increased the speed of the posts, and above all
made the Post Office a financial success. In order to do this he saw
that the proceeds from private letters must go to the state and not to
the deputy postmasters.
[60] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1580-1625, p. 360.
[61] _Ibid._, 1580-1625, p. 630.
[62] _Ibid._, 1625-26, p. 366. A single letter consisted of one sheet of
paper, a double letter of two, and a triple letter of three sheets.
His plan was entitled "A proposition for settling of Stafetti or pacquet
posts betwixt London and all parts of His Majesty's Dominions. The
profits to go to pay the postmasters, who now are paid by His Majesty at
a cost of £3400 per annum." A general office or counting house was to be
established in London for the reception of all letters coming to or
leaving the capital. Letters leaving London on each of the great roads
were to be enclosed in a leather "portmantle" and left at the post-towns
on the way. Letters for any of the towns off the great roads were to be
placed in smaller leather bags to be carried in the large portmantle.
These leather bags were to be left at the post-towns nearest the country
towns to which they were directed. They were then to be carried to their
destination by foot-posts to a distance of six or eight miles and for
each letter these foot-posts were to charge 2d., the same price that was
charged by the country carriers. At the same time that the foot-posts
delivered their letters, they were to collect letters to be sent to
London and carry them back to the post-town from which they had started
and there meet the portmantle on its way back from Edinburgh or Bristol
or wherever the terminus of the road might be. The speed of the posts
was to be at least 120 miles in twenty-four hours and they were to
travel day and night. He concludes his proposition by saying that no
harm would result to Stanhope by his plan "for neither Lord Stanhope nor
anie other, that ever enjoyed the Postmaster's place of England, had
any benefit of the carrying and re-carrying of the subjects'
letters."[63]
[63] _Rep. Com._, xiv, app., p. 55 (35). _Cal. S. P. D._, 1635, p. 166.
Letters were to be carried to and from important places at some distance
from the main roads by post-horses. See _Cal. S. P. D._, above.
The question now was, Who was to see that these reforms were carried
out? Stanhope was not the man for so important and revolutionary an
undertaking. Witherings alone, the author of the proposition, should
carry it into effect. Sir John Coke made no mistake in constituting
himself the friend of the postal reformer. Witherings was already
Foreign Postmaster-General and in 1635 he was charged with the
reformation of the inland office on the basis of his projected scheme.
In 1637 the inland and foreign offices were again united when he was
made Foreign and Inland Postmaster-General.[64] His experiment was tried
on the Northern Road first and was exceedingly successful. Letters were
sent to Edinburgh and answers returned in six days. On the Northern Road
bye-posts were established to Lincoln, Hull and other places.[65] Orders
were given to extend the same arrangement to the other great roads, and
by 1636 his reform was in full and profitable operation.
[64] _Rep. Com._, xiv, p. 5; app., p. 57 (36); _Cal. S. P. D._, 1635-36,
p. 32.
[65] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1635, p. 299.
Witherings still continued to sell the positions of the postmasters, if
we are to trust the complaints of non-successful applicants. One man
said that he offered £100 for a position but Witherings sold it to
another for £40.[66] The Postmaster at Ferrybridge asserted that he had
paid Stanhope £200 and Witherings £35 and yet now fears that he will be
ousted. Complaints of a reduction in wages were also made, and this was
a serious matter, since the postmasters no longer obtained anything from
private letters.[67] The old complaint, however, of failure to pay wages
at all is not heard under Witherings' administration. He was punctual in
his payments and held his employees to equally rigid account. Their
arrears were not excused.[68] An absentee postmaster, who hired
deputies to perform his duties, was dismissed.[69] His ambition to
establish a self-supporting postal system demanded rigid economy and
strict administration, and with the then prevailing laxity of
administrative methods, this was no mean achievement. From one
occasional practice of the Post Office, that of tampering with private
letters, he cannot perhaps wholly be absolved. It is hinted that he may
have been guilty of opening letters, but the suggestion follows that
this may have happened before they reached England, for the letters so
opened were from abroad.[70]
[66] _Ibid._, 1637, p. 527; _ibid._, 1636-37, p. 524.
[67] _Ibid._, 1638-39, p. 119.
[68] _Ibid._, 1637-38, pp. 52, 53, 394.
[69] _Cal. S.P.D._, 1637-38, p. 238.
[70] _Ibid._, 1640-41, p. 340. As early as 1639 persons were not allowed
to have letters back when once posted. (_Ibid._, 1639, p. 279.)
In June of 1637, Coke and Windebank, the two Secretaries of State, were
appointed Postmasters-General for their lives. The surviving one was to
surrender his office to the King, who would then grant it to the
Secretaries for the time being.[71] It does not appear that Witherings
was altogether dismissed from the service, for his name continued to
appear in connection with postal affairs.[72] Windebank later urged as
reasons for the withdrawal of Witherings' patent, that he was not a
sworn officer, that there was a suspicion that his patent had been
obtained surreptitiously, and that the continental postmasters disdained
to correspond with a man of his low birth. He concludes by saying that
something may be given him, but that he is said to be worth £800 a year
in land and to have enriched himself from his position.[73] At the time
of his removal, in June, 1637, the London merchants petitioned for his
continuance in office, as he had always given them satisfaction. When
they heard who had been appointed in his stead, like loyal and fearful
subjects, they hastened to add that they thought someone else was trying
for the position but they had no doubt that it would be managed best by
the Secretaries.[74] If they thought so they were mistaken, for the
commander of the English army against Scotland found that his letters
were opened,[75] the Lord High Admiral complained that his were
delayed,[76] and Windebank promised an unknown correspondent that the
delay in his letters should be seen to at once and Witherings was the
agent chosen for the investigation.[77] This, however, was not the
worst, for only a month after Witherings had been degraded, orders were
issued to the postmasters that no packets or letters were to be sent by
post but such as should be directed "For His Majesty's Special Affairs"
and were subscribed by certain officials connected with the
Government.[78] It is fair to add that this check on private
correspondence may have been a protective measure induced by the
unsettled state of the kingdom.
[71] _Ibid._, 1637, p. 255.
[72] _Ibid._, 1639, p. 279; _Rep. Com._, xiv, app., p. 58 (37).
[73] _Cal. S.P.D._, 1637-38, p. 51.
[74] _Ibid._, 1637-38, p. 52.
[75] _Ibid._, 1639, p. 295.
[76] _Ibid._, 1639-40, p. 116.
[77] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._ 12, app., pt. 2, p. 236.
[78] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1637, p. 338.
In 1640 both the inland and foreign offices were sequestered into the
hands of Philip Burlamachi, a wealthy London merchant who had lent money
to the king. No reasons were given except that information had been
received "of divers abuses and misdemeanours committed by Thomas
Witherings."[79] Stanhope, who had resigned his patent in 1637, now came
forward claiming that his resignation had been unfairly obtained by the
Council, and at the same time he presented his bill for £1266, the
arrears in his salary for nineteen years.[80] In reply to his demand it
was said that shortly before he resigned he had assigned his rights in
the Post Office to the Porters, father and son. The Attorney-General
gave his opinion that whatever rights Stanhope and the Porters had, they
certainly had no claim to the proceeds from the carriage of private
letters.[81] Stanhope had offered to enter an appearance in a suit
brought against him by the Porters but now he refused to do so.[82]
Windebank was also looking out for money due to him while Coke and he
were Postmasters-General.[83] The state had indeed entered upon
troublous times and it was every man for himself before it was too late.
[79] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 59 (39).
[80] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 22 (19); _Cal. S. P. D._, 1636-37, p.
534; _ibid._, 1637-38, p. 51.
[81] _Ibid._, 1636-37, p. 530.
[82] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._ 7, p. 154.
[83] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1640-41, p. 315.
As long as Witherings had enjoyed the King's favour, the House of
Commons had looked upon him with suspicion. They had ordered in 1640
"that a Sub-Committee of the Committee of Grievances should be made a
House Committee to consider abuses in the inland posts, to take into
consideration the rates for letters and packets together with the abuses
of Witherings and the rest of the postmasters."[84] As soon as
Witherings was finally dismissed, the Commons took him up and
resolutions were passed that the sequestration was illegal and ought to
be repealed, that the proclamation for ousting him from his position
ought not to be put into execution, and that he ought to be restored to
his old position and be paid the mean profits which had been received
since his nominal dismissal.[85] Protected by the authority of the House
of Commons, Witherings continued to act as Postmaster-General.[86]
Windebank, in Paris, was trying to collect evidence against him through
Frizell, who, he said, had been forced out of his position by Witherings
and Coke.[87] Coke himself was in disgrace and could do nothing.
Parliament was now supreme. Witherings was ordered to send to a
Committee of the Lords, acting with Sir Henry Vane, all letters coming
into or going out of the kingdom for examination and search. Frequent
orders to the same effect followed during the turbulent summer and
autumn of 1641.[88] Among other letters opened were those of the
Venetian Ambassador in England. He was so indignant that a Committee of
the Lords was sent to him to ask his pardon.[89] The two Houses of
Parliament united in condemning the sequestration to Burlamachi, but
Witherings, who had become tired of the strife, assigned his position to
the Earl of Warwick.[90] The Earl was supported by both Houses, but the
Lower House played a double part, for, while openly supporting Warwick,
they now secretly favoured Burlamachi, who had found an influential
friend in Edmund Prideaux, former chairman of the committee appointed to
investigate the condition of the posts and later Attorney-General under
the Commonwealth.[91] Prideaux was a strong Parliamentarian, but was
distrusted even by his own friends. But for the time being, as the
representative of the Commons, he was supported by them. The messenger
of the Upper House made oath that he had delivered the Commons'
resolution to Burlamachi, commanding him to hand over the Inland Letter
Office to Warwick, but James Hicks had presented an order at the place
appointed by Warwick for receiving letters, to deliver all letters to
Prideaux. Burlamachi on being summoned before the Lords for contempt
said that Prideaux had hired his house and now had charge of the mails.
The fight went merrily on. Two servants of Warwick seized the Holyhead
letters from Hicks, but were in turn stopped by five troopers, agents of
Prideaux, who took the letters from them by order of the House of
Commons. Prideaux also seized the Chester and Plymouth letters, one of
his servants calling out "that an order of the House of Commons ought to
be obeyed before an order of the House of Lords."[92] Hicks, who had
been arrested by order of the Lords, was liberated by the Commons as a
servant of a member of Parliament.[93] As between Lords and Commons,
there could be no doubt as to which side would carry the day, and by the
end of 1642 the Lower House was triumphant all along the line.
Understanding that discretion was the better part of valour, the Lords
freed Burlamachi and dropped the contest. Warwick now petitioned the
Lords again, setting forth that he was the legal successor and assignee
of Witherings. Stanhope put in a counter-petition to the effect that
Witherings never had any right to the position which Warwick now
claimed. The House of Lords felt its own weakness too much to interfere
directly, but ordered the whole matter to trial.[94] Besides Stanhope
and Warwick, the following put in claims before the Council of State:
Henry Robinson, through the Porters, to whom Stanhope had assigned; Sir
David Watkins in trust for Thomas Witherings, Jr., for the foreign
office; Moore and Jessop through Watkins and Walter Warde. Billingsley
also, the old Postmaster of the Merchant Adventurers, made a claim for
the foreign office.[95]
[84] _Jo. H. C._, 1640-42, p. 81.
[85] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1640-41, p. 453; _Jo. H. C._, ii, p. 500; _Rep.
Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 60 (40).
[86] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1640-41, p. 557.
[87] _Ibid._, 1640-41, p. 536.
[88] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 101 (74).
[89] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 101 (74).
[90] _Jo. H. C._, 1640-42, p. 722; _Jo. H. L._, 1642-43, p. 343.
[91] _Jo. H. C._, 1640-42, p. 500.
[92] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 10 (40); _Jo. H. C._, 1642-43, pp.
387, 388, 469, 470, 471, 473-74, 508, 512; _ibid._, 1640-42, p. 899.
[93] _Ibid._, 1640-42, p. 899.
[94] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1645-47, p. 461; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p.
68 (43); _Jo. H. L._, 1645-46, pp. 579, 588, 637.
[95] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1652-53, pp. 159, 367; _ibid._, 1653-54, pp. 21,
22, 297; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 69 (44); _Jo. H. C._, 1651-59,
p. 192.
The confusion in postal administration which naturally resulted from the
struggle among the rival claimants was increased by the Civil War. In
1643 the Royal Court was moved to Oxford. The Secretaries of State
acting as Postmasters-General sent James Hicks, the quondam servant of
Prideaux, to collect arrears from the postmasters due to the Letter
Office. In addition to collecting the money due, he was to require all
postmasters on the road to Coventry to convey to and from the Court all
letters and packets on His Majesty's service, to establish new stages,
to forward the names of those willing to supply horses and guides, and
to report those postmasters who were disobedient or disloyal.[96] During
the most desperate period of the royal cause Hicks acted as special
messenger for the King, and apparently had some exciting experiences in
carrying the letters of his royal master. He lived to enjoy his reward
when the second Charles had come to his own. Parliament, in the
meantime, was establishing its control over the posts and reorganizing
the service. In the early period of Parliamentary government, postal
affairs were as a rule looked after by what was known as the "Committee
of Both Kingdoms," and the orders which it issued were necessarily based
upon political conditions. Later the Postmaster-General acted under the
Council of State or under Cromwell himself. In 1644 the House of Commons
issued an order that protection should be granted to the postmasters
between London and Hull, to their servants, horses and goods.[97] The
fact that it was necessary to re-settle posts on the old established
London-Berwick road shows how demoralized conditions had been during the
conflict.[98] Many of the loyal postmasters were dismissed. Their
lukewarm conduct in supplying the messengers of the Commonwealth with
horses produced a reprimand from the Committee and a sharp warning from
Prideaux.[99] Posts were settled from London to Lyme Regis for better
communication with the southwestern counties. In 1644 Edmund Prideaux
was formally appointed Postmaster-General.[100] He was allowed to use as
his office part of the building occupied by the Committee of Accounts,
formerly the house of a London alderman.[101] As long as the war
continued it was necessary that a close watch should be kept over
letters passing by post. Many of the new postmasters were military men
and in addition others were appointed in each town under the heading of
"persons to give intelligence."[102] With the return of normal
conditions after 1649 Prideaux was ordered by the Council of State to
make arrangements for establishing posts all over England as in the
peaceful days before the war.[103] His report of the same year to the
Council of State indicates the successful fulfilment of his
instructions. He said that he had established a weekly conveyance of
letters to all parts of the Commonwealth and that with the receipts from
private letters he had paid all the postmasters except those on the
Dover road.[104]
[96] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1641-43, p. 501; _ibid._, 1644, pp. 6, 29.
[97] _Jo. H. C._, 1642-44, p. 426.
[98] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1644, p. 400.
[99] _Ibid._, 1644-45, p. 503; _ibid._, 1644, pp. 25, 144, 447.
[100] _Jo. H. C._, 1642-44, p. 477; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 67
(41).
[101] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1644, p. 477.
[102] _Ibid._, 1644-45, p. 170.
[103] _Ibid._, 1649-50, pp. 13, 147.
[104] _Jo. H. C._, 1648-51, p. 385.
For the safety of the Commonwealth it was often found necessary to
search the letters. Sometimes the posts were stopped and all the letters
examined. When this was done, it was by order of the Council of State,
which appointed certain officials to go through the correspondence.[105]
Sir Kenelm Digby, writing to Lord Conway from Calais, asks him to direct
his letters to that place, where they would find him, "if no curious
overseer of the packets at the post break them open for the
superscription's sake."[106] The Commonwealth did openly and is
consequently blamed for what had been done more or less secretly by the
Royal Government.
[105] _Ibid._, 1648-51, p. 126; _Cal. S. P. D._, 1649-50, pp. 56, 533,
535, 541; 1650, pp. 7, 223; 1651-52, p. 216.
[106] _Ibid._, 1649-50, p. 381.
In 1651 the first proposal for farming the Post Office was submitted to
the Council of State. The Council reported the question to Parliament
but there is no evidence as to their attitude on the question at that
time.[107] The next year Parliament ordered that the question of
management, whether by contract or otherwise, should be re-committed to
the Council,[108] and in 1653 it was decided that it would be better to
let the posts out to farm. Prideaux had been quietly dropped by the
Council after making, as it was reported, a large fortune. When we
remember that under his management there was an annual deficit of £600
besides the expenses of the Dover road and that in 1653 there was a net
revenue of £10,000, it seems probable that there is some truth in the
report. The conditions upon which the Post Office was farmed, were as
follows:--
The farmers must be men of stability and good credit and must be
selected from those contracting. Official letters and letters from and
to members of Parliament must be carried free. All postage rates must be
fixed by the Council and not changed without its consent. Finally all
postmasters should be approved by the Council and Lord Protector.[109]
[107] _Ibid._, 1651-52.
[108] _Ibid._, 1651-59, p. 192.
[109] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1652-53, p. 449. The following is a list of the
contractors, with the yearly amounts offered by each:
Ben Andrews for Inland Office £3600
Ben Andrews for Foreign Office 3500
Henry Robinson for both offices 8041
Ben Andrews for both offices 9100
John Goldsmith for both offices 8500
Ralph Kendall for both offices 10103
John Manley, with good security 8259
Rich. Hicks 9120
Rich. Hill 8160
--_Cal. S. P. D._, 1652-53, p. 450.
The policy of the Commonwealth in letting the posts out to farm had much
in its favour. The evil usually resulting from farming is the temptation
and the opportunity it offers for extortion from the people. But in the
case of the posts no oppression was possible, for the farmer was limited
in his charge to the rate fixed by the Government. More than this,
private control over the post office business afforded what was most
needed at the time, greater economy and stricter supervision over the
deputy postmasters. It was upon the deputy postmasters alone that the
farming system might exercise undue pressure, but from them there was no
complaint of the withholding or reduction of wages until after
Cromwell's death.[110]
[110] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1658-59, p. 371.
John Manley was appointed "Farmer of the Posts" for two years at a
yearly rent of £10,000. There were at least four higher tenders than
his, and Manley contracted only for £8259. It was hinted that Manley and
the Council had come to a private agreement concerning the rent to be
paid.[111] In his orders to the postmasters, Manley requested them to
take particular care of government packets and to see that no one was
allowed to ride in post unless by special warrant. All letters should be
counted by them and the number certified in London. They were to keep a
sharp eye upon people, especially travellers, and report any discontent
or disaffection.[112] In 1654 Manley's title of Postmaster-General was
confirmed by act of Parliament, the first act dealing directly with
postal affairs.[113] He was unsuccessful in having his franchise
extended beyond the original two years, and by order of the Council of
State the management of the Posts was entrusted to Mr. Thurloe,
Secretary of State, for £10,000 a year, the same amount which Manley had
paid.[114]
[111] _Ibid._, 1653-54, pp. 27, 328.
[112] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1653-54, p. 328.
[113] Scobell's _Collect._, p. 358.
[114] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 71 (48); _Cal. S. P. D._, 1655,
p. 138.
Shortly after Thurloe had been appointed Postmaster-General, general
orders were issued by Cromwell to all the postmasters. He forbade them
to send by express any letters or packets except those sent by certain
officials on affairs of state, all others to await the regular time for
the departure of the mails. The old regulations for providing mail-bags,
registration of the time of reception, and the like were repeated. The
number of mails to and from London was increased from one to three a
week each way, and to ensure higher speed, each postmaster was to
provide a horse ready saddled and was not to detain the mail longer than
half an hour under any consideration. He was ordered to deliver all
letters in the country at or near his stage and was to collect the
postage marked on the letter unless it was postpaid. The money so
collected was to be returned to London every three months.[115]
[115] _Ibid._, 1655, pp. 285 f.
In 1657 the first act of Parliament was passed which fixed rates for the
conveyance of letters and established the system for the British
Islands. The preamble stated: "That whereas it hath been found by
experience that the writing and settling of one General Post Office ...
is the best means not only to maintain certain intercourse of trade and
commerce betwixt all the said places to the great benefit of the people
of these nations, but also to convey the public despatches and to
discover and prevent many dangerous and wicked designs, which have been
and are daily continued against the peace and welfare of this
Commonwealth," it is enacted that there shall be one General Post Office
called the Post Office of England, and one Postmaster-General nominated
and appointed by the Protector for life or for a term of years not
exceeding eleven.[116] In accordance with the terms of this act, Thurloe
was appointed by Cromwell and continued to act as Postmaster-General
until the downfall of the Commonwealth.[117]
[116] Scobell, _Collect._, pp. 511-13 (1656, c. 30).
[117] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1657-58, p. 81. In January of 1660 the Council
took the Post Office under its own control for a short time. _Jo. H.
C._, 1651-59, p. 81; _Cal. S. P. D._, 1659-60, p. 303.
After the Restoration most of the old claimants to the Post Office came
to the front again. Stanhope besieged King and Parliament for
restoration to his old place. He seems to have received some
compensation, which he deserved for his pertinacity if for nothing else.
The Porters were up in arms at once, for he had promised them to come to
no agreement until they were satisfied.[118] The two daughters of
Burlamachi pleaded for some mark of favour, on the ground that their
father had ruined himself for the late King. Frizell was still very much
alive, and a nephew of Witherings carried on the family feud.[119] In
the meantime James Hicks was employed by the Secretary of State to
ascertain how many of the old deputy postmasters were still eligible for
positions. He reported that many of them were dead and that many of
those who were applying for positions had been enemies of the King. For
the time being it was decided that the present officials should remain
in office until a settlement should be made.[120]
[118] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1660-61, p. 178; Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._ 7, p.
109.
[119] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1660-61, pp. 93-100, 301.
[120] _Ibid._, 1660-61, pp. 37, 82.
Henry Bishop was appointed by royal patent Postmaster-General of England
for seven years at a rent of £21,500 a year. The King agreed to persuade
Parliament to pass an act[121] settling the rates and terms under which
Bishop was to exercise his duties. For the time being he was to charge
the same rates as those in the "pretended Act of 1657," to defray all
postal expenses and to carry free all public letters and letters of
members of Parliament during the present session. He agreed also to
allow the Secretaries to examine letters and not to change old routes or
set up new without their consent. He was to dismiss all officials whom
they should object to on reasonable grounds. If his income should be
lessened by war or plague or if this grant should prove ineffectual, the
Secretaries agreed to allow such abatement in his farm as should seem
reasonable to them.[122] Bishop's régime does not seem to have been
popular with the postmasters, for a petition in behalf of 300 of them,
representing themselves to be "all the postmasters in England, Scotland,
and Ireland," was presented to Parliament in protest against the
Postmaster-General's actions. They describe how Cromwell had let the
Post Office out to farm. They credit him with respecting their rights
and paying their wages. Lately, however, Bishop had been appointed
farmer, and unless they submitted to his orders, they were dismissed at
once. He had decreased their wages by more than one half, made them pay
for their places again, and demanded bonds from them that they should
not disclose any of these things.[123]
[121] The act of 1660 (12 Ch. II, c. 35) passed in pursuance of this
agreement added nothing of importance to the act of 1657, except on the
question of rates. See below, chapter VIII.
[122] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., pp. 75, 76 (52, 53).
[123] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 7, p. 140.
In 1633, Bishop resigned his grant to Daniel O'Neale for £8000. O'Neale
offered £2000 and, in addition, promised £1000 a year, during the lease,
to Bennet, Secretary of State, if he would have the assignment
confirmed. He explained that this would not injure the Duke of York's
interest, who could expect no increase until the expiration of the
original contract, which still had four years and a quarter to run.[124]
This refers to an act of Parliament which had just been passed, settling
the £21,500 post revenue upon the Duke of York and his male heirs,[125]
with the exception of some £5000 which had been assigned by the King to
his mistresses and favourites. O'Neale having died before his lease
expired, his wife, the Countess of Chesterfield, performed his duties
until 1667.[126]
[124] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1663-64, p. 122; _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app.,
pp. 86, 91 (60, 64).
[125] _Ibid._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 91 (64). Confirmed in 1685 (Hist.
MSS. Com., _Rep._, 11, app., 2, p. 315; 1 Jas. ii, c. 12).
[126] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1664-65, p. 376; 1666-67, p. 567.
According to the grant made to O'Neale in 1663 no postmaster nor any
other person except the one to whom it was directed or returned was to
open any letter unless ordered so to do by an express warrant from one
of the Secretaries of State. If any letter was overcharged, the excess
was to be returned to the person to whom it was directed. Nothing was
said about letters which were lost or stolen in the post. A certain John
Pawlett complained that of sixteen letters which he had posted not one
was ever delivered in London although the postage was prepaid.[127]
Letters not prepaid were stamped with the postage due in the London
Office when they were sent from London. Letters sent to London were
charged by the receiving postmaster in the country and the charge
verified at the London Office. An account was kept there of the amounts
due and the postmasters were debited with them, less the sum for letters
not delivered, which had also to be returned for verification.[128] All
this meant losses to the postal revenue, but compulsory prepayment would
have been impracticable at the time. The postmasters had nothing to gain
by retaining letters not prepaid, but by neglecting to forward prepaid
letters, they could keep the whole of the postage, for stamps were
unknown. An incentive to the delivery of letters was provided by the
penny payment which it was customary to give the postmasters for each
letter delivered, over and above the regular postage. The postmasters
were required to remit the postage collected to London every month and
give bonds for the performance of their duties.[129]
[127] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1664-65, p. 457. Although letters might be
prepaid, it was not compulsory that they should be, and the vast
majority were not.
[128] Joyce, p. 46.
[129] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1667, p. 80.
The postal service was very much demoralized by the plague in 1665 and
1666 and the great fire which followed. Hicks, the clerk, said that the
gains during this time would be very small. To prevent contagion the
building was so "fumed" that they could hardly see each other.[130] The
letters were aired over vinegar or in front of large fires and Hicks
remarks that had the pestilence been carried by letters they would have
been dead long ago. While the plague was still dangerous, the King's
letters were not allowed to pass through London.[131] After the fire
the headquarters of the Post-Office in London were removed to Gresham
College.
[130] _Ibid._, 1664-65, p. 51.
[131] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 12, app., pt. 7, pp. 14, 93; _Cal. S. P.
D._, 1665-66, p. 14. _Cal. S. P. D. Add._, 1600-70, p. 713.
When O'Neale's lease had expired in 1667, Lord Arlington, Secretary of
State, was appointed Postmaster-General.[132] The real head was Sir John
Bennet, with whom Hicks was entirely out of sympathy. He accused Bennet
of "scurviness" and condemned the changes initiated by him. These
changes were in the shape of reductions in wages. The postmasters'
salaries were to be reduced from £40 to £20 a year. In the London
Office, the wages of the carriers and porters were also to be
reduced.[133]
[132] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1665-66, p. 573.
[133] _Ibid._, 1667, p. 260.
At the close of the seventeenth century there were forty-nine men
employed in the Inland Department of the Post Office in London. The
Postmaster-General, or Controller as he was sometimes called, was
nominally responsible for the whole management although the accountant
and treasurer were more or less independent. Then there were eight
clerks of the roads. They had charge of the mails coming and going on
the six great roads to Holyhead, Bristol, Plymouth, Edinburgh, Yarmouth,
and Dover. The old veteran Hicks had been at their head until his
resignation in 1670. The General Post Office building was in Lombard
Street.[134] Letters might be posted there or at the receiving stations
at Westminster, Charing Cross, Pall Mall, Covent Garden, and the Inns of
Court. From these stations, letters were despatched to the General
Office twice on mail nights. For this work thirty-two letter carriers
were employed, but they did not deliver letters as their namesakes now
do. The mails left London for all parts of the country on Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday late at night or early the next morning. On these
days all officials had to attend at 6 P.M. and were generally at work
all night. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday when the mails arrived from
all parts of England they had to be on hand at 4 or 5 A.M. The postage
to be paid was stamped on the letters by the clerks of the roads. In
addition three sorters and three window-men were employed. The
window-men were the officials who stood at the window to receive the
letters handed in and to collect postage when it was prepaid. Then
there were an alphabet-man, who posted the names of merchants for whom
letters had arrived, a sorter of paid letters, and a clerk of undertaxed
letters.[135] In the Foreign Office, there were a controller, two
sorters, an alphabet-man, and eight letter receivers, of whom two were
women. In addition the Foreign Office had a rebate man who saw that
overcharged letters were corrected. Both offices seem to have shared the
carriers in common.[136]
[134] Stow, _London_, bk. ii, p. 163.
[135] _Notes and Queries_, series 9, i, p. 122; Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._,
15, app., pt. 2, p. 19; _Cal. S. P. D._, 1670, p. 578.
[136] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 15, app., pt. 2, p. 19.
Before 1680 there was no post between one part of London and another. A
Londoner having a letter for delivery had either to take it himself or
send it by a special messenger. The houses were not numbered and were
generally recognized by the signs they bore or their nearness to some
public building. Such was the condition in the metropolis when William
Dockwra organized his London Penny Post. On the first of April, 1680,
London found itself in possession of a postal system which in some
respects was superior to that of to-day. In the Penny Post Office as so
established there were employed a controller, an accountant, a receiver,
thirteen clerks in the six offices, and about a hundred messengers to
collect and deliver letters. The six offices were:--
The General Office in Star Court, Cornhill;
St. Paul's Office in Queen's Head Alley, Newgate Street;
Temple Office in Colchester Rents in Chancery Lane;
Westminster Office, St. Martin's Lane;
Southwark Office near St. Mary Overy's Church;
Hermitage Office in Swedeland Court, East Smithfield.
There were in all about 179 places in London where letters might be
posted. Shops and coffee-houses were used for this purpose in addition
to the six offices, and in almost every street a table might be seen at
some door or shop-window bearing in large letters the sign "Penny Post
Letters and Parcels are taken in here." From these places letters were
collected every hour and taken to the six main receiving-houses. There
they were sorted and stamped by the thirteen clerks. The same messengers
carried them from the receiving-houses to the people to whom they were
addressed. There were four deliveries a day to most parts of the city
and six or eight to the business centres.
The postage fee for all letters or parcels to be delivered within the
bills of mortality was one penny, payable in advance. The penny rate was
uniform for all letters and parcels up to one pound in weight, which was
the maximum allowed. Articles or money to the value of £10 might be sent
and the penny payment insured their safe delivery. There was a daily
delivery to places ten or fifteen miles from London and there was also a
daily collection for such places. The charge of one penny in such cases
paid only for conveyance to the post-house and an additional penny was
paid on delivery. From such places to London, however, only one penny
was demanded and there was no fee for delivery. The carriers in London
travelled on foot, but in some of the neighbouring towns they rode on
horseback.[137]
[137] Stow, _London_, bk. v, pp. 403-04; Thos. DeLaune, _Present State
of London_, 1681, pp. 346-47; W. Thornbury, _Old and New London_, ii, p.
209; Noorthouck, _Hist. of London_, 1773, p. 252. Noorthouck is mistaken
in making Murray the promoter of the London Penny Post, although the
idea may have originated with him.
Dockwra is credited with being the first to make use of post-marks. All
letters were stamped at the six principal receiving-offices with the
name of the receiving-office and the hour of their reception. For
instance, we have samples of letters post-marked thus:
[Illustration]
The first figure shows that they were Penny Post letters and that they
were prepaid. The "W" in the centre is the initial letter of the
receiving-office, Westminster. The second figure shows the hour of
arrival at the Westminster office, 9 A.M. The earliest instance of these
marks is on a letter dated Dec. 9, 1681, written by the Bishop of London
to the Lord Mayor.[138]
[138] _Notes and Queries_, ser. 6, xi, p. 153; Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._,
10, app. 4, pp. 125, 132; Joyce, p. 38.
Whenever letters came from any part of the world by the General Post,
directed to persons in London or in any of the towns where the Penny
Post carriers went, they were handed over to these carriers to be
delivered. In the same way, letters directed to any part of the world
might be left at any of the receiving-offices of the Penny Post to be
carried by its messengers to the General Office. This must have
increased greatly the number of letters carried by the General Post. In
the case of letters arriving by the General and delivered by the Penny
Post, the postage was paid on delivery.[139] Over two hundred and thirty
years ago then, London had for a time a system of postal delivery not
only unrivalled until a short time ago, but in the matter of parcel
rates and insurance not yet equalled.
[139] DeLaune, _Present State of London_, 1681, p. 345.
What was Dockwra's reward for the boon which he had conferred? He
himself says that it had been undertaken at his sole charge and had cost
him £10,000. It had not paid for the first few months, and the friends
who had associated themselves with him fell away.[140] As long as it
produced no surplus, Dockwra was left to do as he pleased, for the
General Post was gaining indirectly from it. As soon as it began to pay,
the Duke of York cast his eye on it. In 1683 an action was brought
against Dockwra for infringing upon the prerogative of His Royal
Highness, and the Duke won the case. The Penny Post was incorporated in
the General Post soon after.[141] After William and Mary had come to the
throne, Dockwra was given a pension of £500 a year for seven years. At
the end of that time he was appointed manager of the Penny Post
Department of the General Post and his pension was continued for three
years longer. In 1700 he was dismissed, charged with "forbidding the
taking in of band-boxes (unless very small) and all parcels above one
pound in weight, with stopping parcels, and opening and detaining
letters."[142] Such was Dockwra's reward and such had been Witherings'.
He who would reform the Post Office must be prepared to take his
official life in his hands.
[140] _Cal. B. P._, 1697-1702, xliv, 56.
[141] Two men living in Limerick and Tipperary claimed in 1692 that they
had organized a Penny Post in Ireland (_Cal. S. P. D._, 1691-92, p.
449). In 1704 the Countess Dowager of Thanet petitioned to be allowed to
establish a Penny Post in Dublin, but nothing was done (_Cal. T. P._,
1702-07, lxxxix, 305).
[142] _Cal. T. P._, 1697-1702, lxxi, 40; Charles Knight, _London_, 1842,
iii, p. 282.
The transition between two reigns was usually a period of unrest and
disquietude, and the Revolution which resulted in the expulsion of James
was naturally accompanied by internal disorder. For a time the posts
suffered quite severely. The Irish and Scotch mails were robbed several
times and not even the "Black Box" escaped. This was the box in which
were carried the despatches between Scotland and the Secretaries of
State, the use of which was not discontinued until after the accession
of the new King and Queen. After 1693 each Secretary was to send and
receive his own despatches separately and all expenses were to be met
from the proceeds of the London-Berwick post.[143] Major Wildman had
been appointed to the oversight of the Post Office, but held office for
a few months only, being succeeded in 1691 by Cotton and Frankland. The
Postmasters-General were henceforth to act under the Lords of the
Treasury.[144]
[143] Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._, 12, app., pt. 7, p. 262; _Cal. S. P. D._,
1690-91, p. 50; Hist. MSS. Com., _Rep._,15, app., pt. 9, pp. 144, 180;
_Cal. T. P._, 1557-1696, p. 284.
[144] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1689-90, pp. 59, 74; _Cal. T. P._, 1557-1696, p.
203.
Important improvements in the frequency and extension of postal
communication were inaugurated under the management of Cotton and
Frankland. It was, however, for the extension of the foreign postal
service and for that to Ireland and the plantations that their
administration is most notable.
On Monday and Thursday letters went to France, Italy, and Spain, on
Monday and Friday to the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. On
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, mails left for all parts of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, and there was a daily post to Kent and the Downs.
Letters arrived in London from all parts of England, Scotland, and
Ireland on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from Wales every Monday and
from Kent and the Downs every day. Besides the establishment of the
General Post in London, there were about 200 deputy postmasters employed
in England and Scotland.[145] The Irish Post was supervised from London
and during the Irish war its headquarters in Ireland were transferred
from Dublin to Belfast. It was directly managed by a Deputy
Postmaster-General, aided by ten or a dozen officials and clerks. The
net receipts were sent to England and the books were audited by a deputy
sent over by the Auditor-General of the English Post.[146]
[145] Stow, _London_, bk. v, p. 401; DeLaune, _Present State of
England_, ed. 1690, p. 343.
[146] _Cal. T. P._, 1557-1696, pp. 369, 461.
The Scotch Post Office was not in so good condition as the Irish. The
time when every Scotchman could read and write was yet very far distant.
The only post road of any importance was from Edinburgh to Berwick and
this had been established by the English. For many years the vast
majority of letters travelling over this road were official despatches.
After the crowns of England and Scotland were united, it was necessary
for the English Government to keep in close touch with Scotland and
"Black Box" made frequent journeys between the two countries. The canny
people in the north had discovered a rich country to the south waiting
to be exploited, and the post horses between Edinburgh and London were
kept busy carrying the lean and hungry northern folk to the land of milk
and honey. Until 1695 the English and Scotch Post Offices had been
united under the English Postmaster-General with an Edinburgh deputy;
but by the Scotch act of 1695 the Post Office of Scotland was separated
from that of England. The terms of this act were much the same as those
of the English act of 1660, although the rates established were somewhat
higher. There was to be a Postmaster-General living in Edinburgh, who
was to have the monopoly of carrying all letters and packets where posts
were settled.[147]
[147] _Acts of Parliament of Scotland_, ix., pp. 417-419 (5 Wm. III).
The first proposal for a postal establishment in the American colonies
came from New England in 1638. The reason given was that a post office
was "so useful and absolutely necessary."[148] Nothing was done by the
home government until fifty years later when a proclamation was issued,
ordering letter offices to be settled in convenient places on the North
American continent. Rates were established for the continental colonies
and Jamaica.[149] In 1691, acting upon a report of the Governors of the
Post-Office, the Lords of Trade and Plantations granted a patent to
Thomas Neale to establish post offices in North America. About the same
time an act was passed by the Colony of Massachusetts appointing Andrew
Hamilton Postmaster-General. The Lords of Trade and Plantations called
attention to the fact that this act was not subject to the patent
granted to Neale. Matters were adjusted by Neale himself, who appointed
Hamilton his deputy in North America.[150] In 1699 a report was made by
Cotton and Frankland to the Lords of the Treasury based on a memorial
from Neale and Hamilton. The latter had established a regular weekly
post between Boston and New York and from New York to Newcastle in
Pennsylvania. The receipts had increased every year and now covered all
expenses except Hamilton's own salary, £200. Postmasters had been
appointed in New York and Philadelphia, Hamilton himself being in
Boston. The New York postmaster received a salary of £20 with an
additional £90 for carrying the mail half-way to Boston. The
Philadelphia postmaster was paid £10 a year.[151]
[148] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1574-1660, p. 273.
[149] Joyce, pp. 196, 300.
[150] _Cal. S. P. Am. and W. I._, 1693-96, p. 637.
[151] _Cal. T. P._, 1697-1702, lx, 77.
The business of the Post Office was rapidly increasing. The same decade
that saw the establishment of the Board of Trade witnessed also the
organization of the Colonial Post. The expansion of English
commerce[152] necessarily reacted on communications both internal and
foreign, while the linking of the country posts with the general system
and the stimulus given by the London Penny Post showed itself in the
increased postal revenue.[153] The way was prepared for the great
expansion of the following century, an expansion turned to account as a
source of taxation.
[152] Macpherson, _Annals of Commerce_, ii, 707.
[153] See Appendix: Tables I, II.
CHAPTER III
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT AN INSTRUMENT OF TAXATION
1711-1840
The year 1711 is an important landmark in the history of the British
Post Office. England and Scotland had united not only under one king but
under one Parliament, the war with France made a larger revenue
necessary, the growth of the Colonies required better communication with
the mother country and each other, and it was highly expedient that
certain changes in the policy of the Post Office should receive
parliamentary sanction. The act of 1711 was intended to meet these
conditions. The English and Scotch Post Offices were united under one
Postmaster-General in London, where letters might be received from and
sent to all parts of Great Britain, Ireland, the colonies and foreign
countries. The postage rates were increased to meet the demand for a
larger revenue. In addition to the General Office in London, chief
letter offices were ordered to be set up in Edinburgh, Dublin, New York,
the West Indies, and other American colonies, and deputies were
appointed to take charge of them.
One of the most important clauses of this act, by providing regulations
for the management of the London Penny Post, finally placed the seal of
the approval of Parliament upon a branch of the General Post, which had
existed for nearly thirty years by virtue of royal proclamations and
legal decisions alone. A penny rate was imposed upon all letters and
packets passing by the Penny Post in London, Westminster and Southwark
to be received and delivered within ten miles from the General Post
Office building. This would seem at first sight to be an improvement on
the old custom, by which a penny had carried only within the bills of
mortality; but as a matter of fact an extra penny was demanded on
letters delivered outside the bills and within the ten mile limit.
Protest was, however, made against this as being illegal, and it was
not until 1730 that the custom was sanctioned.[154]
[154] In 1765 the maximum weight for articles passing wholly by the
Penny Post was lowered from 16 to 4 ounces (5 Geo. III, c. 25).
One other provision of the new act remains to be mentioned. The last
section forbade any official connected with the Post Office from
meddling in politics.[155] The system of party government which had
begun to take form during William and Mary's reign, was developing.
Under Anne, the Whigs had been the war party, the expansionists, while
the Tories were anxious for peace. So different were their policies that
Marlborough had gone over to the Whigs. But the Queen and probably the
majority of the people were tired of war. Godolphin, the great
financier, had given way to Harley and the general election was
favourable to the Tories. Frankland had died before the act was passed,
but Cotton, who was a member of Parliament, preferred to keep his
position in the Post Office and accordingly accepted the Chiltern
Hundreds. A Mr. Evelyn was associated with him as Postmaster-General.
[155] 9 Anne, c. 11.
Shortly after his appointment the attention of the department was
directed to a weakness in administrative control which had already
resulted in considerable financial loss. The Postmasters-General had
always experienced considerable difficulty in collecting the postage on
bye and cross road letters.[156] Since these letters did not reach
London, no check was possible to ascertain whether the postmaster
transmitted to headquarters the full amount of the postage collected on
them. The difficulty had been met before 1711 by farming a large number
of the country post offices.[157] In 1711 the leases under which the
farmers had held office were cancelled and all the posts in the kingdom
came again under the direct oversight of the Postmasters-General. The
old farmers were made managers, with an allowance of 10 per cent from
the net proceeds of the posts under their control, and the deputy
postmasters were again paid directly by the state. The Government had
refused o appoint surveyors when the act of 1711 was drafted and for a
time these managers acted in that capacity.[158] The experiment was not
a success and the Postmasters-General were at their wits' end to know
what to do to save the revenue which was being diverted to the pockets
of the country postmasters.
[156] A bye-letter was the name given to a letter carried over one of
the great roads but not passing to, from or through London. A cross post
letter passed not over the great roads, but over subsidiary or minor
roads.
[157] Joyce, p. 136.
[158] _Cal. T. P._, 1714-19, cxc, 26; ccvi, 29.
The country was happily spared any new device on their part, for in 1721
a man came forward with a proposal to take all the losses upon himself
or rather to prevent them entirely. This was Ralph Allen, whose name is
worth remembering, not as a reformer but as a good business man who came
to the rescue of the postal revenue at a rather critical time. He was
the son of an innkeeper at St. Blazey. At an early age we find him
living with his grandmother, the postmistress of St. Columb. He came
under the notice of one of the surveyors there on account of the
neatness with which he kept the accounts for his grandmother. When he
was old enough, he was appointed to a position in the Post Office at
Bath and in time was made postmaster there. Tradition has it that during
the insurrection of 1715 he informed the authorities that a wagon load
of arms was on its way from the West for the use of the rebels and that
this led to his preferment.[159] He offered to farm the cross and bye
posts throughout the kingdom. The net product from these posts amounted
to £4000 in 1719. Allen offered to pay half as much again and meet all
expenses. The offer was accepted, and in 1721 he was given the lease of
the cross and bye posts for a period of seven years. The rent was fixed
at £6000 a year in accordance with the agreement. For the first quarter,
the receipts exceeded expectations, but later the postmasters began to
relapse into their old ways. In addition, the contract was rather hard
on Allen, as £300 of the £4000 nominally received by the Post Office was
for letters not delivered and hence not paid for. After the third year,
matters began to improve and the receipts increased greatly. The
contract was renewed for terms of seven years, until Allen's death in
1769, and the rent was increased at each renewal.[160]
[159] Joyce, p. 146.
[160] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1731-34, p. 539; W. Thornbury, _Old and New
London_, ii, p. 209; W. Lewins, _Her Majesty's Mails_, ed. 1865, pp.
104-12.
How did he succeed when so many others had failed? In the first place
he introduced the use of post bills and every postmaster had to
distinguish on these bills the bye letters from all others. The voucher,
which he also introduced, seems to have been only an acknowledgment of
the amount to be collected by each postmaster. Besides this, Allen had a
most intimate knowledge of the various post towns in the kingdom, of
their importance and of the number of letters which might naturally be
expected to pass between them. He based his conclusions upon quite
obvious considerations. Between any two towns of much the same
importance he expected about the same correspondence, that it would not
vary much, and that the letters received and despatched would pretty
well equal each other.[161]
[161] Joyce, pp. 155, 162.
When Allen's contract was renewed in 1741 it was proposed that he should
be obliged to settle and support at his own charge posts six days a week
instead of the former tri-weekly posts between London, Cambridge, Lynn,
Norwich, and Yarmouth and from London to Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, and
intermediate towns. This was not done at once, but during the next few
years this proposition was put into effect.[162] In 1734, in addition to
his cross and bye post letters, Allen undertook to pay for the
improvements which he had made in the conveyance of country
letters.[163] He pointed out at the same time that there was some
opposition between the two parts of his contract, since country and
cross post letters interfered more or less with each other.[164]
[162] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1730-41, pp. 449-450.
[163] Country letters were those sent through London. _Cal. T. B. & P._,
1739-41, p. 450.
[164] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1734-41, pp. 445, 450; W. Thornbury, _Old and
New London_, ii, p. 209.
Allen died in 1769, being worth, according to current report, £500,000.
Lewins says that he made £12,000 a year from his farm. Probably both
statements are exaggerated, but it is certain that he accumulated a
respectable fortune while managing the bye and cross posts.[165]
[165] He is the man to whom Pope alluded in the couplet,
"Let humble Allen, with an honest shame, Do good by stealth and blush to
find it fame."
Allen and the poet had a falling out just before the death of the
latter. In his will, Pope left his quondam friend £150 to pay a "few
little debts." Allen is said to have remarked that if Pope had added
another figure, it would have represented better the "few little debts."
W. Lewins, _Her Majesty's Mails_, pp. 104-12.
There had been a considerable increase in the staff of the General
Office and many improvements introduced since 1711. At the head of the
office were two Commissioners called Postmasters-General, each with a
salary of £2000, assisted by a Secretary and four clerks. There were in
addition a Receiver-General, an Accountant-General, a Solicitor, a
Resident-Surveyor, and two inspectors of missent letters. In addition to
the Penny Post carriers, who were employed also by the General Post,
there were a Court Messenger and a carrier for the House of Commons. At
the General Office, letters were taxed and sorted by the "Clerks of the
Road" and their assistants and by seventeen sorters. The window-man and
alphabet-keeper received the money on prepaid letters and posted lists
of those for whom letters had arrived. Undertaxed letters from the
country were re-taxed by the "Clerks of the Road." Besides the
receiving-houses of the Penny Post where all letters might be posted,
there were thirty receiving-houses for the General Post. Letters were
conveyed from these to the central office by sixty-nine carriers.[166]
[166] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1742-45, pp. 102-235; Maitland, _Survey of
London_, p. 998; Noorthouck, _Hist. of London_, 1773, p. 658.
Letters were sent every night to the principal South and Midland towns
of England. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, there were mails for all
parts of England and Scotland and on Tuesday and Saturday for Ireland
and Wales. On Monday and Thursday, letters were sent to France, Spain,
and Italy, on Monday and Friday to Germany, Flanders, Sweden, and
Denmark, and on Tuesday and Friday to Holland. Letters arrived in London
every day from the South and Midland towns, on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday, from all parts of England and Scotland, and on Monday and Friday
from Ireland and Wales.[167] It will be seen from this that the
improvements in postal communications, which had taken place since the
beginning of the century, had been confined to the South and Midland
towns of England and to foreign countries.
[167] J. Latimer, _Annals of Bristol_, 1893, p. 235; _London and its
Environs_, 1761, v, pp. 209-222.
With the foregoing enlargement of postal facilities an old grievance on
the part of the public began to assume an acute form. It had always been
a debated question as to how far the postmasters were responsible for
the delivery of letters. There was no general rule upon the question and
the practice varied in different parts of England. Although the towns on
the post roads were fairly well off as far as their letters were
concerned, it was different with those places which were neither on the
great roads nor on the bye-roads leading off from them. The mails for
such places were left at the nearest post towns and were conveyed to
their destination by carriers and messengers. Cotton and Frankland
stated that in addition to collecting the regular postage, they demanded
for this service an extra payment of 3_d._, 6_d._, and sometimes 12_d._
It was proposed in 1699 that the delivery should be made by persons
appointed to collect as well as to deliver all letters and parcels. For
this they were allowed to take one penny or whatever the people wished
to give them.[168] In Sandwich the cross and bye post letters had always
been delivered free, although a fee was charged for the London letters.
The postmaster there decided to charge for all letters, and the
inhabitants of Sandwich protested. The case was carried to the courts
and the Post Office lost. Sandwich, however, was a place where there had
been a free delivery of part of the letters at least. The
Postmasters-General were very much disturbed at this decision and still
more disturbed lest the courts might decide for free delivery in other
post towns, which had always paid. They resolved to bring on a test
case. The town of Hungerford in Berkshire was chosen, as it could be
proved that the postmaster of that place had received a penny for each
letter delivered since the beginning of the century. The case came
before the Court of King's Bench, Lord Mansfield presiding, and the Post
Office lost again. This case was decided in 1774, and the next year the
"Liverpool Advertiser" records a complaint to the Postmasters-General
that there was only one letter carrier in Liverpool. The reply was that
only one carrier was maintained in any provincial town and that
Liverpool could expect no better treatment.[169]
[168] _Cal. T. B._, 1697-1702, lxiv, 17; _ibid._, 1702-07, lxxxvi, 134.
[169] E. Green, _Bibliotheca Somersetensis_, 1902, i, p. 108; Joyce, pp.
107-108; Latimer, _Annals of Bristol_, p. 416.
At the same time that the Post Office received this adverse decision it
had begun to suffer severely from the illegal carriage of letters by the
post coaches. These post coaches were so called merely because they were
most numerous on the post roads. John Palmer, the proprietor of a
theatre in Bath, pointed out to the Postmasters-General that the coaches
were speedier and cheaper than the post boys who carried the mails on
horseback and proposed that he should be allowed to establish mail
coaches and thus save the postage on letters illegally carried by the
post coaches. His coaches were to be protected by a guard, presumably a
retired soldier, who was to be armed with two guns and to sit facing the
road in front of him. The driver was to carry pistols. No outside
passengers were to be carried, since they impeded the guard in
performing his duties. The speed was to be not less than eight or nine
miles an hour, twice as fast as the post boys travelled. In addition the
mails were to leave London at 8 P.M. instead of after midnight. The
coaches were all to leave London together and return together as far as
possible. To insure this they were not to wait for government letters
when the latter were delayed.[170]
[170] _D. N. B._, xliii, p. 140; Knight, _London_, 1842, iii, p. 280.
The first mail coach ran between London and Bristol in 1784. It was
furnished by contractors at a cost of 3_d._ a mile. This was the initial
cost, however, and by 1797, the rate had been reduced to a penny a mile
each way. In the early part of August, 1784, there was only one mail
coach. At the end of the same month, coaches went to Norwich,
Nottingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. During the next year they were
sent to Leeds, Gloucester, Swansea, Hereford, Milford, Worcester,
Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Holyhead, Exeter, Portsmouth, and other places.
In 1786 they ran between London and Edinburgh. In 1797 there were
forty-two mail coach routes established, connecting sixty of the most
important towns in the kingdom, as well as intermediate places. These
coaches travelled a total distance of 4110 miles and cost the Government
£12,416 a year, only half the sum paid for post horses and riders under
the old system. The coaches made daily journeys over nearly two thirds
of the total distance traversed and tri-weekly journeys over something
less than one third the total distance. The remainder travelled one,
two, four, and six times a week. The result of the establishment of
these mail coaches was summed up by a Parliamentary committee in the
following words: "They have lessened the chance of robbery, diminished
the need for special messengers and expresses, and now carry the letters
formerly sent by post coaches."[171]
[171] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, pp. 4, 36, 37, 98; _Fin.
Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 114; _D. N. B._, xliii, p. 140.
Palmer had been appointed Controller-General of the Post Office and had
chosen as his assistant a man by the name of Bonner. Palmer himself was
of a violent and headstrong disposition, and as ill-luck would have it,
Walsingham, one of the Postmasters-General, was as masterful as himself.
Palmer considered that his office was outside the scope of Walsingham's
authority, and although he failed in making his position absolutely free
from the control of the Postmasters-General, yet he heeded them as
little as possible. He organized a newspaper department without
consulting his superiors and paid no attention to them when an
explanation was asked. He stirred up the London merchants to complain
about the late delivery of their letters, a delay which he had probably
brought about intentionally. A mail coach had been ordered by Walsingham
to carry the King's private despatches while His Majesty was taking the
waters at Cheltenham. This was done without consulting Palmer, who was
so indignant that he persuaded the contractor to send in an enormous
bill for supplying the coach. All this came out through the treachery of
Bonner, who owed his advancement entirely to the friend whom he
betrayed. He went so far as to hand over to the Postmasters-General the
private letters which Palmer had written him. Palmer was dismissed in
1792 with a pension.[172]
[172] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83; Joyce, pp. 251, 275.
At the time of Palmer's appointment, a Treasury warrant had been issued
for the payment to him of £1500 a year and 2 per cent of the increase
from the Post Office revenue, but this warrant had been pronounced
illegal by the Attorney-General. Through Pitt's influence, Palmer
finally obtained £1500 a year and 2 per cent on any increase in net
revenue over £240,000 a year. Palmer objected to this on the ground
that the old net revenue was only £150,000 a year, but Pitt replied that
the increased rates of 1784 would produce at least £90,000. It is
improbable, however, that the new rates produced the increase estimated.
In 1797 Palmer presented a petition to the House of Commons, asking for
the arrears due him according to his method of estimating the increase
in net revenue, upon which his percentage was due. He said that before
his system was introduced the gross product of the Post Office was
decreasing at the rate of £13,000 a year. This was not true. He claimed
that the increase after 1784 was wholly due to his own reforms, taking
no account of the increased rates and the industrial expansion of
England. No action was taken by Parliament.[173]
[173] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 127; _Jo. H. C._, 1796-97, p. 581.
One of the arguments advanced by Palmer for the use of mail coaches was
their security against robbers. Previous to and during the rebellion of
1745 numerous attempts were made to rob the mails, and many of them were
successful. These robberies occurred principally at night. It was said
that the mails were carried by boys not always of the best character,
and that very often they were in league with the robbers. The
Postmasters-General asked for soldiers to patrol the roads where these
robberies were the most frequent. This was the method which Cromwell had
used to protect the mails. The request does not seem to have been
granted, but in 1765 the death penalty was imposed for robbing the mail
and for stealing a letter containing a bank note or bill. Any post boy
deserting the mail or allowing any one but the guard to ride on the
horse or carriage with the mails was liable to commitment to hard
labour.[174] Palmer's prediction was fulfilled by the comparative safety
with which the mails were carried after his coaches had come into use.
[174] _Cal. T. B. & P._, 1739-41, p. 234; 5 Geo. III, c. 25. The Post
Office occasionally made good the loss of valuables from theft or
robbery, but as a rule refused to do so. _Cal. T. P._, 1729-30, p. 75;
_Cal. T. B. & P._, 1731-34, p. 74.
Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and Lord Carteret had been the
Postmasters-General in 1782 and 1783. On the fall of Shelburne's
ministry in the latter year, Tankerville left the Post Office, but
Carteret still remained. So far these two men had worked together
fairly well, although Tankerville had a suspicion that his colleague
had been engaged in some doubtful transactions. In 1784, when Pitt
became Prime Minister, Tankerville was restored to his old office. In
the same year a transaction came under his notice which aroused his
suspicion. A Mr. Lees had been appointed Secretary of the Irish Post
Office. The man who had held this position was made agent of the Dover
packet boats, the old agent having been superannuated. The new agent
agreed to pay to his predecessor the full amount of the salary coming to
the place, while he himself was to be paid by Mr. Lees the total salary
coming to the Secretary in Ireland. So far there was nothing uncommon
about the arrangement. The unusual part of the agreement and the part
which attracted Tankerville's attention was Lees' promise to pay the
money to "A. B.," an unknown person, after the old agent's death.
Suspicion pointed to Carteret as the man to whom the money was to be
paid. Lees himself denied this, but did not say who "A. B." was.[175]
[175] _Jo. H. C._, 1787, p. 800.
In 1787 a Mr. Staunton, the postmaster of Islesworth, a position worth
£400 a year, was in addition appointed Controller and Resident Surveyor
of the Bye and Cross Posts, to which was attached a salary of £500,
coals and candles and a house. The First Lord of the Treasury proposed
that the house should not go with the office, and Carteret decided that
Staunton should receive an extra £100 a year in lieu of the house.
Tankerville refused to agree to this, and the contention became so warm
that the whole matter was referred to Pitt, who, rather than lose
Carteret's political support, dismissed Tankerville.[176] Tankerville at
once demanded an investigation, which was granted. The results showed
the Post Office to be in a deplorable state. Tankerville was completely
exonerated, but failed to obtain much sympathy on account of the
violence of his attack upon Pitt and Carteret. It came out in the
investigation that "A. B." was a foreigner named Treves, who had no
claim on the Post Office or any other department of the government
except that he was a friend of Carteret. Carteret himself knew the
condition of his appointment, but had done nothing except to express
himself displeased with the whole arrangement. A payment of £200 a year
had also been exacted from Mr. Dashwood, Postmaster-General of Jamaica,
as the condition of his appointment, and that too had gone to Treves.
The agent at Helvoetsluys had been allowed by Carteret to sell his
position to a man as incapable as himself. Staunton's office had been
abolished soon after his appointment, and he had been allowed to retire
at the age of forty years with a pension of £600 a year in the face of
the rule that officers of an advanced age and after long service were
allowed upon retirement to receive only two thirds of their
salaries.[177]
[176] _Ibid._, 1787, p. 800.
[177] _Jo. H. C._, 1787, p. 800.
The Postmasters-General had received in 1783, in addition to their
salaries, over £900 for coals. They had also received £694 for candles
during two years and a half and £150 for tinware for the same period.
Tankerville had taken his share of these perquisites, but it is only
fair to add that Carteret's emoluments exceeded his by £213 for the
periods under consideration. It had become customary to receive a money
payment in place of a large part of their supplies. In 1782 the total
sum going to the officials of the General Office amounted to £28,431, of
which sum about £10,000 were placed under the heading of emoluments
other than salaries.[178] Of all the departments of the Post Office, the
Sailing Packet Service was the one most in need of reform.
[178] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83; _Jo. H. C._, 1787, p 817.
The light, which was then let in among the dark places of the Post
Office, had a most excellent effect. Acting on the report furnished by
the committee of the House, a new establishment was effected in 1793.
The reforms were approved by the Postmasters-General and carried out
under the direction of the Lords of the Treasury. The good work had been
begun in 1784 by Palmer. He had appointed additional clerks, letter
carriers, surveyors and messengers, had established new offices, and had
increased the inadequate pay of minor officials. This had entailed an
increase of £19,022 in expenses in the General and Penny Posts, but the
increase was justified by increased efficiency and by larger returns
from the conveyance of letters. Of the total increase, £11,451 had been
spent on the General Office and £7571 on the Penny Post, to which had
been added eighty-six more letter carriers for London and seventy-eight
more for the suburbs, as well as some supernumerary carriers.[179] The
reforms introduced in 1793 may be grouped under three heads: regulations
respecting fees and emoluments, abolition of some offices and an
increase in officers and clerks in others; regulation of official
business. The regulations respecting fees and emoluments were
necessarily negative in their character. The most important were as
follows: The postmasters were no longer to pay fees to the
Postmasters-General on the renewal of the bonds given by their
securities. The two per cent allowed to the Scotch Deputy
Postmaster-General on all remittances from Scotland was discontinued and
a compensation for life was granted instead. The fees for tinware were
abolished, and the pension to the New York agent was to cease. No postal
official was allowed to own shares in the sailing packets, and with a
few minor exceptions all salaries were henceforth to be in lieu of every
emolument or fee.[180]
[179] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 3, 66-83.
[180] _Ibid._, no. 7, pp. 52-65.
A number of sinecure and useless offices were abolished. The chief among
them were: Jamineau's perquisite office which had the monopoly of
selling newspapers to the "Clerks of the Roads," the Secretary's
position as agent for the packets, the Controller of the Bye and Cross
Posts, the Inspector of Dead Letters in the Bye Letter Office, the
Collector in the Bye Letter Office, the Secretary of the Foreign Office,
and the Controller of the Inland Office.[181]
[181] _Ibid._, no. 7, pp. 52-65.
The changes in business regulations were as follows: The
Postmasters-General were no longer to include legal charges, chaise
hire, and pensions under the head of dead letters. The
Postmasters-General's warrant must be entered previous to any money
being paid. The payment of debts must be enforced. The West India
accounts should be sent to the deputy there every quarter. The payments
to mail coach contractors must be made directly by warrant instead of
through the Controller-General. No change was made in the anomalous
position of the Accountant-General. He was supposed to be a check upon
the Receiver-General, but had to depend upon the Receiver-General's
books for verifying the remittances from the deputies.[182]
[182] _Ibid._, no. 7, pp. 8, 52-65.
The Englishman's belief in the sanctity of vested interests has usually
been too strong to permit any abridgment of rights or privileges without
compensation. Those postal officials who had been dismissed or whose
sinecure offices had been abolished were not to be turned entirely
adrift. Provision was made for pensioning most of them. Before the
reform the total sum paid by the Post Office in pensions was £1500. The
incumbrances dismissed were allowed £6101, and between 1793 and 1797
£1475 more were added to the pension list. It was pointed out at the
time that it was far better to pension them off and leave them to die
than to continue them in service. In 1797 it was a relief to be able to
announce "that already £648 had been saved from dead and promoted
pensioners."[183]
[183] _Fin. Rep._, no. 7, p. 130.
The report of the committee which had been appointed at Tankerville's
suggestion is silent on the question of the opening and detention of
letters. It had been provided by the act of 1711 that no letters should
be opened or detained except under protection of an express warrant from
one of the Secretaries of State. The Royal Commission of 1844 reported
that from 1712 to 1798, the number of warrants so issued was 101,
excluding those which were well known or easily ascertained. The
Secretary of State for the Inland Department issued most of them. From
1798 to 1844, 372 warrants were issued, many of them being general
warrants and often for very trivial causes. At the trial of Bishop
Atterbury, the principal witnesses against him were Post Office clerks,
who had opened and copied letters to and from him, under warrant from
one of the Secretaries.[184]
[184] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, pp. 9-11; app., p. 105 (78); app., p. 107
(79); app., p. 111 (83).
In addition to this regular method for intercepting letters, a
particular department had been in existence for some time with no other
duties than to examine letters. Strictly speaking it had nothing to do
with the Post Office and was supported entirely from the "Secret Service
Fund." The truth about it came out in the examination of the conduct of
Sir Robert Walpole by the "Committee of Secrecy." From 1732 to 1742,
£45,675 had been spent upon this department. It had originated in 1718
and the expenses for that year were only £446, but by 1742 they had
increased more than tenfold. The Secretary of the Post Office in giving
his evidence before the committee, said that this office received
instructions from the Secretaries of State and reported to them. The
working force consisted of a chief decipherer, assisted by his son and
three other decipherers, five clerks, the Controller of the Foreign
Office, a doorkeeper and a former alphabet keeper. Either considerable
business was transacted there or it was a retreat for useless
officials.[185]
[185] _Rep. Com_., 1844, xiv, app., p. 112 (84); _Cal. T. B. & P_.,
1742-45, p. 669.
An account is given in Howell's "State Trials" of the trial of Hensey
and of the practice then in vogue for finding treasonable
correspondence. His letters were handed over for investigation to the
Secretary of State by a Post Office clerk. This clerk in giving his
evidence said that when war was declared against any nation, the
Postmasters-General issued orders at once to stop all suspected letters.
These orders were given to all the Post Office clerks and letter
carriers. Such instructions can only be justified as a war measure, for
the act of 1711 had provided that no letter should be detained or opened
unless by express warrant from one of the Secretaries of State for every
such detention or opening.[186]
[186] _Rep. Com_., 1844, xiv, app., p. 112 (85); Howell, _State Trials_,
xix, col. 1369. This was in 1758.
We find very few complaints about the opening of letters during the
second half of the eighteenth century. On the other hand it must be
confessed that letters were at times opened and searched merely to learn
the beliefs and plans of political opponents. It is difficult to
determine to how great an extent this practice was prevalent as there
seems little doubt that the complainants may occasionally have been
prompted by their own vanity to believe that their correspondence had
been tampered with.[187] In 1795, during the great war with France, the
Government ordered all letters directed to the United Provinces to be
detained. The question then was, what was to be done with them? None of
them seems to have been opened and the cause for their detention was
only to prevent any information being given to the enemy. Accordingly
by an act of Parliament passed in the same year, the Post Office was
empowered to return them to the writers.[188]
[187] Joyce is of opinion that such practices were very common. So also
is May (T. E. May, _Constitutional History of England_, 1882, iii, pp.
44-49; D. B. Eaton, _Civil Service in Great Britain_, New York, 1880, p.
115).
[188] 35 Geo. III, c. 62.
Although the larger part of the fees and emoluments enjoyed by the
postal officials had been abolished in 1793, the proceeds from those
which were left continued to increase steadily. By far the most
lucrative was the privilege of franking newspapers, within the kingdom,
to the colonies, and to foreign countries. Ever since newspapers had
been printed, the "Clerks of the Roads" had been allowed to send them to
any part of the kingdom without paying postage. After 1763, when members
of Parliament were allowed the same privilege, every one felt at liberty
to make use of a member's frank for this purpose, and the Clerks
suffered accordingly. Newspapers to the Colonies were franked by the
Secretary of the Post Office and produced a revenue of £3700 in 1817,
all of which went to Sir Francis Freeling who was then Secretary. In
1825 the privilege of franking papers within the kingdom and to the
colonies was withdrawn, but compensation was granted to Sir
Francis.[189] This did not end the trouble, for the Clerks still acted
as newspaper venders. On account of their official position they were
able to post them until 8 P.M., while the regular newsvenders were
allowed to do so only until 5 P.M. at the Lombard Street Office and 6
P.M. at the General Office or they must pay a special fee of a halfpenny
on each.[190] Mr. Hume, the member for Montrose, brought the case before
the House, and in 1834 all Post Office officials were forbidden to sell
newspapers. At the same time the officials in the Foreign Office lost
the right to frank papers to any foreign country.[191]
[189] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, pp. 215-222.
[190] London _Times_, 1829, Oct. 6, p. 2; _ibid._, 1832, March 14, p. 1.
[191] _Parl. Deb._, 3d ser., xxiv, col. 875.
The members of the Secretary's office had, since 1799 and 1801, issued
two official publications, which paid no postage. These were called the
"Packet List" and the "Shipping List." The first of these contained all
the intelligence received at the Post Office concerning the sailing
packets. The second contained information about private vessels,
furnished principally by "Lloyds." The Commissioners commented upon this
practice in very uncomplimentary language.[192] In addition, the
members of the Secretary's department received fees on the deputations
granted to new postmasters in England and Wales, upon commissions
granted to agents and postmasters abroad, upon private expresses to and
from London, and upon news supplied to the London press during a general
election.[193] In 1837 the fees on deputations and commissions were
abolished, private expresses were discontinued, the "Shipping List" was
discontinued, and the "Packet List" passed from the control of the Post
Office. The revenue from these fees in the Secretary's Office which were
still continued was to go henceforth to the general revenue.[194]
[192] _Acc. & P._, 1817, pp. 4-16; _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep.
app., nos. 12, 13, 14.
[193] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 12.
[194] _Acc. & P._, 1837-38, xlv, 265, p. 5.
An extra charge of 6_d._ was demanded upon letters posted between 7 P.M.
and 8 P.M. This had been the rule since 1800, and the proceeds went
either to the Inland or Foreign Office. So also did the registration
fees on ships' letters. These fees were transferred to the general
revenue in 1837.[195] In 1827 the total amount received in fees,
emoluments, and gratuities by the officials in the London Office was
£23,100, by agents and country postmasters £16,500. Most of these were
either abolished or transferred to the general revenue in 1837.[196]
[195] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 3.
[196] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 214.
The distinguishing feature of the Post Office during the eighteenth
century was the extension of its service, which accompanied the
industrial expansion of the kingdom. The abuses which naturally flourish
during a prosperous period had been largely remedied by the reform of
1793. The nation's need for a larger revenue led not only to a great
increase in postage rates but also to stricter economy in the
organization of the Post Office. The London and Dublin Penny Posts were
reformed and extended, the work of the General and Penny Posts in London
was harmonized, the employees were increased, and the new departments
which had been established were reformed and consolidated.
The Newspaper Office which had been illegally established by Palmer was
continued after his dismissal. Walsingham had objected to it on the
ground that Palmer had no right to appoint any officials without his
consent. Previously all newspapers had been forwarded to the postmasters
free of postage by the "Clerks of the Roads." Now that they might be
sent with the letters, they were brought in at the last moment still wet
from the press so that they defaced the writing on the letters sent in
the same bag.[197] In 1784 a Dead Letter Office was also established.
Previously, dead and missent letters had been handed to a clerk in the
General Office. During Allen's farm of the cross and bye post letters,
missent letters were no longer forwarded to London, but any postmaster,
into whose hands they came, was instructed to place them on the right
track.[198] Four years later a third office was instituted, a Money
Order Office. No order could be issued for more than five guineas and
the fee for that sum was 4_s._ 6_d._ It was started as a private
speculation by some of the postal officials and so remained until 1838
when it was taken over by the General Post Office.[199]
[197] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, p. 87.
[198] _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, pp. 82-83.
[199] W. Thornbury, _Old and New London_, ii, p. 212.
The policy of the Post Office with reference to the registration of
letters containing valuables varied with the nature of the enclosure and
the manner in which it was sent. On ships' letters sent from England,
the registration fee was one guinea, and a receipt was given to the
person sending a registered letter. The fee for a letter coming into the
kingdom was only 5_s._[200] If bank notes were enclosed in a letter, it
received no special attention from the Post Office. If gold or silver
was sent in a letter marked "money letter," the postmaster placed it in
a separate envelope and made a special entry on the way bill, which was
repeated at every office it passed through. No special fee was charged
for the extra attention bestowed upon these letters until 1835 when the
Postmaster-General was allowed to charge a fee for their registration in
addition to the ordinary postage.[201] The Money Order Department, still
a private undertaking, had its fees reduced from 6_d._ to 3_d._ on sums
not exceeding £2 and from 18_d._ to 6_d._ on sums exceeding £2 but not
more than £5.[202]
[200] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 8th rep., app., no. 3.
[201] _London Times_, 1832, Apr. 27, p. 3; 5 and 6 Wm. IV, c. 25; 3 and
4 Vict., c. 96.
[202] London _Times_, 1837, Jan. 26, p. 5; Dec. 13, p. 4; _Acc. & P._,
1841, xxvi, 221, no. 6.
At the same time that the General Post was being reformed, a former
letter carrier by the name of Johnson was improving the Penny Post. The
six principal receiving-houses which Dockwra had instituted had been
reduced to five and were now still further reduced to two. The
subsidiary receiving-houses in the shops and coffee-houses were
increased and the number of letter carriers more than doubled. Six
regular deliveries for the city proper and three for the suburbs were
introduced. Before 1793 the deliveries in the city had not been made at
the same time, for the carriers had to go to one of the main
receiving-houses to get their letters. The deliveries were now made as
near the same time as possible all over the city and the delivery hours
were posted so that people might know when to expect the carriers and
thus act as a check upon them. Mounted messengers conveyed the letters
to those carriers who delivered in distant parts of the city.[203]
[203] Joyce, p. 302; _Fin. Rep._, 1797, no. 7, p. 83.
In 1794 an act was passed "to regulate the postage and conveyance of
letters by the carriage called the Penny Post." The rate for letters
posted in London, Westminster, Southwark and the suburbs for any place
within these places and their suburbs remained one penny. Letters sent
from these places to any place outside paid 2_d._ as before. Hitherto
letters sent from outside to London, Westminster, Southwark and the
suburbs had paid only one penny. This was raised by the act of 1794 to
2_d._ It was also provided that the postage for Penny Post letters need
not be paid in advance. This would increase the expense but the idea was
probably to secure greater safety in the delivery of letters. Finally,
the surplus revenue at the end of each quarter was to be considered part
of the revenue of the General Post.[204]
[204] 34 Geo. III, c. 17.
The changes introduced by Johnson and the act of 1794 were in the right
direction. This seems a reasonable conclusion not so much on account of
the increase in net product, which was not great, as on account of the
increase in gross product, showing that the number of letters and
parcels sent by the Penny Post had doubled. The financial condition of
the Penny Post before and after the reform is shown by the following
figures:--
_Average Yearly_ _Average Yearly_ _Average Yearly_
_Gross Product_ _Expense_ _Net Product_
1790-1794 £11,089 £5289 £6000
1795-1797 £26,283 £18,960 £7323[205]
[205] _Parl. Papers_, 1812-13, _Rep. Com._, ii, p. 94.
London was not the only place which could boast a Penny Post in 1793.
The system was extended in that year to Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol,
and Birmingham, while Dublin had been so favoured since 1773. It is
almost unnecessary to add that in all these places, it was a pronounced
success from a financial and social point of view.[206]
[206] Joyce, pp. 196, 300.
In 1801 the London Penny Post which had lasted for 120 years was
practically swept out of existence, for 2_d._ was then charged where a
penny had formerly been the rate. An exception was made in the case of
letters passing first by the General Post, for on these the old rate
still held.[207] Four years later, the limits of the Twopenny Post, as
it was called, were restricted to the General Post Delivery and 3_d._
was charged for letters crossing the bounds of this delivery. This was
called the Threepenny Post.[208] The effect of the increased rates and
the growth of population in the metropolis is shown by the increase in
gross receipts, which rose from £11,768 in 1703 to £96,089 in 1816 and
to £105,052 in 1823. During the same period, the number of letter
carriers was increased from 181 to 235, and nineteen officials were
added to the establishment.[209]
[207] 41 Geo. III, c. 7.
[208] 45 Geo. III, c. 11.
[209] _Acc. & P._, 1817, pp. 15, 16; _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, pp. 10,
136.
Although the General, the Twopenny, and the Threepenny Posts, were all
under one management, no attempt was made to harmonize their methods of
procedure until 1831. Letters for the General Post were often entrusted
to the Twopenny Post but the receiving-houses of both Posts were
frequently established in the same street and close together. The
General Post had seventy receiving-houses in the city, the Twopenny Post
209, the Threepenny Post 200 more in the suburbs and adjoining country.
In addition there were 110 "bellmen" who collected letters from door to
door, ringing their bells as they went. They charged one penny for each
letter collected.[210] The General Post receiving-houses closed at 7
P.M., the Twopenny receiving-houses at 8 P.M., but letters might be
posted at the Charing Cross Office until 8.30 and at the General Office
until 9 P.M.[211] At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were
three deliveries, by the Inland, Foreign, and Twopenny Post carriers.
The limits of the Inland Post Delivery were very irregular and left out
a large part of the populous suburbs. The Foreign Post Delivery was also
very irregular and still more restricted in area. The Twopenny Post
Delivery included London, Westminster, Southwark and their suburbs, and
was the most extensive. Letters were delivered by the Threepenny Post
within an irregular area bounded on the inside by the Twopenny Delivery
and extending nearly twelve miles from the General Post Office. The
separate delivery of foreign letters was abolished first and all foreign
letters were delivered by the General Post carriers, and in 1831 the
deliveries of the General and Twopenny Posts were made co-extensive,
extending to a distance of three miles from the General Office at St.
Martin's-le-Grand. Three years later the Twopenny Post building in
Gerard Street was given up and all Twopenny Post letters henceforth were
sent to the General Post Office building to be sorted.[212]
[210] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 1; _ibid._, 1829,
xi, pp. 310-311; _London Times_, 1825, Dec. 6, p. 2.
[211] London _Times_, 1835, Jan. 24, p. 3.
[212] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., nos. 30, 63, 64.
The regular collections of Twopenny Post letters were made at 8 A.M., 10
A.M., 12 M. and 2, 5 and 8 P.M. Deliveries were made at the same hours
in the morning, at noon, and at 2, 4 and 7 o'clock in the afternoon. A
letter posted at or before 8 A.M. was sent for delivery at 10 A.M. and
so on. The letters collected were taken to the General Office by
horsemen to be sorted. Two sets of men were employed, one collecting
while the other delivered.[213] There was an additional "early delivery"
as it was called. The carriers on the way to their own "walks"
delivered letters to subscribers, who paid 5_s._ a quarter for the
accommodation thus afforded. The postage for letters so delivered was
not paid until the carriers called again on their regular delivery.[214]
In 1837 the times of the regular deliveries were changed to every second
hour from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. and collections were made at the same
hours.[215] In the Threepenny Post limits, there were on an average
three deliveries a day but those towns which had a General Post delivery
received only two a day from the Threepenny Post. Letters were sent by
horsemen or mail carts for delivery. The same receiving-houses were used
for General and Threepenny Post letters.[216]
[213] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 1; London _Times_, 1835,
Jan. 24, p. 3.
[214] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 50; _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xxxi,
col. 943; _Acc. & P._, 1826-27, xx, p. 397.
[215] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xlv, 265, p. 6.
[216] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 1.
The Dublin Penny Post was remodelled in 1810. The deliveries, which had
been only two a day, were increased to four and then to six, additional
letter carriers were appointed and receiving-houses established. The
penny delivery extended to four miles around the city. There was a 2_d._
rate for letters beyond the four mile radius.[217] Previous to 1835, the
boundary of the Edinburgh Penny Post was a circle with a radius of 1-3/8
miles from the Register Office. Some Scotch mathematician must have been
consulted when in 1835 the boundary was made an ellipse with its foci a
furlong apart, the distance from each focus to the most remote part of
the circumference being 1-5/16 miles. Outside this ellipse, there was a
2_d._ rate. There had been three deliveries a day, raised in 1838 to
five.[218]
[217] _Ibid._, 1829, xii, p. 73; 7 Wm. IV, and 1 Vict., c. 34.
[218] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, 2d rep., app. E, no. 31.
Before 1837 Penny Posts had also been established in Newcastle and
Glasgow.[219]
[219] _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv, 9th rep., app., no. 14.
Since nearly all the mail coaches left London at 8 o'clock in the
evening, most of the letters arriving there in the morning for outside
places were not despatched until the same evening. It was pointed out by
the commissioners in the Report of 1837 that a large proportion of these
letters might be forwarded by the post coaches.[220] If they arrived on
Saturday morning they were not forwarded until Monday evening since
Sunday was not a mail day and mail coaches arriving on Sunday were
detained in the outskirts of the city.[221] The rumour that the Post
Office was considering the expedience of a Sunday Post brought forth a
flood of protests. Bankers, merchants, vestries, and religious societies
were represented by delegations and petitions to the Postmaster-General
and the House of Commons, praying that no change might be made.[222]
Sixteen hundred solicitors joined in the opposition. Lord Melbourne
informed the Bishop of London that the subject was not under
consideration, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer told Sir Robert
Inglis that the Government had no intention of opening the Post Office
on Sunday.[223] Derby had a Sunday delivery in 1839, but, on their own
request, many of the inhabitants were excluded from it.[224]
[220] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 7th rep., p. 7, and app., nos. 46, 47, 48.
[221] _Acc. & P._, 1837, l. 316.
[222] _Ibid._, 1837, xlvi, 176.
[223] _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xlvi, coll. 206, 332.
[224] London _Times_, 1839, June 1, p. 7.
For over forty years all the mail-coaches in England were provided by
one man, with whom a new contract was made every seven years. Before
1797 a penny a mile was paid each way but on the imposition of a tax on
carriages, the rate was raised to 1-1/2_d._, then to 1-3/4_d._, and
later to 2-1/8_d._ a mile. One contractor supplied the coaches, others
provided horses and drivers, but the guards were hired directly by the
Post Office. In Scotland and Ireland, coaches, horses, and drivers were
all provided by the same men. The number of miles a day covered by the
mail-coaches in 1827 was 7862 and the mileage allowance for that year
was £46,900. When the mails were exceptionally heavy, mail carts were
used, which cost somewhat more than the coaches, since they carried no
passengers. In 1836 the contract for the supply of coaches was thrown
open to public competition. By this move, the expenses dropped from
£61,009 a year to £53,191 although the total distance travelled per day
increased from 13,148 to 14,482 miles.[225] The mail-coaches were at a
disadvantage in competing with the post-coaches, since the former were
allowed to carry no more than four inside and two outside passengers
nor were they allowed to carry any luggage on the roof.[226] On the
other hand the mail-coaches in England paid no tolls until 1837.[227]
The 268 mail guards of the British coaches received £7577 in salaries in
1837, paid directly by the Post Office. Seven inspectors were also
employed at a fixed yearly salary and 15_s._ a day when travelling. They
superintended the coachmen and guards, investigated complaints, delays,
and accidents, and made preliminary agreements in contracting for
coaches.[228] The majority of the Irish coaches had paid tolls ever
since they had been introduced. Generally they were paid by the Post
Office at stated intervals. The total distance travelled by mail-coaches
in Ireland in 1829 was 2160 miles each day, by mail-carts 2533 miles.
The number of guards employed was eighty-five, receiving £2935 a year.
The Irish coaches were allowed to carry four outside passengers.[229]
[225] _Parl. Papers_, 1811, _Rep. Com._, p. 9; _Rep. Commrs._, 1837,
xxxiv, 7th rep., apps. 5, 7, 26, p. 71; London _Times_, 1832, Apr. 27,
p. 2; _Acc. & P._, 1837-38, xlv, 265, p. 3: 265, p. 4; _Rep. Commrs._,
1829, xi, p. 294.
[226] _Parl. Papers_, 1811, _Rep. Com._, pp. 10, 32, 50, 51.
[227] _Ibid._, 1811, _Rep. Com._, p. 1; _Parl. Deb._, 1st ser., xix,
col. 683; Wm. IV and I Vict., c. 33.
[228] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 34; _ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 7th rep.,
app., nos. 30, 31.
[229] _Parl. Papers_, 1811, _Rep. Com._, p. 1; 43 Geo. III, c. 28; _Rep.
Com._, 1831-32, xvii, pp. 336, 338, 339; _Rep. Commrs._, 1837, xxxiv,
7th rep., app., no. 31.
The first railway in England over which mails were carried was operated
between Manchester and Liverpool. In 1838 the Government paid the Grand
Junction Railway 5-7/8_d._ a single mile for the conveyance of its
mails. At the same time the average rate by the coaches was 2-1/8_d._ a
single mile. On the London and Birmingham Railway when a special Post
Office carriage was used, 7-1/2_d._ was paid. When the ordinary
mail-coach was carried on trucks the rate was 4-1/4_d._ When a regular
railway carriage was used, the rate was 2-1/2_d._ a mile for one third
of a carriage.[230] For the year ending 5th January, 1839, the Post
Office paid £105,107 for the conveyance of mails by coaches and £9883 to
the railways. For the next official year, the figures had risen to
£109,246 and £39,724.[231]
[230] _Ibid._, 1837, xxxiv, 7th rep., app., nos. 12, 13. The first day
coach left London in 1837, connecting at Birmingham with the railway to
Hartford, Cheshire. (London _Times_, 1837, Sept. 5, p. 4; _Rep. Com._,
1837-38, xx, pts. 1 and 2, 2d rep., app. E, No. 48; pt. 1, p. 469, no.
17.)
[231] _Acc. & P._, 1841, xxvi, 221, no. 5.
The increased business of the Post Office made necessary a corresponding
increase in the employees and better arrangements for dealing with the
reception and despatch of letters. The number of persons employed in the
General Office in 1804 was 486. In 1814 there were 576. There were 563
postmasters in England and over 3000 persons officially engaged in the
receipt and delivery of letters. Additional offices had also been
established. In 1813 a Returned Letter Office was organized for the
purpose of returning undelivered letters to the writers and collecting
the postage due. Previous to 1813, the practice had been to return only
such letters as appeared to contain money or were supposed to be
important enough to escape destruction. A Franking Department was
organized to inspect such letters as were sent free. The increased use
of private ships for conveying letters led to the establishment of a
Ship Letter Office.[232]
[232] _Parl. Papers_, 1813-14, _Rep. Com._, p. 35; _Acc. & P._, 1817,
pp. 4-16; _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xi, p. 137.
The old Post Office building in Lombard Street was quite too small to
provide for the new offices and employees. The Inland Department
contained only 3140 superficial feet, half of which was occupied with
sorting tables, leaving only 1500 feet for 130 persons. In the Foreign
Department with thirty-five men, there were only 250 superficial feet
where they must perform their duties. The accommodations for receiving
letters were so inadequate that when a foreign mail was being made up,
the windows were crowded with an impatient and seething mob waiting for
their turn to post their letters. The condition of the Penny Post
Department was no better. In 1814 a committee of the House of Commons
reported that a new General Post Office building was absolutely
necessary. Objections were raised on account of the necessary expenses
involved and it was not until 1829 that the new Post Office in St.
Martin's-le-Grand was formally opened.[233]
[233] _Parl. Papers_, 1813-14, _Rep. Com._, pp. 11-16.
In 1784 Ireland was given much larger political powers than she had
previously enjoyed, and her Parliament was freed from the direct
tutelage of the English Privy Council. At the same time greater latitude
in postal matters was also granted. An Irish Postmaster-General was
appointed to reside in Dublin and to collect the postage on all letters
which did not pass beyond Ireland. The postage between the two countries
was to be collected on delivery, and then to be divided between the two
according to the distance travelled in each. All net receipts from the
Irish Office were ordered to be transmitted to London. The sailing
packets remained in the charge of the English Postmasters-General, but
£4000 a year was paid to the Irish Office for this privilege.[234]
[234] 24 Geo. III, c. 6.
After the separation of the Irish from the English Post Office,
different postage rates had been established for the two countries. The
division of authority thus established had caused endless difficulties.
Complaints about the delay or loss of letters crossing the Channel at
Kingstown, Howth, and Waterford were referred from one office to the
other. The Commissioners who inquired into the condition of the Dublin
Office found things in a deplorable condition. There were nearly as many
postal officials employed in Dublin as in London, although the number of
letters handled was not one fourth so great. In the secretary's office,
employing six persons, the fees amounted to £2648 a year, largely on
English and Irish newspapers. In the whole Dublin establishment they
averaged over £15,000 a year. The contracts for the supply and horsing
of the mail-coaches were supposed to be public but they were awarded by
favour. The Postmasters-General did not attend to business and were very
jealous of each other. The Commissioners recommended the amalgamation of
the English and Irish offices, and this was accomplished in 1831, the
Irish postage rates having been altered four years earlier to coincide
with the English rates.[235]
[235] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 253, pp. 7, 8, 15-84; _ibid._, 1837,
7th rep., app. nos. 22, 68; 7 and 8 Geo. IV, c. 21.
Ireland was divided into eight postal divisions, according to the routes
of the mail-coaches. Mails left Dublin at 7 A.M. with an additional mail
for Cork at noon. They arrived in Dublin between 6 and 7 A.M. The most
important postal centres in addition to Dublin were Belfast, Cork,
Limerick, and the packet stations at Waterford and Donaghadee. The total
number of post towns in Ireland was 414. At the same time there were in
Great Britain 546 post towns.[236] A new post office building was
completed in Dublin in 1821 at a cost of £107,000.[237]
[236] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 253, pp. 7, 8; 1831-32, xvii, p. 325.
[237] 48 Geo. III, c. 48; _Parl. Papers_, 1821, xix, 286.
The Scotch Post Office had been amalgamated with the English Office in
1711, and Scotland was constituted one of the eighteen postal divisions
of Great Britain. The Scotch rates had been the same as the English
rates since that date, although an additional half-penny was paid on
Scotch letters to meet mail-coach tolls. In 1821 there were only eight
towns for which mails were made up. At the same time that a new building
for the use of the Post Office was being erected in Dublin, a contract
was signed for a new General Office building for Edinburgh to cost
£14,000.[238]
[238] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, xii, 353, p. 8; _Parl. Papers_, 1821, xxi,
423.
The rates established by the act of 1765 were still unchanged for the
colonial possessions of the United Kingdom. The American dominions had
been sadly depleted by the Revolutionary War but the postage revenue
from the loyal remnants had steadily increased. In 1838 the amount of
postage charged upon the colonial postmasters in America amounted to
£79,000. At one time Jamaica had been the most important American colony
from a postal point of view. Canada now took the lead, followed in order
of importance by Jamaica, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In 1834 it was
provided that, as soon as the North American Provinces passed postal
acts of their own and these acts were approved by the King, the colonial
rates of 1765 should cease and the net postal revenue of the North
American Provinces should be retained by them.[239]
[239] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, pts. 1 and 2, 2d rep., app. E, no. 42; 4
and 5 Wm. IV, c. 7.
The British Post Office was now to experience the most far reaching and
vital change since 1635. Sir Rowland Hill was the representative of the
movement, aided by Mr. Wallace, who, as a member of Parliament, was able
to exercise an important effect upon the proposed reform. The history of
the adoption of penny postage has been so well told by Hill himself that
only a bare story of its acceptance by Parliament is necessary here. A
committee was appointed to report upon the condition of the Post Office,
the attitude of postal officials and of the public towards the proposed
change, its effect upon the revenue, and finally to give their own
opinion. This committee examined the Postmaster-General,[240] the
Secretaries and Solicitors of the London, Dublin, and Edinburgh offices,
other officials in the Post Office, the Chairman, Secretary, and
Solicitor of the Board of Stamps and Taxes, Rowland Hill and
eighty-three other witnesses from different classes of people, and
obtained many reports from the Post Office. Hill presented his plan to
the Committee as follows:--
That inland letters should pay postage according to weight at the rate
of one penny for each half ounce.[241]
Such postage should be paid in advance by means of stamped papers or
covers.[242]
An option might be allowed for a time to pay a penny in advance or 2d.
on delivery.[243]
Day mails should be established on the important lines of
communication.[244]
[240] Since 1823 there had been only one Postmaster-General, as the dual
system was abolished in that year.
[241] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, 3d rep., 708, p. 3.
[242] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, p. 13; xx, questions 113, 128, 129,
548.
[243] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, p. 13; _ibid._, xx, qs. 113, 128,
129, 548.
[244] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 750-59, 890-92.
There should be a uniform rate of postage because the cost of
distributing letters consisted chiefly in the expenses for collecting
and delivering them.[245] The plan then in operation for letters not
exceeding one ounce in weight was to charge according to the number of
enclosures. This plan was uncertain because the number could not always
be ascertained, necessitated a close examination, and was evaded by
writing several letters on one sheet.[246]
[245] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 114, 11092-97; pt. 1, 3d rep., 708, p.
5; pts. 1 and 2, 2d rep., app. E, no. 58.
[246] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 3116, 4599, 8137, 9770; 3d rep., p. 44.
Payment on delivery made it necessary to keep two separate accounts
against each postmaster, one for unpaid letters posted in London, and
one for paid letters posted in the country. The postmasters had also to
keep accounts against each other. Payment in advance, if made
compulsory, would do away with half of these accounts and the use of
stamped covers or paper would do away with the other half.[247] In some
small places where the penny charge would not cover the cost of
delivery, Hill proposed that a small additional charge be made, either
in advance or on delivery, but he withdrew this suggestion later.[248]
[247] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, 3d rep., pp. 35, 38; qs. 113, 620, 621.
[248] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, pp. 48, 59, 424; pts. 1 and 2, 1st
rep., no. 25, p. 508.
The witnesses summoned to give their evidence before the committee
pointed out that a multitude of business transactions were not carried
on at all, or were carried on clandestinely, or were hampered by the
high postage rates. Bills for small amounts were not drawn,[249]
commercial travellers did not write until several orders could be sent
on one sheet of paper,[250] samples were not sent by post,[251]
communication between banks and their branches was restricted,[252]
statistical information was denied,[253] social correspondence
restricted especially among the poor,[254] working men were ignorant of
the rates of wages in other parts of the country,[255] and the high
postage was a bad means of raising revenue.[256] In order to estimate
the probable revenue after the change, it was necessary to know the
number of letters carried. Hill had come to the conclusion that the
total number was about 80,000,000 a year. The Secretary, Maberley,
considered that there were about 58,000,000. A return was called for by
the committee and Hill's estimate proved to be nearly correct.[257]
[249] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, qs. 6682, 7093.
[250] _Ibid._, q. 7668.
[251] _Ibid._, qs. 7671, 7721.
[252] _Ibid._, q. 10,059.
[253] _Ibid._, qs. 6951, 10,305.
[254] _Ibid._, qs. 2923, 5522-54, 5443-54, 6703, 7961.
[255] _Ibid._, qs. 7991, 9840-42.
[256] _Ibid._, qs. 8126, 8130 (Lord Ashburton).
[257] _Ibid._, pt. 1, pp. 9, 434; _ibid._, pt. 2, pp. 59, 658; app., p.
58; _ibid._, pts. 1 and 2, 3d rep., p. 19.
The committee reported that the Post Office "instead of being viewed as
an institution of ready and universal access, distributing equally to
all and with an open hand the blessings of commerce and civilization, is
regarded as an establishment too expensive to be made use of" (by large
classes of the community) "and as one with the employment of which they
endeavour to dispense by every means in their power." They were on less
solid ground when they proceeded to state that the idea of obtaining
revenue had been until lately only a minor consideration and that the
Post Office had primarily been established for the benefit of trade and
commerce.[258] Finally Hill's plan was approved, though only by the
casting vote of the chairman, Mr. Wallace.
[258] _Ibid._, 1837-38, xx, pt. 1, 3d rep., p. 10.
The House of Commons received the proposed change with favour. Over 300
petitions with 38,000 signatures were presented praying for its
adoption. The Duke of Richmond, a former Postmaster-General, thought
that it would be beneficial and that it was the only means of stopping
the illegal conveyance of letters.[259] Sir Robert Peel was of the
opinion that, with the prevailing deficits, it was an unfortunate
departure, and he feared that prepaid letters would not be
delivered.[260] But the Treasury was given power to lower rates and in
1840 a treasury warrant was issued, imposing postage rates between the
colonies and between foreign countries through Great Britain according
to weight and distance.[261] Stamped covers were issued for the use of
members of Parliament, and in 1840 an act was passed establishing penny
postage for the United Kingdom, permitting the use of stamped paper or
covers, and imposing rates on foreign and colonial letters according to
weight and distance conveyed.[262]
[259] _Rep. Com._, 1837-38, xx, 2d rep., app., p. 3; _Parl. Deb._, 3d
series, xlvii, col. 1231.
[260] _Ibid._, 3d series, xlvii, coll. 278-84, 293.
[261] _Acc. & P._, 1841, xxvi, p. 53; 1839, xlvi, p. 568.
[262] _Parl. Deb._, 3d series, li, col. 227; 3 and 4 Vict., c. 96.
The complete change thus produced in the policy of the Post Office is
vividly set forth by the old Secretary, Sir Francis Freeling. "Cheap
postage"--he writes, "What is this men are talking about? Can it be that
all my life I have been in error? If I, then others--others whose
behests I have been bound to obey. To make the Post Office revenue as
productive as possible was long ago impressed upon me by successive
ministers as a duty which I was under a solemn obligation to discharge.
And not only long ago. Is it not within the last six months that the
present Chancellor of the Exchequer[263] has charged me not to let the
present revenue go down? What! You, Freeling, brought up and educated as
you have been, are you going to lend yourself to these extravagant
schemes? You with your four-horse mail coaches too! Where else in the
world does the merchant or the manufacturer have the materials of his
trade carried for him gratuitously or at so low a rate as to leave no
margin of profit?"[264]
[263] The Rt. Hon. Thomas Spring Rice.
[264] Joyce, pp. 427-28.
CHAPTER IV
THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT AN INSTRUMENT OF POPULAR COMMUNICATION
With the inauguration of inland penny postage the Postal Establishment
ceased to exist primarily as a tax-collecting agency, and, although
maintained as a whole upon a paying basis, certain of its recent
experiments have, from a financial point of view, been far from
successful. On the other hand, the simultaneous unification and
reduction of rates, together with various other changes which have been
adopted since 1840, have resulted in lessening appreciably the expenses
of management.
The postage on inland letters was reduced in 1865, 1871, 1884, and again
in 1897. In 1839, the last year of high postal rates, the total number
of letters, including franks, delivered in the United Kingdom, was
somewhat in excess of eighty-two millions. This number was rather more
than doubled in the following year. During the ensuing ten years the
figures were again doubled, the total in 1850 being 347 millions. For
the five-year period 1866-70, following the reduction in postage of
1865, the average yearly number delivered was 800 millions. In 1875 this
increased to a little over 1000 millions; in the postal year 1880-81 to
1176 millions, in 1890-91 to 1705 millions, and in 1900-01 to 2323
millions.[265] So far as colonial letters were concerned, a marked
reduction in rates was granted soon after inland penny postage was
obtained, the reduction being extended to the larger part of the
Empire.[266] Further reductions followed until, in 1898, a penny half
ounce rate was established for most of the colonies, and all were
included in 1905. As on a previous occasion, the United States was the
first foreign country with which an agreement was made to adopt this low
rate, and its advantages have been enhanced still further by an
increase in the initial weight from half an ounce to an ounce. During
the sixties, treaties were entered into with the most important European
countries for lower postage rates, and, in 1874, at the first meeting of
the Postal Union, a uniform rate for prepaid letters of 2-1/2_d._ a half
ounce was agreed to. Reductions also followed for other postal matter.
In 1891 a universal foreign letter rate of 2-1/2_d._ was announced so
far as the United Kingdom was concerned, with the exception of those
countries where a lower rate already prevailed, and a further reduction
followed in 1907 by increasing the initial weight from half an ounce to
an ounce in the case of all foreign and colonial letters, the charge on
foreign letters for each unit after the first being reduced at the same
time from 2-1/2_d._ to 1-1/2_d._
[265] _Rep. P. G._, 1855, p. 65; 1881, app., p. 11; 1891, app., p. 16;
1901, app., p. 25.
[266] Colonial legislatures were given the power in 1849 to establish
posts of their own and to fix the inland postal rates (12 and 13 Vict.,
c. 26).
After 1840 the registration fee was reduced by a series of gradations
from 1_s._ to 2_d._, and the compulsory registration of all letters
containing coin was enforced. In 1891 the separate system of insurance
was abolished, and registration was extended for the first time to
inland parcels. The limit of compensation was increased at the same time
to £25 and in the following year to £50 by the payment of 2_d._ for the
first £5 and an additional penny for each additional £5 of
insurance.[267] Seven years later the amount of compensation payable was
increased to £120 and the fee payable was lowered for all sums over £15.
Arrangements were also made by which letters addressed to certain
colonies and foreign countries might be insured to the same maximum
amount.[268] The limit of compensation is now £400 for inland registered
correspondence as well as for correspondence to many foreign countries
and a few of the colonies.
[267] _Rep. P. G._, 1892, p. 7.
[268] _Ibid._, 1899, pp. 4, 6-7.
Among other postal reforms dear to Hill's heart had been the compulsory
payment of postage by means of stamps. He pointed out that this would
greatly simplify the keeping of accounts by the department and increase
the net revenue. The proposition was, however, too unpopular to secure
approval. Nevertheless in 1847 the Postmaster-General secured
parliamentary authority to abolish or restrict payment in money and
require stamps to be used, but the experiment proved so unpopular that
it was eventually abandoned.[269] The use of perforated stamps, an
invention of Mr. Archer, was in 1852 recommended by a committee
appointed to report on the question.[270] Finally, in 1904, the law
forbidding the use of embossed or impressed stamps cut out of envelopes,
postcards, letter cards, wrappers, and telegraph forms was
repealed.[271]
[269] 10 and 11 Vict., c. 85; _Rep. Com._, 1852, xv, 386, p. 150; _Rep.
P. G._, 1859, p. 25.
[270] _Rep. Com._, 1852, xv, 386, pp. iii-iv.
[271] 4 Edw. VII, c. 14.
From 1808 to 1840 the rural districts as a rule obtained their postal
matter by a special payment on their part to messengers for its
conveyance from the nearest town, sometimes aided by a bonus from the
revenue, or by means of the "fifth-clause" posts,[272] or by the penny
posts which were constantly increasing in number and were occasionally
established under guarantee. In 1838 there were fifty-two "fifth-clause"
posts in England and Wales, and 1922 villages in the United Kingdom were
served by penny posts. In 1843 the government of Sir Robert Peel laid
down the following principle: "All places the letters for which exceed
one hundred per week should be entitled to a receiving office and a free
delivery of letters." A "delivery" here meant a daily delivery, and the
boundary of the free delivery was to be determined by the
Postmaster-General. The principle enunciated above was followed until
1850, and during that period the increase in the number of free and
guaranteed rural deliveries was very great. At the close of this period
it was decided that in future the determining rule should be based upon
the probability of financial success. A post was held to pay its way
whenever its cost was covered by a halfpenny on each letter delivered,
but, since it was held that the number of letters would be doubled by
free delivery, double the number arriving before its establishment might
be assumed to arrive afterward. The post might be bi-weekly, tri-weekly,
or weekly. This rule was to a certain extent made retroactive, but no
post established under the rule of 1843 was stopped so long as the cost
was covered by calculating delivered letters at a penny each. It was
decided in 1853 that a post less frequent than once a day might be
increased in frequency whenever the cost would be covered by a revenue
estimated on the basis of three farthings for each letter, and in
treating an application for a second daily post this amount was to be
reduced to one farthing. The experiment was tried of delivering letters
at every house in a few selected places but did not prove a success. It
was stated that at the end of this revision, 93 per cent of all postal
packets were delivered. In 1860 the rule was laid down that new posts
should be set up only when the cost would be covered by half a penny on
each letter actually arriving, the old rule having been found to be too
liberal. Two years later it was stated by the Post Office that only 6
per cent of the total postal packages were undelivered. In 1882 the
question of extending the rural posts was considered by Mr. Fawcett, the
then Postmaster-General, who decided that credit should be given for
revenue by increasing the halfpenny to 6/10_d._ for each letter, and in
the next year the existing rule as to a second daily delivery was made
more liberal. In 1890, for places hitherto unserved, the rate per letter
for estimating revenue was increased to three farthings, for each parcel
the rate was fixed at 1-1/2_d._, and in the following year rural
sanitary authorities in England and Wales were authorized to guarantee
posts. In Scotland the district committee or the county council, where
the counties were not divided, was given the same power in 1892. In the
same year the rule was laid down that a second service in the day might
be given provided that its cost did not exceed half a penny a letter and
a penny a parcel and in addition that the total cost of night and day
mail services should not exceed the revenue from the whole
correspondence at half a penny per letter and a penny per parcel. It was
estimated in 1892 that about thirty-two and a half millions of letters
were undelivered, but the work of extending the rural posts went on
gradually until in 1897 it was announced that provision would be made as
soon as possible for delivery to every house in the United Kingdom. In
1900 the Postmaster-General was able to report that house to house
delivery had been completed in England and almost completed in Scotland
and Ireland.[273]
[272] Established by agreements between the Postmaster-General and the
inhabitants of small towns and villages.
[273] _Rep. P. G._, 1898, pp. 32-39; 1860, pp. 9 f.; 1864, p. 15.
In addition to the ordinary delivery at regular intervals there was a
growing demand for a more rapid service on extraordinary occasions as
well as a desire for a special messenger service when the use of the
Post Office as a medium meant an undesirable loss of time. In 1886 a
private company started to supply messengers for postal services. After
some trouble with the Post Office, a licence was granted them in 1891 in
return for which they agreed to pay a percentage of their gross receipts
to the department and observe certain conditions with reference to the
delivery of letters.[274] An express delivery service was also
established by the Post Office, the fee in addition to the ordinary
postage being 2_d._ for the first mile, 3_d._ for the second and beyond
that, and where no public conveyances existed, 1_s._ a mile or actual
cab-fare. In the case of letters delivered locally the ordinary postage
was abrogated soon after and a charge of 1-1/2_d._ per pound for parcels
exceeding one pound in weight was imposed, but this charge was later
lowered to a penny per pound with a maximum payment of 1_s._ and the
maximum limit of weight was increased from 15 to 20 pounds where the
messenger could travel by public conveyance. The initial charge for the
first mile of 2_d._, and 3_d._ for each succeeding mile, for each parcel
was made a uniform charge of 3_d._ per mile, and the fixed charge of
2_d._ for each parcel beyond the first was reduced to a penny where
several packets were tendered by the same sender for delivery by the
same messenger. In the case of several packages delivered at the same
address the charge was lowered to 3_d._ plus an additional penny for
every ten packages or part thereof, later changed to a weight fee of
3_d._ on each packet or bundle of packets weighing more than one
pound.[275] Rural postmen were also allowed to receive letters and
parcels from the public at any point in their walks and deliver them
without passing them through a post office, having first canceled the
stamps.[276] An agreement was also made with the railways to carry
single letters left in the booking office for 2_d._ each. These letters
may be taken to the booking office by messenger and delivered by a
messenger at the end of their journey or posted there.[277] The express
delivery service was also extended to such foreign countries as would
agree to it, including nearly all of Western Europe, part of South
America, and the far East. In every case the primary fee in England is
_3d._, the foreign charges varying with local conditions. Express
letters from abroad are delivered free within one mile from the Post
Office. Beyond that the distance charge is 3_d._ a mile for one parcel,
with a penny for each additional parcel delivered to the same person.
The Postmaster-General reported that the establishment of this service
was not only much appreciated by the people, but was self-supporting and
even profitable to the state. During the ten year period ending March
31, 1901, the number of express delivery services in the United Kingdom
increased from 108,000 to 804,000.[278]
[274] Their extended licence will expire in 1922 (_Rep. P. G._, 1901, p.
2).
[275] _Parl. Deb._, 3d series, cccli, col. 1751; _Rep. P. G._, 1901, p.
2; 1892, p. 7; 1891, pp. 4 f.; 1893, p. 7; 1894, p. 6; 1899, pp. 2, 3.
[276] _Ibid._, 1894, p. 5.
[277] _Ibid._, 1891, p. 5.
[278] _Rep. P. G._, 1893, p. 10; 1897, p. 3; 1901, app., p. 28.
The impressed stamp to which newspapers were subject until 1855 enabled
them to pass free by post. After this stamp ceased to be compulsory,
newspapers which bore it passed free from other postage until 1870--when
the halfpenny rate was established--and were known as "free"[279] as
distinguished from "chargeable" newspapers. Of the former there were
carried by post in 1856 over 53 millions, of the latter, including book
packets, 20 millions. In 1875 the number of newspapers delivered in the
United Kingdom had increased to 121 millions. For the five year period
ending March 31, 1881, the average yearly number had increased to a
little over 129 millions, for the next five years to something over 142
millions. During the period ending March 31, 1891, they had increased to
155 millions, there being an actual decrease in one year. In the period
following there was an average yearly increase of only three millions
and the ensuing five years ending March 31, 1901, showed a decrease of
about one million.[280]
[279] Free newspapers also included those coming from abroad on which no
charge was made in the United Kingdom.
[280] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, p. 2; 1859, pp. 28 f.; 1881, app., p. 12;
1891, app., p. 17; 1901, app., p. 27.
The book post, instituted in 1848, had its rates reduced in 1855 and
again in 1870 to a halfpenny for the initial two ounces and an
additional 1/2_d._ for each succeeding two ounces. In 1892 its scope was
greatly enlarged and the expression Halfpenny Post, which is now its
official name, better illustrates its cosmopolitan character for it now
includes all printed documents of a conventional, formal, or impersonal
character. From 1872 to 1875 the number of articles carried by the
Halfpenny or Book Post increased from 114 millions to 158 millions. The
yearly average during the next five years was 204 millions; during the
following five, 305 millions and for the five year period ending March
31, 1891, they had increased to 418 millions. During the next five years
there was a still greater average increase to 596 millions and the
average for the postal year ending in March, 1901, was 732
millions.[281] The rates for the Inland Pattern and Sample Post,
established in 1863, were assimilated with those of the Book Post in
1870. It was abolished or rather incorporated with the Letter Post in
the following year but was reëstablished in 1887, the rates being a
penny for the first four ounces and 1/2_d._ for each succeeding two
ounces, but, when the Jubilee letter rates were published, it lost its
_raison d'être_ and was abolished for inland purposes.[282]
[281] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, p. 2; 1903, p. 5; 1904, p. 5; 1881, app., p.
12; 1891, app., p. 17; 1901, app., p. 27.
[282] _Ibid._, 1864, p. 29; 1896, p. 2; _Acct. & P._, 1871, xxxvii (pp.
1-2).
Post cards were introduced in 1870, being carried for 1/2_d._ each
prepaid, 2_d._ when payment was made on delivery.[283] In addition to
the stamp a charge was made to cover the cost of the material in the
card itself. Somewhat later reply post cards were issued for the inland
service and arrangements were made for the use of international reply
post cards. In 1894, private post cards, to which a halfpenny stamp was
affixed, were allowed to pass by post. The resulting enormous
growth[284] in their number showed that the privilege was appreciated.
In less than five years they were estimated to form 5 per cent of the
total number passing through the post.[285] Shortly after, the
prohibition of any writing save the address on the face of a post card
was withdrawn and it was provided that the address side of all mail
matter might be used for purposes of correspondence provided that it did
not obscure the address, encroach upon the stamp, or prove in any way
inconvenient. Formerly, so far as mail matter other than post cards was
concerned, the right half of the face side was reserved for the
address.[286] During the four five-year periods from 1881 to the year
ending 31st March, 1901, the average numbers of post cards delivered
yearly in the United Kingdom were about 108 millions, 152 millions, 272
millions, and 379 millions.[287]
[283] Charge on unpaid inland post cards reduced to 1_d._ each in 1896.
[284] They increased from 248 millions for the postal year 1893-94 to
312 millions during the ensuing year.
[285] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, p. 2; 1882, p. 4; 1895, p. 18; 1900, p. 1.
[286] _Rep. P. G._, 1897, p. 5.
[287] _Ibid._, 1881, app., p. 12; 1891, app., p. 17; 1901, app., p. 27.
It had not been usual for England to lag behind the continent in the
adoption of new postal ideas. Such was the case, however, with reference
to the adoption of the convenient post card and the no less useful
parcel post. In 1880 the question of the establishment of an
international parcel post was discussed in Paris and an agreement was
reached for the transmission throughout nearly the whole of Europe of
parcels not exceeding three kilogrammes in weight. It was impossible for
Great Britain to sign, as she had no inland parcel post at the time and
found it difficult to establish one as an agreement with the railways
was necessary. A movement was at once begun for one and it was started
three years later. The first despatch of foreign and colonial parcels
took place in 1885, and at the beginning of the following year
arrangements were completed for the exchange of parcels with
twenty-seven different countries, including some of the colonies, India,
and Egypt. An agreement was concluded in 1904 with the United States for
the interchange of parcels by post at the rate of 2_s._ for each and the
maximum is two kilogrammes. These cannot be insured and customs' duties
must be paid by the recipient. The previously existing agreement for
parcels weighing as much as eleven pounds each, providing for insurance
and the prepayment of customs' duties, continues to be carried on by the
American Express Company.[288] Since the establishment of the inland
parcel post the question of collecting the value of the parcels on
delivery, if the sender and the recipient so desire, has often been
raised. Owing to the opposition of retail dealers, it has not yet been
adopted although in operation in India and nearly all important foreign
countries. In the words of the Postmaster-General--"In these
circumstances I am by no means satisfied, so far as my enquiries have
gone, that the apprehensions expressed by retail traders in this country
afford sufficient cause for withholding a convenience from the community
at large."[289]
[288] _Ibid._, 1881, p. 4; 1885, p. 4; 1886, p. 5; 1895, p. 21; 1905, p.
7; _The Economist_, 1881, Nov. 5, p. 1369; 1882, July 29, p. 939.
[289] _Rep. P. G._, 1904, pp. 4-5.
The various changes and improvements adopted by the Post Office since
1840, in addition to those already named, are so numerous that only the
most important can be considered here. Among others the amalgamation of
the London District Post with the General Post in 1854 deserves
attention. In the following year it was ordered that letters should be
sorted in each of the ten postal districts into which London was divided
instead of being taken to the General Office at St. Martin's-le-Grand as
had been customary, thus materially lessening the expenses of sorting
and facilitating their delivery.[290]
[290] _Ibid._, 1855, p. 12; 1856, p. 9; 1860, p. 8.
In 1840 there were but 4028 post offices in the Kingdom; in 1854,
9973.[291] Road letter boxes were introduced in 1858 and the public
receptacles for the receipt of letters numbered 13,370 in 1859 as
compared with 4518 before the establishment of penny postage.[292] In
1829 the total number of persons in England employed in Post Office
business numbered only 5000. Twenty-five years later for the United
Kingdom over 21,000 were so employed; in 1880 over 47,000, of whom,
however, more than 11,000 were engaged wholly in telegraph duties. By
1890 these had increased to nearly 118,000 and by 1900 to 173,000 of
whom 35,000 were females.[293]
[291] _Ibid._, 1855, p. 21.
[292] _Ibid._, 1855-59.
[293] _Rep. Commrs._, 1829, ii, p. 137; _Rep. P. G._, 1855, p. 20; 1881,
app., p. 16; 1891, app., pp. 34-35; 1901, app., p. 50.
The money order business which originated as a private speculation in
1791 was the result of an attempt to check the frequent theft of letters
containing money. In 1838, shortly after its acquisition from the
proprietors, the rates were reduced and the number of money orders
transmitted increased from 188,000 in 1839 to 587,000 in 1840 and to
1,500,000 in 1842. From the latter date until 1879 the increase both in
the number and in the value of money orders transmitted was steady,
aided by the increase in 1862 from £5 to £10 of the maximum
transmissible sum and by the reduction in rates in 1871. The penny rate
of that year for orders to the value of ten shillings was a mistake, for
the actual cost to the state of issuing and paying a money order was
about 3_d._ In order to meet this difficulty a simpler form of order was
issued in 1881 with an initial rate as low as half a penny, the cost of
which to the Post Office was much less than that of the old kind of
order. These postal notes, as they were called, were issued for new
denominations in 1884 and 1905 and the rates on some of them were
diminished. The lowest rate for a money order was for a few months fixed
at 3_d._ but, as this aroused considerable opposition, the present rate
of 2_d._ was soon after substituted, and in 1903 the maximum sum
transmissible was increased to £40 with a few accompanying changes in
rates. In 1889 an opportunity was given in the case of a few towns for
sending telegraphic money orders and during the ensuing three years the
privileged area was greatly extended. In 1897 the expenses were
considerably reduced. In 1858 arrangements were made for the exchange of
money orders with Canada and by 1862 similar agreements were decided
upon with most of the other colonies, but foreign countries were not
included until somewhat later and in 1880 colonial and foreign rates
were harmonized. Rates were reduced in 1883, 1896, and 1903, and in the
last year the inland £40 limit was agreed upon with most foreign
countries and some of the colonies.
Inland money orders which started to decrease in amount in 1878-79
steadily continued their downward course until 1891-92, when there was a
slight recovery for a few years, but since 1903-04 the number has
somewhat diminished. During the postal year ending in March, 1907, the
number of inland money orders transmitted was nearly eleven millions as
compared with nearly nineteen millions for the year ending March, 1879.
This decrease in numbers is largely due to the lowering of the
registration fee for letters, the introduction of postal notes, and the
use of other means for transmitting small sums of money. The total value
of inland money orders also began to diminish in 1879, but began to
recover in 1886, and has since increased quite uniformly, being in 1907
nearly £38,000,000 as compared with £29,000,000 in 1879.[294] The
increase in the number of postal notes has been enormous, although there
was an apparent falling off in the years 1903 and 1904 due to the
increased number of denominations offered for sale. For the first
complete postal year after their authorization the number issued was
nearly four and a half millions of the value of £2,000,000, and for the
postal year 1906-07 the number was 102,000,000 of the value of nearly
£41,000,000.[295] On the other hand, while inland money orders were
decreasing in number, colonial and foreign orders increased in general
both in number and value.[296]
[294] _Rep. P. G._, 1896, pp. 28-32; 1897, pp. 10-11; 1881, app., p. 37;
1891, app., p. 53; 1901, app., p. 69; 1907, p. 74.
[295] _Rep. P. G._, 1891, app., p. 59; 1901, app., p. 77; 1907, p. 84.
[296] _Ibid._, 1891, app., pp. 52-53; 1892, p. 12.
The establishment of Post Office savings banks is naturally closely
connected with the money order department since both of these departures
from a purely postal character were adopted at about the same time, for
much the same reasons, and were opposed on the ground of their
infringement upon the banking prerogative. In 1859 the efforts of Mr.
Sikes of Huddersfield to bring a Post Office Savings Bank into being
were supported by Mr. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir
Rowland Hill, the then Secretary of the Post Office, and two years later
it was established by Parliamentary sanction.[297] The main features of
the system were that deposits could be withdrawn not later than ten days
after demand; that accounts should be kept at London alone, all money
being remitted to and from headquarters; that the total amount deposited
should be handed over to the "Commissioners for the Reduction of the
National Debt" for investment in government securities, and that
interest on complete pounds at the rate of 2-1/2 per cent should be
allowed to depositors. As the interests of the poorer classes were made
the primary object in establishing the banks, deposits were limited in
the case of individuals to £30 a year and £150 in all, later increased
to £50 a year and £200 in all, but Friendly Societies were allowed to
deposit without limit and Provident and Charitable Societies might
deposit within limits of £100 a year and £300 in all or, with the
consent of the Commissioners, beyond these limits.[298]
[297] 24 Vict., c. 14.
[298] _Rep. P. G._, 1897, app., pp. 32-36.
In 1880 the savings banks were made a medium for investing in government
stock at a trifling expense varying from 9_d._ to 2_s._ 3_d._ and with
the privilege of having dividends collected free from further charge.
These special advantages were confined to investments from £10 to £100
in value, the latter being the maximum sum in any one year, and the
investments themselves might be sums especially deposited or transferred
from a depositor's account. In 1887 the minimum amount of stock
purchasable was reduced to 1s., and anyone who had purchased stock
through a savings bank might have it transferred to his own name in the
Bank of England. In 1893 the limits of investment were raised from £100
to £200 in one year, from £300 to £500 in all, and the Post Office was
empowered to invest in stock any accumulations of ordinary deposits
above the limit of £200, unless instructions were given by the depositor
to the contrary.
An act was passed in 1864 enabling the Postmaster-General to insure the
lives of individuals between the ages of fourteen and sixty for amounts
varying from £20 to £100. He might also grant annuities, immediate or
deferred, to any one of ten years of age or upward for sums between £4
and £50. The act came into operation in certain towns of England and
Wales in the following year, and the system remained unaltered until
1884. During this period of nineteen years, 7064 policies of insurance
were effected, representing a yearly average of 372 policies amounting
to an average of £79 each. The contracts for immediate annuities
numbered 13,402 or an average of 705 a year and there were 978 contracts
for deferred annuities. The value of immediate annuities granted was
£187,117 and of deferred £19,938, but a part of the latter never came
into payment as the purchasers were relieved from their bargains upon
their own representation.
A new system associated with Mr. Fawcett's name was prescribed in 1882.
Its merit consisted in linking the annuity and insurance business with
the Savings Bank Department so that payments for annuities and insurance
are made through deposits in the savings banks. It was further provided
that for persons between the ages of fourteen and sixty-five the limits
of insurance should be from £5 to £100 and that sums of money might be
insured payable at the age of sixty or at the expiration of a term of
years. For annuities the minimum was reduced to £1, the maximum
increased to £100, and the annuity and insurance privileges were
extended to all places having savings banks. Owing to the necessary
preparation of tables the new regulations did not actually come into
operation until 1884. The growth of life insurance and annuity business
was slow as compared with the rapid growth of the savings deposits.
Intended, however, primarily for the poor, it has not been without
success, especially as the premiums charged are lower than those of
insurance companies or industrial societies.[299]
[299] _Rep. P. G._, 1897, app., pp. 32-38. The insurance and annuity
business of the Post Office has been described by the _Economist_ as a
practical failure because of the government's refusal to solicit
business (_Economist_ 1881, Nov. 5, p. 1369).
In addition to joining the insurance and annuity business with the
savings banks operations, Mr. Fawcett was responsible for a rapid
increase in the number of branch saving offices in villages, for the
special attention paid to "navvies" and workmen at their places of
employment, and above all for the arrangement for making small deposits
by slips of postage stamps. In 1887 by act of Parliament the
Postmaster-General was empowered to offer facilities for the transfer of
money from one account to another and for the easier disposal of the
funds of deceased depositors. In 1891 the maximum permissible deposits
of one person were increased from £150 to £200 inclusive of interest.
The annual limit remained at £30 but it was provided that, irrespective
of that limit, depositors might replace the amount of any one withdrawal
made in the same year. Where principal and interest together exceeded
£200, the interest was henceforth to cease on the excess alone, whereas
previously it had ceased entirely when it had brought an account to
£200. The next development arose from the Free Education Act of 1891 in
order to make it easier for children and parents to save the school
pence which they no longer had to pay. Special stamp slips were prepared
to be sold to children, and clerks attended the schools with these
slips. About 1400 schools adopted the scheme at once and three years
later the number had risen to 3000, but the movement seemed by 1895 to
have spent its force.
In 1893 the annual limit of deposits was increased to £50 and, as we
have already seen in another connection, any accumulations over £200
were to be invested in Government Stock unless the depositor gave
instructions to the contrary. In the same year arrangements were made
for the withdrawal of deposits by telegram. A depositor might telegraph
for his money and have his warrant sent by return of post at a cost of
about 9_d._ or the warrant also might be telegraphed to him at a total
cost of about 1_s._ 3_d._ In 1905 a rule was introduced by which a
depositor, on presentation of his pass-book at any post office doing
savings bank business, may withdraw on demand not more than £1. This
obviates the expense of telegraphing and, that it was appreciated, is
shown by the fact that during the first six months after the privilege
was extended there were nearly two millions of "withdrawals on demand,"
forming nearly one half of the total number. As a result the number of
telegraphic withdrawals fell from 227,573 for the postal year 1904-05 to
180,996 for the year 1905-06.[300]
[300] _Rep. P. G._, 1897, app., pp. 32-36; 1906, pp. 12-13; 56 and 57
Vict., c. 59.
There has been a steady and pronounced growth in savings bank business
since its establishment. This growth has shown itself in the increased
number of banks, of deposits, and of the total amounts deposited. The
average amount of each deposit has varied somewhat from £3 6_s._ in 1862
to £2 in 1881, but since this date it has increased slowly but steadily
and in 1901 it stood at £2 14_s._ 2_d._, which is about the average
yearly amount since 1862. At the end of the year 1900 over £135,000,000
were on deposit in the Post Office savings banks.[301] The increase in
amounts invested in government stock has not been by any means so
pronounced but there has been an increase. In 1881 we find that nearly
£700,000 were so invested, in 1891 nearly £1,000,000, and in 1900 a
little over £1,000,000.[302] So far as annuities are concerned, the
immediate seem to be considerably more popular than the deferred. The
purchase money receipts for the former were £184,000 in 1881, £296,000
in 1891, and have since increased more rapidly to £728,000 in 1900, with
an actual decrease, however, for the four preceding years. The receipts
for the purchase of deferred annuities amounted to £5243 in 1881,
£12,578 in 1891 and £14,283 in 1900, also a decrease since 1896. The
amounts received as premiums for life insurance policies have also been
rather disappointing, having increased from £10,967 in 1881 to £15,073
in 1891 and to £22,185 in 1900.[303]
[301] _Ibid._, 1881, app., pp. 32-33; 1891, app., p. 46; 1901, p. 60;
1907, p. 67.
[302] _Ibid._, 1891, app., p. 47; 1901, app., p. 62.
[303] _Rep. P. G._, 1891, app., p. 48; 1901, app., p. 63.
The increasing use of railway trains for the conveyance of the mails has
presented new and difficult problems with reference to the authority of
the Postmaster-General over mail trains and reasonable payments to the
railway companies. So far as the method for ascertaining the rate of
payment was concerned, a difficulty arose as to whether the Post Office
should pay any part of the tolls as distinguished from operating
expenses. Major Harness, a Post Office official, stated that in
discussing this question with Robert Stephenson in the case of the
London and Birmingham Railway it had been agreed that tollage should not
be paid but only the out-of-pocket expenses, this being in conformity
with the principles adopted in paying for mail coaches. The question of
tollage was not mentioned by the Railway Mails Act (10 and 11 Vict., c.
85), but Major Harness, in his evidence before a parliamentary
committee, stated that he, as an arbitrator, estimated the tollage
payable by the Post Office by finding out how much each ton, if the road
were fully occupied, should contribute to return 10 per cent upon the
share capital and 5 per cent on the bonds, the Post Office to pay its
proportion according to the weight of mail matter carried. The cost of
locomotive power was also taken into count and the carriage
accommodation was paid for on the basis of what the railways charged
each other.[304] In addition to these items the committee recommended
that the expenses for station accommodation, the additional cost of the
working staff, and interference with ordinary traffic should also be
taken into account.[305] In the event of a failure on the part of the
Post Office and a railway company to come to an agreement as to the
amount payable, each of the parties nominated an arbitrator whose first
duty was to select an umpire. Each arbitrator was required to present
his case in writing to the umpire and to attend in person if required.
The umpire was supposed to give his decision within twenty-eight days
after the receipt of the cases.[306] In 1893 it was provided by act of
Parliament that when any dispute arose between the Post Office and a
railway, the question should be taken to the Railway and Canal
Commission for settlement instead of being left to arbitration.[307] The
Postmaster-General has also been authorized to make use of tramways for
transporting the mails, and in 1897 the experiment was made of using
motor vans for the same purpose. A few years later the
Postmaster-General expressed himself as "doubtful whether a thoroughly
reliable motor vehicle suitable for Post Office work has yet been
found." However, in 1906-07 about thirty-five mail services were
performed by motors, the work being undertaken by contractors who
provide the vans and employ the drivers. They have proved to be more
economical than horse vans when the load is heavy, the distance
considerable, and greater speed desirable.[308]
[304] _Rep. Com._, 1854, xi, 411, pp. 370-371.
[305] _Ibid._, 411, p. 14.
[306] _Rep. Com._, 411, p. 280; 1 and 2 Vict., c. 98.
[307] 56 and 57 Vict., c. 38.
[308] 56 and 57 Vict., c. 38; _Rep. P. G._, 1898, pp. 9 f.; 1907, p. 3.
The expenditure for the conveyance of mails by the railways for the year
ending 5th January, 1838, amounted to only £1743. In 1840 this had
increased to £52,860, in 1850 to £230,079, in 1860 to £490,223, in 1870
to £587,296, in 1880 to £701,070 and in 1890 to £905,968. By 1896 the
million mark had been reached and after that year all the expenses for
the conveyance of the mails are grouped together. For the following year
this total was £1,453,517, the payment for mail coaches in the preceding
year, which are here included, being £365,000. In 1906 the total
expenditure for the "conveyance of the mails" was £1,821,541.[309]
[309] _Parl. Papers_, 1852-53, xcv, p. 3; _Rep. P. G._, 1861, p. 20;
1872, pp. 26-27; 1884, p. 56; 1893, p. 78; 1896, p. 86; 1906, p. 92.
In common with the members of other branches of the civil service the
postal employees, prior to 1855, were political appointees. The
appointment of a patronage secretary had relieved members of Parliament
from the odium incurred as a result of this reprehensible method of
manning the service, but it is doubtful whether any improvement in the
personnel of the force actually resulted or was even anticipated. With
the adoption between 1855 and 1870 of the principle that fitness should
be tested by competitive examinations, the vast majority of the members
of the postal establishment came under its influence. At the same time
the postmasters of small rural communities, where the postal revenue was
insignificant,[310] still continued to be nominated by the local member.
In 1896 this power was abridged, but members still continued to exercise
a limited right of recommendation. Finally in 1907 the
Postmaster-General announced that, though due weight should continue to
be given to the opinions of members in the case of the appointment of
these rural postmasters, such recommendations should be based on
personal knowledge and should carry no more weight than the opinion of
any other competent person.[311]
[310] Less than £120 in England, less than £100 in Scotland and Ireland.
[311] D. B. Eaton, _Civil Service in Great Britain_, New York, 1880, pp.
75, 307, 308; _Parl. Deb._, 3d ser., ccxxxix, col. 211; cclv, col. 1575;
_ibid._, 4th ser., clix, col. 397; clxx, col. 641.
No question which has arisen in the internal management of the Post
Office has presented more difficult problems for solution than that of
the condition of the postal employees with reference to hours of labour,
promotion, and remuneration. The first complaints which attract our
attention during the period under discussion came rather from outside
the service as a protest against Sunday labour in the Post Office, but
the fact that many of the postal servants were deprived of their holiday
and often needlessly so deprived was a real grievance advanced by the
employees themselves. It had been the policy of the Post Office for some
time not to grant any application for the withdrawal of a Sunday post if
there were any dissentients to the application. In 1850 all Sunday
delivery was abolished for a time, but this hardly met the approval even
of the strict Sabbatarians, and the rule was promulgated the same year
that no post should be withdrawn or curtailed except upon the
application of the receivers of six sevenths of the letters so affected.
Of the rural posts in the United Kingdom at that time more than half did
no work on Sunday and about half of the remainder had their walks
curtailed, while in certain cases a substitute was provided on alternate
Sundays. A committee reporting on the question in 1871 advised that it
should be made easier to discontinue a Sunday delivery by requiring that
a Sunday rural post should be taken off if the receivers of two thirds
of the letters desired it, that no delivery in the country should be
granted except upon the demand of the receivers of the same proportion
of letters, and that the principle of providing substitutes on alternate
Sundays should be more generally adopted. This report was favourably
received and its recommendations adopted in the early seventies. In
London and many of the provincial towns there is no ordinary Sunday
delivery, and so little advantage is taken of the opportunity for
express delivery on Sundays that there is presumably no strong demand
for a regular Sunday delivery. Various measures advocated for the relief
of the town carriers wer
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/42983