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Her Majesty's Mails HER MAJESTY'S MAILS: HISTOEY OF THE POST-OFFICE, AND AN INDUSTRIAL ACCOUNT OF ITS PRESENT CONDITION. BY WJLLIAM LEWINS, OF THE GENEKAL POST-OFFICE. SECOND EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ENLARGED. LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MAESTON, MILTON HOUSE, LUDGATE HILL. 1865. [The Right of Translation is reserved.} TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY, LOED BKOUGHAM AND VAUX ETC. ETC. ETC. WHO DURING AN UNUSUALLY LONG AND LABORIOUS LIFE HAS EVER BEEN THE EARNEST ELOQUENT AND SUCCESSFUL ADVOCATE OF ALL KINDS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS AND INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT AND WHO FROM THE FIRST GAVE HIS MOST STRENUOUS AND INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN PARLIAMENT TOWARDS CARRYING THE MEASURE OF PENNY POSTAGE REFORM IS BY PERMISSION DEDICATED WITH FEELINGS OF DEEP ADMIRATION RESPECT AND GRATITUDE BY THE AUTHOR PBEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE general interest taken in this work on its first appearance, and the favourable reception accorded to it, has abundantly- proved that many agreed with me in thinking that, in spite of the world of books issuing from the press, there were still great gaps in the "literature of social history," and that to some extent my present venture was calculated to fill one of them. That my critics have been most indulgent I have had more and more reason to know as I have gone on with the revision of the book. To make it less unworthy of the kind treatment it received, I have taken this opportunity to re-write the principal part of it, and to go over with extreme care and fidelity the remaining portion. In addition to the ordinary sources of information, of which I have made diligent and conscientious use, I have been privileged to peruse the old records of the Post-office, still carefully kept at St. Martin's-le-Grand. To any one knowing the nature of these records, it is almost unneces- sary to say that no materials could possibly be more useful in correcting and elucidating if not even in enlivening the present volume. I would, therefore, take this opportunity of presenting my cordial thanks to the Secretary of the Post-office, who, through the kind intervention of F. I. Scudamore, Esq. allowed me to see these records, and gave me facilities for their perusal. In addition, however, I have received much valuable assistance from many gentlemen more or less connected with the Post-office, all of whom have, with a heartiness and readiness which I could not have credited had I not experienced it, answered every inquiry which I found it necessary or desirable to make. Much of this service is adverted to, and, I hope, viii Preface to the Second Edition. properly acknowledged in different parts of the body of this work, but my special acknowledgments are due, and are hereby offered, to Sir Eowland Hill, who, when in a state of health which must have rendered this service irksome, most kindly pointed out to me several inaccuracies into which I had fallen, and directed me to many sources of information which had been heretofore either unknown to me or unavailable; to Edward J. Page, Esq. my immediate official superior, whose assistance and kindness in many ways deserve my heartiest thanks; to OrnAmd Hill, Esq. the Assistant-Controller of the Stamp-office, Somerset House, whose special services I have mentioned in the on to Mr. J. Powell of chapter Postage-stamps ; Williams, the General Post-office, who has supplied me with much useful and information and to other interesting ; many gentlemen connected with the General Post-offices of London and Edin- burgh, who, though they may have done less than those named above, have assisted me with great promptness and willingness. It is most necessary that I should add, in view of the fact of so many official gentlemen having, in their private capacity, looked upon my effort with favour, that I am alone responsible for the correctness of the subject-matter of this book, and for every expression of opinion into which I may have been led. Nor is the work now, any more than in its first form, in any sense an authorized publication. Nor has any suggestion, even the most remote, ever been made to me by those in authority either to omit, alter, modify, or insert a word which I have written. On the contrary, I have been most completely un- fettered and unrestrained in everything I have said. I offer this disclaimer not to those who know anything of the Post- will of course office service ; to these readers such an assurance be and seem absurd but to those of unnecessary manifestly ; my critics who, otherwise kind, have erroneously concluded that I have been compelled to view my subject through a strictly official medium, and supposed that the writing of this book, which has been the delight of my leisure hours, has formed a portion of my official duty. W. L. May 2d, 1865. PBEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION. THIS volume is the first of a contemplated series designed to furnish some account of the history and ordinary working of the three revenue departments of the country to do for the great Governmental industries what Mr. Smiles has so ably done (to compare his great things with our small) for the pro- fession of civil engineering and several national industries. Few attempts have ever been made to trace the rise and progress of the invaluable institution of the Post-office. We have more than once seen the question asked in Notes and Queries that sine qua non of the curious and the learned where a continuous account might be found of English postal history. In each case, the inquirer has been referred to a short summary of the history of the Post-office, prefixed to the Postmaster-General's First Eeport. Subsequently, Mr. Edward Edwards, in the eighth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, has supplied an ex- cellent and more extended notice. Still more recently, however, in an admirable paper on the Post-office in Fraser's Magazine, Mr. Matthew D. Hill has expressed his astonishment that so " little study has been given to the subject that it has attracted the attention of so small a number of students, and of each, as " it would appear, for so short a time." I have not been able to " find," adds Mr. Hill, that even Germany has produced a single work which affects to furnish more than a sketch or outline of postal history." The first part of the following pages is offered as a contribution to the study of the subject, in the hope that it will be allowed to fill the vacant place, at any rate, until the x Preface to the First Edition. work is done more worthily. With regard to that most inter- esting episode in the history of the Post-office which resulted in the penny-post reform, the materials for our work scanty though they undoubtedly are in the earlier periods are here sufficiently abundant, and have engaged our special attention. The greater portion of the second division of this volume, as well as a small portion of the first part, appeared originally in the pages of several popular serial publications principally Chambers^ Journal and Mr. Chambers's Book of Days ; the whole, however, has been thoroughly revised, where it has not been re-written, and otherwise adapted to the purposes of the present work. We are indebted to Mr. Eobert Chambers, LL.D. not only for permitting the republication of these papers in this form, but also for kindly indicating to us sources of information from the rich storehouse of his experience, which we have found very useful. On collateral subjects, such as roads and convey- ances, besides having, in common with other readers, the benefit of Mr. Smiles's valuable researches in his Lives of the Engineers, we are personally indebted to him for kindly advice. We have only to add that, while in no sense an authorized publication, personal acquaintance has been brought to bear on the treatment of different parts of it, and that we have received, in describing the various branches of the Post-office, much valuable informa- tion and assistance from Mr. J. Bowker, of the Eailway Post- office, and several gentlemen connected with the London Establishment. It is hoped that the information, now for the first time brought together, may prove interesting to many letter-writers who are ignorant, though not willingly so, of the channels through which their correspondence flows. If our readers think that the Wise Man was right when he likened the receipt of pleasant intelligence from a far country to cold water given to a thirsty soul, surely they will also admit that the agency employed to compass this good service, which has made its influence felt in every social circle, and which has brought manifold blessings in its train, deserves some passing thought and attention. April 16^,1864. CONTENTS. PAET I. THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH POST-OFFICE. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. PAGE ON EARLY POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS 3 CHAPTER II. OUR POST COMMUNICATIONS PRIOR TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 16 CHAPTER III. THE RISE OF THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE 32 CHAPTER IV. THE POST-OFFICES OF ENGLAND AND THE SISTER COUNTRIES UP TO END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY .... 54 CHAPTER Y. ON OLD ROADS AND SLOW COACHES 71 CHAPTER VI. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE 82 CHAPTER VII. RALPH ALLEN AND CROSS POSTS IN ENGLAND, AND JAMES ANDERSON AND HORSE POSTS IN SCOTLAND. 1715 TO 1760 103 CHAPTER VIII. PALMER AND THE MAIL-COACH ERA , 123 xii , Contents.
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