Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-OfficeLewins, William
History
Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-Office
Lewins, William
Postal service -- Great Britain
The postal service with Ireland being considered deficient, so much so,
that frequent mention was made of the subject in the House of Commons, a
new and special service was brought into operation on the 1st of
October, 1860. Night and day mail-trains have, on and from that date,
been run specially from Euston Square Station to Holyhead, and special
mail-steamers employed, at enormous expense, to cross the Channel.
Letter-sorting is carried on not only in the trains, but on board the
packets; nearly all the Post-Office work, including the preparation of
the letters for immediate delivery at London and Dublin respectively,
being accomplished on the journey between London and Dublin, and _vice
versâ_--a journey which is now accomplished in about twelve hours. By
means of this new service, a great saving of time is also effected on
the arrival and departure of most of the American and Canadian mails.
It cannot but be interesting to the reader who may have followed us as
we have endeavoured to trace the progress of post communication in this
country, to know how much is really possible under the improved
facilities of our own day. A better instance could not be afforded than
that occurring at the beginning of the year 1862, when the important
news on which depended peace or war was hourly expected from the United
States. Before the packet was due, the Inspector-General of Mails took
steps to expedite the new Irish mail service, to the greatest possible
extent, in its passage from Queenstown to London, and the result is so
clearly and accurately given in the _Times_ of the 8th of January, 1862,
that we cannot do better than quote the account entire:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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