Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Henry Gardiner, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: No copyright date is indicated in the source material, but the last date mentioned is November, 1899. Found at the end of the text is a list of corrections of discovered publisher's typographic errors. THE BRISTOL ROYAL MAIL. [Illustration: THE POSTMASTER'S OFFICE, BRISTOL. _From a photograph by Mr. Protheroe, Wine St., Bristol._] _All rights reserved._ THE BRISTOL ROYAL MAIL. POST, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONE. BY R. C. TOMBS, _Postmaster of Bristol, Ex-Controller of the London Postal Service._ BRISTOL: J. W. ARROWSMITH, 11 QUAY STREET. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. _Page_ DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIL SERVICES. RALPH ALLEN. 1532-1764 1 CHAPTER II. MAIL COACH ERA. JOHN PALMER. 1770-1818 17 CHAPTER III. 1818 ONWARDS. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. OLD MAIL GUARDS 35 CHAPTER IV. VICTORIAN ERA, 1837-1899. MAIL TRANSPORT BY RAILWAY. TRAVELLING POST OFFICES 49 CHAPTER V. BRISTOL POSTMASTERS. 1678-1899 68 CHAPTER VI. NOTABLE POST OFFICE SERVANTS OF BRISTOL ORIGIN 82 CHAPTER VII. POST OFFICE BUILDINGS 89 CHAPTER VIII. THE LOCAL POST OFFICE IN EARLY DAYS. SIR ROWLAND HILL. RECENT PROGRESS 121 CHAPTER IX. BRISTOL AS A MAIL PORT 141 CHAPTER X. POSTAL SERVICE. STAFF: ITS COMPOSITION, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES. VOLUME OF WORK 160 CHAPTER XI. CHRISTMAS AND ST. VALENTINE SEASONS 175 CHAPTER XII. PUBLIC OFFICE: ITS BUSINESS. THE SAVINGS BANK. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS 186 CHAPTER XIII. TELEGRAPHS. TELEPHONES. EXPRESS DELIVERY 198 CHAPTER XIV. TELEGRAPH MESSENGERS 222 CHAPTER XV. LETTER DELIVERY SYSTEM. POSTMEN: THEIR DUTIES AND RECREATIONS 234 CHAPTER XVI. POST LETTER BOXES: POSITION, VIOLATION, PECULIAR USES 253 CHAPTER XVII. RURAL DISTRICT SUB-POSTMASTERS. RURAL POSTMEN. INCIDENTS 257 CHAPTER XVIII. GENERAL FREE DELIVERY OF LETTERS 287 CHAPTER XIX. RETURNED LETTER OFFICE 292 ILLUSTRATIONS. THE POSTMASTER'S OFFICE, BRISTOL Preface iv