The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and RomanceHyde, James Wilson
History
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
Hyde, James Wilson
Postal service -- Great Britain
A penny post, for local letters in Glasgow, was started in the year
1800, when, as part and parcel of the scheme, three receiving-offices
were opened in the city. The revenue derived from the letters so carried
for the first year was under £100, showing that there cannot have been
so many as eighty letters posted per day for local delivery. After a
time the experiment was considered not to have been quite a success, for
one of the receiving-offices was closed, and a clerk's pay reduced £10
a-year, in order to bring the expense down to the level of the revenue
earned. In 1803 matters improved, however, as in the first quarter of
that year the revenue from penny letters was greater than the expense
incurred.
At the present time, the staff of the Glasgow Post-office numbers 1267
persons, and the postmaster's salary is over a thousand pounds a-year.
To those who know Liverpool, with its expansive area, its vast shipping,
its stir of commerce, and, in the present relation, its army of postmen,
the following facts will exhibit a striking contrast between the past
and the present. In 1792, when the population of that town stood at
something like 60,000, the number of postmen employed was but three,
whose wages were 7s. a-week each; but, to be quite correct, it should be
added that one of the postmen, having heavier work than the others, was
aided by his wife, and for this assistance the office allowed from £10
to £12 a-year. One of the postmen delivered the letters for the southern
district, including Everton, St Ann's, Richmond, &c.; another served the
northern portion, taking in part of the old dock, the dry dock, George's
Dock, &c.; while the third disposed of the letters for the remaining
portions of the town. The duties of these men seem to have been carried
out with a good deal of deliberation. The postmen arranged the
correspondence for distribution in the early morning, then they partook
of breakfast, and set out upon their rounds about 9 A.M., completing
their work of delivery about the middle of the afternoon. And thus it
would appear that Liverpool at that time had only one delivery per day.
Upon all letters delivered by two of the postmen--the two first
mentioned--a halfpenny per letter over and above the postage was charged
for delivery; in the other case the ordinary postage only was levied.
The reason for the additional charge was no doubt this that the
postmaster was allowed by the Department only one postman, and that
consequently the wages of the other men who were necessarily employed
had to be met by the special tax referred to. The following minute of
the Postmaster-General, dated 28th October 1792, while in some sense
affording an explanation of the matter, shows that somewhat peculiar
notions prevailed with regard to providing force where such was
required. It runs as follows:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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