diff options
Diffstat (limited to '28533.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 28533.txt | 6168 |
1 files changed, 6168 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/28533.txt b/28533.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d3487b --- /dev/null +++ b/28533.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6168 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Post, by R. C. Tombs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + +Title: The King's Post + +Author: R. C. Tombs + +Release Date: April 7, 2009 [EBook #28533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S POST *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Jane Hyland, The Philatelic +Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: [_Frontispiece._ + +THE RIGHT HON. LORD STANLEY, K.C.V.O., C.B., M.P. + +_(Postmaster-General.)_] + + + + +The King's Post + +Being a volume of historical facts relating to +the Posts, Mail Coaches, Coach Roads, +and Railway Mail Services of and +connected with the Ancient +City of Bristol from 1580 +to the present +time. + +BY + +R.C. TOMBS, I.S.O. + + +_Ex-Controller of the London Postal Service, and late +Surveyor-Postmaster of Bristol_; + +Author of "The London Postal Service of To-day" "Visitors' +Handbook to General Post Office, London" +"The Bristol Royal Mail." + +Bristol + +W.C. HEMMONS, PUBLISHER, ST. STEPHEN STREET. + +1905 + +2nd Edit., 1906. Entered Stationers' Hall. + + + + +TO + +THE RIGHT HON. LORD STANLEY, + +K.C.V.O., C.B., M.P., + +HIS MAJESTY'S POSTMASTER-GENERAL, + +THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED + +AS A TESTIMONY OF HIGH + +APPRECIATION OF HIS DEVOTION + +TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE AT + +HOME AND ABROAD, + +BY + +HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +When in 1899 I published the "Bristol Royal Mail," I scarcely supposed +that it would be practicable to gather further historical facts of local +interest sufficient to admit of the compilation of a companion book to +that work. Such, however, has been the case, and much additional +information has been procured as regards the Mail Services of the +District. + +Perhaps, after all, that is not surprising as Bristol is a very ancient +city, and was once the second place of importance in the kingdom, with +necessary constant mail communication with London, the seat of +Government. + +I am, therefore, enabled to introduce to notice "The King's Post," with +the hope that it will prove interesting and find public support equal +to that generously afforded to its forerunner, which treated of Mail and +Post Office topics from earliest times. + +I have been rendered very material assistance in my researches by Mr. +J.A. Housden, late of the Savings Bank Department, G.P.O., London; also +by Mr. L.C. Kerans, ex-postmaster of Bath, and Messrs. S.I. Toleman and +G.E. Chambers, ex-assistant Superintendents of the Bristol Post Office. + +I have gathered many interesting facts from "Stage Coach and Mail," by +Mr. C.G. Harper, to whom I express hearty indebtedness; and I am also +under deep obligation to Mr. Edward Bennett, Editor of the "St. +Martin's-le-Grand Magazine," and the Assistant Editor, Mr. Hatswell, for +much valuable assistance. + + R.C.T. + + BRISTOL, _September, 1905_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + THE EARLIEST BRISTOL POSTS, 1580.--FOOT AND + RUNNING POSTS.--THE FIRST BRISTOL POSTMASTERS: + ALLEN AND TEAGUE, 1644-1660.--THE POST + HOUSE.--EARLIEST LETTERS, 1662. _Page_ 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + THE POST HOUSE AT THE DOLPHIN INN, IN DOLPHIN + STREET, BRISTOL, 1662.--EXCHANGE AVENUE AND + SMALL STREET POST OFFICES, BRISTOL. _Page_ 8 + + CHAPTER III. + + ELIZABETHAN POST TO BRISTOL.--THE QUEEN'S + PROGRESS, 1574. _Page_ 16 + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE ROADS.--THE COACH.--MR. JOHN PALMER'S + MAIL COACH INNOVATIONS, 1660-1818. _Page_ 22 + + CHAPTER V. + + APPRECIATIONS OF RALPH ALLEN, JOHN PALMER, + AND SIR FRANCIS FREELING, MAIL AND COACH + ADMINISTRATORS. _Page_ 45 + + CHAPTER VI. + + BRISTOL MAIL COACH ANNOUNCEMENTS, 1802, 1830.--THE + NEW GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON. _Page_ 62 + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE BRISTOL AND PORTSMOUTH MAIL FROM 1772 + ONWARDS.--PROJECTED SOUTH COAST RAILWAY + FROM BRISTOL, 1903.--THE BRISTOL TO SALISBURY + POSTBOY HELD UP.--MAIL COACH ACCIDENTS.--LUKE + KENT AND RICHARD GRIFFITHS, THE MAIL + GUARDS. _Page_ 75 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE BUSH TAVERN, BRISTOL'S FAMOUS COACHING + INN, AND JOHN WEEKS, ITS WORTHY BONIFACE, + 1775-1819.--THE WHITE LION COACHING HOUSE, + BRISTOL, ISAAC NIBLETT.--THE WHITE HART, BATH. _Page_ 93 + + CHAPTER IX. + + TOLL GATES AND GATE KEEPERS. _Page_ 110 + + CHAPTER X. + + DARING ROBBERIES OF THE BRISTOL MAIL BY + HIGHWAYMEN, 1726-1781.--BILL NASH, MAIL COACH + ROBBER, CONVICT, AND RICH COLONIST, 1832.--BURGLARIES + AT POST OFFICES IN LONDON AND + BRISTOL, 1881-1901. _Page_ 119 + + CHAPTER XI. + + MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL MAILS.--FROM COACH + TO RAIL.--THE WESTERN RAILROAD.--POST OFFICE + ARBITRATION CASE. _Page_ 141 + + CHAPTER XII. + + PRIMITIVE POST OFFICE.--FIFTH CLAUSE POSTS.--MAIL + CART IN A RHINE.--EFFECT OF GALES ON + POST AND TELEGRAPH SERVICE. _Page_ 151 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + BRISTOL REJUVENATED.--VISIT OF PRINCE OF WALES + IN CONNECTION WITH THE NEW BRISTOL DOCK.--BRISTOL-JAMAICAN + MAIL SERVICE.--AMERICAN MAILS.--BRISTOL SHIP LETTER + MAILS.--THE REDLAND POST OFFICE.--THE MEDICAL + OFFICER.--BRISTOL TELEGRAPHISTS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN + WAR.--LORD STANLEY, K.C.V.O., C.B., M.P.--MR. + J. PAUL BUSH, C.M.G. _Page_ 160 + + CHAPTER XIV. + + SMALL (THE POST OFFICE) STREET, BRISTOL: ITS + ANCIENT HISTORY, INFLUENTIAL RESIDENTS, HISTORIC + HOUSES; THE CANNS; THE EARLY HOME OF THE + ELTON FAMILY. _Page_ 175 + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE POST OFFICE TRUNK TELEPHONE SYSTEM AT + BRISTOL. _Page_ 195 + + CHAPTER XVI. + + THE POST OFFICE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY: ITS ANNUAL + MEETING AT BRISTOL.--POST OFFICE SPORTS: + TERRIBLE MOTOR CYCLE ACCIDENT.--BRISTOL POST + OFFICE IN DARKNESS. _Page_ 199 + + CHAPTER XVII. + + QUAINT ADDRESSES.--THE DEAN'S PECULIAR + SIGNATURE.--AMUSING INCIDENTS AND THE POSTMAN'S + KNOCK.--HUMOROUS APPLICATIONS. _Page_ 223 + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + POSTMASTERS-GENERAL (RT. HON. A. MORLEY AND + THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY) VISIT BRISTOL.--THE + POSTMASTER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.--THE + KING'S NEW POSTAGE STAMPS.--CORONATION + OF KING EDWARD VII.--LOYALTY OF POST OFFICE + STAFF.--MRS. VARNAM-COGGAN'S CORONATION + POEM. _Page_ 232 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + TO FACE + PAGE + + 1. THE RT. HON. LORD STANLEY, K.C.V.O., C.B., + M.P. _Frontispiece._ + + 2. THE OLD POST HOUSE IN DOLPHIN STREET, BRISTOL 7 + + 3. THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE, 1750-1868 9 + + 4. THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE AS ENLARGED IN 1889 15 + + 5. A STATE COACH OF THE PERIOD OF KING CHARLES I. 23 + + 6. THE BATH AND BRISTOL WAGGON 25 + + 7. JOHN PALMER AT THE AGE OF 17 27 + + 8. THE OLD LETTER WOMAN 29 + + 9. THE OLD GENERAL POST OFFICE IN LOMBARD STREET, LONDON 31 + + 10. ANTHONY TODD 35 + + 11. JOHN PALMER AT THE AGE OF 75 44 + + 12. MEDAL STRUCK IN HONOUR OF RALPH ALLEN 49 + + 13. MAIL COACH TOKENS 51 + + 14. BIRTHPLACE OF SIR FRANCIS FREELING 53 + + 15. THE OLD BRISTOL POST OFFICE IN EXCHANGE AVENUE 60 + + 16. HOW THE MAILS WERE CONVEYED TO BRISTOL IN THE DAYS OF + KING GEORGE IV. 69 + + 17. THE BRISTOL AND LONDON COACH TAKING UP MAILS WITHOUT + HALTING 72 + + 18. THE GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON, IN 1830 74 + + 19. MAIL COACH GUARD'S POST HORN 90 + + 20. AVON TRIMOBILE MOTOR VAN 92 + + 21. MURAL TABLET TO JOHN WEEKS 95 + + 22. THE OLD WHITE LION COACHING INN, BROAD STREET, + BRISTOL 107 + + 23. MR. STANLEY WHITE'S COACH 108 + + 24. MR. STANLEY WHITE'S MOTOR CAR 108 + + 25. BAGSTONE TURNPIKE HOUSE 111 + + 26. CHARFIELD TURNPIKE HOUSE 112 + + 27. WICKWAR ROAD TURNPIKE HOUSE 114 + + 28. WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE TURNPIKE HOUSE 116 + + 29. ST. MICHAEL'S HILL TURNPIKE HOUSE 117 + + 30. STANTON DREW TURNPIKE HOUSE 119 + + 31. THE WHITE HART COACHING INN, BATH 132 + + 32. OLD POST OFFICE, WESTBURY-ON-TRYM 136 + + 33. PRIMITIVE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY TRAIN 143 + + 34. BRISTOL AND EXETER TRAIN, 1844 145 + + 35. GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY ENGINE: "LA FRANCE" 148 + + 36. HORTON THATCHED POST OFFICE 152 + + 37. EARLY BRISTOL POST MARKS 154 + + 38. SIR ALFRED JONES, K.C.M.G. 160 + + 39. THE "PORT KINGSTON" 161 + + 40. THE "PORT ROYAL" 162 + + 41. MR. F.P. LANSDOWN 171 + + 42. MR. J. PAUL BUSH, C.M.G. 174 + + 43. ELTON MANSION 177 + + 44. SIR ABRAHAM ELTON 184 + + 45. LADY ELTON 185 + + 46. GARGOYLE IN ELTON MANSION 188 + + 47. ANCIENT CHIMNEY-PIECE 191 + + 48. EDWARD COLSTON 192 + + 49. CHARLES II. 193 + + 50. KING CHARLES, FLIGHT OF 194 + + 51. COLUMBIA STAMPING MACHINE 198 + + 52. POSTMASTER OF BRISTOL _(The Author)_ 211 + + 53. QUAINTLY ADDRESSED ENVELOPES 224 + + 54. PRUDENT MAN'S FUND RECEIPT NOTE 231 + + 55. ADDRESS TO THE KING 241 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE EARLIEST BRISTOL POSTS, 1580.--FOOT AND RUNNING POSTS.--THE FIRST +BRISTOL POSTMASTERS: ALLEN AND TEAGUE, 1644-1660.--THE POST +HOUSE.--EARLIEST LETTERS, 1662. + + +The difficulty in Queen Elizabeth's time of communicating with persons +at a distance from Bristol before the establishment of a post office is +illustrated by the following item from the City Chamberlain's +accounts:-- + +"1580, August. Paid to Savage, the foot post, to go to Wellington with a +letter to the Recorder touching the holding of the Sessions, and if not +there to go to Wimborne Minster, where he has a house, where he found +him, and returned with a letter; which post was six days upon that +journey in very foul weather, and I paid him for his pains 13s. 4d." + +The next record of a person performing postman's work in Bristol is that +of 1615, when the City Chamberlain paid a tradesman 12s. "for cloth to +make Packer, the foot post, a coat." In 1616, Packer was sent by the +same official to Brewham to collect rents, and was paid 3s. 8d. for a +journey, out and home, of 60 miles. This system of a foot post to +collect money in King James the First's reign appears to be an early +application of the somewhat analogous plan, which of recent years has +been under departmental consideration as "C.O.D.," or collection of +business and trade charges by the postman on delivery of parcels--an +exemplification of there being nothing new under the sun! + +That travelling and the conveyance of letters was difficult in 1626 is +evident from the fact that nearly L60 was spent in setting up wooden +posts along the highway and causeway at Kingswood, for the guidance of +travellers, the tracks being then unenclosed, so that the "foot post" +must have had no enviable task on his journeys. In October, 1637, John +Freeman was appointed "thorough post" at Bristol, and ordered to provide +horses for all men riding post on the King's affairs of King Charles I: +Letters were not to be detained more than half a quarter of an hour, +and the carriers were to run seven miles an hour in summer, and five in +winter. A Government "running post" from London to Bristol and other +towns was ordered on July 31st, 1638. No messengers were thenceforth to +run to and from Bristol except those appointed by Thomas Withering, but +letters were allowed to be sent by common carriers, or by private +messengers passing between friends. The postage was fixed at twopence +for under 80 miles, and at fourpence for under 140 miles. + +In 1644 Lord Hopton "commanded" the grant of the freedom of Bristol to +one Richard Allen, "Postmaster-General." In August, 1643, Lord Hopton +was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bristol, and held that appointment +until 1645, when Fairfax took the city. Probably Allen was +Postmaster-General of Bristol, and his authority may have extended to +other parts of the country that were held by the King's forces. Prideaux +was appointed Master of the Posts by Parliament, and his jurisdiction +extended as far as the country was under the control of Parliament, as +distinguished from such parts of England as adhered to the King. In +1644, however, very few places--Bristol was one of them--still adhered +to Charles. At an earlier stage of the civil war special posts had been +arranged for the King's service, and it is thought Bristol was one of +the places to which these special posts were arranged. + +In the Calendar of State Papers, under the year 1660, there is a +complaint against one "Teig," an anabaptist Postmaster of Bristol, who +broke open letters directed to the King's friends. + +The complaint against him appears to have been very seriously considered +by the authorities, and it induced his friends to take up the cudgels in +his behalf as indicated by the following memorials:-- + +"To the Hon. John Weaver, Esq.: of the Council of State: Honoured +Sir--Having so fit a Messenger I would not omit to acquaint you what a +sad state and condition we are fallen into: How the good old cause is +now sunke and a horrid spirit of Prophaneous Malignity and revenge is +risen up Trampling on all those who have the face of godlinesse and have +been of ye Parliamt party insoemuch that if the Lord doe not interpose +I doubt a Mascare will follow." + +"Sir--I have a request to make in the behalfe of this Bearer Mr Teage +who is an honest faithfull sober man That you would stead him what you +can about his continuance in the Post Office for this Citty. I beleive +it will be but for a short continuance for I beleive that few honnest +men in England shall have any place of trust or profit. The Cavilears +Threaten a rooting out all Suddamly Thus with the tender of my old love +and reall respects to you I take leave and Rest Your most humble and +obliged servant, Ja Powell Bristoll this 14th April 60." + +"To the Right Honble the Comittee appointed by the Councill of State +for the Management of the Poste affaire Whereas John Teage who hath +formerly beene actually in Armes for ye Parliamt and since that being +an Inhabitant of this Citty hath beene Postmaster here for many years +last past He being a person well qualified and capable for such an +imploiment We doe therefore humbly recomend him to your Honors to be +continued in his said place And we doubt not of his faithfull management +thereof + + "Given under our hands at Bristoll this 14th + "day of Aprill 1660. Edwd. Tyson (?) _Mayr._ + "Henry Gibbes _Aldm_ Robert Yates _Aldm_ + "James Parsons Ch (?) Dooney George Lane, + Junior, J. Holwey Nehe Cotting + "Andrew Hooke James Powell Richd Baugh + Tho. Deane Robert Hann + "James Phelps (?) Abell Kelly." + (Two other names undecipherable.) + +Having regard to the looseness of the spelling at that period, it is he, +no doubt, who is mentioned later on as the "Mr. Teague" at the Dolphin, +to whose care a Mr. Browne's letter was addressed in 1671. If Teig or +Teague did continue at his post until 1671 he must have renounced his +Anabaptist opinions and conformed, for no Postmaster was to remain in +the service unless he was conformable to the discipline of the Church of +England. + +Evans mentions in his Chronological History, under 1663, a letter +addressed: "To Mr. John Hellier, at his house in Corn Street, in Bristol +Citty," from which it may be inferred that a postman was then employed +for deliveries in the principal streets. + +[Illustration: THE OLD POST-HOUSE IN DOLPHIN STREET, BRISTOL.] + +In the Broadmead Chapel Records (1648-1687), published in 1847, and now +in the Baptist College, there is mention, at page 126, of a letter of +Mr. Robert Browne, "To my much revered brother, Mr. Terrill, at his +house in Bristol. To be left with Mr. Mitchell, near the Post Office." +The letter was dated Worcester, 15 d. 1 m. 1670-1, and signed Robert +Browne, with this foot-note, "I am forced to send now by way of London." +A second letter of Mr. Browne, sent in April, 1671, is mentioned +likewise. It is addressed "To my respected friend Mr. Terrill, at his +house in Bristol. To be left with Mr. Teague at the Dolphin, in +Bristol," and begins "My dear Brother, I hope you have receeived both +mine, that one sent by the way of London, the other by the trow from +Worcester." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE POST HOUSE AT THE DOLPHIN INN, IN DOLPHIN STREET, BRISTOL, +1662.--EXCHANGE AVENUE AND SMALL STREET POST OFFICES, BRISTOL. + + +That a Bristol Post-house existed early in the reign of King Charles II. +is indicated by a letter preserved at the Bristol Museum Library, which +was sent in August of 1662 from Oxford, and is addressed: "This to be +left at the Post-house in Bristol for my honoured landlord, Thomas Gore, +Esquire, living at Barrow in Somerset. Post paid to London." + +The Dolphin Inn was for several years--even down to 1700--the Bristol +Post-house, and it was there that the postboys stabled their horses. The +inn long afterwards gave its name to Dolphin Street, which the street +still retains. It is believed the inn stood near the low buildings with +large gateway, in Dolphin Street, shown in the illustration. These +premises at the time the picture was drawn, in about 1815, had become +the stables of the Bush Inn in Corn Street, long celebrated as Bristol's +most famous coaching inn. The site has, until quite recently, been used +in connection with the carrying business. + +[Illustration: THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE, 1750-1868.] + +In 1700 the first actual Post Office was built. It was erected in All +Saints' Lane, and was held by one Henry Pine, as Postmaster. This Post +Office served the city's purpose until 1742, when the site was required +in connection with the building of the Exchange, and the Post Office was +transferred to Small Street. In September of that year (1742), an +advertisement describes the best boarding school for boys in Bristol as +being kept in Small Street by Mr. John Jones, in rooms "over the +Post-house." What kind of building this was is uncertain, as there is no +picture of it obtainable. Indeed, the first traceable illustration of a +Bristol Post Office is the engraving, a copy of which is here +reproduced, depicting the building erected in 1750, at the corner of the +Exchange Avenue as it appeared in 1805, when it was described as "a +handsome freestone building, situated on the west side of the Exchange, +to which it forms a side wing, projecting some feet forward in the +street; on the east side being another building answerable thereto." +These premises served as the Post Office for the long period of 118 +years. + +The first half of the present Bristol Post Office premises in Small +Street was occupied by Messrs. Freeman and Brass and Copper Company. + +As a matter of history, a copy of the abstract of conveyance may, +perhaps, be fittingly introduced. It sets forth the particulars of the +uses to which the site was originally put before taken by the Post +Office. + +"21st December, 1865.--By Indenture between the Bristol City Chambers +Company, Limited, (thereinafter called the Company) of the one part, and +the Right Honourable Edward John Lord Stanley of Alderley, Her Majesty's +Postmaster General for the time being, of the other part + +"It is witnessed that in consideration of L8,000 paid by the said +Postmaster General to the said Company the said Company did thereby +grant and convey unto Her Majesty's Postmaster General his successors +and assigns-- + +"Firstly All that plot piece or parcel of ground situate in the Parish +of St.-Werburgh in the City of Bristol on the South West side of and +fronting to Small Street aforesaid specified in the plan drawn in the +margin of the first Skin of abstracting Indenture said piece of land +being therein distinguished by an edging of red color which said plot of +ground formed the site of a certain messuage warehouses and buildings +recently pulled down which said premises were in certain Deeds dated +13th February, 1861, described as 'All that messuage or Warehouse +situate on the South West side of and fronting to Small Street in the +City of Bristol then lately in the occupation of Messrs. Turpin & +Langdon Book Binders but then void and also all those Warehouses +Counting-house Rooms Yard and Buildings situate lying and being behind +and adjoining to the said last named messuage or Warehouse and then and +for some time past in the occupation of Messrs. John Freeman and Copper +Company and used by them for the purposes of their Co-partnership trade +and business.' Secondly, All that plot piece or parcel of ground +adjoining the heredits firstly thereinbefore described on the North +West side thereof and also fronting to Small Street aforesaid and +specified on the said plan and therein distinguished by an edging of +blue color which said plot of ground formed the site of certain premises +also then recently pulled down which said premises were in certain Deeds +dated 13th February 1861 described as "All that messuage or +dwelling-house formerly in the holding of Thomas Edwards Linen Draper +since that of William Lewis Tailor afterwards and for many years of John +Powell Rich then of George Smith as Tenants to Messrs. Bright & Daniel +afterwards of Daniel George but then unoccupied situate and being No. 6 +in Small Street in the Parish of St.-Werburgh in the City of Bristol +between a messuage or tenement formerly in the possession of Messrs. +Harford & Coy. Iron Merchants but then of the Bristol Water Works +Company on or towards the north part and a Coach-house yard and premises +then formerly in the occupation of Richard Bright and Thomas Daniel and +then Co-partners trading under the Firm of the Bristol Copper Company +but then the property of the said James Ford on the South part and +extending from said Street called Small Street on the East part backward +to the West unto part of the ground built on by the said Copper Company +the Wall between the Warehouse and said messuage." + +When, in the year 1867, the plan for this new Post Office building in +Small Street had been prepared and Treasury authority obtained for the +expenditure of a sum of L8,000 in the erection of the building, the +Inland Revenue Department asked for accommodation in the structure, and +it was arranged that its staff should be lodged on the first floor of +the new building. The building itself had, therefore, to be carried to a +greater height than had originally been contemplated. This alteration +cost L3,000. There is still evidence in the building of the occupation +of the Inland Revenue staff, iron gates and spiked barriers in the first +floor passage to cut off their rooms from the Post Office section still +remaining. + +The authorities of the Post Office accepted tenders in September, 1887, +for the demolition of certain premises known as "New Buildings" and for +the erection thereon of additional premises for the accommodation of +the growing Postal staff. The work began on the 26th September. The cost +of the new wing was estimated at L16,000. Beneath the superstructure +there were two tiers of ancient cellars, one below the other, forming +part of the original mediaeval mansion once owned by the Creswick family; +and the removal of these was attended with much difficulty. The new +building was opened for business on the 4th November, 1889. + +In Parliament. Session 1903. Post Office (Acquisition of Sites) Power to +the Postmaster-General to acquire Lands, Houses, and Buildings in +Bristol for the service of the Post Office. Notice is hereby given that +application is intended to be made to Parliament in the next session for +an Act for the following purposes or some of them (that is to say):--To +empower His Majesty's Postmaster-General (hereinafter called 'the +Postmaster-General') to acquire for the service of the Post Office, by +compulsory purchase or otherwise, the lands, houses, and buildings +hereinafter described, that is to say:-- + +"Bristol: (Extension of Head Post Office). Certain lands, houses, +offices, buildings and premises situate in the parish of St. Werburgh, +in the city and county of Bristol, in the county of Gloucester, and +lying on the south-west side of Small Street, and the east side of St. +Leonards Lane." + +[Illustration: [_By permission of "The Bristol Observer."_ + +THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE AS ENLARGED IN 1889.] + +Thus commenced a portentous notice which appeared in a Bristol +newspaper, and had reference to the Bristol Water Works premises being +acquired for the further enlargement of the Post Office buildings. + +The superficial area of the ground on which the Bristol Post Office +stands is a little over 17,000 square feet. The new site joins the +present Post Office structure, and has a frontage of 88 feet to Small +Street. Its area is 11,715 superficial feet, so that the enlargement +will be considerable but by no means excessive, having regard to the +extremely rapid development of the Bristol Post Office business. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ELIZABETHAN POST TO BRISTOL.--THE QUEEN'S PROGRESS, 1574. + + +Particulars are on record respecting a very early Post from the Court of +Queen Elizabeth to Bristol. At that period it occupied more days for the +Monarch to travel in Sovereign State to Bristol than it does hours in +these days of Great Western "fliers." It seems that Queen Elizabeth made +a Progress to Bristol in 1574. She travelled from London by way of +Woodstock and Berkeley. She arrived at Bristol, August 14, 1574, and had +a splendid and elaborate reception:-- + +"Before the Queen left Bristol she knighted her host, John Young, who, +in return for the honour done him, gave her a jewel containing rubies +and diamonds, and ornamented with a Phoenix and Salamander. She did +not get quit of the city until after she had listened to many weary +verses describing the tears and sorrows of the citizens at her +departure, and their earnest prayer for her prosperity. From Bristol she +travelled to Sir T. Thynne's, at Longleat, and from Longleat across +Salisbury Plain to the Earl of Pembroke's, at Wilton, where she arrived +September 3rd." + +The British Museum records show that in 1580 Ireland was in rebellion. A +Spanish-Italian force of eight hundred men had been sent, with at least +the connivance of Philip II. of Spain, to assist the rebels, and the +English Government was compelled to hurry reinforcements and supplies to +Ireland. These reinforcements and supplies went by way of Bristol, and +it was at that juncture of affairs that a post was established between +London, or Richmond, where the Court was, and Bristol. This post, if not +actually the first, was certainly one of the earliest posts to Bristol. + +At a meeting of the Privy Council held September 26, 1580, a warrant was +issued "to Robert Gascoigne for laying of post horses between London and +Bristol, requiring Her Majesty's officers to be assisting unto him in +this service." A warrant was also issued "to Sir Thomas Heneage, +Knight, Treasurer of her Majesty's Chamber, to pay unto Robert Gascoigne +the sum of ten pounds to be employed about the service of laying post +horses between London and Bristol." + +The duty of laying this post was not entrusted to the Master of the +Posts, Thomas Randolph, but to Gascoigne, the Postmaster of the Court, +who usually arranged the posts rendered necessary by Queen Elizabeth's +progresses through her dominions. Gascoigne afterwards furnished an +account of what he had done to carry out the Order of the Privy Council, +and from this document, which is preserved at the Record Office in +London, it seems that the post travelled from Richmond, or London, to +Hounslow, and thence to Maidenhead (16 miles), Newbury (21 miles), +Marlborough (16 miles), Chippenham (22 miles), and thence to Bristol (20 +miles). The cost of the post for a month of 28 days is stated to have +been L14 9s.; but it does not appear if this amount is in addition to +the L10 ordered to be paid to Gascoigne for laying the post; nor is +there anything to show how often the post travelled, or for how long it +was maintained; Gascoigne describes it as an "extraordinary" post. At +that time the only ordinary posts were from London to Berwick, Holyhead, +and Dover respectively. It is, perhaps, as well to add that these posts +were the Queen's posts, and were only intended for the conveyance of +persons travelling on her service or of packets sent on her business, +though other persons used the posts for travelling and for sending +letters. + +Several complaints were made by Leonard Dutton and another against +Robert Gascoigne, Postmaster of the Court, in respect of abuses +connected with the posts thus laid down for Queen Elizabeth's use while +on a "Progress." The complainants charged Gascoigne with neglect of +duty, laying posts to suit his own convenience, delaying letters, making +improper charges, and stopping something for himself out of money he +should have paid in wages, etc. Among the papers relating to this affair +is a copy of part of Gascoigne's account, of which the following is a +transcript:-- + +THE OFFICE OF THE POSTE. + +In the office of William Dodington, Esquire, Auditor of Her Matie. +Impreste, in the bill of accompt for Her Matie poste among other things +is contained the following: + +"Robert Gascoigne's bill for the laying of the extraordinary post on Her +Majesty's Progress. + +"BRISTOLL.--Thomas Hoskins and a constable entered post at Bristol for +serving x. days begun xiij. of August until the xxij. of the same month, +half days included, at ij.s. per diem. + + "xx.s. + +"MANGOTSFIELD.--Philip Alsop and John Alsop, post at Mangotsfield for +serving v. days begun the xviij. of August and ended the xxij. of the +same month, half days included, at ij.s. per diem. + + "x.s. + +"CHIPPENHAM.--John Barnby and Leonard Woodland entered post at +Chippenham for serving x. days begun the xviij. August and ended the +xxvij. of the same month, half days included at ij.s. per diem. + + "xx.s. + +"MARLBOROUGH.--Thomas Pike and Anthony Ditton entered post at +Marlborough for serving xvij. days begun the xviij. August and ended +the third day of September, half days included at ij.s. per diem. + + "xxxiv.s. + + "Exd. per me BARTH. DODINGTON." + +As to the Marlborough post, Anthony Ditton was Mayor of the town, as +appears from a certificate by him (which is with the papers) that he +only received from Gascoigne 15s. for the posts. Gascoigne claimed to +have paid at Marlborough 34s. (see the transcript of his account), and +if Ditton was entitled to half that sum Gascoigne pocketed 4s. (L19 15s. +4d.). This is the sort of thing Ditton charged him with doing. To these +charges Gascoigne gave a denial, separately explaining each charge. His +explanation was accepted, inasmuch as he was continued in office. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE ROADS.--THE COACH.--MR. JOHN PALMER'S MAIL COACH INNOVATIONS, +1660-1818. + + +In 1660-1661, James Hicks, Clerk to "The Roads" in the Letter Office, +petitions the King to be continued in office. He says he sent the first +letter from Nantwich to London in 1637, and was sent for in 1640 to be +Clerk for that Road (Chester Road). Had settled in 1642 "Postages +between BRISTOL and YORK for your late father's service." + +In 1661, Henry Bisshopp, farmer of the Post Office, furnished to the +Secretary of State "a perfect list" of all officers in the Post Office. +According to this list there were eight Clerks of the Roads, viz.:--Two +of the Northern Road, two of the Chester Road, two of the Eastern Road, +and Two of the Western Road. In 1677, there were, in addition to these +Roads, the Bristol Road and the Kent Road. As there was a Post-House +at Bristol in 1661, no doubt the city was attached to the Western Road. + +[Illustration: [_From an old print._ + +A STATE COACH OF THE PERIOD (17TH CENTURY) WHEN KING CHARLES I. +SOJOURNED AT SMALL STREET, BRISTOL, ON THE SITE OF THE PRESENT POST +OFFICE.] + +There were only six stage-coaches known in 1662. A journey that could +not be performed on horseback was rarely undertaken then by those who +could not afford their own steeds. + +Amongst the State papers in May, 1666, is an account of the time spent +in carrying the mails on the chief routes throughout the country. +Although the speed fixed by the Government for the postboys was seven +miles an hour in the summer months, the actual rate attained on the +Bristol, Chester, and York Roads was only four miles, and was +half-a-mile less on the Gloucester and Plymouth routes. An appended note +stated that a man spent seventeen or eighteen hours in riding from +Winchester to Southampton. In December, Lord Arlington complained to the +postal authorities that the King's letters from Bristol and other towns +were delayed from ten to fourteen hours beyond the proper time, and +ordered that the Postmasters should be threatened with dismissal unless +they reformed. + +In 1667 a London and Oxford Coach was performing the 54 miles between +the two cities in two days, halting for the intervening night at +Beaconsfield: and in the same year the original Bath Coach was the +subject of this proclamation: + +"FLYING MACHINE."--"All those desirous of passing from London to Bath, +or any other place on their Road, let them repair to the 'Belle Sauvage' +on Ludgate Hill, in London, and the 'White Lion' at Bath, at both which +places they may be received in a Stage Coach, every Monday, Wednesday, +and Friday, which performs the whole journey in Three Days (if God +permit) and sets forth at 5 o'clock in the Morning. + +"Passengers to pay One Pound Five Shillings each, who are allowed to +carry fourteen Pounds Weight--for all above to pay three-halfpence per +Pound." + +It was only after repeated appeals to the Government that a "Cross Post" +was established between Bristol and Exeter for inland letters in 1698, +thus substituting a journey of under 80 miles for one of nearly 300, +when the letters were carried through London. In this case, however, +Bristol letters to and from Ireland were excluded from the scheme, +and they still had to pass through the Metropolis. + +[Illustration: I've nothing to brag on But driving my Waggon. _Temp: +Georgius III._] + +Even at a later date, when strong representations were made to the Post +Office, Ralph Allen, of Bath, who had the control of the Western Mails, +refused to allow a direct communication between Bristol and Ireland, but +offered if the postage from Dublin to London were paid, to convey the +letters to Bristol gratis. + +At this period there were quaint public waggons on the Bristol Road, as +depicted in the illustration. + +The "Pack Horse" at Chippenham, and the "Old Pack Horse," and the "Pack +Horse and Talbot," at Turnham Green, were, in 1739, halting places of +the numerous Packmen who travelled on the Bristol and Western Road. + +By 1742 a stage-coach left London at seven every morning, stayed for +dinner at noon in Uxbridge, arrived at High Wycombe by four in the +afternoon, and rested there all night, proceeding to Oxford the next +day. Men were content to get to York in six days, and to Exeter in a +fortnight. + +In 1760, in consequence of frequent complaints as to the dilatoriness +of the postal service, the authorities in London announced that letters +or packets would thenceforth be dispatched from the capital to the chief +provincial towns "at any hour without loss of time," at certain +specified rates. An express to Bristol was to cost L2 3s. 6d.; to +Plymouth, L4 8s. 9d. Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, were not +even mentioned. + +The mail-coach system had its origin in the West of England, and Bristol +and Bath in particular are associated with all the traditions of the +initiatory stages, so that the details on record in ancient newspapers +of those cities are copious. + +Mr. John Weeks, who entered upon "The Bush," Bristol, in 1772, after +ineffectually urging the proprietors to quicken their speed, started a +one-day coach to Birmingham himself, and carried it on against a bitter +opposition, charging the passengers only 10s. 6d. and 8s. 6d. for inside +and outside seats respectively, and giving each one of them a dinner and +a pint of wine at Gloucester into the bargain. After two years' +struggle, his opponents gave in, and one-day journeys to Birmingham +became the established rule. + +[Illustration: [_From "Stage Coach and Mail," by permission of Mr. C.G. +Harper._ + +JOHN PALMER AT THE AGE OF 17.] + +Soon after this period, John Palmer, of Bath, came on the scene. He had +learnt from the merchants of Bristol what a boon it would be if they +could get their letters conveyed to London in fourteen or fifteen hours, +instead of three days. John Palmer was lessee and manager of the Bath +and Bristol theatres, and went about beating up actors, actresses, and +companies in postchaises, and he thought letters should be carried at +the same pace at which it was possible to travel in a chaise. He devised +a scheme, and Pitt, the Prime Minister of the day, who warmly approved +the idea, decided that the plan should have a trial, and that the first +mail-coach should run between London and Bristol. On Saturday, July 31, +1784, an agreement was signed in connection with Palmer's scheme under +which, in consideration of payment of 3d. a mile, five inn-holders--one +belonging to London, one to Thatcham, one to Marlborough, and two to +Bath--undertook to provide the horses, and on Monday, August 2, 1784, +the first "mail-coach" started. + +The following was the Post Office announcement respecting the +service:--"General Post Office, July 24, 1784. His Majesty's +Postmaster-General being inclined to make an experiment for the more +expeditious conveyance of the mails of letters by stage-coaches, +machines, etc., have (_sic_) been pleased to order that a trial shall be +made upon the road between London and Bristol, to commence at each place +on Monday, August 2 next, and that the mails should be made up at this +office every evening (Sundays excepted) at 7 o'clock, and at Bristol, in +return, at 3 in the afternoon (Saturdays excepted), to contain the bags +for the following post towns and their districts--viz.: +Hounslow--between 9 and 10 at night from London; between 6 and 7 in the +morning from Bristol. Maidenhead--between 11 and 12 at night from +London; between 4 and 5 in the morning from Bristol. Reading--about 1 in +the morning from London; between 2 and 3 in the morning from Bristol. +Newbury--about 3 in the morning from London; between 12 and 1 at night +from Bristol. Hungerford--between 4 and 5 in the morning from London; +about 11 at night from Bristol. Marlborough--about 6 in the morning from +London; between 9 and 10 at night from Bristol. Chippenham--between 8 +and 9 in the morning from London; about 7 in the evening from Bristol. +Bath--between 10 and 11 in the morning from London; between 5 and 6 in +the afternoon from Bristol. Bristol--about 12 at noon from London. + +[Illustration: THE LETTER WOMAN. + + _(From an old print.)_ + + THIS SIMPLE BOY HAS LOST HIS PENNY, + AND SHE WITHOUT IT WON'T TAKE ANY; + WHAT CAN HE DO IN SUCH A PLIGHT? + THIS LETTER CANNOT GO TO-NIGHT. + +_Printed by Carrington Bowles, 69, St. Paul's Churchyard, London._] + +"All persons are therefore to take notice that the letters put into any +receiving house in London before 6 in the evening, or before 7 at this +office, will be forwarded by this new conveyance; all others for the +said post-towns and their districts put in afterwards, or given to the +bell-men, must remain until the following post, at the same hour of 7 +o'clock. [At this period there were Post Office bell-women as well as +bell-men. See illustration.] + +"Letters also for Colnbrooke, Windsor, Calne, and Ramsbury will be +forwarded by this conveyance every day; and for Devizes, Melksham, +Trowbridge, and Bradford on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, +and Saturdays; and for Henley, Nettlebed, Wallingford, Wells, +Bridgwater, Taunton, Wellington, Tiverton, Frome, and Warminster, on +Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. + +"Letters from all the before-mentioned post-towns and their districts +will be sorted and delivered as soon as possible after their arrival in +London, and are not to wait for the general delivery. + +"All carriers, coachmen, higglers, news carriers, and all other persons +are liable to a penalty of L5 for every letter which they shall receive, +take up, order, dispatch, carry, or deliver illegally; and to L100 for +every week that any offender shall continue the practice--one-half to +the informer. And that this revenue may not be injured by unlawful +collections and conveyances, all persons acting contrary to the law +therein will be proceeded against, and punished with the utmost +severity. + +"By command of the Postmaster-General, + + "ANTHONY TODD, Sec." + +The _Bath Chronicle_ versions were as follows, viz.:--"July 29, 1784. On +Monday next the experiment for the more expeditious conveyance of the +mails will be made on the road from London to Bath and Bristol. Letters +are to be put in the London office every evening before 8 o'clock, and +to arrive next morning in Bath before 10 o'clock, and in Bristol by +12 o'clock. The letters for London, or for any place between or beyond, +to be put into the Bath Post Office every evening before 5 o'clock, and +into the Bristol office before 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and they will +be delivered in London the next day." + +[Illustration: [_By permission of Kelly's Directories, Lim._ + +THE OLD GENERAL POST OFFICE IN LOMBARD STREET, LONDON.] + +The public were also informed that the mail diligence would commence to +run on Monday, August 2, 1784--and that the proprietors had engaged to +carry the mail to and from London to Bristol in sixteen hours, starting +from the Swan with Two Necks, in Lad Lane, London, at 8 o'clock each +night, and arriving at the Three Tuns, Bath, before 10 o'clock the next +morning, and at the Rummer Tavern, Bristol, by 12 o'clock. "The mail is +to leave Bristol from the Swan Tavern for London every afternoon at 4 +o'clock, and to arrive in London before 8 o'clock the next morning." + +On August 5, we are told, "the new mail diligence set off for the first +time from Bristol on Monday last, at 4 o'clock, and from Bath at 5.20 +p.m. From London it set out at 8 o'clock in the evening, and was in Bath +by 9 o'clock the next morning. + +"The excellent steps taken to carry out this undertaking leave no doubt +of its succeeding, to the great advantage and pleasure to the publick. +The mail from this city is made up at 5 o'clock." This grand achievement +of Palmer's was signalised by the following lines:-- + + "A safe and quick method is found to convey + Our bills of exchange, and I promise to pay. + Political news from all parts of the town, + The Senate, the play, and each place of renown. + New pamphlets and schemes, or the prices of stocks, + That trafficks in ports, and escaped from the rocks. + At Bristol Hotwells or the New Rooms at Bath + Arrived Mr. Fancy and Lady Hogarth, + Who looked so enchanting last week at the races, + And _nemine contra_ pronounced by the graces. + Effusions of friendship or letters of love-- + All beautiful, candid, as true as a dove. + _J'espere, ma chere ami, qui ce bien avec vous,_ + And friendly whip syllabub chat _entre nous_. + The merchant, the lover, the friend, and the sage + Will daily applaud Mr. Palmer's New Stage." + +No sooner was success apparent than troubles commenced, as may be +gathered from the following paragraph, dated September 9, 1784:--"Bath. +We hear that the contractors for carrying the mail to and from this city +and London have received the most positive orders to direct their +coachmen: on no account whatever to try their speed against other +carriages that may be set up in opposition to them, nor to suffer them +to discharge firearms in passing through any towns, or on the road, +except they are attacked." + +"They have generally performed their duty with great care and +punctuality, within an hour of the contracted time and perfectly to the +satisfaction of the Government and the publick, and this before any +opposition was commenced against them, and when it was thought +impossible to effect it in sixteen hours instead of fifteen hours. Their +steady line of conduct will be their best recommendation to this city, +which, much to its honour, has supported them with great spirit. +Attempts by other drivers of other coaches, or any other persons +whatsoever, to impede the mail diligence on its journey will be +certainly attended with the most serious prosecutions to the parties so +offending. + +"We are desired by the old proprietors of the Bath coaches to insert the +following:-- + +"'Last Sunday evening, as the coachman of the mail diligence was driving +furiously down Kennet Hill, between Calne and Marlborough, in order to +overtake the two guard coaches, the coach was suddenly thrown against +the bank, by which means a lady was much hurt, as was also the driver. +The lady was taken out and safely conveyed in one of the guard coaches +to Marlborough.' + +"We are informed:--The proprietors of the two coaches, with a guard to +each, which travel from Bristol to London in fifteen hours have +instructed their servants not to fire their arms wantonly, but to be +particularly vigilant in case of attack. The proprietors of these +coaches are determined to have the passengers and property protected and +for the safety of both have ordered their coachmen to keep together +to make assurance doubly sure." + +[Illustration: [_By permission of S.W. Partridge & Co., Paternoster Row, +London._ + +ANTHONY TODD.] + +September 16, 1784:--"Our mail diligence still continues its course with +the same steadiness and punctuality. Yesterday its coachman and guard +made their first appearance in Royal livery, and cut a most superior +figure. It is certainly very proper that the Government carriages should +be thus distinguished; such a mark of His Majesty's approbation does the +contractors great honour, and it is with much pleasure we see so great a +change in the conveyance of our mail--not only in its speed and safety, +but in its present respectable appearance, from an old cart and a ragged +boy." + +December 16, 1784:--"A writer, under the signature of 'An Enemy to +Schemers,' having published in the _Gazette_ several letters against the +new mode of conveying the mail, another writer, under the signature of +'Lash,' has in a masterly manner replied to all his arguments in that +paper of Monday, and has severely censured the conduct of Mr. Todd of +the Post Office." + +December 16, 1784:--"Dear Sir,--I have just received some newspapers +from a friend in Bath containing an abusive letter against my post +plan, and two answers to it under the signature of 'Lash.' I rather +think that the latter may be yours, and think myself much obliged to you +for the warmth with which you have taken the matter up, but could wish +you would take no further notice of it. The letter, if I recollect +right, merely contains the refuse of the observations, sent from the +Post Office to the Treasury, which have been fully refuted to the board. +It might appear these are like doubting the justice of that Court were I +to suffer myself to be decoyed or provoked into another. Two years have +already been wasted in wrangling, and I am heartily weary of it. Since +my return I have the satisfaction to find the public, if possible, still +more pleased from the experience they have had of the punctuality as +well as the expedition of the post in all possible cases, in every +variety of weather our climate gives. And those who express their +surprise that the plan is not extended yet to other parts of the kingdom +I have taken care to tell the plain truth--that it is entirely Mr. +Todd's fault. I could not express my sense of his exceeding ill conduct +at the commencement of the trial (so very different from his +profession) in a stronger manner than in my memorial to the Treasury; +nor could they do me ampler justice than in the resolutions they passed +on the occasion and sent to the Post Office. It should not therefore be +stated to the public his stopping the Norfolk and Suffolk service by his +assertion of the enormous expenses of the new beyond the old system, and +his strange declaration that the number of letters sent by the Bath and +Bristol post had decreased and in consequence of its improvement are so +ill-supported by the statements sent to the Treasury, and the reverse of +these charges so fully established in my answers that I believe there is +an end of the controversy, and have very little doubt but that I shall +shortly receive the Ministers' commands to carry the plan into execution +to the other parts of the kingdom. To do this (and I have not the least +fear of accomplishing it) will be the most decisive answer to abuse, and +more satisfactory to the publick. I rather think, too, from the number +of memorials sent in favour of my plan, and the general indignation +expressed at the mismanagement of the old post, Mr. Todd will find it +prudent to desist from further opposition. Nothing possible can be in +better train than the plan is or in the hands of persons more anxious +for its success. It would be very imprudent, therefore, to run the least +hazard of disturbing it. I beg you'll not imagine I am the least +displeased at what you have done. On the contrary, I am really much +obliged to you; and be assured I shall never forget the zeal and +attention I have experienced from you in the course of this business, +and that you will always find me your sincere friend.--JOHN PALMER, +Arno's Vale, Bristol, December 2, 1784." + +December 16, 1784:--"Our mail carriage has, if possible, added to its +reputation from its extraordinary and ready exertions on the bad weather +setting in. It arrived here on Saturday an hour only after its time, and +this morning was within the limited time. The Salisbury mail, which +should have come in on Saturday by eight in the morning did not arrive +till Sunday morning." + +January 20, 1785:--"The new regulation of our post turns out a peculiar +advantage to this city, in that letters can be sent from here in the +evening and answered in London next morning's mails, which enables +business people to stay here longer." + +On February 22, 1785, the Town Council minutes contain the +following:--"Mr. May acquainted the members present that the inhabitants +of this city, as well as those of other places, having derived great +benefit from Mr. Palmer's plan lately adopted for the improvement of the +post, was the occasion of his calling them together to consider such +measures as might be thought proper for continuance and extension of the +said plan.... It was resolved that a memorial be sent to the Right Hon. +Wm. Pitt, representing the great benefits received from the plan, and +requesting a continuance of the same, together with the extension of the +same plan to other parts of the kingdom." + +February 17, 1785:--"At a meeting of the Bristol Merchants' Society on +Saturday last, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. John Palmer for the +advantages received from his postal plan." + +February 24, 1785:--"Memorials appear to the Right Hon. Wm. Pitt for the +continuance and extension of Palmer's plan from the merchants, +tradesmen, shopkeepers in the city of Bristol, Common Council of the +city of Bristol, Mayor, Burgesses and Commonality of the city of +Bristol, Mayor, Aldermen and Common Councilmen of the city of Bristol." + +On March 24, 1785, appeared the following letter:--"London, February 16, +1785. Sir,--Having both of us been engaged upon Committees of the House +of Commons, we have been unable to present the paper you transmitted to +us respecting Mr. Palmer's plan to Mr. Pitt till within these few days. +Mr. Pitt has desired us to acquaint Mr. Mayor and the Corporation that +he feels himself very happy to have assisted in giving such an +accommodation to the city of Bath as he always hoped that plan would +afford, and in which he is confirmed by the manner in which the +Corporation have expressed themselves concerning it. Measures are being +taken to carry it into execution through other parts of the kingdom, and +the plan will be adopted in a few days upon the Norfolk and Suffolk +roads. + + "A. MOYSEY AND J.J. PRATT. + +"To Philip Georges, Esq., Deputy Town Clerk." + +May 12, 1785:--"Bath Post Office. A further extension of Mr. Palmer's +plan for the more safe and expeditious conveyance of the mails took +place on Monday, the 9th inst., when the letters on the cross posts from +Frome, Warminster, Haytesbury, Salisbury, Romsey, Southampton, +Portsmouth, Gosport, Chichester, and their delivery, together with the +Isle of Wight, Jersey and Guernsey, all parts of Hampshire and +Dorsetshire, will be forwarded from this office at five o'clock p.m., +and every day except Sundays. Letters from the above places will arrive +here every morning, Mondays excepted: + +"N.B.--All letters must be put in the office before five o'clock p.m." + +May 18, 1785:--"We hear that Mr. Palmer's plan for conveying the mails +will be adopted from London to Manchester through Leicester and Derby, +and to Leeds through Nottingham, at Midsummer." + +June 9, 1785:--"Mr. Williams, the public-spirited master of the Three +Tuns Inn, and the chief contractor for conveying the mails, had in the +morning of this day placed in the front of his house His Majesty's +Arms, neatly carved in gilt. In the evening his house was illuminated in +a very elegant manner with variegated lamps, the principal figure in +which was the letters 'G.R.' immediately over the coat-of-arms. A band +of music with horns played several tunes adapted to the day, and a +recruiting party drawn up before the doors with drums and fifes playing +at intervals had a very pleasing effect." + +On June 30, 1785, appeared the following paragraph, which shows how +complete was the success of John Palmer's post plan, in spite of all the +obstacles placed in his way to obstruct his scheme. We are now informed +that the "mail-coaches and diligences have been found to answer so well +that they will be generally adopted throughout the kingdom, and +conveying of them in carts will be discontinued." + +On June 30 appeared a long letter showing how the G.P.O. tried to +overthrow Mr. Palmer's scheme. This is signed Thomas Symons, Bristol, +and describes the scheme as the most beneficial plan that ever was +thought of for a commercial country. He also complains of the +misconduct of the Post Office, as letters had been miscarried to +Dublin, which caused the merchants of Bristol considerable annoyance, +and this mismanagement without hesitation he declares was by design, in +order to try and overthrow this most excellent system of John Palmer's +post. + +Early in 1787, Palmer had to represent to the Contractors that the Mails +must be carried by more reliable coaches. + +"The Comptroller-General," he wrote to one Contractor, "has to complain +not only of the horses employed on the Bristol mail, but as well of +their harness and the accoutrements in use, whose defects have several +times delayed the Bath and Bristol letters, and have even led to the +conveyance being overset, to the imminent peril of the passengers. + +"Instructions have been issued by the Comptroller for new sets of +harness to be supplied to the several coaches in use on this road, for +which accounts will be sent you by the harness-makers. Mr. Palmer stated +also that he had under consideration, for the Contractor's use, a +new-invented coach." + +Soon after this, Palmer's active connection with the Post Office ceased. +He died at Brighton in 1818. + +What he looked like at the age of 17 and 75 respectively, is shewn in +the illustrations, the former taken from a picture attributed to +Gainsborough. + +[Illustration: [_By permission of "Bath Chronicle."_ + +JOHN PALMER AT THE AGE OF 75.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +APPRECIATIONS OF RALPH ALLEN, JOHN PALMER, AND SIR FRANCIS FREELING, +MAIL AND COACH ADMINISTRATORS. + + +On the 25th April, 1901, the day after a visit to Bristol to celebrate +the establishment of the new steamship line to Jamaica, the Marquess of +Londonderry, then Postmaster-General, visited Bath to take part in a +ceremony in honour of Ralph Allen and John Palmer. These two great +postal reformers were both citizens of Bath, and are greatly honoured in +that city for their work in the Post Office, with the famous men of the +eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By a happy thought there has +lately been started a movement to keep alive associations with the past +by placing tablets on the houses in which famous men lived. One of the +tablets unveiled by Lord Londonderry was placed on the house in which +Ralph Allen first conducted the business of the Bath Post Office, and +of his cross post contracts, and the other on the house in which John +Palmer was born. + +Soon after noon on the eventful day, the Bath postmen's band, Mr. +Kerans, the postmaster, and his lieutenants, the staff of postmen and +messengers, marched on to the space between the Abbey and the Guildhall +for inspection by the Head of the Post Office Department. After the +inspection, a procession was formed, in which the Postmaster-General was +accompanied by the Mayor, and followed by the Town Councillors, two by +two. Before them went the city swordbearer, clad in striking robes, and +the party proceeded to the North Parade, from which Allen's house is now +reached by a passage way. The house is built of stone, and has a very +handsome front in the style of the classical Renaissance. In drawing +aside the curtain, which veiled the tablet, on which was inscribed "Here +lived Ralph Allen, 1727-1764," Lord Londonderry said that there was +probably not one of the great men who had been associated with Bath who +was more of a benefactor to his town, as well as to the public service +of his country, than Ralph Allen. The procession then moved on to +Palmer's house, only a few yards away, where a similar ceremony took +place. After another short speech by the Postmaster-General, in which he +explained the share Palmer had borne in developing the modern Post +Office system, the second tablet was unveiled. It bore the inscription, +"Here lived John Palmer, born 1741, died 1818." + +Afterwards at the Guildhall, where a bust of Allen in the Council +Chamber looked down upon a large party assembled for luncheon, the +Postmaster-General, in response to the toast of his health, discoursed +more at large upon the topic of the day. He congratulated Bath upon +having among its citizens two out of the four great men of Post Office +history. It was Allen's task to provide a general postal system by +opening up new lines of posts between the main roads, and through new +lines of country. Between 1720, when he began his first contract, and +1764 when he died, he covered the country with a network of posts, +giving easy communication between all important towns, and he also +increased the number and speed of the mails on the post roads. While +doing this he raised himself from being a humble clerk, and later, +postmaster of Bath, to a position of great affluence, and of friendship +with many of the great men of his time. Among those friends was Lord +Chatham. + +It was twenty years after Allen's death that Palmer's Mail Coach system +was started. Its advantage soon made itself apparent, and the +improvement of roads at the end of the 18th Century enabled the mail +coach service to be brought to great perfection. It lasted less than 60 +years, but in those years correspondence and the revenue of the Post +Office multiplied many times, and when Rowland Hill turned his attention +to postal questions he found a rapid and efficient service, which was at +the same time so cheap that the cost of conveyance was only a small item +in the expenses of the Post Office. + +The Mayor of Bath proposed the toast of "the Visitors," and said that +they had amongst them two representatives of the great men they were +honouring. Ralph Allen was represented by Colonel Allen, a direct +descendant, and the owner of Bathampton Manor, a part of Ralph +Allen's estate. Colonel Allen had lately returned from South Africa. +John Palmer was represented by his grandson, Colonel Palmer, R.E. + +[Illustration: [_From a block kindly lent by the Proprietors of the +"Bath Chronicle."_] + +MEDAL STRUCK IN HONOUR OF RALPH ALLEN.] + +Colonel Allen thanked the company for their kind reception, and Colonel +Palmer said that it had given him the greatest pleasure to witness the +testimonial to his grandfather's services, and this pleasure would be +shared by the members of his family, including his sister, who had given +the cup on the table to the Corporation. It had been a present from the +Citizens of Glasgow to John Palmer. + +Full accounts of the Post Office services of Allen and Palmer are +written in "The Bristol Royal Mail." + +The photograph of a curious memorial of Ralph Allen's work in the Post +Office here reproduced is that of a medal bearing the Royal Arms, and +the inscriptions "To the Famous Mr. Allen, 4th December, 1752," and "the +Gift of His Royal Highness, W.D. of Cumberland." + +The reverse of the medal is engraved with some Masonic emblems, and with +the words, + + + "Amor Honor Justitia," + INO CAMPBELL, + Armagh. + No. 409. + +The history of this relic is rather obscure. It was purchased in a +curiosity shop in Belfast some fifteen years ago by Mr. D. Buick, LL.D., +of Sandy Bay, Larne. In the year 1752, the Princess Amelia visited Bath, +and was entertained by Ralph Allen at Prior Park. During her stay at +Bath, the Duke of Cumberland also visited the town, and is known to have +contributed L100 to the Bath Hospital, of which Allen was one of the +most active supporters. It has been surmised that the medal was intended +as an acknowledgment of the courtesy and attention received by the Duke +and the Princess on this occasion. + +Whether the medal was ever presented is not known, or how it came to be +converted into a Masonic jewel. Perhaps it may have been given away by +Allen, or it may have gone astray, or been stolen. The Masonic Lodge, +No. 409, is said to have been founded by a Mr. John Campbell in 1761, +shortly before the date of Allen's death: Allen may have been a +Freemason. + +[Illustration: [_By permission of Mr. Sydenham, of Bath._ + +TOKENS COMMEMORATIVE OF PALMER'S MAIL COACH SYSTEM.] + +It is to Mr. Sydenham, of Bath, that indebtedness is due for the +interesting impressions of tokens struck in commemoration of Palmer's +mail coach system here depicted. + +An interesting tribute was the painting by George Robertson, engraved by +James Fittler, and inscribed to him as Comptroller-General in 1803, +eleven years after he had ceased to hold that position. A copy of this +engraving appears in "The Bristol Royal Mail." Palmer also received the +freedom of eighteen towns and cities in recognition of his public +services, was Mayor of Bath in 1796 and 1801, and represented that city +in the four Parliaments of 1801, 1802, 1806, and 1807. + +Francis Freeling, who succeeded John Palmer in the Secretaryship and +General Managership of Post Office affairs, was as a youth a disciple of +his predecessor, and assisted him in the development of the Mail Coach +system. He was apprenticed to the Post Office in Bristol, where his +talents, rectitude of conduct, and assiduity in the duties assigned him +gained for him the esteem and respect of all those connected with the +establishment; and, on the introduction by Mr. Palmer of the new system +of Mail Coaches, Mr. Freeling was appointed in 1785 his assistant to +carry the improvements into effect. He was introduced into the General +Post Office in 1787, and successively filled the office of surveyor, +principal surveyor, joint secretary with the late Anthony Todd, Esq., +and sole secretary for nearly half a century. + +In Mr. Dix's "Life of Chatterton," it is stated, on the authority of a +friend of the Chatterton family, that on Chatterton leaving for London, +"he took leave of several friends on the steps of Redcliff Church very +cheerfully. That at parting from them he went over the way to Mr. +Freeling's house." It is further stated that Mr. Freeling was father to +the late Sir F. Freeling. + +As regards Freeling's birthplace, information is forthcoming which seems +conclusive. In a collection of old Bristol sketches purchased for the +Museum and Library, there is a beautiful drawing of Redcliffe Hill, +executed about eighty years ago; and the artist, doubtless acting on +the evidence of old inhabitants--contemporaries of Freeling--has +distinctly marked the house where that gentleman was born, and noted the +fact in his own handwriting. + +[Illustration: + BIRTHPLACE OF SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART., + +_Secretary to the General Post Office_.] + +Permission has been obtained from the council of the Bristol Museum and +Reference Library for the picture to be photographed. The following +is the superscription on the back of the original pencil +drawing:--"Redcliffe Pit, Bristol. The house with this mark + at the +door is the house in which Sir Francis Freeling, Bart., was born. The +high building, George's patent shot tower, G. Delamotte, del. Jan. 12, +1831." A copy of the sketch is here reproduced. The house as "set back" +or re-erected is now known as 24, Redcliffe Hill. + +Sir Francis Freeling first carried on his secretarial duties at the old +Post Office in Lombard Street, once a citizen's Mansion. There he was +located for 30 years. + +On September 29th, 1829, the Lombard Street Office was abandoned as +Headquarters, and Freeling moved, with the secretarial staff under his +chieftainship, to St. Martin's-le-Grand. + +In 1833 the question arose whether the mail coaches should be obtained +by public competition, or by private agreement, but Sir Francis +Freeling's idea was to get the public service done well, irrespective of +the means. + +On this point Mr. Joyce, C.B., in his history of the Post Office, wrote +that in 1835 the contract for the supply of mail coaches was in the +hands of Mr. Vidler, of Millbank, who had held it for more than 40 +years, and little had been done during this period to improve the +construction of the vehicles he supplied. Designed after the pattern in +vogue at the end of the last century, they were, as compared with the +stage coaches, not only heavy and unsightly, but inferior both in point +of speed and accommodation. Commissioners appointed to inquire into the +system, altogether dissatisfied with the manner in which the contract +had been performed, arranged with the Government not only that the +service should be put up to public tender, but that Vidler should be +excluded from the competition. This decision was arrived at in July, +1835, and the contract expired on the 5th of January following. To +invite tenders would occupy time, and after that mail coaches would have +to be built sufficient in number to supply the whole of England and +Scotland. A period of five or six months was obviously not enough for +the purpose, and overtures were made to Vidler to continue his contract +for half a year longer. Vidler, incensed at the treatment he had +received, flatly refused. Not a day, not an hour, beyond the stipulated +time would he extend his contract, and on the 5th of January, 1836, all +the mail coaches in Great Britain would be withdrawn from the roads. +Freeling, now an old man, with this difficulty to overcome, had his old +energy revived, and when the 5th of January arrived there was not a road +in the kingdom, from Wick to Penzance, on which a new coach was not +running. It was then that the mail coaches reached their prime. + +Amongst the deaths announced in the _Felix Farley's Journal_ under date +of January 14th, 1804, is that of "the lady of Francis Freeling, Esq., +of the General Post Office," and another part of the paper contains the +following paragraph:-- + +"The untimely death of Mrs. Freeling is lamented far beyond the circle +of her own family, extensive as it is. The amiableness of her manner and +the rational accomplishments of her mind had conciliated a general +esteem for such worth, through numerous classes of respectable friends, +who naturally participate in its loss." + +Freeling's obituary notice, which appeared in the same _Journal_ on July +16, 1836, ran as follows: + +"Saturday last, died at his residence in Bryanston Square, London, in +the 73rd year of his age, Sir Francis Freeling, Bart., upwards of 30 +years Secretary to the General Post Office. Sir Francis was a native of +Bristol--he was born in Redcliffe Parish--and first became initiated in +the laborious and multifarious duties attendant upon the important +branch of the public service in which he was engaged in the Post Office +of this city of Bristol, from whence he was removed to the Metropolitan +Office in Lombard Street, on the recommendation of Mr. Palmer, the +former M.P. and Father of George Palmer, the present member for Bath, +who had observed during the period he was employed in first establishing +the mail-coach department the quickness of apprehension, the aptitude +for business, and the steadiness of conduct of his youthful protege. Sir +Francis rapidly rose to notice and preferment in his new situation; and +after his succession to the office of Chief Secretary, it is proverbial +that no public servant ever gave more general satisfaction by his +indefatigable attention to the interests of the community, or than he +invariably shewed to those of the meanest individual who addressed him; +whether from a peer or peasant, a letter of complaint always received a +prompt reply. The present admirable arrangements and conveniences of +that noble national establishment, the newly-erected Post Office, were +formed upon the experience and the suggestions of Sir Francis and his +eldest son. A more faithful and zealous servant the public never +possessed. The title he enjoyed was the unsolicited reward for his +services, bestowed upon him by his Royal Master George the 4th, from +whom he frequently received other flattering testimonials of regard and +friendship. In Sir Francis Freeling was to be found one of those +instances which so frequently occur in this country of the sure reward +to industry and talent when brought into public notice. In speaking of +his private character, those only can appreciate his worth who saw him +in the bosom of his family--to his fond and affectionate children his +loss will be irreparable. To possess his friendship was to have gained +his heart, for it may be truly said he never forgot the friend who had +won his confidence; particularly if the individual was one who, like +himself, had wanted the fostering hand of a superior. Sir Francis was +always found to be the ready and liberal patron of talent in every +department of literature, science, and the fine arts. Considering the +importance and multiplicity of his public avocations, it was surprising +to all his friends how he could have found leisure to store his mind +with the knowledge he had attained of the works and beauties of all our +most esteemed writers; his library contains one of the rarest and most +curious collections of our early authors, more particularly our poets +and dramatists; in the acquirement of these works he was engaged long +before it became the fashion to purchase a black letter poem, or +romance, merely because it was old or unique. But his highest +excellencies were the virtuous and religious principles which governed +his whole life; his purse was ever open to relieve the distress of an +unfortunate friend, or the wants of the deserving poor. Many were the +alms which he bestowed in secret; which can be testified by the writer +of this paragraph, who knew him well, and enjoyed his friendship." + +Miss Edith Freeling, now resident in Clifton, grand-daughter of Sir +Francis Freeling, and daughter of Sir Henry Freeling, and who was +actually born in the General Post Office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, London, +where her father had a residence as Assistant Secretary, has in her +possession several "antiques" belonging to her ancestors. + +A worn-out despatch box used by Sir Francis in sending his papers to the +Postmaster-General is one of the prized articles. A very handsome gold +seal cut with the Royal Arms, and bearing the legend--General Post +Office Secretary--is another of the relics. Likewise a smaller gold +seal with a Crown, and "God Save the King," as its legend. + +At the time of his death, Sir Francis Freeling's snuff boxes numbered +72, the majority of which had been presented to him. Apparently +"appreciations" took a tangible form in those days! His son, Sir Henry, +likewise had snuff boxes presented to him. + +A handsome specimen snuff box is now in Miss Freeling's hands. It is +made of tortoise-shell, it has the portrait of King George the IVth as a +gold medallion on the top, and was known as a Regency Box. The +inscription inside is, "This box was presented to G.H. Freeling by His +Majesty George IVth on board the Lightning steam packet on his birthday +twelfth August 1821 as a remembrance that we had been carried to Ireland +in a Steam Boat." As Sir Francis Freeling migrated from the Bristol +service to Bath in 1784, it must have been at the Old Bristol Post +Office, near the Exchange, indicated by the illustration, that he +commenced that public career which was destined to be one of brilliant +achievements for the department during the many years he presided +over it as permanent chief, and of great good to his country in the +way of providing means for people to communicate with each other more +readily than was the case before his day. + +[Illustration: THE OLD BRISTOL POST OFFICE IN EXCHANGE AVENUE.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +BRISTOL MAIL COACH ANNOUNCEMENTS, 1802-1830.--THE NEW GENERAL POST +OFFICE, LONDON. + + +How our forefathers got about the country, and how the Mails were +carried as time went on after Allen and Palmer had disappeared from Mail +scenes, and Freeling had taken up the reins, the following +announcements, taken from _Bonner and Middleton's Bristol Journal_, and +from the _Bristol Mirror_ respecting Mail Stage Coaches will aptly +indicate. They are quoted just as they appeared, so that editing may not +spoil their originality or interest:-- + +"A letter from Exeter, dated May 10, 1802, said:--'Last Thursday the +London mail, horsed by Mr. J. Land, of the New London Inn, Exeter, with +four beautiful grey horses, and driven by Mr. Cave-Browne, of the +Inniskilling Dragoons, started (at the sound of the bugle) from St. +Sydwells, for a bet of 500 guineas, against the Plymouth mail, horsed +by Mr. Phillips, of the Hotel, with four capital blacks, and driven by +Mr. Chichester, of Arlington House, which got the mail first to the Post +Office in Honiton. The bet was won easily by Mr. Browne, who drove the +sixteen miles in one hour and fourteen minutes.--Bets at starting, 6 to +4 on Mr. Browne. A very great concourse of people were assembled on this +occasion.'" + +On Saturday, October 2, 1802, it was announced that "the Union post +coach ran from Bristol every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday morning over +the Old Passage, through Chepstow and Monmouth to Hereford, where it met +other coaches, and returned the following days. Coaches left the White +Hart Inn and the Bush Tavern for Exeter and Plymouth every morning, by +the nearest road by ten miles. Fares: To Exeter, inside, L1 1s.; +outside, 14s.; to Plymouth, L1 11s. 6d. and L1 1s. Reduced fares are +offered by the London, Bath, and Bristol mail coaches--to and from +London to Bristol, inside, L2 5s.; from London to Bath, L2. Parcels +under 6lb. in weight taken at 6d. each, with an engagement to be +responsible for the safe delivery of such as are under L5 in value." + +In August, 1803, passenger traffic to Birmingham caused rivalry among +the coach proprietors. A new coach having started on this route, three +coaching advertisements were issued:-- + +Under the heading "Cheap Travelling to Birmingham," the "Jupiter" coach +was announced to run from the White Lion, Broad Street, every Monday and +Friday afternoon, at two o'clock; through Newport, Gloucester, +Tewkesbury, and Worcester to Birmingham; the "Nelson" coach from the +Bush Tavern and White Hart every morning at three; and the mail every +evening at seven. "Performed by Weeks, Williams, Poston, Coupland and +Co." + +The "Union" coach altered its times of leaving the Boar's Head, College +Place--"in order to render the conveyance as commodious and expeditious +as possible"--to Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings at seven o'clock, +over the Old Passage, through Chepstow, Monmouth, Abergavenny, and +Hereford, where it met the Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Chester, and Holyhead +coaches, and returned the following days, and met the Bath, Warminster, +Salisbury, and Southampton coaches every Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday +mornings at seven o'clock. "Performed by W. Williams, Bennett, Whitney, +Broome, Young and Co." + +"A new and elegant coach, called the 'Cornwallis,'" left the Lamb Inn, +Broadmead, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon, at two +o'clock, through Newport, Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Worcester, to the +George and Rose Inn, Birmingham, where it arrived early the next +morning, whence coaches set off for the Midlands, North Wales, and the +North of England. The proprietors pledged themselves that no pains +should be spared to make this a favourite coach with the public; and as +one of the proprietors would drive it a great part of the way, every +attention would be paid to the comfort of passengers. The fares of this +coach would at all times be as cheap as any other coach on the road, and +the proprietors expected a preference no longer than whilst endeavouring +by attention to merit it. "Performed by Thomas Brooks and Co., +Bristol." + +March 10, 1804:--"The 'Cornwallis' coach to Birmingham is to set out +from the Swan Inn, Maryport Street, at three every morning, Sundays +excepted, through Newport, Gloucester and Worcester, and arrive at the +Rose Inn, Birmingham, early the same evening. The fares of this coach +and the carriage of goods will be found at all times as cheap as any +other coach on the road." At this period Admiral Cornwallis, whose name +this coach bore, was fighting the French with his fleet off Brest. + +On August 19, in that year (1804), the public were respectfully +informed, that "a light four-inside coach leaves the original +Southampton and general coach offices, Bush Inn and Tavern, Bristol, +every morning (Sundays excepted), at seven o'clock precisely, and +arrives at the Coach and Horses Inn, Southampton, at five in the +afternoon. The Gosport coach, through Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and +Southampton, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings at five o'clock. To +Brighton, a four-inside coach in two days, through Warminster, +Salisbury, Romsey, Southampton, Chichester, Arundel, Worthing and +Shoreham, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at seven, sleeps at +Southampton, and arrives early the following afternoon. Portsmouth Royal +Mail, through Warminster, Sarum, Romsey, and Southampton every afternoon +at three o'clock. Also the Oxford Royal Mail, every morning at seven +o'clock." + +On August 18, 1823, the state of the roads comes under review:--"Mail +men, who have to drive rapidly over long distances, must ever be on the +look-out for the state in which the roads are kept. + +"In December, 1819, Mr. Johnson, Superintendent of Mail Coaches, had to +report to the House of Commons on the 'petition of Mr. McAdam,' who was +engaged in constructing and repairing of the public roads. + +"Previous to this the roads were very bad in most country places, except +the mail coach roads, built at the time the Romans came to England. + +"McAdam's expenses up to 1814 amounted to L5,019 6s., actually expended +by him up to August, 1814, and he had travelled 30,000 miles in 1,920 +days. + +"He held the position of general surveyor of the Bristol turnpike roads, +at a salary, first year L400, and each subsequent year of L500, but, +taking into account that the annual salary was L200 for expenses +'incident' to the office, the remaining L300 was not more than adequate +payment for the constant and laborious duties attached to the +situation." + +Under date of November 8, 1823, there is a list of Royal mails and +post-coaches despatched from and arriving at the Bush Tavern, Corn +Street, Bristol:--"London, daily, 4.0 p.m.; and at reduced fares by the +'Regent' at 9.0 p.m.; Milford and Waterford, via Cardiff and Swansea, +10.30 a.m. daily; Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, every evening at +7.0; Oxford, daily, at 7.0 a.m.; Portsmouth and Southampton, every +afternoon, at 4.0; Plymouth and Exeter, every morning, at 8; Birmingham, +Manchester and Liverpool, daily, at 6.0 a.m.; Portsmouth and +Southampton, by the 'Rocket,' at 7.0 a.m.; Gloster, Birmingham, +Liverpool, Manchester, and Holyhead leaves Bristol each day at 7.0 a.m." + +On July 1, 1826, the "Hero" coach is quoted as performing the journey +from Bristol to Birmingham in twelve hours. + +[Illustration: [_From "Stage Coach and Mail." By permission of Mr. C.G. +Harper._ + +HOW THE MAILS WERE CONVEYED TO BRISTOL IN THE DAYS OF KING GEORGE THE +FOURTH.] + +On January 21, 1826:--"From Wood's Office, Bell Yard, Thomas Street, +Bristol. Coaches. The 'London Shamrock,' light post-coach, five o'clock +every evening; arrives in London at half-past seven next morning. Runs +to the Spread Eagle Inn, Gracechurch Street, and Bull Inn, Aldgate. + +"'London Chronometer.' Cheap coach. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, +twelve o'clock. Fare: inside, 21s.; outside, 10s. 6d. Runs to Gerrard's +Hall, Basing Lane, Cheapside. + +"Exeter, Plymouth, Devonport, Totnes, Newton-Bushel, Ashburton, +Tiverton, Wellington, Taunton, and Bridgwater. 'Royal Devon' Coach, +every afternoon at four o'clock. + +"Bath. Every morning, at eight, ten, and twelve o'clock, and at five in +the evening." + +January 21, 1826:--"Plume of Feathers, General Coach Office, Wine +Street, Bristol. W. Clift takes the present opportunity to return his +sincere thanks to the public for the preference they have given to his +coaches; and begs to inform them that the 'Traveller' coach, to Exeter, +is this day removed from Congdon's Hotel to the Old London Inn, and +leaves there for Bristol every evening, at half-past five, and arrives +at Bristol at half-past five in the morning, in time for the coaches to +Gloucester, Cheltenham, Worcester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, +Holyhead, and all parts of the North; leaves Bristol at seven every +morning, proceeds through Bridgwater, Taunton and Tiverton, and arrives +at Exeter at six the same evening. + +"The proprietors, for the better accommodation of their friends, have +declined the conveyance of fish by this coach, and pledge themselves +that no pains shall be wanting to render it the most comfortable as well +as the most expeditious coach on the road. + +"Four-inside coaches to all parts of England daily. Performed by Clift, +Pratt and Co." + +Saturday, December 30, 1826:--"We are informed that memorials to the +Lords of the Treasury and to the General Post Office, to establish a +mail-coach from Cheltenham, through Tewkesbury, over the Tewkesbury +Severn Bridge to Ledbury, and from thence to Hereford, are now in +course of signature through the neighbourhood connected with that line +of road. The advantages of such an arrangement will be most important, +as it will give to the inhabitants of that city two hours to answer, on +the same day, letters received in the morning from London, Bristol, +Birmingham, and all parts of the North and West, and also from Scotland +and from all parts of the north of Ireland. Should this object be +attained, the intended new mail will bring the London letters for +Hereford from Cheltenham on the arrival there of the Gloucester mail; +and the present Bristol and Birmingham mails will leave the Ledbury and +Hereford letters at Tewkesbury, instead of at Worcester, as now done." + +October 13, 1827:--"Royal Mail and General Coach Office, Bush Tavern, +Corn Street, Bristol. New mails to Exeter, Plymouth and Barnstaple. The +public are respectfully informed that the Royal mail will in future +leave the Bush coach office daily, nine a.m., via Bridgwater, Taunton, +Wellington, Collumpton, and arrive in Exeter six p.m., leaving for +Plymouth six-thirty p.m. and arriving there eleven p.m. 'same night,' +making the journey, Bristol to Plymouth, in 'only fourteen hours.' + +"Also Royal mail to Barnstaple, daily, nine-thirty a.m., via Taunton, +Wiveliscombe, Bampton and South Molton. + +"Each mail will arrive at Bristol at five p.m., in time for the London +mail at five-twenty p.m., and of the 'Sovereign' four-inside coach to +London six p.m." + +April 21, 1832:--"From the Bush Coach Office, the day coach, the +'Regulator,' daily (except Sundays) at six-thirty p.m., and arrives at +the White Horse Cellars, Piccadilly, and the Bull and Mouth, St. +Martin's-le-Grand, precisely at eight o'clock." + +"The Weston-super-Mare coach, the 'Magnet,' left Weston nine a.m., and +on return left the Bush three-forty-five p.m., through Congresbury, +Cleeve, and Backwell. + +"The 'Hope' left Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at +eight-thirty a.m., and returned from the Plume of Feathers at +four-thirty p.m. same day." + +[Illustration: [_By permission of Mr. F.E. Baines, C.B. From "On the +Track of the Mail Coach."_ + +THE BRISTOL, BATH AND LONDON COACH TAKING UP MAILS WITHOUT HALTING.] + +"Royal mail to Portsmouth, daily, five-fifteen p.m., return journey, +Portsmouth seven p.m., arrive White Lion eight-thirty next day." + +In 1830, the "Bull and Mouth" in St. Martin's-le-Grand was a great coach +rendezvous. A strong and penetrating aroma of horses and straw pervaded +its neighbourhood, in Bull-and-Mouth Street. + +The Gloucester and Aberystwith mail-coach continued to run until the +year 1854, and it is believed that was the last regular main road +mail-coach which was kept on the road. Its guard from 1836 to its +abolition in 1854 was Moses James Nobbs. + +The London mail coaches of the period loaded up at about half-past seven +at their respective inns, and then assembled at the Post Office yard in +St. Martin's-le-Grand to receive the bags. All, that is to say, except +seven coaches carrying West of England mails--the Bath, Bristol, +Devonport, Exeter, Gloucester, Southampton, and Stroud--which started +from Piccadilly. + +A contemporary writer said:--"Wonderful building, the new General Post +Office, opened in 1829, nearly opposite. They say the Government has +got something very like a white elephant in that vast pile. A great deal +too big for present needs, or, indeed, for any possible extension of +Post Office business." + +And yet, in the 75 years which have elapsed two other Post Offices of +equal size have been built near it, and acres of ground at Mount +Pleasant--a mile off--have been covered with buildings for Post Office +purposes! + +[Illustration: THE GENERAL POST OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S-LE-GRAND, LONDON, +IN 1830.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BRISTOL AND PORTSMOUTH MAIL FROM 1772 ONWARDS.--PROJECTED SOUTH +COAST RAILWAY FROM BRISTOL, 1903.--THE BRISTOL TO SALISBURY POST BOY +HELD UP.--MAIL COACH ACCIDENTS.--LUKE KENT AND RICHARD GRIFFITHS, THE +MAIL GUARDS. + + +In 1903, in connection with a projected new railway from Bristol to +Basingstoke the promoters made a strong point of the fact that the +letters for the first delivery in the important South Coast towns, such +as Portsmouth and Southampton, could not be posted quite so late in +Bristol then as could those which were carried in the olden days by the +mail coaches throughout. + +A deputation, consisting of Mr. John Mardon, Mr. Sidney Humphries, Mr. +Bolt, and Mr. H.J. Spear (Secretary), representing the Chamber of +Commerce and Shipping, waited on the Postmaster-General, at the House of +Commons, London, respecting the imperfect service, and they did not fail +to point out to him (Mr. Austen Chamberlain) the time-table of the old +mail coach by way of contrast with the present service by railway. + +Mr. Austen Chamberlain, replying to the deputation, said that, as +regarded the mail arrangements, he thought he had no need to show them +that he recognised the importance of Bristol as a great commercial +centre, or how largely recent developments had increased that +importance. He was also alive to the necessity of prompt means of +communication, but he was not wholly his own master. They had complained +that the train service to the South and South-Eastern Counties was very +inconvenient. That, unfortunately, was the only means of communication +upon which he had to rely. If they had been able to put before him +trains which he did not use for the transmission of mails, he might have +been able to provide facilities. With the existing train facilities the +Post Office business was conducted as well as it could be conducted. +That being so, there was no way by which he could improve that service, +except by requiring of the companies concerned that they should provide +a special train for Post Office purposes. He was afraid that trains run +at the hours which would be necessary to meet their wishes would not +secure much passenger traffic, and the whole cost of the running would +fall upon the Postmaster-General. He would closely watch the matter, and +if he could see his way he would not be reluctant to provide them with +what they desired. At present the service was the best in his power to +afford. They were probably aware that the Post Office was experimenting +in certain places with motor-cars, and if they were found to be +reliable, that might be a way out of the difficulty. He should keep that +before him as a possibility, if further railway facilities were not +forthcoming. He regretted that he could not make a more hopeful +statement. All he could say was that he did not think the service was +satisfactory for a great commercial centre like Bristol, and if he saw +his way to provide them with something better he would certainly not +neglect to do so. + +It may be opportune here to recall the mail services of the past. + +From an "Account of the Days and Hours of the Post coming in and going +out at Salisbury," the following has been gleaned. The "Account" is a +broad sheet, and was printed in Salisbury in 1772 by Sully and +Alexander. The name of Daniel P. Safe, postmaster, is inscribed at the +foot of the "Account":-- + + Comes in from Bristol through Bath, Bradford, Trowbridge, Devizes, + Westbury, Warminster, Heytesbury, Wells, Shepton Mallet, Frome, + etc., etc., Monday about Seven at Night; and Wednesday and Friday, + about Three in the Afternoon. + + Goes out to Heytesbury, Westbury, Devizes, Trowbridge, Bradford, + Bath, Bristol, Warminster, Frome, Shepton Mallet, Wells, etc., etc., + Sunday at Ten at Night; and Wednesday and Friday at Six in the + Evening. + + Comes in from Portsmouth, Gosport, Isle of Wight, Guernsey, Jersey, + Southampton, New Forest, Winton, Romsey, on Sunday, Wednesday and + Friday, at Six in the Evening. + + Goes out to Romsey, Winton, New Forest, Southampton, Guernsey, + Jersey, Isle of Wight, Gosport, Portsmouth, on Sunday, Tuesday, and + Thursday at Eleven in the Morning. + +The official bag seal of the period was inscribed thus:-- + +[Illustration] + +The Bristol and Portsmouth Mail Coach was established under the +immediate superintendence of Francis Freeling, Secretary to the General +Post Office, who travelled on the coach on its first journey about the +year 1786. + +In the year 1793 the Salisbury, Portsmouth, and Chichester mails went +out from Bristol every morning at seven, and arrived in Bristol every +evening between nine and eleven. At that period the coaches from Bristol +for the Southern Counties started thus:--Bush Tavern, Corn Street, John +Weeks; for Weymouth a post coach every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday +morning at 5; for Portsmouth a post coach every Tuesday, Thursday, and +Saturday morning at four, so that probably the mail which left at 7 a.m. +daily was carried by mail cart and postboy. + +In about the year 1798 a "long" coach set out from Mr. Crosse's, the +Crown Inn, Portsmouth, to Southampton, Salisbury, Bath, and Bristol, +every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon; and from Gosport every +Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, to the White Hart Inn, Bristol. + +The methods of service in 1798 and the perils of the road are indicated +by the following public notice, viz.:-- + + "General Post Office, "October 11th, 1798. + + "The postboy carrying the mail from Bristol to Salisbury on the 9th + instant was stopped between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock + at night by two men on foot within six miles of Salisbury, who + robbed him of seven shillings in money, but did not offer to take + the mail. Whoever shall apprehend the culprit, or cause to be + apprehended and convicted both or either of the persons who + committed this robbery, will be entitled to a reward of fifty pounds + over and above the reward given by Act of Parliament for + apprehending highwaymen. If either party will surrender himself and + discover his accomplice he will be admitted as evidence for the + Crown, receive His Majesty's most gracious pardon, and be entitled + to the said reward. + + "By command of the Postmaster-General. + "FRANCIS FREELING, Secretary." + +There is no record that anyone claimed the reward. + +In 1828 the mail went out from Bristol at twenty minutes past five +o'clock for Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth, and Chichester, and +arrived every day previously to the London mail--thus Chichester, in +Sussex, was linked up with the Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire +mails at that early period. The charge for the postage of a letter from +Bristol to Portsmouth was at that time ninepence. + +Luke Kent was the first individual who filled the place of Guard of the +Chichester mail coaches. At his death he left a sum of money, on the +condition of the Mail Guard always blowing the horn when he passed the +place of his interment, Farlington Church, near Havant. + +Prior to becoming a Mail Guard, Luke Kent kept the turnpike gate at Post +Bridge, and afterwards became landlord of the Goat public house, where +he amassed a good fortune. He then opened the Sadler's Wells and was +assisted by James Perry, the most celebrated mimic of his time, who +assumed the name of Rossignal. He was accustomed to procure a variety +of birds, and, having first given his excellent imitation of the songs +of each, to let them loose amongst the audience, to their no small +gratification. The scheme failed. + +In June, 1804, one of the Portsmouth night coaches, having six inside +and fifteen outside passengers, besides a surplus of luggage, was +overturned near Godalming, Surrey. Twelve of the passengers sustained +considerable hurt, and nine were obliged to be left behind; the lives of +two children were said to be despaired of. "We are astonished at the +temerity of the public in trusting themselves to such vehicles." + +A Time Bill of 1823, which gives details of a Coach Service at that +period, appears on page 83. + +GENERAL POST-OFFICE. +THE EARL OF CHICHESTER AND THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY, HIS +MAJESTY'S POSTMASTERS-GENERAL. + +PORTSMOUTH AND BRISTOL: + +Contractors'| Number of | | Time |Dispatched from the Post Office, Portsmouth, +Names. |Passengers.|Miles.|allowed|1823, at 7.20, 22nd March. + |In. Out.| |H. M.| + | | | | + | | | | by Clock. + | | | | {With a Time-Piece safe. + {| | | |Coach No. 240 sent out {No. 69 to Devonshire. +Rogers {| 4 | 4 | 9 | 1 10 |Arrived at Fareham, at 8.30. + {| 4 | 4 |12-1/2| 1 50 |Arrived at Southampton, at 10.20. + {| | | | 10 | Ten Minutes allowed for Office Duty. +Rogers | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 5 |Arrived at Rumsey, at 11.35. +Weeks | 3 | 4 | 16 | 2 20 |Arrived at Salisbury, at 1.55. + | | | | 10 | Ten Minutes allowed for Office Duty. +Hilliar | 1 | 1 | 22 | 3 0 |Arrived at Warminster, at 5.5. + {| 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 5 |Arrived at Beckington, at 6.10. +Pickwick {| 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 40 |Arrived at Bath, at 7.50. + {| | | | 10 | Ten Minutes allowed for Office Duty. + {| 1 | 2 |13-1/2| 1 40 |Arrived at the Post-Office, Bristol, the 23 of + | | +------+-------+March, 1823, at 9.40 by Time-Piece + | | | 99 |14 20 | at 9.40 by Clock. + | | +------+-------+ Devonshire. + | | | | | {Delivered the Time-Piece + | | | | | safe. + | | | | |Coach No. 240 arrived {No. 69 to Office. + | | | | | Thomas Cole. + +The Time of working each Stage is to be reckoned from the Coach's +Arrival, and as any Time lost, is to be recovered in the course of the +Stage, it is the Coachman's Duty to be as expeditious as possible, and +to report the Horse-keepers if they are not always ready when the Coach +arrives, and active in getting it off. The Guard is to give his best +assistance in changing, whenever his Official Duties do not prevent it. + + November, 1832.----250. + By Command of the Postmasters-General, + CHARLES JOHNSON, + Surveyor and Superintendent. + + +In 1826, a coachman on this road was accused of imperilling his +passengers through having imbibed too freely, and the Mail Guard was +called on in the following letter to report on the matter:-- + +"General Post Office, 29th July, 1826. Sir,--The passengers who +travelled with the Portsmouth and Bristol mail on the 26th instant, +having complained that the coachman who drove on that day from Bristol +to Warminster was drunk and unfit to drive I have to desire you will +explain the reason why you neglected to report to me so great and so +disgraceful an irregularity, and also how it happened that you did not +know the coachman's name when the passengers asked you for it. I am, +sir, yours, etc., + + C. JOHNSON.--Mr. Folwell, Mail Guard, Bristol." + +The explanation is not forthcoming. + +In 1830, many of the public coaches started from Portsmouth and passed +through Portsea and Landport, but-- + + "In olden time two days were spent + 'Twixt Portsmouth and the Monument; + When flying Diligences plied, + When men in Roundabouts would ride + And, at the surly driver's will, + Get out and climb each tedious hill. + But since the rapid Freeling's age, + How much improved the English stage, + Now in eight hours with ease, the post + Reaches from Newgate Street our coast." + +In the years 1837 and 1838 the Portsmouth mail coach was despatched at +7.5 p.m., from Bristol Post Office--then located at the corner of +Exchange Avenue. The posting of letters without fee was allowed up to +6.35 p.m., and, with fee, paid and unpaid letters alike up to 6.50 p.m. +The coach started from the White Lion coach office, Broad Street, at +6.45 p.m., so as to be in readiness at the Post Office to take up the +mails at the appointed time. The arrival of the mail at Portsmouth from +Bristol was at 6.45 a.m. These times are an improvement upon the service +in operation in 1836. At that time the coach left Bristol at 5.30 p.m., +with a posting up to 5.0 p.m. without fee, and with fees paid, up to +5.15 p.m. On the inward journey the Coach did not arrive until 8.9 a.m. + +It will be appropriate here to enumerate certain interesting incidents +connected with the carrying on of the Mail Coach system. + +On Saturday, Jan. 5, 1805, the London Mail of Friday se'nnight, had not +arrived at Swansea where it was due early in the morning, till eleven +o'clock that night, having been detained seventeen hours at the New +Passage, in consequence of such large shoals of ice floating down the +Severn as to render it unsafe for the mail boat to cross until Friday +morning. + +Thursday se'nnight, an inquest was held at Swansea on the body of John +Paul, driver of the mail coach between that place and Caermarthen which +on Sunday was overturned about two miles from Swansea, while proceeding +with great rapidity down a hill, it being supposed the coachman's hands +were so benumbed with cold that he could not restrain the horses' speed, +the consequence of which was that he was so much bruised as to occasion +his death on Wednesday night. The guard was slightly hurt, but the +passengers escaped uninjured. Verdict, accidental death. + +Very few details exist of that exceptional season, in 1806, when Nevill, +a guard on the Bristol mail, was frozen to death; but the records of the +great snowstorm that began on the Christmas night of 1836 are more +copious. + +A valuable reminiscence of that night--Dec. 27, 1836--is Pollard's +graphic picture of the Devonport mail snowed up at Amesbury. Six horses +could not move it, and Guard F. Feecham was in parlous plight. Pollard's +companion picture of the Liverpool mail in the snow near St. Alban's on +the same night is equally interesting. Guard James Burdett fared little +better than his comrade on the Devonport mail: + +"An accident occurred to the Worcester mail Coach on Friday evening, +March 27, 1829, opposite the Bull and Mouth Office, in Piccadilly, +which, we are sorry to say, has proved fatal to Turner, the coachman. +Just as Turner had taken hold of the reins, and while he was wrapping a +large coat over his knees, the leaders started, and, turning sharply to +the right, dashed one of the fore-wheels against a post. The shock was +so violent that the coachman was flung from his seat. He fell on his +back, and his neck came violently against the curb-stone. Not a moment +was lost in securing the assistance of a surgeon, by whom he was bled. +The poor man was shortly removed to St. George's Hospital, where he died +at about eight o'clock on Saturday evening. He left a wife and three +infant children in a state of destitution, without even the means of +buying a coffin." + +As a "Caution to Mail Coachmen," the following notice was issued on June +20, 1829:--"On Friday, Thomas Moor, the driver of the London mail from +Bristol to Calne and back, appeared before the Magistrates at +Brislington to answer an information laid against him by Mr. Bull, the +Inspector of Mail Coaches, by order of the G.P.O. for giving up the +reins to an outside passenger, and permitting him to drive the mail, on +May 29 last, from Keynsham to Bath, against the remonstrances of the +guard. The magistrates convicted Moor in the mitigated penalty of L5 and +11s. costs. Mr. Bull presented the Bath Hospital with the amount of the +fine." + +On September 8th, 1837, a coachman named Burnett was killed at +Speenhamland, on the Bath Road. He was driving one of the New Company's +London and Bristol stages, and alighted at the "Hare and Hounds," very +foolishly leaving the horses unattended, with reins on their backs. He +had been a coachman for 20 years, but experience had not been sufficient +to prevent him thus breaking one of the first rules of the profession. +He had no sooner entered the Inn than the rival Old Company's coach came +down the road. Whether the other coachman gave the horses a touch with +his whip as he passed, or if they started of their own accord, is not +known, but they did start, and Burnett, rushing out to stop them, was +thrown down and trampled on, so that he died. + +There departed this life at Bristol, in November, 1904, a somewhat +notable individual in the person of Richard Griffiths, who was born at +Westminster, in the year 1811, and entered the service of the Post +Office as a Mail Guard on the 17th November, 1834. At the commencement +of his service he was employed as Guard to the London and Norwich, _via_ +Newmarket Mail Coach, upon which duty he remained until the coach ceased +running on the 5th January, 1846, when he was transferred to the London +and Dover Railway, and acted as Mail Train Guard thereon. When a +Travelling Post Office was established in 1860 on the Dover line of +railway, and the necessity for a Guard to the Mail bags thus removed, +Griffiths was ordered to the South Wales Railway, where he remained as +Mail Train Guard until superannuated on the 25th August, 1870. He lived +at Eastville, in Bristol, under the care at last of Mrs. Barrett, a +kind old dame, who made him very comfortable, and on his demise, after +being on pension for 34 years, he bequeathed his old battered Mail Coach +horn to her (_see illustration_). It is probable that the horn was used +on the last Norwich Coach out of London. The maker's name on it is "J.A. +Turner, 19 Poultry." + +On November 9, 1822, attention was drawn to the "Musical Coachman" +thus:--"The blowing of the horn by the coachman and guards of our +mail-coaches has usually been considered a sort of nuisance: now, by the +persevering labours of these ingenious gentlemen, converted into an +instrument of public gratification. Most of the guards of the +stage-coaches now make their entrance and exit to the tune of some old +national ballad, which, though it may not, perhaps, be played at present +in such exact time and tune as would satisfy the leader of the opera +band, is yet pleasant in comparison to the unmeaning and discordant +strains which formerly issued from the same quarter." + +[Illustration: AN OLD MAIL COACH GUARD'S POST HORN.] + +April, 1832:--"The Tipsy Member" finds mention thus: "An M.P. applied +to the Post Office to know why some of his franks had been charged; The +answer was, 'We supposed, sir, they were not your writing; the 'hand' is +not 'the same.' 'Why, not precisely; but the truth is I happened to be a +_little tipsy_ when I wrote them.' 'Then, sir, you will be so good in +future as to write 'drunk' when you make 'free.'" + +In this book are depicted an old State Coach, the Mail Coach, the +primitive Railway Train, and a Railway Engine of the latest pattern, all +indicative of progress in locomotion. To complete the series, and for +the purpose of historical record, subjoined is a picture of the first +Motor vehicle used (1904-1905) in Bristol for the rapid transport of His +Majesty's Mails by road. No doubt, in process of time, this handy little +5-horse power car, built to a Bristol Post Office design, to carry loads +of 3-1/2 cwt., and constructed by the Avon Motor Company, Keynsham, near +Bristol, will have numerous fellow cars darting about in the roads and +crowded thoroughfares of Bristol for the collection of letters and +parcels in conjunction with larger cars of higher horse power to do the +heavy station traffic and country road work. + +Still, little "Mercury" will have the credit of being the pioneer car in +the Bristol Post Office Service. During its trials the car did really +useful service, and did not once break down. + +[Illustration: THE "AVON" TRIMOBILE, USED BY THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE BUSH TAVERN, BRISTOL'S FAMOUS COACHING INN, AND JOHN WEEKS, ITS +WORTHY BONIFACE, 1775-1819.--THE WHITE LION COACHING HOUSE, BRISTOL. +ISAAC NIBLETT.--THE WHITE HART, BATH. + + +It appears that John Weeks was landlord of the Bush Tavern, Bristol, +from 1775 to 1801, and continued to be a coach proprietor until 1806. In +the Eastern cloister of Bristol Cathedral there is a mural tablet +erected to his memory, with a well-executed medallion portrait of him in +profile, with inscription as shown in the illustration. + +Verger Sproule, of old time, who was born in the first year of the +nineteenth century, once told Mr. Morgan, present senior lay clerk, that +he well remembered John Weeks, and that the portrait on the tablet was +an excellent likeness of him. + +In "Mornings at Matlock," by Robey Skelton Mackenzie, D.C.L., author of +"Titian: an Art Novel" (London, Henry Colburn, publisher, 1850), a book +which contains a collection of twenty-six short stories supposed to have +been told by people stopping at Matlock, there is an interesting story +relating to what was known as the Bush Guinea. Briefly told, Dr. +Mackenzie's Bush Guinea story runs thus:--"It was the delight of this +Boniface (John Weeks) on every Christmas Day, to cover the great table +with a glorious load of roast beef and plum pudding, flanked most +plenteously with double home-brewed of such mighty strength and glorious +flavour that we might well have called it malt wine rather than malt +liquor. At this table on that day every one who pleased was welcome to +sit down and feast. Many to whom a good dinner was an object did so; and +no nobler sight was there in Bristol, amidst all its wealth and +hospitality, than that of honest John Weeks at the head of his table, +lustily carving and pressing his guests to 'Eat, drink, and be merry.' +Nor did his generosity content itself with this. + +[Illustration: MURAL TABLET IN BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.] + +"It was the custom of the house and of the day, when the repast was +ended, that each person should go to honest John Weeks in the bar and +there receive his cordial wishes for many happy returns of the genial +season. They received something more, for according to their several +necessities a small gift of money was pressed upon each. To one man a +crown; to another, half-a-guinea; to a third, as more needing it a +guinea. On the whole some twenty or thirty guineas were thus disbursed. + +"On one particular year it had been noticed during the months of +November and December, that a middle-aged man, whom no frequenter of the +Bush Inn appeared to know, and who appeared to know no one, used to +visit about noon every day, and calling for a sixpenny glass of brandy +and water, sit over it until he had carefully gone through the perusal +of the London paper of the previous evening. On Christmas Eve, honest +John Weeks, anxious that the decayed gentleman should have one meal at +least in the 'Bush,' delicately hinted that on the following day he kept +open table. Punctually at one o'clock, being the appointed hour, he +appeared at the Bush in his usual seedy attire. John Weeks called his +head waiter, a sagacious, well-powdered, steady man, to whom he +confidently entrusted the donation which he had set aside for the +decayed gentleman. The decayed gentleman quietly put it in his pocket, +from which he drew a card. The inscription on the card was simply +'Thomas Coutts, 59, Strand.' Amongst the heirlooms which she most +particularly prized, the late Duchess of St. Albans, widow of Thomas +Coutts, used to show a coin richly mounted in a gorgeous bracelet, which +coin bore the name of 'The Bush Guinea.'" + +Numerous as the passengers were by the many coaches starting from the +Bush Inn, yet evidently John Weeks was in the habit of finding enough +food for them to eat, and the wherewithal to fortify themselves with, +ere they set out on their long coach journeys. The Bill of Fare for the +guests at that hostelry during the festive season of 1790 shows that our +ancestors had an excellent conception of Christmas cheer. For variety +and quantity it could not easily be surpassed, and in these +"degenerate" days could not even be equalled. But let it speak for +itself. + +CHRISTMAS, 1790. + + One Turtle, weight 47 lb.; 68 Pots Turtle; British Turtle Giblet + Soup; Gravy Soup; Pea Soup; Soup and Bouille; Mutton Broth; Barley + Broth; 4 Turbots; 7 Cod; 2 Brills; 2 Pipers; 12 Dories; 2 Haddocks; + 14 Rock Fish; 18 Carp; 16 Perch; 2 Salmon; 12 Plaice; 164 Herrings; + Sprats; Soles; 22 Eels; Salt Fish. Doe VENISON: 10 Haunches, 10 + Necks, 10 Breasts, 10 Shoulders; 37 Hares; 14 Pheasants; Grouse; 32 + Partridges; 94 Wild Ducks; Wild Geese; 32 Teal; 27 Wigeon; 6 Bald + Cootes; 1 Sea Pheasant; 3 Mews; 4 Moor Hens; 2 Water Dabs; 2 + Curlews; Bittern; 61 Wood Cocks; 49 Snipes; 7 Wild Turkies; 8 Golden + Plovers; 5 Quist; 2 Land Rails; 13 Galenas; 4 Pea Hens; 26 Pigeons; + 121 Larks; 26 Stares; 108 Small Birds; 44 Turkies; 8 Capons; 9 + Ducks; 5 Geese; 63 Chicken; 4 Ducklings; 18 Rabbits; 3 Pork + Griskins; 11 Veal Burrs; 1 Roasting Pig; Oysters, Stewed and + Scolloped; Eggs; Hogs Puddings; Ragood Feet and Ears; Scotch + Collops; Veal Cutlets; Harricoad Mutton; Maintenon Chops; Pork + Chops; Mutton Chops; Rump Steaks; Joint Steaks; Sausages; Hambro' + Sausages; Tripe; Cow Heel; Notlings; 3 House Lambs. VEAL: 5 Legs, 2 + Loins, 1 Breast, 4 Calves' Heads. BEEF: 5 Rumps, 1 Sirloin, 5 Ribs, + 1 Pinbone, Duch Beef, Hambro' Beef. MUTTON: 16 Haunches, 8 Necks, 8 + Legs, 11 Loins, 6 Saddles, 6 Chines, 5 Shoulders. PORK: 4 Loins, 2 + Legs, 2 Chines, 2 Spare-Ribs, 1 Porker. COLD: Boar's-Head; Baron + Beef, 3 c. 1 qr.; 6 Hams; 4 Tongues; 6 Chicken; Hogs Feet and Ears; + 7 Collars Brawn; 2 Rounds Beef; Collard Veal and Mutton; Collard + Eels and Pig's Head; Rein Deers' Tongues; Dutch Tongues; Harts + Tongues; Bologna Tongues; Parague Pie; French Pies; Pigeon Pies; + Venison Pasty; Sulks; 470 Minced Pies; 13 Tarts; 218 Jellies; 800 + Craw Fish; Pickled Salmon; Sturgeon; Pickled Oysters; Potted + Partridges; Crabs; 24 Lobsters; 52 Barrels Pyfleet and Colchester + Oysters; Milford and Tenby Oysters; Pines. + +So far as can be ascertained, Matthew Stretch kept the tavern from 1801 +to 1805, and James Anderson in 1805 and 1806. Mr. John Townsend was +"mine host" from 1807 until 1826. Unfortunately, none of his descendants +possess a portrait of him. Mr. Charles Townsend, of St. Mary's, Stoke +Bishop, Bristol, has in his possession the original lease, in which the +Bush Tavern in Corn Street was transferred, on the 18th December, 1806, +from Mr. John Weeks, wine merchant, on the one part, to Mr. John +Townsend on the other part, at a yearly rental of L395 of lawful money +of the United Kingdom--the term to be for fourteen years. The stables +and coach houses "of him, the said John Weeks," situated in Wine Street, +were included in the transfer. Out of the rental the yearly sum of L20 +had to be paid by the owner, John Weeks, to the parish of St. Ewen, for +that part of the coffee house which stood in the said parish. + +As showing how John Weeks safeguarded his monopoly of coach-running to +and from the Bush Tavern, there was this stipulation in the lease:--"The +said John Townsend shall and will from time to time and at all times +during the continuance of this demise take in and receive at the said +Tavern, hereby demised, all and every Stage Coach or Public Carriage +which shall belong to the said John Weeks at any time during this term, +under the penalty of Two thousand Pounds, and that he, the said John +Townsend, shall not nor will at any time during the said Term, if the +said John Weeks shall so long run carriages of the aforesaid +description, take in at the said Tavern or Coffee Room any Public Stage +Coach or by way of evasion any Public Carriage whatsoever used as a +public stage belonging to any person or persons whomsoever without the +consent and approbation of the said John Weeks &c. in writing for that +purpose first had and obtained under the penalty of two thousand pounds +to be paid for any default in the observance and performance of the +covenants herein before contained in that behalf." + +According to Paterson's "Roads," John Weeks in 1794 occupied a homestead +called "The Rodney," at Filton Hay, 4 miles from Bristol on the Bristol +to Tewkesbury Road. + +The following advertisement from a very old newspaper will be +interesting as indicative that in addition to the John Weeks, of Bush +Inn fame, Bristol, there was at the Portsmouth end of the Mail Coach +route another worthy of the same name, likewise engaged in the carrying +trade, but by sea instead of land:--"John Weeks, Master of the Duke of +Gloster Sloop, takes this method to thank his friends and the public for +their past favours in the Southampton and Portsmouth passage trade, and +hopes for a continuance of the same, as they may depend on his care, and +the time of sailing more regular than for many years past. He sails from +Southampton every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and returns every +Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, wind and weather permitting." + +In the _Bristol Journal_ of Saturday, July 28, 1804, "James Anderson +(who kept the Lamb Inn, Broadmead, eleven years), begged to inform his +old friends and the public in general that he has taken the Bush Inn, +Tavern, and Coffee-house, facing the Exchange, Bristol," where he hoped, +by constant attention, reasonable charges, &c., to render everything +agreeable and convenient to those who might kindly give a preference to +his house. There had evidently been some friction at the Bush under the +late management, for Mr. Anderson also intimated that "those gentlemen +who withdrew from the Bush Coffee-room (upon Huntley's leaving it) are +solicited to use it, gratis, until Christmas next." + +In an advertisement following the above, John Weeks solicited support to +his new tenant at the Bush, and added--"In the case of large dinners, or +other public occasions, John Weeks will assist Mr. Anderson to give +satisfaction." + +On the site of the 'Bush,' the head offices of the late West of England +and South Wales District Bank were erected. The directors of the Bristol +and West of England Bank purchased the premises on December 31st, 1880. +Lloyd's Bank now stands on the site. + +The White Lion, Bristol, was one of the most famous coaching houses in +England, east, west, north, or south. It stood in Broad Street, a +thoroughfare which belied its name as regards breadth, and could only be +considered broad by comparison with the even narrower Small Street, +which ran parallel with it. Yet at one time there were as many coaches +passing in and out of Broad Street as any street in Bristol, or even in +London! + +That the White Lion had attained a venerable age may be judged from the +fact that it is mentioned in a list of old Bristol inns and taverns, +published in 1606. On May 10, 1610, the Duke of Brunswick visited +Bristol, and took up his quarters at this house. In 1621 the Earl of +Essex, and in more modern times, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, +lodged there. The father of Sir Thomas Lawrence was host of the White +Lion before he removed to the Bear Inn, Devizes. In 1684, it appears to +have been the occasional hostelry of a Duke of Beaufort, for in that +year, during Monmouth's rebellion, His Grace of Badminton was in +Bristol, where he commanded several regiments of militia against the +insurgents; and on that occasion "the backward stables of the White +Lion, in Brode Street, were set on fire, and therein were burnt to death +two of the Duke of Beaufort's best saddle horses. It was supposed to +have been done by the malice and envy of the fanaticks, of whom a great +many were sent prisoners from Bristol to Gloucester, and there secured +till the rebellion was over." + +In Matthew's "New History or Complete Guide to Bristol" for the year +1793, there are the following entries respecting this erstwhile great +coaching establishment:-- + +WHITE LION, BROAD STREET.--Thomas Luce proprietor. To London: A coach in +two days sets out on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at seven o'clock +in the morning. + +WHITE HART INN, BROAD STREET.--(The White Hart adjoined the White Lion, +and was a distinct hostelry so far back as 1606.) George Poston. To +London: A coach in one day every morning at four o'clock. To Birmingham: +A coach every morning (Sundays excepted) at four o'clock, also a mail +coach every evening at seven o'clock. To Gloucester: A coach every +morning at eight o'clock. To Exeter: A coach every Monday, Wednesday, +and Friday morning at six. To Bath: A coach every morning at nine +o'clock and four in the afternoon. + +The _Bristol Mirror_ made announcements touching the White Lion +thus:--"March 10, 1804. Wonderful cheap travelling. Fare inside 10s. +6d., outside 8s. The public are respectfully informed that coaches set +out every Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday morning from the White Lion +and White Hart, John Turner, Landlord, and arrive at Birmingham the same +evening. Performed by Weeks, Poston & Co. + +"November 8, 1823. J. Niblett, White Lion, Broad Street, announces +change of Royal Mail coach route to London and back. The Emerald Post +coach would run _via_ Bath, Devizes, Marlborough, and Maidenhead. L1 +18s. inside, 16s. outside. + +"April 12, 1832: New Royal Mail coach to Bath daily at 7 a.m. Leaves +York House, Bath, on return at 5 p.m. Arrives at White Lion, Bristol, at +6.30 p.m. + +"April 21, 1832. Royal Mail to Liverpool every day at 5 p.m. from White +Lion, Broad Street; arrive twelve noon the following day by way of +Chepstow, Monmouth, Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Gloucester. Return journey +Liverpool 5 p.m. Arrive White Lion 12 noon next day. + +Mr. Isaac Niblett, who became proprietor of the White Lion Inn in 1823, +in which year Thomas Luce gave up the place, was a well-known individual +in the coaching world when the mail coach system was at its zenith. He +worked 600 coach and post horses--a number only exceeded by the great +London coach proprietor Chaplin, with his 1,300, and Horne and Sherman +with their 700. Of the twenty-two daily coaches between Bristol and +London the greater proportion made the White Lion their headquarters. +Amongst other coaches with which Isaac Niblett was especially associated +were the "Red Rover" and the "Exquisite." The "Red Rover" ran from +Bristol to Brighton through Bath, over Salisbury Plain, on to +Southampton and Chichester, and covered the distance of 140 miles in +fourteen hours. The "Exquisite" used to run from Birmingham to +Cheltenham, thence on through Bristol to Exeter. In the _Bristol +Directory and Gazette_ of 1859, Mr. Niblett's innkeepership is alluded +to thus:--"Isaac Niblett, White Lion and British Coffee House, family +commercial and posting house; hearse and mourning coach proprietor." The +White Hart, family and commercial hotel, Broad Street, was at that time +kept by one Charles Smith. + +Mr. Isaac Niblett, like John Weeks, of Bush Inn fame, had a country +place near Bristol. He owned, and stayed from time to time at the +Conigre House, Fylton. Mr. Niblett was for some time the owner of the +old Bush Inn stables in Dolphin Street, according to evidence given in a +recent trial before the Judge of Assize at Bristol. That site, as well +as the Conigre Farm, Fylton, is, it is believed, still in the possession +of his lineal descendants. + +The Grand Hotel, one of the largest in the West of England, and most +central in the city of Bristol, now stands on the sites of both the +White Lion and the White Hart Hotels. Erected in 1869, it was known as +the new White Lion until 1874, when its name was changed to that of the +Grand Hotel. The accompanying illustration of the White Lion and the +White Hart Inns, taken from a lithograph engraving of about 1880 by the +well-known Bristol firm of lithographers, Messrs. Lavars, must have been +copied from a picture produced subsequent to the old coaching days, and, +judging from the costumes of the pedestrians depicted, the period was +probably about 1860, or a few years before the demolition of the old +inns. The figure of a white hart appears in the picture over the +entrance door of that hostelry but the statue of a white lion, which for +very many years stood over the entrance gateway to the inn of that name, +and which is recollected by many persons still living, was for some +reason or other omitted from the engraving. + +[Illustration: THE OLD WHITE LION COACHING INN, BROAD STREET, BRISTOL.] + +The White Lion appears to have been the leading Inn in the town in 1824, +for on May 12 in that year the Mayor, Corporation, and leading citizens +dined there on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the +Bristol Council House. Samuel Taylor Coleridge delivered lectures in the +large room of the Inn in 1800. It was the "blue" house, and in later +times the coach which most frequently entered its narrow archway was +driven by his Grace the sixth Duke of Beaufort, who put up at the inn on +his visits to Bristol, as he had, it is said, a great respect for Isaac +Niblett's sterling qualities and fine sporting instincts. + +What an evolution in pleasure and commercial traffic has come about in +the last three-quarters of a century! When the White Lion in Broad +Street and the Bush Tavern in Corn Street were in their prime as +Coaching Inns, a four-in-hand Coach in Bristol's narrow streets and on +the neighbouring country roads was so often in evidence as scarcely to +induce the pedestrian even to turn his head round to look at one in +passing. Now such a patrician vehicle in Bristol's midst is brought down +to an unit, and it is left to Mr. Stanley White, son of Sir George +White, Bart., with his well-appointed Coach and his team of bright +chestnuts, to link old Bristol with the traditions of past Coaching +days. Strange that Mr. Stanley White should have blended in his one +person the love of a coachman for a team with the will and nerve to +render him one of Bristol's boldest and most expert drivers of the +road machine of the latest kind, to wit: the Motor Car. + +[Illustration: MR. STANLEY WHITE'S COACH.] + +[Illustration: MR. STANLEY WHITE'S MOTOR CAR.] + +At a function in Bath in 1902, described in these pages, Colonel Palmer, +a descendant of John Palmer, presented a small curiosity to the +Corporation. Readers of Pickwick will remember that, when Mr. Pickwick +was proceeding to Bath, Sam Weller discovered inside the coach the name +of "Moses Pickwick," and wanted to fight the guard for what he +considered an outrage on his master. Among John Palmer's papers was an +old contract for the Bristol and Bath Mail Service, and one of the +parties bore the name of Pickwick, and was the landlord of the White +Hart Hotel at Bath. It was that contract which Colonel Palmer presented +to the Corporation, as a memorial both of his grandfather and of +Dickens. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TOLL GATES AND GATE-KEEPERS. + + +As this book is devoted in great measure to the mail services of old +time--which had to be carried on entirely by horse and rider or +driver--allusion may fittingly be made to the toll gate system, which +played its part in connection with mail vehicular transport. + +Toll bars originated, it seems, so far back as the year 1267. They were +at first placed on the outskirts of cities and market towns, and +afterwards extended to the country generally. The tolls for coaches and +postchaises on a long journey were rather heavy, as the toll bars were +put up at no great distances from each other. In the year 1766, Turnpike +Trusts, taking advantage of Sabbatarian feeling, charged double rates on +Sundays, but experienced travellers sometimes journeyed on that day, and +submitted to the double impost, to gain the advantage of avoiding +highwaymen, who did not carry on their avocation on Sunday, but gave +themselves up to riot, conviviality, or repose. + +[Illustration: BAGSTONE TURNPIKE GATE HOUSE. + +GATE ABOLISHED ABOUT 1870.] + +Coaches which carried H. Majesty's mails were exempted by Act of +Parliament from paying tolls. The exemption of mail coaches from paying +tolls, a relief provided by the Act of 25th George III., was really a +continuation of the old policy, by which the postboys of an earlier age, +riding on horseback, and carrying the mails on the pommel of the saddle, +had always been exempt from toll, and the light mail carts of a later +age were always exempted. + +It was no great matter, one way or the other, with the Turnpike Trusts, +Mr. C.G. Harper tells us in "The Mail and Stage Coach," for the posts +were then few and far between, and the revenue almost nil; but the +advent of numerous mail coaches, running constantly and carrying +passengers, and yet contributing nothing to the maintenance of the +roads, soon became a very real grievance to those Trusts situated on the +route of the mails. In 1816 the various Turnpike Trusts approached +Parliament for a redress of these disabilities. + +Mail coaches continued, however, to go free until the end of the system, +although from 1798 they had to pay toll in Ireland. In Scotland in 1813 +an Act was passed repealing the exemption in that part of the kingdom. +Pack horses were superseded by huge wagons on the busiest roads early in +the eighteenth century. Over 5,000 Turnpike Acts for the improvement of +local roads were passed during the years 1700 and 1770. At the latter +part of this period, narrow wheels were penalised more heavily than +broad wheels. + +Lewis Levy was a prominent man in the days of Turnpike Trusts, as he was +a farmer of Metropolitan turnpike tolls to the tune of half a million +pounds a year! + +The history of toll bars is not wanting in romance: "Blow up for the +gate," would say the coachman to the guard, when drawing near to a +"pike" in the darkness of night. Lustily might guard blow, but it did +not always have the desired effect. "Gate, gate!" would shout coachman +and guard. Down would get guard and tootle-tootle impatiently. And out +would shuffle in his loose slippers the "pike" keeper in a dazed +condition from fatigue produced by frequent disturbances. As he opens +the gate he is soundly rated by coachman and guard, and enjoined to +leave the gate open for the next mail down, or he would have to pay a +fine of 40s. to the Postmaster General, that being the penalty for not +preserving an unobstructed way for H. Majesty's mails. + +[Illustration: TURNPIKE GATE HOUSE ON CHARFIELD AND WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE +ROAD. + +GATE ABOLISHED 1880.] + +In the Bristol district toll bars were plentiful, and attempts were made +to erect ornate little houses which should be pleasing to the eyes of +travellers. That such attempts were not always unsuccessful, the +picturesque toll-gate houses depicted in these pages will demonstrate. + +In 1804, Sarah Rennison, widow of Thomas Rennison, advertised that she +lately had the ladies' and gentlemen's cold baths, near Stokes Croft +Turnpike, effectually cleaned. "These baths are supplied with water from +a clear and ever-flowing spring, uncontaminated by anything whatever, as +it flows from a clear and limpid stream from its source to the pipes in +the baths." + +This turnpike, named the Stokes Croft Gate, stood on the turnpike way +designated Horfield Road. The gate was erected across the lane leading +from the said road to Rennison's Baths. + +Very soon after "Sarah's" announcement, this landmark of the old city +was doomed to disappear, and the gate was removed from the top of the +Croft to a site some four or five hundred yards further up the road, +near to the present railway arch. + +An advertisement from the _Bristol Journal_, Saturday, July 14th, 1804, +ran as follows:--"To be sold, the materials of the old Turnpike House at +the top of Stoke's Croft. The purchaser to be at the expense of pulling +down and carrying the same away. Also of pitching the site of the house +by the 20th of August next. For further particulars apply to Messrs. +John and Jere Osborne." + +[Illustration: OLD TURNPIKE HOUSE ON THE WICKWAR ROAD.] + +The tolls for the year ended the 29th September, 1823, realised the sum +of L1,800. The notice respecting the letting of the tolls for the +succeeding year, based on such takings, was signed by Osborne and Ward +on the 14th of October, 1823: + +The following is a toll gate announcement, issued on July 13, 1826:-- + +"Notice is hereby given that the Tolls arising at the Toll Gates +hereinafter particularly mentioned will be severally Let by Auction, to +the best Bidders at the White Hart Inn, Brislington, on Wednesday, the +16th day of August next, between the hours of Eleven o'clock in the +forenoon and One o'clock in the afternoon, in the manner directed by the +Acts passed in the third and fourth years of the reign of his Majesty +King George the Fourth, 'for regulating Turnpike Roads'; which Tolls +produced last year the several Sums, and will be Let in the several +Parcels or Lots following--viz.:-- + + "Lot I.--The Tolls arising from the Arno's Vale Gate, on the + Brislington Road. L2,405. + + "Lot II.--The Tolls arising at the Knowle Gate, on the Whitchurch + Road. L660. + + "Lot III.--The Tolls arising at the Saltford Gate, on the + Brislington Road. L2,355. + + "Lot IV.--The Tolls arising at the Whitchurch Gate, on the + Whitchurch Road. L670. + + "And will be put up at those Sums respectively. + + "Whoever happens to be the best Bidder must, at the same time, pay + one Month in advance (if required) of the Rent at which such Tolls + may be respectively Let, and give security, with sufficient sureties + to the satisfaction of the Trustees of the said Turnpike Roads, for + payment of the rest of the money monthly. + + "OSBORNE and WARD, + "Clerks to the Trustees of the said + Turnpike Roads. + + "Bristol, 13th July, 1826." + + +A turnpike ticket of 1840 was worded thus:-- + + Bristol Roads. + LAWFORD's GATE. + July 8, 1840 + + s. d. + Waggon | | + Cart 1 | | + Coach, Chaise, &c. | | + Gig | | + Horses 2 | | 9 + Cattle | | + Sheep, Pigs | | + Asses | | + +Clears Gates on the other side + +[Illustration: OLD TOLL-BAR HOUSE, NEAR THE RIDGE, WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE.] + +[Illustration: [_From an old Talbot-type Photograph in the possession of +Miss P.A. Fry, of Tower House, Cotham._ + +ST. MICHAEL'S HILL TURNPIKE, BRISTOL.] + +The other Bristol "Gates" were known as Clifton, Redland, White Ladies, +Horfield, St. Michael's Hill, Cutler's Mills, Gallows Acre, Barrow's +Lane, Stapleton Bridge, Pack Horse Lane, Fire-Engine Lane, George's +Lane, West Street, Cherry Garden, Fire-Engine, Blackbirds, one full toll +in each case. + +Thomas Brooks was the last toll-keeper at St. Michael's Hill, Bristol. +He held the office until it was abolished in 1867. In the following year +he was appointed sub-postmaster of Cotham, and removed from the old Toll +House to a house nearer the city. The Toll House stood at the corner of +Hampton Road and Cotham Hill, where the fountain is now. + +Benjamin Gray, the last keeper of the "Stop Gate" which stood near the +Royal Oak Inn at Horfield, held the office for 30 years. The gate was to +stop travellers entering the city by way of Ashley Down Road, and thus +escape paying the tolls at the Zetland Road end of Gloucester Road. +There is a family connection between the Gray and the Brooks families, +and the daughter of Benjamin now resides with Samuel Brooks, the old +sexton of Horfield Church. A model of the Horfield Stop Gate may be seen +at Robin Hood's Retreat near Berkeley Road, Bristol. + +The last barrier on the great London to Bristol Road was removed when +the bridge crossing the Thames at Maidenhead was freed from toll at +midnight, on November 30th, 1903. There was a remarkable demonstration +on the occasion. Five hundred people waded through the flooded streets +to see the toll-gate removed from the bridge which was erected so far +back as in 1772. + +Precisely at twelve by the toll-house clock Corporation employes +proceeded to remove the gate, amid loud cheering. Many of the crowd +closed in, and finally seizing the huge gate, carried it to the top of +Maidenhead Bridge and threw it into the river. + +[Illustration: STANTON DREW TURNPIKE GATE HOUSE.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DARING ROBBERIES OF THE BRISTOL MAIL BY HIGHWAYMEN, 1726-1781.--BILL +NASH, MAIL COACH ROBBER, CONVICT AND RICH COLONIST, 1832.--BURGLARIES AT +POST OFFICES IN LONDON AND BRISTOL, 1881-1901. + + +The mail services between Bristol and the Southern Counties came into +great prominence in 1903. The Postmaster-General was appealed to on the +subject, and the phantom of the old Bristol and Portsmouth mail coach +was conjured up to form a comparison detrimental to present-day +arrangements. The discussion recalls somewhat vividly the mail coach +traditions of the pre-railway period, and certainly the community of +to-day has, at all events, fallen on better times as regards security of +the mails, if not better night mail services. In the General Post Office +letter in Lombard Street, 26th April, 1720, this note appears:--"The +Bristol Mail was again robbed yesterday, in the same place as on Friday, +by one highwayman." + +_Mist's Journal_ of Apl. 30, 1720, states:--"Last week the Oxford Stage +Coach was robbed between Uxbridge and London, by the same highwaymen as +is supposed who robbed the Bristol Mail, one of them having a scar on +his forehead." + +"A man lately taken up near Maidenhead Thicket, and charged with robbing +the Cirencester Stage Coach, has been examined by a Justice of the +Peace, who has committed him to Reading Gaol. He is said to be a +butcher's son of Thame, in Oxfordshire." + +The following particulars relate to a Bristol mail coach robbery in +1721. They were taken from a pamphlet written by Wilson, who was one of +the highwaymen therein alluded to, and saved his neck by informing. +Wilson was a person of education, but some of his statements were +questionable. The pamphlet was full of moral reflections upon the evils +of bad company, gambling, &c.; it ran through several editions, so it +was no doubt popular. It will be interesting as indicating the +difficulties attending the Bristol mail services of the period, and that +death was the penalty for robbing his Majesty's mails. It runs thus in +the heading:-- + +"A full and impartial account of all the robberies committed by John +Hawkins, George Sympson (lately executed for robbing the Bristol mails), +and their companions. Written by Ralph Wilson, late one of their +confederates. London: Printed for J. Poole at the Lockes Head in +Paternoster Row. Price 6d." + +The following is an abbreviation of the contents so far as they relate +to the Bristol mails:-- + +John Hawkins was the son of poor but honest parents. His father was a +farmer, and lived at Staines, Middlesex. Had a slender education. At 14 +he waited on a gentleman, then was a tapster's boy at the Red Lion, at +Brentford; got into service again, was butler to Sir Dennis Daltry; took +to gambling; was suspected of being a confederate in robbing his +master's house of plate; was dismissed. At the age of 24 took to highway +robbery; stopped a coach on Hounslow Heath, and eased the passengers of +about L11; with others committed several robberies on Bagshot and +Hounslow Heaths; was arrested for attempting to rescue Captain Lennard, +one of his accomplices, but was discharged. + +Wilson, the writer of the pamphlet, was a Yorkshireman; became clerk to +a Chancery barrister; met Hawkins at a gambling-house; they became +"great cronies." Wilson joins Hawkins's gang; they commit several +highway robberies. Feb. 1, 1721, Wilson goes to Yorkshire; Hawkins +impeached several of his companions, and one of them (Wright) was +hanged. Hawkins, Wilson, and others robbed one morning the Cirencester, +the Worcester, the Gloster, the Oxford, and the Bristol stage coaches; +the next morning the Ipswich and Colchester coaches; a third morning, +perhaps the Portsmouth. The Bury coach was "our constant customer." + +Sympson, who was born at Putney, and had no education, had by this time +joined the gang. The robberies were continued. In April (1722) they went +back to their old design of robbing the mail coaches. They first +proposed to rob the Harwich mail, but gave up that design because that +mail was "as uncertain as the wind." They then decided to rob the +Bristol mail. Wilson said he objected to this plan, but he joined in it. +They set out Sunday, April 15th. "The next morning being Monday, we +took the mail, and again on Wednesday morning. The meaning of taking it +twice was to get the halves of some bank bills, the first halves whereof +we took out of the mail on Monday morning." On Monday, April 23rd, +Wilson learnt at the Moorgate Coffee House that there was a great +request for the robbers of the Bristol mail. He therefore contemplated +taking a passage to Newcastle, but before he could do so he was +arrested, and carried to the General Post Office, where he was examined +by the Postmaster-General. He was again examined by the +Postmaster-General (Carteret) the next morning, but he denied all +knowledge of the robbery. While under examination, a messenger came from +Hawkins, who was in prison at the Gate House, "to let the Post-house +know that he had impeached me." One of the officers of the Post Office +then showed Wilson an unsigned letter, which he recognised as being in +Sympson's handwriting, confessing his share in the robbery, and offering +to secure his two companions. Wilson then decided to confess. Hawkins +and Sympson were tried, found guilty, and executed 21st May, 1722. + +In connection with this Bristol mail robbery, the following are +interesting particulars from the calendar of Treasury papers:--"Memorial +of William Saunderson, clerk, to Sir Robert Walpole. Says he was author +of an expedient to prevent the Bristol and other mails from being +robbed. The scheme seems to have been to write with red ink on the +foreside of all bank notes the name of the post town where they were +posted, the day of the month, and also the addition of these words, +viz.:--'From Bristol to London,' &c. These services (presumably +Saunderson's) have been attended with great expense and loss of time, +and no mail robberies have since been committed. Asks for compensation. +Referred 11th April, 1728, to postmasters to report. May 23, +1728.--Affidavit of W. Saunderson, receiver, of Holford, West Somerset +(probably the same person), that he sent a letter subscribed A.Z. to the +Postmaster-General offering an expedient to prevent the robbing of the +Bristol and other mails, and of the subsequent negotiations with +the Post Office; has never received any reward. Mr. Carteret +claimed the contrivance of the scheme wholly to himself. May +29th.--Postmaster-General's report of 17th April read: 'My Lords +satisfied with the report.' Saunderson had no pretence to any reward. +Scheme entirely formed at Post Office without assistance of Saunderson +or anybody else. Saunderson called in, informed that my Lords adhere to +Postmaster-General's report, and nothing more will be ordered therein." + +Stealing a letter or robbing the mail was a capital offence long after +Hawkins and Sympson expiated their offences on the scaffold. Thus a +notice from the General Post Office on the 24th July, 1767, issued in +the _London Evening Post_, dated "From Tuesday, July 28th, to Thursday, +July 30th, 1767," recited that--"Notice is hereby given that by an Act +passed the last Session of Parliament, 'For amending certain Laws +relating to the revenue of the Post Office, and for granting rates of +postage for the conveyance of letters and packets between Great Britain +and the Isle of Man, and within that Island,' it is enacted--That from +and after the first day of November, 1767, if any person employed or +afterwards to be employed in the Post Office shall 'secrete, embezzle, +or destroy any letters, &c.,' 'every such offender, being thereof +convicted, shall be deemed guilty of felony and shall suffer death as a +felon, without benefit of clergy.' Also if any person or persons +whatsoever shall rob any mail or mails, in which letters are sent or +conveyed by post, although it shall not prove to be highway robbery or +robbery committed in a dwelling-house, yet such offender or offenders +shall be 'deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death as a felon, +without benefit of clergy.'" In 1781 there was another robbery of the +Bristol mail. The occurrence was set forth in detail in the following +notice, which was issued on January 29th in that year:-- + + "General Post Office, Jan. 29, 1781. + + "The Postboy bringing the Bristol Mail this morning from Maidenhead + was stop't between two and three o'clock by a single Highwayman with + a crape over his face, between the 11th and 12th milestones, near + the Cranford Bridge, who presented a pistol to him, and after making + him alight, drove away the Horse and Cart, which were found about 7 + o'clock this morning in a meadow field near Farmer Lott's at + Twyford, when it appears that the greatest part of the letters were + taken out of the Bath and Bristol Bags, and that the following bags + were entirely taken away:--Pewsey, Ramsbury, Bradford, Henley, + Cirencester, Gloucester, Ross, Presteign, Fairford, Aberystwith, + Carmarthen, Pembroke, Calne, Trowbridge, Wallingford, Reading, + Stroud, Ledbury, Hereford, Northleach, Lechlade, Lampeter, Tenby, + Abergavenny, Newbury, Melksham, Maidenhead, Wantage, + Wotton-under-Edge, Tewkesbury, Leominster, Cheltenham, Hay, + Cardigan, Haverfordwest. + + "The person who committed this robbery is supposed to have had an + accomplice, as two persons passed the Postboy on Cranford Bridge on + Horseback, prior to the Robbery, one of whom he thinks was the + robber; but it being so extremely dark, he is not able to give any + description of their persons. + + "Whoever shall apprehend and convict, or cause to be apprehended and + convicted, the person who committed this Robbery, will be entitled + to a reward of Two Hundred Pounds, over and above the Reward given + by Act of Parliament for apprehending Highwaymen; or if any person, + whether an Accomplice in the Robbery or knoweth thereof, shall make + Discovery whereby the Person who committed the same may be + apprehended and brought to Justice, such Discoverer will upon + conviction of the party be entitled to the Same Reward of Two + Hundred Pounds, and will also receive his Majesty's most gracious + Pardon. + + "By Command of the Postmaster-General, + + "ANTH. TODD, Sec." + + +The robbery, which was graphically described by Mr. G. Hendy, of St. +Martin's-le-Grand, in the 1901 Christmas Number of "The Road," does not +appear to have been a very daring one as regards the act itself, but it +was so as to its consequences. There was no mail coach--no driver in +scarlet--no mail guard--no passengers, but only a ramshackle iron mail +cart--a "postboy" as driver and carrying no arms. What a contrast is +this old mail cart with a single horse, carrying the mails for all the +places enumerated in the Notice, to the splendidly appointed four-horse +mail coaches of a period thirty years later on, or to the present time, +when on the Great Western Railway one whole train is used to carry only +a moiety of the King's mail to Bristol and the West! No wonder that the +postboy fell an easy victim to the highwaymen, who bound him and threw +him into an out-of-the-way field. The desperadoes proved to be two +brothers, young men of the name of Weston. + +The Westons, after the robbery, went up and down the country on the +North road very rapidly, in order to get rid of the L10,000 to L15,000 +worth of bank notes and bills which they plundered from the mails. The +Bow Street runners were on their track from the first, and the chase +continued from London to Carlisle and back. The vagabonds were not, +however, captured, and the notice was exhibited all over the country, +with the addition of the description of the men wanted by the +thief-catchers. + +In 1782, the brothers were tried for another offence and acquitted, but +they were arrested at once for the robbery of the Bristol mail and +committed to Newgate. On trial they were found guilty, and paid the +penalty of death by hanging at Tyburn, on the 3rd September, 1782. In +later years the death penalty for robbing mails was abolished, and at +least one old sinner who robbed the Bristol mail eventually did +remarkably well through having committed that dire offence against the +laws, and by having been transported to the Antipodes at his country's +expense. + +Particulars of his career have been furnished by Mr. R.C. Newick, of +Cloudshill, St. George, Bristol, by means of the following extract from +a work published in 1853, "Adventures in Australia, '52-'53," by the +Rev. Berkeley Jones, M.A., late curate of Belgrave Chapel (Bentley, +London, 1853):--"If you turn into any of the auction rooms in Sydney the +day after the gold escort comes in you may see and, if you can, buy, +pretty yellow-looking lumps from about the size of a pin's head to a +horse bean, or, if you prefer it, a flat piece about the size of a small +dessert plate. One of the greatest buyers is an old pardoned convict of +the name of 'William,' or, as he is there more commonly called, 'Bill' +Nash, who robbed the Bristol mail, of which he was the guard. His wife +followed him--as some say, with the booty--and set up a fine shop in +Pitt Street in the haberdashery line. Under the old system he was +assigned to her as a servant. Her own husband her domestic! What a +burlesque on transportation as a punishment! He is very unpopular with +the old hands, as he returned to England and offered an intentional +affront to Queen Victoria when driving in the Park, by drawing his +horses across the road as her equipage was driving by. He cut a great +dash in the Regent's Park, and was known as the 'flash returned +convict.' We stood by him at Messrs. Cohen's auction room when the gold +fraud (planting on the gold buyers nuggets made in Birmingham) was +discussed. He addressed us, and we cannot add that he prepossessed us +much in his favour. He looks what he is and has been. In a little +cupboard-looking shop in King Street he may be seen in shirt sleeves +spreading a tray full of sovereigns in the shop front and heaping up +bank-notes as a border to them, inviting anyone to sell their gold to +him. We believe he is now among the wealthiest men of New South Wales." + +By the year 1830 the terror inspired by highwaymen had no doubt +diminished, but the coach proprietors thought it prudent to guard +themselves against loss, and so they put increased charges on the +articles of value they had to carry. On the 1st September, 1830, a +coaching notice of about 1,000 words, based on an Act of Parliament, was +put forth by Moses Pickwick and Company from the White Hart, Bath. A +copy of this notice on a large screen was exhibited recently at the +Dickens celebration at Bath. The notice, in legal or other jargon, +announced the increased rate of charge for commission by mail or stage +coach of articles of value. Put into plain form, the increased rates of +charge were as follows, _viz._:--Additional charge for parcel or package +over L10 in value.--For every pound, or for the value of every pound, +contained in such parcel or package over and above the ordinary rate of +carriage, not exceeding 100 miles, 1d.; 100 to 150 miles, 1-1/2d.; 150 +to 200 miles, 2d.; 200 to 250 miles, 2-1/2d.; exceeding 250 miles, 3d. + +[Illustration: [_By permission of "Bath Chronicle."_ + +THE WHITE HART COACHING INN, BATH.] + +Few people now bear in mind the great robbery of registered letters from +the Hatton Garden Branch Post Office, London, in November, 1881, which +was effected with skill and daring, and yet with simplicity as to +method. At 5.0 p.m. on the eventful day the members of the staff were +busily engaged, when, lo! the gas suddenly went out, and the office, +which was full of people at the time, was left in darkness. The lady +supervisor obtained matches, went to the basement and there found that +the gas had been turned off at the meter. When the gas had been turned +on again and lighted, it was discovered that the registered letter bag, +which had already been made up and was awaiting the call of the +collecting postman, was missing. The bag contained 40 registered +letters, and their value was estimated at from L80,000 to L100,000. In +the many years which have elapsed since the great robbery no clue to the +perpetrators of the daring deed has been discovered. No further attempts +at such robberies took place for some time, but in the year 1888 several +daring burglaries took place at post offices in London. The Smithfield +Branch Post Office was the first broken into, the thieves staying in the +office from Saturday night to Sunday night. During that interval they +removed the safe from under the counter, placed it in the Chief +Officer's enclosure, broke it open and rifled the contents. Cash and +stamps to the value of about L180 were stolen. In the autumn of the same +year the Aldgate B.O. was burgled--a Saturday night being chosen for the +exploit. The manner in which the burglary was effected leaves little +doubt that the depredation was committed by the same gang of thieves. +The safe was broken open, but in this case it was left under the +counter, where it stood, and was there rifled of its contents. The +interior of the office, including a part of the counter under which the +safe stood, was fully visible from the outside, the woodwork in front of +the office having been kept low for the purpose, and it was marvellous +that the thieves were not detected, as a poor woman had just been +murdered by "Jack the Ripper" within 200 yards, and the road in front of +the post office was thronged with excited people. The thieves in this +case got off with cash and stamps to the value of L328. + +Later in the same year, the South Kensington Branch Post Office was +entered by burglars under precisely similar circumstances. The thieves +only obtained the small sum of L6, as, being disturbed, they decamped in +haste, leaving behind them their tools and certain articles of clothing. +They had removed the safe, weighing 1-1/2 cwt., from the public office +without being observed, although it was taken from a spot immediately in +front of a large window, through which police and passers-by could +command full view of the office. The Westbourne Grove and Peckham Branch +Post Offices were also burglariously entered in the same year. Although +the burglars were not discovered in connection with these post office +robberies, and none more daring of their kind have occurred since, they +probably were imprisoned for some other misdemeanour. Was it--it may +well be asked--this same gang of burglars released from durance vile who +committed the post office robbery which in 1901 took place at +Westbury-on-Trym, a suburb of Bristol, three miles distant from the +city? For daring it might well have been they, as the following account +will demonstrate. + +The post office, be it said, was in the middle of the village and within +200 yards of the Gloucestershire Constabulary Depot, and actually within +sight of it. It was during the early hours of the morning of the 18th +October that the burglary took place. Not far from the post office +building operations were being carried on, and from the houses in course +of erection the thieves obtained a ladder and a wheelbarrow. Making +their way to the side of the premises, one member of the gang, by means +of the borrowed ladder effected an entrance through the fanlight over +the postmen's room door, and marks of damp stockinged feet revealed the +fact that they crept through a sliding window into the post office +counter room, where the safe was located. The street door was then +opened to their confederates, and the safe, weighing nearly 2 cwt., was +carried to the barrow outside. The thieves retired to a partially +completed dwelling for the purpose of examining the contents of the +safe. They broke open the carpenter's locker, and many tools were +subsequently found on the floor. These evidently had not assisted the +gang to any great extent, as they found it necessary to use a heavy +pickaxe. The noise they made seems to have aroused the inmates of the +neighbouring houses, and it is said that one resident struck a light and +actually saw them at work, but he concluded that they were merely doing +something in connection with the extensive drainage alterations which +had been in progress for many months. This light apparently disturbed +the thieves, for they departed with their burden and the pickaxe and +retraced their steps. Close to the Parish Institute they managed, in +spite of the darkness, to discover a gap in the hedge, and having forced +the wheelbarrow through this, they left unmistakable traces of the route +taken across the adjoining field. + +[Illustration: THE OLD POST OFFICE, WESTBURY-ON-TRYM.] + +Having wheeled the safe some 300 or 400 yards, and some 50 yards beyond +the cottages in Canford Lane, they again brought the pickaxe into +requisition, and some hours later a workman discovered the safe, with +one end broken into dozens of pieces, lying near the hedge. He at once +gave information to the police. It was afterwards found that, although +the thieves had removed the paper money from the safe, they had thrown +the postal orders, money order forms, stamps, licenses, etc., into a +neighbouring field, where they were found strewn about in great +disorder. The safe contained postal orders stamps, postcards, and cash +of the total value of L315. Cash to the value of L25 was the extent of +the thieves' booty, and they left behind them three L5 notes, half a +sovereign, and two sixpences, which were found on the grass. As all the +articles were dry, it was apparent that the robbery took place after 2 +a.m., up to which time there had been rain. The officials at the office +had begun their morning's work quite unconscious of what had happened, +when Police Sergeant Greenslade appeared with the handle of the safe. +The fact of the officials not having been disturbed may be accounted for +by the circumstance that blasting operations had been carried on at +night in the immediate neighbourhood for some twelve months before. The +sub-postmistress and her family, it appeared, did not retire to rest +until very near midnight, and it is supposed that they were in their +first heavy sleep, but it is a mystery why the dog, a sharp fox terrier, +remained quiet. + +The safe was kept in a prominent position in the shop--two people slept +just over it--and the exterior of the shop was well lighted at night by +a large public lamp. Sleeping in the house were several females and +males, one of the latter being an ex-Sergeant-Major of Dragoons, 6 feet +2 inches in height and of great bodily strength. Next door lived a baker +whose workman is about early in the morning, so it may be inferred that +the burglars had no small amount of nerve. Within a week another robbery +took place at a mansion within a mile of the post office. This occurred +in the evening. Whether or not this second burglary was the work of the +same gang which carried off the post office safe, there is similar +evidence of most carefully laid plans and of intimate acquaintance with +the house and the habits of its occupants. + +Ere the excitement of these two burglaries had passed off as a nine +days' wonder, another robbery equally bold in character took place, and +this time in the very centre of the city of Bristol, and in its most +frequented thoroughfare. A jeweller's shop window was rifled at 6.0 +a.m., at a time when the police were being relieved. The thieves got off +with about L2,000 worth of rings, etc. These three burglaries in +conjunction seem to indicate the work of one gang of professional +burglars hailing probably from the Metropolis. + +A little time later, a post office safe in the West End of London was +rifled, the burglars discarding old methods of violence in breaking it +open, and using a jet of oxyhydrogen flame to burn away a portion of the +safe door! + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL MAILS.--FROM COACH TO RAIL--THE WESTERN +RAILROAD.--POST OFFICE ARBITRATION CASE. + + +When the construction of the Great Western Railway was in contemplation, +the prospect of the Londoner being able to pay a morning visit to +Bristol, in even four or five hours, was hailed with satisfaction, as +will be gathered from the following article from _The Sun_ newspaper of +March 26th, 1832:-- + +"RAILWAY FROM LONDON TO BRISTOL.--We understand that two civil engineers +of eminence, Henry H. Price and Wm. Brunton, Esqrs., are busily occupied +(under the auspices of some leading interests) in making the necessary +surveys for the above important work. We hail with satisfaction the +prospect of seeing the metropolis, ere long, thus closely approximated +to the Bristol Channel and Western Seas, when four or five hours will +enable us to pay a morning visit to Bristol. Nothing can tend more to +increase and consolidate the power of the empire than to give the +greatest possible facility of intercourse between its distant points. +When the London and Bristol railway shall be completed, it will be very +possible, in connexion with the Irish steam-boats from the latter port, +for cattle and other Irish produce to be conveyed to the London market +within 32 hours from the time of shipment at Cork, Waterford, &c., and +thus, at a cheap rate, will the London market be thrown immediately open +to the Irish agriculturist; at the same time the London consumers will +be benefited in proportion to the greater extent of country thrown open +whence they may derive their supplies. Liverpool, we understand, imports +above 7,000 head of live stock per week; much of which is conveyed to +Manchester by the railway, and we may surely hope for a similar result +to the metropolis, when the direct communication is opened with Ireland +by similar means. In a political point of view, the importance of the +great work in question is too obvious to require a moment's comment. +We need only state, that in case of emergency, four to five hours will +be sufficient to convey any quantity of men or stores from our depots or +arsenals near London to Bristol, whence they will be ready to embark for +any point where they may be required, and we at once prove that +railways, judiciously constructed across the country, may be made, not +only the means of economy to the Government (smaller establishments +being necessary), but that they tend more than anything else to +concentrate and consolidate the strength of an empire, and are an +additional guarantee against war and foreign aggression." + +[Illustration: PRIMITIVE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY TRAIN BETWEEN BRISTOL AND +BATH, PASSING KELSTON] + +In these days of special trains, composed exclusively of Post Office +carriages, such for instance as the night mail on the Great Western +Railway, leaving Paddington at 9.5 p.m., consisting of eight coaches +with engine (usually the "Alexandra" or "Duke of York"), and measuring +400 feet in length, which runs the whole journey from London to Penzance +in the space of 9 hours 40 minutes, stopping at Bristol and a few other +first-class stations _en route_, it may be interesting to recall the +earliest period of the conveyance of mails by railway. Light is thrown +thereon in the following correspondence relating to the then conveyance +of the mails to Manchester and Liverpool, partly by the +recently-constructed railway, and partly by road:--"Liverpool, 4th July, +1837. Dear Sir, We reached this place precisely at half-past +twelve--exactly an hour behind our time--the loss arose out of various +little _contretemps_, which a little practice will set right. This is +the first time in Europe so long a journey was performed in so short a +time, and if, some very few years ago, it had been said a letter could +be answered by return of post from London, the idea would have been +treated as chimerical, and yet at eight last evening was I in London, +and this letter will reach there to-morrow morning, the proceeding of +these operations occupying a period of 34-1/2 hours only, out of which a +rest of three hours is to be taken, thus performing a distance of 412 +miles in 31-1/2 hours. + +"Our mail coach was before its time full 15 minutes, notwithstanding at +one place we could not find horses, except posters; and at another +when posters were found there was no coachman; luckily there was one on +the mail, looking out for a place, with which we suited him. To-night, +doubtless, all will go right (some dispute among the amiable +contractors, I believe to be the cause). I need hardly observe that I +have adopted proper measures. I have the honour to be, Dear Sir, Yours +very faithfully, (Signed) Geo. Louis. To Lt.-Col. Maberley, &c., &c., +&c." + +[Illustration: BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY TRAIN BRINGING MAILS TO +BRISTOL ON THE DECLINE OF THE MAIL COACH SYSTEM ABOUT 1844. (CLIFTON +BRIDGE ANTICIPATED BY THE ARTIST.)] + +"Manchester, 4th July, 1837. Sir, I have much pleasure in stating that +the London Bag arrived here this day by railway at half-past twelve p.m. +The Bag to London was despatched as usual this morning by the mail +coach, but concluding that a _return by the railway_ is intended both +this day and to-morrow (although the arrangements generally do not +commence until the 6th) I make a despatch with such letters as are in +the office at half-past two p.m., and propose doing the same to-morrow. +I am, Sir, Your most obedient, humble Servant, (Sig.) G.F. Karstadt. To +Lt.-Col. Maberley." + +"4th July, 1837. Manchester. G. Karstadt, Esq. For the +Postmaster-General. I enclose a letter from Mr. Louis with this report +from Mr. Karstadt as to the first working of the railroad. I am sorry to +say that it appears from the time bills an hour was lost upon the +railroad coming up. (Signed) J.V.L.M. (Lt.-Col. Maberly). 5th July, +1837. Read, Lichfield (Lord Lichfield)." The coaches running all the way +through at this period were timed to leave London at 8 p.m., and arrive +at Liverpool and Manchester at 2.30 p.m. On the up journey the coaches +left Manchester and Liverpool at 11.30 a.m., and reached London at 6.30 +a.m. + +The conveyance of the mail partly by road and partly by rail came into +operation on the Western road from 1838 to 1841 as section by section of +the Great Western Railway became completed. Thus, in 1840, mails which +had come by road between Maidenhead and Bath were brought into Bristol +by trains composed of very primitive engines, tenders and coaches, as +depicted in the illustrations taken from engravings of the period. + +Mr. J.W. Arrowsmith, the world-wide known Bristol Publisher, recently +reprinted Arrowsmith's Railway Guide of 1854, the year of its first +issue. It is interesting to note from the re-publication that the +shortest time in which Mails and passengers were conveyed between London +and Plymouth was 7 hours, 25 minutes, and between Plymouth and London 7 +hours, 35 minutes. What a change a half-century has brought about! The +pace of the trains has been vastly increased, and even goods trains +accomplish the journey from London to Bristol in three hours. There is +no such thing as finality in speed, as the Great Western Railway Company +has been trying a French engine, with a view to beat all previous +records. One of these engines was tried in France with the equivalent of +fifteen loaded coaches behind it. It was brought to a dead stop on a +steep incline, and when started again it gathered speed, so that before +the summit was reached it was travelling at its normal speed--74.6 miles +an hour. + +This new engine, "La France," recently accomplished a brilliant feat. +She was started from Exeter with a load of twelve of the largest +corridor-bogies, one being a "diner," the whole weight behind her +tender, including passengers, staff, luggage, and stores, being nearly +330 tons. "La France" ran the 75-1/2 miles to Temple Meads Station, +Bristol, in 72-1/2 minutes, start to stop, thus averaging 62.5 miles an +hour, although she had to face a 20-mile climb at the start, the last 27 +miles of this stretch being at 1 in 115. She went on from Bristol to +London, 118-1/2 miles, with the same heavy load, in exactly 118 minutes. +Her time from Bath to Paddington, 107 miles, was 104 minutes; from +Swindon, 77-1/4 miles, 72 minutes; from Reading, 36 miles, 33 minutes. + +A good performance in long distance railway running was established by +the Great Western Railway Company in connection with the visit in 1903 +of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Cornwall. Their Royal Highnesses +left Paddington in a special division of the Cornishman at 10.40 a.m., +the train being timed to do the non-stop run to North Road, Plymouth, a +distance of 245 miles, in four hours and a half. This time was, however, +reduced to the extent of 36-1/4 min., the train steaming into North +Road at 33-3/4 minutes past 2 o'clock. The train covered during the +first hour's run 67-3/4 miles, the average speed for the whole journey +to Plymouth being 1.049 miles per minute. The journey was performed in +about half the time occupied in 1854. + +[Illustration: [_By permission of "Great Western Railway Magazine."_ + +"LA FRANCE"--POWERFUL NEW GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY ENGINE.] + +The up train, which runs from Bristol to London in exactly two hours, +via Badminton, is matched by a down train in the same time by the easier +but slightly longer main line (_via_ Bath), giving a start-to-stop speed +of 59-1/8 miles an hour, with a dead slow through Bath Station. But to +Bath, where a coach is slipped, the inclusive speed is 60 miles an hour, +as the distance is 107 miles (all but 10 chains), and the time from +Paddington, 1 hr. 47 min. This is by the 10.50 a.m. "Cornishman," and is +said to be the first Great Western train ever booked at a mile a minute, +and the first train on any London Railway even "scheduled" at that +speed. + +In connection with the Mail Services between the Metropolis and Bristol, +the "Gate of the West," it may be appropriate here to mention the recent +arbitration case between the Great Western Railway Company and H.M. +Postmaster-General in regard to remuneration for conveyance of Mails. + +The Company, dissatisfied with the payment of L115,000 a year under +their contract of 1885, subsequently raised by small additions, from +time to time, to L126,000 a year, brought their case before the Railway +Commissioners, who awarded L135,855 a year from the 1st July, 1902. This +amount covered the provision of a new postal train in each direction +between London and Penzance. It was Sir Frederick Peel who delivered the +judgment of the Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PRIMITIVE POST OFFICE.--FIFTH CLAUSE POSTS.--MAIL CART IN A +RHINE.--EFFECT OF GALES ON POST AND TELEGRAPH SERVICE. + + +The Bristol Postal District, stretching from the Severn banks beyond +Oldbury-on-Severn to a point near Bath, and thence straight across to +the Bristol Channel again, consists of ground within the City and County +of Bristol, and the Counties of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire. The +border of Wiltshire is touched near Dyrham and Badminton, and the +district is separated from Monmouthshire by the estuary of the River +Severn. + +[Illustration: HORTON THATCHED POST OFFICE AT THE FOOT OF COTSWALD +HILLS.] + +Post Offices showing signs of great antiquity are scarcely in existence +now, for at the present day the wide district thus described in the +preceding paragraph contains within its boundaries only one post office +established under the primitive but comfortable and picturesque +thatched roof. This is the Horton Post Office. The picture of this post +office is from an excellent photograph taken by Miss Begbie, a daughter +of the Rector of Horton. The village lies at the foot of the Cotswolds, +and near this spot, in quiet retreat, William Tyndale translated the New +Testament. The Duke of Beaufort's hounds meet from time to time in the +Horton Post Office yard. This rustic place was originally the village +ale house, yclept "The Horse Shoe." It is now devoted to the more useful +purpose of the sale of stamps and the posting and distribution of +letters, under the able and energetic superintendence of Mrs. Slade. + +Such Postal Sub-Districts as Horton, far remote from their principal +centre, were classified under Parliamentary legislation. Thus the fifth +Clause posts of early in the 19th Century took their name from the Act +41, Geo. 3, Ch. 7, Clause 5, under which they were established. Special +post marks were in use for such posts. In the case of the Bristol +district there was only one 5th Clause post, namely, at Thornbury, which +was established in 1825, and under its regulations one penny was +charged for the delivery of each letter at Thornbury. The post was a +horse post from and to Bristol, and the Contractor delivered and +collected bags at Almondsbury and Fylton, which were both "penny posts." +The main object of the fifth Clause post was to join up small towns with +the larger post towns and so it was that Thornbury became thus linked on +to Bristol. On the other hand, Bristol had 63 penny posts, including +Almondsbury and Fylton, which were denoted by numbers 1 to 63, Clifton +being No. 1. + +Of the 52 "Fifth Clause Posts" existing in 1839 Bristol had only the one +which joined Bristol and Thornbury. + +Owing to there being no settled port of departure or arrival for vessels +employed for conveyance of Foreign Mails, the letters were frequently +despatched by privately-owned ships. They were then impressed with a +post-mark "Ship Letter," with the name of the town included. + +The Penny Post letters were such as had been posted in any one of the 63 +Bristol Penny Post Sub-District Offices for delivery in the district of +posting, or in any of the 62 other Offices. Thus a letter posted in +Fylton for delivery in Fylton would be charged one penny upon being +handed in at that Post Office, and another penny would be obtained on +delivery to the addressee. + +A letter posted at the Penny Post Office of Almondsbury for delivery in +the Penny Post District of Fylton would be charged a penny upon being +handed in at the Almondsbury Office and another penny would be charged +to the addressee on delivery. Thornbury being a 5th Clause Post would +have letters posted in its special "Open" box, delivered in the +Thornbury Postal area for the one penny, that charged on delivery. + +A letter posted in the "Open" box at Thornbury (5th Clause Post) for +Bristol would likewise travel from Poster to addressee for the 1d. +delivery charge in Bristol, as bags would be exchanged between the two +places. + +A single letter, _i.e._, a letter without an enclosure, coming from +Reading for Thornbury, would be charged a general post rate of 8d. to +Bristol, plus 1d. for delivery, which would be the same in the cases +of letters from Reading for Fylton or Almondsbury; but if a letter were +posted at Thornbury for Reading, there would be no charge from Thornbury +to Bristol, so that the addressee would only be called upon to pay the +general post rate of 8d., whereas, the postage on a letter from Fylton +or Almondsbury would be 8d., plus a penny charged for collection. + +[Illustration: EARLY BRISTOL POST MARKS.] + +The mail services in the rural districts are not free from danger. The +pitcher may have been carried to the fountain year after year without +mishap, but it not infrequently becomes broken at last. In like manner +the contractor for the Portishead, Clevedon, and Yatton mail cart +service, after having driven over this route with immunity from accident +for forty years, yet came to grief in the last week of his connection +with His Majesty's mails, January, 1902. The contractor's time table was +arranged thus:--Portishead, leave 9.15 p.m.; Clevedon, arrive 10.5 p.m., +leave 10.50 p.m.; Yatton, arrive 11.28 p.m.; attend to apparatus and up +mail 12.17 a.m., down mail 12.42 a.m.; Yatton, leave 1.5 a.m.; Clevedon, +arrive 1.48 a.m., depart 4.15 a.m.; Portishead, arrive 5.5 a.m. + +The contractor, Mr. Dawes, now in the 66th year of his age, having +performed a part of his outward journey on the 19th September, 1902, +left Clevedon for Yatton quite sober as ever, and in his usual health. +Then comes the mystery. He did not reach Yatton in due course, and the +railway signalman intimated the failure to Bristol, from which office +the postmaster of Clevedon was advised, who at early dawn started out a +scout on a bicycle to search for the missing mailman and mail bags. The +scout discovered no signs of man or mails between Clevedon and the +Yatton apparatus station, and going back over the same ground, he +eventually met an individual who had seen an aged man with a whip in his +hand wandering on the road. This he knew to be his man, and he +discovered Dawes walking aimlessly along the road at about 7 a.m. His +explanations were not coherent. The horse had ran away with him, and +flung him off the cart into a ditch; he had tumbled off the cart, and +walked into a ditch; he had tried to knock people up to assist him in +trying to find what had become of the missing mails! In the meantime, a +farm labourer going out on to the Kingston Seymour moors to milk the +cows discovered the mail cart turned over on to its side, and thus +embedded in a rhine on the roadside. The horse also was in the rhine, up +to his back, partly in mud and partly in water. The milkman immediately +started off to Clevedon to give the alarm, and his employer, who was +accompanying him on his journey to the milking ground, took prompt +steps, in conjunction with moor men, to drag horse and vehicle out of +the mud and mire. Fortunately, the mailbags were uninjured, and the +postmaster of Clevedon, who had set out on a search, had them conveyed +back to his office. Dazed contractor Dawes, the muddy mail cart, and +horse coated with mud from head to hoofs, were got back into the town at +about 11 a.m. It would seem that the contractor fell asleep and tumbled +from his box into the road, and that his horse wandered on, grazing from +side to side of the road, till eventually in the dark of night horse and +cart fell into the rhine. On coming to himself, the contractor, after +trying in vain to arouse the inhabitants of roadside houses, wandered +about all night, or it may be laid down somewhere to await morning +light. The animal was injured to such an extent that it had to be +destroyed. + +During the fierce gale which, with unparalleled severity, raged in the +Bristol Channel on the night of Thursday, the 10th September, 1903, a +vessel was driven ashore on the Gore Sands. Soon after daybreak a call +was made for the Burnham Lifeboat, but, in consequence of the heavy +seas, the crew was unable to launch her. The coxswain, therefore, +telegraphed for the Watchet Lifeboat to proceed to the rescue. Every +endeavour was made by the Postal Telegraph authorities to expeditiously +transmit the message, but the elements which had operated against the +vessel, had likewise played havoc with the telegraph wires, with the +result that the telegram sustained such delay in transmission as to +retard the launching of the Lifeboat. Fortunately, no serious +consequences followed. + +As regards mail communication, the night journey by road from Bristol to +Bath and Chippenham could not be made, owing to the roads being blocked +by fallen trees. + +The gale was far reaching in its effects, and carried away parts of +Weston-super-Mare Pier, landed boats on promenade, blew down walls, +chimneys, and laid low hundreds of trees, was especially "a howler," and +disastrous as regards interference with telegraphic communication. Wires +were blown down in all directions, and Bristol suffered greatly. On the +11th, at 11.0 a.m., there was no wire whatever available to South Wales, +and telegrams had to be sent by train. There was no wire available to +Scotland or to the north beyond Birmingham, or to Cork and Jersey. +Several local lines were down, such as Wedmore, Hambrook, Yatton, +Portishead, Wickwar, etc. Delay of 50 minutes occurred to Birmingham, +which office transmitted all work for the north. The delay to London was +40 minutes. Trunk telephone communication was impossible. Every wire was +interrupted, and remained so all day. In the evening there was still no +wire which could be used to Scotland, Cork, or Channel Islands. Cardiff +was reached at 3.0 p.m., on one wire. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BRISTOL REJUVENATED.--VISIT OF PRINCE OF WALES IN CONNECTION WITH THE +NEW BRISTOL DOCK.--BRISTOL AND JAMAICAN MAIL SERVICE.--AMERICAN +MAILS.--BRISTOL SHIP LETTER MAILS.--THE REDLAND POST OFFICE.--THE +MEDICAL OFFICER.--BRISTOL TELEGRAPHISTS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.--LORD +STANLEY.--MR. J. PAUL BUSH. + + +Bristol "lethargic" was for years the general idea of the place. Bristol +"awakening" followed, and it is now realised that Bristol has fully +awakened to her vast potentialities. The eyes of the populace of Great +Britain, and, it may be, of many of the dwellers in the King's dominions +beyond the seas, were in March, 1902, cast in the direction of the +ancient city of Bristol, erstwhile the second port in importance in the +British Isles. This national looking to what Bristolians proudly call +the "metropolis of Western England" was occasioned by the visit of the +Prince of Wales, with H.R.H. the Princess, to turn the first sod in +connection with the great works then about to be undertaken for the +extension of the docks at Avonmouth, so as to render them capable of +accommodating and berthing steamers of a magnitude greater than any yet +built--a work then expected to be completed in four or five years. The +function was a notable one, and the occasion may be briefly summed up as +"a grand day for Bristol." Two millions are being spent on the dock, +which will have a water space of thirty acres, with room for further +extension. The lock will be 875 feet long and 100 feet wide. There will +be 5,000 feet of quay space, with abundant railway sidings and other +appointments of a first-class port. + +[Illustration: (signed) Yours faithfully Alfred Jones] + +[Illustration: R.M.S. "PORT KINGSTON" (7,584 TONS), + +_of the Imperial Direct West Indian Mail Fleet_.] + +In Feb., 1902, Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., the chief of the Elder +Dempster steamship line, set out from Avonmouth in the "Port Antonio" +for Jamaica, with the object of promoting further developments between +Bristol and the West Indies by means of the Imperial Direct West India +mail service. The occasion of his departure was unusually interesting, +as it took place on the first anniversary of the sailing of the first +boat of the direct service carrying H. Majesty's mails to the Island of +Jamaica from Avonmouth. The picture portrays the mails being embarked on +the "Antonio's" sister ship, the "Port Royal," which arrived at +Avonmouth on the day before the royal visit, and was inspected by Their +Royal Highnesses, who were much interested in her banana cargo. The +"Port Kingston," a steamer of larger size and splendid construction, has +now been added to the Jamaican fleet, and she makes the passage from +Kingston to Bristol in ten-and-a-half days. By a coincidence, when +Bristol was "feasting" on the 5th March, 1902--the Red Letter Day--and +its senior Burgess, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the other +Members of Parliament for the city were felicitating with a goodly array +of Bristol Fathers over the great event likely to be fraught with untold +benefit to the historic port from which Sebastian Cabot set forth years +and years ago to seek and find the continent of America, the feast of +"St. Martin's" was being held at the Criterion, in London, and the Post +Office K.C.B.'s, Sir George Murray, Sir Spencer Walpole, and Sir +William Preece, under the courtly presidency of Sir Robert Hunter, were +eloquently descanting to a large assemblage of Post Office _literati_ on +the usefulness of the Post Office Service magazine--St. Martin's le +Grand. + +[Illustration: EMBARKING MAILS AT AVONMOUTH ON THE JAMAICAN STEAMER, +"PORT ROYAL."] + +The Chamber of Commerce at this time urged on the Canadian Government +the desirability of making Bristol the terminal port for the new +Canadian fast mail service, on the grounds that mails and passengers +from Canada can be carried into London and the Midlands in the shortest +period of time _via_ the old port of Bristol. From the Holms, 20 miles +below Bristol, a straight line in deep water, without any intervening +land, may be drawn to Halifax. Bristol can be reached from London in 2 +hours. The time which could be saved in the passage from Queenstown to +London _via_ Bristol is 5-1/2 hours as compared with the route _via_ +Liverpool, and 5 hours as compared with the route _via_ Southampton. By +the Severn Tunnel line there is also direct communication with the +Lancashire and Yorkshire manufacturing districts, as well as the Midland +and Northern parts of the United Kingdom generally. Thus in the two +important elements of speed and safety Bristol has paramount advantages +as a terminal port for the transatlantic mail service. There is evidence +generally that Bristol trade and commerce have revived, and are now +indicating a vigorous growth. The Bristol post office statistics show a +phenomenal progress during the last decade. In the year 1837, before the +introduction of the penny postage system, and when people had to pay for +their missives on delivery, Bristol could only boast of 1,040,000 +letters delivered in a year; in 1841, the year after the uniform penny +postage was introduced, the number rose to 2,392,000. In another ten +years, 1851, 5,668,000 was reached; in 1861, 11,062,252 was the number; +1871, 12,158,000; in 1881, 19,484,000; 1891, 29,000,000; and in 1901, +55,473,000, or an increase approaching that of the preceding forty +years. The numbers stand in 1905 at 73,000,000. + +On Sunday, the 10th January, 1904, the liner "Philadelphia" (which, +by-the-bye, as the "City of Paris" went ashore on the Manacles and was +salved and re-named) was the first of the fleet of the American Line to +call at Plymouth and land the American mails there, instead of at +Southampton, as formerly. In connection with the inauguration of this +service to the Western port of Plymouth, Bristol--undoubtedly a natural +geographical centre for the distribution of mails from the United States +and Canada--played an important part in distributing and thus greatly +accelerating the delivery of the American correspondence generally. +Bristol itself distinctly benefits by the American mail steamers calling +at Plymouth, for it enables her traders to get their business +correspondence many hours earlier than by any other route. + +Owing to a severe storm encountered off Sandy Hook, the "Philadelphia," +on the occasion alluded to, due on Saturday, did not arrive in Plymouth +Sound until early on Sunday morning. The mails were quickly placed +aboard the tender, which returned to Millbay Docks at 6.20 a.m., and an +hour later the special G.W.R. train moved out, carrying over 21 tons of +mails. Eight tons were at 10 a.m. put out at the Temple Meads Railway +Station to be dealt with at the Bristol Post Office, and the remainder +taken on to Paddington. The mails dealt with at Bristol included not +only those for delivery in Bristol city and district, but also those for +the provinces. They were speedily sorted and dispersed by the +comprehensive through train services to the West, South Wales, Midlands, +and North of England. + +The second American mail was brought over by the "St. Louis," which +arrived off Plymouth at one o'clock on Saturday morning, the 16th +January, 1904. The G.W. train reached Temple Meads at 6.23, and 350 bags +which had to be dealt with at Bristol were dropped. The premises +recently acquired from the Water Works Company by the Post Office were +utilized for the first time, there not being sufficient room in the +existing post office buildings to cope with such a heavy consignment. +The letters were sent out with the first morning delivery in Bristol. +The Birmingham letters were despatched at 10.30 a.m., and those for +Manchester and Liverpool were also sent off in time for delivery in the +afternoon. + +The third mail arrived per "New York," at 7.35 p.m. on Saturday, the +23rd January, 1904. One hundred and fifty bags were deposited at +Bristol. The New York direct mails for the North went on by the 7.40 +p.m. (G.W.) and 7.55 p.m. (Mid.) trains ex Bristol Station. The direct +Plymouth and Bristol service is still being continued. + +In an Instruction Book relating to "Ship Letter" Duty which was in use +in the Bristol Post Office so far back as 1833, there are many +interesting documents. The following is a list:--(1) Ship Letters, +Notice, G.P.O., July, 1833. (2) Notice to all Masters and Commanders of +Ships arriving from abroad; Signed, Francis Freeling, Secretary G.P.O., +June, 1835. (3) Letter from Francis Freeling to G. Huddlestone, 9th +October, 1835, _re_ letters forwarded by the ship "Paragon" from the +Port of Bristol. (4) Letter from Ship Letter Office, London, to +Postmaster of Bristol _re_ Inland prepaid rate and Captain's gratuity +(18th Sept., 1843). (5) Correspondence from G. Huddlestone (26th July, +1838) _re_ Process of Receipt of Ship Letters, and making up of the +mails; also Process of Receipt and Distribution of Ship Letters Inward. +(6) Notice to the Public and Instructions to all Postmasters; signed +W.L. Maberly, Secretary G.P.O., 2nd September, 1840. (7) Receipt from +Postmaster of Bristol for 1 packet directed "O.H.M.S. Ship Mail; per +'Victory'" from Bristol to Cork (Sept. 17th, 1841). (8) Letter +containing Solicitor's opinion that Master of steam vessel cannot be +compelled to sign receipt Ship Letter; signed Jas. Campbell (4th +October, 1841). (9) Notice to Postmasters; signed W.L. Maberly, +Secretary G.P.O., June, 1845. (10) Circular of Instructions; signed +Rowland Hill, G.P.O., 4th October, 1845. (11) Notice to the Commanders +of Ships arriving from Foreign Ports; signed W.L. Maberly, Secretary +G.P.O., June, 1845. (12) Circular of Instructions; signed Rowland Hill, +Secretary G.P.O., July, 1855. (13) Circular of Instructions to +Postmasters at the Outports; signed Rowland Hill, Secretary G.P.O., 13th +August, 1855. (14) Circular of Instructions; signed Rowland Hill, +Secretary G.P.O., 29th January, 1857. (15) Reduction of the Ship Letter +Rate of Postage; signed Rowland Hill, Secretary G.P.O., 26th December, +1857. (16) Circular of Instructions; signed Rowland Hill, Secretary +G.P.O., January 14th, 1858. (17) Instructions; signed Rowland Hill, +Secretary G.P.O., 27th March, 1863. (18) _Re_ Letters to Portugal; +signed Geo. Dumeldenger, for Sub. Con., 7th March, 1871. (19) Note _re_ +Loose Letters, 23rd March, 1876. Bristol, 9th December, 1902. + +This old book relating to the Ship Letter Duty at Bristol was considered +suitable for the Muniment Room at St. Martin's-le-Grand, as an +historical record, and is retained there for preservation. It is +considered fortunate that it has survived so long. + +As the public eye was for a long time directed towards the Redland Post +Office, Bristol, which to meet the wants of the community has been +located by the Department at No. 112, White Ladies Road, Black Boy Hill, +and is carried on apart altogether from any trade or business, it may be +well, in view of connecting links with the past being rapidly effaced in +the march of modern progress, to take an historical retrospect of this +local post office so far as evidence is forthcoming, and thus endeavour +to put on record the traditions of the past. It would appear, then, +according to the earliest evidence obtainable, that Mr. W. Newman had +the appointment of postman and town letter receiver conferred upon him +in 1827, offices which he held until 1872. The post office was carried +on by him in a small house approached by garden and steps immediately +adjoining the old King's Arms Inn, which stood on the site of the +present Inn of that name. It was Newman's mission in those pre-penny +stamp days to serve the wide and then open district bordered by Pembroke +Road, White Ladies Gate, Cold Harbour Farm, Redland Green, Red House +Farm, Stoke Bishop, Cote House, and Sea Mills. He delivered about 40 +letters daily. The area owing to the growth of population and the spread +of education, with the consequent development of letter writing, has now +seven post offices; is served by no fewer than 30 postmen, and has a +delivery of 14,000 letters. + +In Mr. Newman's early Post Office days mail coaches ran up and down +Black Boy Hill on their way to and from the New Passage, and called at +the Redland Post Office. Newman is said to have had a jackdaw. The bird, +as the mail coach ran down the narrow road on Black Boy Hill, called +"Mail, mail, quick, quick!" to attract his master's attention, and, +waggish bird as he was, he not infrequently gave a false alarm, and +called his master at the wrong time. After some years Mr. Newman moved +with the Post Office to the east side of Black Boy Hill, to a house near +the present Porter Stores. He was succeeded by Mr. Enoch Park. The next +sub-postmaster was the late Mr. Buswell, who for some years occupied +premises on mid-hill, before moving the Post Office to a site lower down +the hill. + +[Illustration: MR. F.P. LANSDOWN.] + +Mr. F.P. Lansdown retired from the post of Medical Officer to the +Bristol Post Office at the end of the year 1903. He had occupied the +position for the period of 42 years, and it was felt that such long +service could not be allowed to terminate without due recognition at the +hands of the officers of the Postal and Telegraph Services, to whom he +had rendered professional aid from time to time. He was, therefore, +given a solid silver table lamp, subscribed for by over 650 members of +the staff. The presentation took place on Post Office premises, and was +very largely attended. + +Twenty-seven of the Bristol telegraph staff served in the campaign in +South Africa. In times of peace many Royal Engineers are employed in the +instrument room of the Bristol Post Office, and the duties of linesmen +are mainly undertaken by men from that corps. On the outbreak of +hostilities, these were at once withdrawn for active service, and then +came the call for Volunteers for the Telegraph Battalion, when seven +civilians attached to the local staff volunteered, and were selected. +Great interest was taken by their confreres in the progress of the war, +especially during the siege and the relief of Ladysmith, where two of +the Bristol R.E.'s were among the besieged. One of the staff went +through the siege of Kimberley, and another for his pluck was awarded +the D.S. Medal. A hearty welcome awaited their return, and this was +manifested by means of a supper and musical evening at St. Stephen's +Restaurant, Dec. 1, 1902. + +Not all of them came back--two had fallen and helped to swell the large +number who had sacrificed their lives for their King and country. + +Whilst civilian telegraphists and officers of the sorting department +thus volunteered for military service in South Africa, the present +Postmaster-General himself, Lord Stanley, to whom this book is +dedicated, also was not slow in placing himself at the disposal of his +country, and he went through two years of the campaign, acting first as +Press Censor and afterwards as Private Secretary to the +Commander-in-Chief Lord Roberts. He was twice mentioned in despatches +and was awarded the Companionship of the Bath. + +Bristolians generally, with great enthusiasm, rallied to the cry for +Volunteers, and special mention may here be made of Mr. J. Paul Bush, +who ungrudgingly gave up his large and fashionable practice as a surgeon +in Clifton, and, at very brief notice, hurried off to South Africa to +occupy the position of senior surgeon to the Princess Christian +Hospital. + +He was mentioned by Lord Roberts in despatches, and the Companionship of +the Order of St. Michael and St. George was conferred on him. + +Small wonder then, that on Mr. Lansdown's retirement from the Bristol +Medical Officership at the end of 1903, Lord Stanley should have +selected Mr. Paul Bush to fill the appointment. + +Mr. Bush had the further claim to the appointment as being a medical man +born in the city of Bristol, and having for an ancestor Paul Bush, the +first Bishop of Bristol, who was born in 1491. He is the son of the late +Major Robert Bush, 96th Regiment, who was particularly patriotic in +having largely assisted in the formation of the 1st Bristol Rifle +Volunteer Corps, of which he became Colonel in command. In addition to +certain honorary medical and surgical appointments in the city, Mr. Bush +holds the position of chief surgeon to the Bristol Constabulary. + +[Illustration: MR. J. PAUL BUSH, C.M.G.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SMALL (THE POST OFFICE) STREET, BRISTOL. ITS ANCIENT HISTORY, +INFLUENTIAL RESIDENTS, HISTORIC HOUSES; THE CANNS; THE EARLY HOME OF +THE ELTON FAMILY. + + +From time immemorial Small Street, in the city and county of Bristol, +two-thirds of the west side of which the Post Office occupies, has been +an important street. One of the nine old town gates was at the bottom of +it, and was known as St. Giles's Gate, having obtained this name from +a church dedicated to St. Giles, the patron saint of cripples and +beggars, which in the fifteenth century stood at the end of +"Seynt-Lauren's-Laane." Here, history says, was the "hygest walle of +Bristow," which has "grete vowtes under it, and the old chyrch of Seynt +Gylys was byldyd ovyr the vowtes." The cutting of the trench, from the +old Stone Bridge to near Prince Street Bridge, for the new channel of +the Froom, was completed in 1247. Before this date ships could only lie +in the Avon, where the bottom was "very stony and rough"; but the bed of +the new course of the Froom having turned out to be soft and muddy, it +became the harbour for the great ships, and Small Street from this time +became a principal thoroughfare. Then to this quarter of the town came +Bristol's greatest merchants. From the centre of the town to the old +Custom House, at the lower end of Pylle Street (now St. Stephen Street) +there was no nearer way than down Small Street and through St. Giles's +Gate. The existence of gardens in the 15th and 16th centuries at the +backs of the Houses in Small Street is evidenced by the wills of old +Bristolians. In that of William Hoton, merchant, of St. Werburgh's +parish, who died in 1475, is mentioned "the garden of Sir Henry +Hungerford, Knight," near the cemetery of St. Leonard's Church, and John +Easterfield, merchant, of St. Werburgh's parish, who died in 1504, +bequeathed to his wife his dwelling-house in Small-Strete, and also "the +garden in St. Leonard's Lane, as long as she dwelleth in the said +house." + +[Illustration: ELTON MANSION, SMALL STREET, BRISTOL.] + +In this historic Small Street, and just within the old city walls, have +for two or three hundred years stood certain premises, in olden times +divided into three separate holdings, the freehold of which was +purchased in 1903 from the Bristol Water Works Company by the Post +Office, for much-needed extensions to its already large building. The +facts respecting these three edifices have been culled from ancient +parchments which would fill a large wheelbarrow. The premises are not of +very ornate exterior now. They are interesting, however, as denoting an +old style of architecture; but the exteriors have, no doubt, been so +altered and pulled about to meet the requirements of successive +occupiers as to be not quite like what they were originally. The +structures appear to have been erected in the middle of the 17th +century, probably at the end of the reign of King Charles I. (1649). The +plan of Brightstowe, published in 1581 by Hofnagle, shows that the +Church of St. Werburgh and its churchyard occupied one-third of the +frontage of the street, on the west, or Post Office, side, and that +there were only five other separate buildings, which were each detached, +and covered the remainder of the length of the street. Millerd's "Exact +Delineations of the famous Cittie of Bristoll," published in 1673, does +not so clearly illustrate the houses standing in Small Street on its +west or Post Office side as could be desired. The deeds hereafter +alluded to indicate, however, that of the three premises under +consideration, the Elton Mansion, at least, was standing before 1680, as +Richard Streamer, who died in that year, is named as having formerly +dwelt therein. There is no earlier record, and as Streamer only came to +fame as councillor in 1661, it may, perhaps, be assumed that the mansion +was erected about the year 1650; and as a member of the Cann family is +the first known owner of the property, no doubt the house was erected +for him. The style of architecture appears to bear out that assumption +as to date, and the frontages indicate that the three houses under +special review were erected about the same time. + +While there may be a little regret when these mediaeval buildings +disappear, there will be the advantage of the street being considerably +widened by their removal. It is now only 20 feet wide from house to +house, and gives a very good idea of its appropriate appellation--Small +Street. Taking first the property which formed the middle holding, now +(1905) known as 7, Small Street, and which was not, therefore, actually +contiguous to the existing Post Office, the earliest date alluded to in +the parchments is the year 1700. In a deed of the 14th August, 1723, it +is stated that Sir Abraham Elton, merchant, under indenture of lease +dated 28th February, 1700, had bought from Sir Thomas Cann, of Stoke +Bishopp, in the county of Gloucester, Esq., "All that great messuage or +dwelling-house situate standing and being in Small Street within the +Parishes of St. Walburgh (_sic_) and St. Leonard." The indenture was +between Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., on the one part, and Christopher +Shuter, of the same city, on the other part, and was worded thus: "Now +this Indenture witnesseth that for and in consideration of the sum of +five shillings of lawful money of Great Britain to the said Sir Abraham +Elton in hand paid by the said Christopher Shuter the receipt whereof +the said Sir Abraham Elton doth hereby confess and acknowledge and for +divers good causes and considerations him the said Sir Abraham Elton +hereunto moving hath granted bargained sold assigned and set over ... +unto the said Christopher Shuter all the said messuage and tenements to +have and to hold unto the said Christopher Shuter his executors +administrators and assigns from henceforth for and during all the rest +and residue of the above recited terms of 70 years which is yet to run +and unexpired in trust for said Sir Abraham Elton." + +The next record is that bearing date of the next day, thus:--"Mr. Cann's +lease for a year of a Messuage in Small Street to Sir Abraham Elton. +Date 15th August, 1723." Robert Cann "doth demise grant bargain and sell +unto the said Sir Abraham Elton all that great messuage or dwelling +house situate standing and being in Small Street within the parishes of +St. Walburgh and St. Leonards or one of them within the said city of +Bristol wherein Richard Streamer Esq. (who died in 1680) formerly dwelt +and wherein Sir William Poole, Knt. (no trace of him can be found in +local records) afterwards dwelt and now (1723) the dwelling of and in +the possession of the said Sir Abraham Elton (First Baronet) (where also +Sir Abraham Elton, the grandson, successively dwelt, and, after that, +William Thornhill, surgeon) and fronting forwards to the street called +Small Street and extending backwards to a lane called St. Leonard's Lane +and bounded on the outside thereof with a messuage in the holding of +William Donne, Ironmonger, and afterwards (1746) John Perks, Tobacconist +(now 1905, known as No. 6 in Small Street and actually adjoining the +Post Office) and on the other side thereof with a messuage in the tenure +of William Knight, Cooper (and afterwards of Richard Lucas, Cooper) (now +1905, known as No. 8 Small Street and last occupied by Messrs. Bartlett +and Hobbs, Wine Merchants), together with all and singular Cellars, +Sellars Vaults, Rooms, Halls, Parlors, Chambers, Kitchens, Lofts, +Lights, Basements, Backsides, pavements, court yards and appurtenances +whatsoever"--for one whole year, yielding and paying therefor the rent +of a peppercorn on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel (if the same +shall be demanded). Signed and sealed, Robert Cann. In the Abstract of +Title it is noted that William Knight, who occupied the house on the +"other side," was succeeded in the tenure by Richard Lucas, cooper. On +the 14th August, 1746, Sir Abraham Elton (3rd Bart.) and assignees +leased the premises as before described to Dr. Logan, of the city of +Bristol, doctor in physick, for 5s., as in the case of Christopher +Shuter. The house of William Donne, ironmonger, adjoining, was in this +deed mentioned as occupied by John Perks, tobacconist. The property +appears to have been sold by William Logan, of Pennsylvania, Esq., and +nephew and heir of the above-mentioned Dr. Logan, doctor of physick, of +the city of Bristol, to the "Small Street Company (Richard Reynolds, +Edward Garlick, Richard Summers, James Harford, William Cowles, James +Getly)" on the 27th May, 1772. In the year 1847 the property was leased +to the Bristol Water Works Company, and purchased by the company in +1865. + +The several owners and occupiers of this "great house" were persons of +no mean degree, as the following statement of their local positions +indicates. According to Playfair's "British Family Antiquity," Vol. +VII., Mr. Robert Cann was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Cann, who was the +eldest son of Sir Robert Cann, the first baronet. Sir Robert Cann was +the eldest son of William Cann, Esqr., Alderman of Bristol. He married +the sister of Sir Robert Yeomans, who was beheaded at Bristol for +supporting the cause of Charles I. Sir Robert was Councillor, 1649-1663; +Sheriff, 1651-1652; Treasurer, Merchant Venturers, 1653-1654; Master, +Merchant Venturers, 1658-1659; Mayor, 1662-1663; Knighted, 1662; created +Baronet, 1662; Alderman 1663-1685; Mayor, 1675-1676. Under the south +window of St. Werburgh's Church was a handsome monument, with a +half-arch, for the family of Sir Robert Cann, of Compton-Greenfield, +Bart. Richard Streamer was Councillor, 1661-1672; Sheriff, 1663-1664; +Alderman, 1672-1680; Mayor 1673-1674; Master, Merchant Venturers, +1672-1673; died 1680. Sir William Pool cannot be traced in the local +histories which have been consulted. Sir Abraham Elton (first baronet), +baptized 3 July, 1654, at St. Philip and St. Jacob Church, was the son +of Isaac and Elizabeth Elton, of that parish. From entries in the +registers, it may be seen that the family was settled there as early as +1608, about which time the members of it migrated from near Ledbury to +the neighbourhood, attracted doubtless by the splendid field for +enterprise offered by the second City of the Kingdom, as Bristol +undoubtedly was at that period, and for some time afterwards. They were +Puritans, and held some land in Barton Regis on the Gloucestershire side +of the city. Richard Elton, bap. at St. Philip and St. Jacob, 29 April, +1610, was a Colonel in Fairfax's Army, and he published one of the +earliest text books in the English language on military tactics; hence +the family motto, "Artibus et Armis." A copy of this book is now in +Clevedon Court Library, with its quaint frontispiece, portrait and +inscription: "Richard Elton, of Bristol, 1649, aetas suae 39." Sir +Abraham was apprenticed in 1670 to his eldest brother, Jacob Elton, but +in 1672 went to sea. He married in 1676 Mary, daughter of Robert +Jefferies, a member of a well-known mercantile family of that day. He +served in many public offices, thus:--President, Gloucestershire +Society, 1689; Councillor, 1699-1712; Sheriff, 1702-1703; Master, +Merchant Venturers, 1708-1709; Mayor, 1710-1711; Alderman, 1712-1728; +Governor, Incorporation of Poor, 1713-1715; High Sheriff of +Gloucestershire, 1716; created baronet, 1717; Mayor, September, 1720; +M.P., 1722-1727. + +[Illustration: [_From an original painting at Clevedon Court._ + +A.E. + +THE FIRST SIR ABRAHAM ELTON, BART.] + +[Illustration: [_From an original painting at Clevedon Court._ + +M.E. + +MARY, WIFE OF THE FIRST ABRAHAM ELTON, BART.] + +The portraits of Abraham and Mary Elton which are here given, are +reproduced, with Sir Edmund Elton's kind consent, from photographs by +Mr. Edwin Hazell, of Linden Road Studio, Clevedon. The original oil +paintings hang in the picture gallery at Clevedon Court. + +According to Barrett, in the St. Werburgh's vestry room, over the door +on the inside, as part of a long Latin inscription, was the name of +"Abrahamo Eltono, Guardianis, 1694." The baronetcy was conferred on him +in recognition of his staunch support of the Hanoverian succession +during the Jacobite riots of 1715-16, to the great disgust of Stewart, +the local Jacobite chronicler. + +In the Board Room, at St. Peter's Hospital, under the date 1700, Abraham +Elton's name appears as a benefactor for L100. + +In 1727, Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., gave L2 10s. per annum to five poor +housekeepers in St. Werburgh's parish not receiving alms, paid September +11, L50. He died at his house in Small Street in the same year--1727. +Having bequeathed considerable sums in local charities, he settled his +estates in Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Wilts, on various members of +his family. He was for many years head of the commerce of Bristol, a +pioneer of its brass and iron foundries, owner of its principal weaving +industry, and of some of its glass and pottery works, besides largely +controlling the shipping of the port. His wife survived him by only two +months. They are both buried in the family vault in SS. Philip and Jacob +Parish Church, within the altar rails near Sir Abraham's parents. The +house in Small Street was their town house from about 1690 down to the +date of their deaths. + +Sir Abraham Elton (second baronet), baptized 30 June, 1679, at St. John +the Baptist, Broad Street, was Councillor, 1710-1723; Sheriff, +1710-1711; Mayor, 1719-1720; Master, Merchant Venturers, 1719-1720; +Alderman, 1723-1742; baronet, 1727; M.P., 1727-1742; died October 19th, +1742. He married on the 14th of May, 1702, Abigail, daughter of Zachary +Bayly, of Charlcot House, Wilts, and of Northwood Park, Somerset. + +Sir Abraham Elton (third baronet), born 1703, was Councillor, 1728-1757; +Sheriff, 1728-1729; Baronet, 1742; Mayor, 1742-1743; died November 29th, +1761. He died unwed. + +Christopher Shuter was Councillor, 1699-1715; Sheriff, 1702-1703; Mayor, +1711-1712; Alderman, 1715-1730; Governor, Incorporation of Poor, +1715-1716; Warden, Merchant Venturers, 1718-1719; died 1730. + +William Thornhill was surgeon to the Infirmary, 1737-1754. + +William Logan was physician to the Infirmary, 1737-1757; died December, +1757, aged 69. + +The neighbours on the right and left of the Elton mansion, mentioned +hereafter, were not of great social consequence. There is, however, +mention of one of them, a John Knight, having been warden of the +Merchant Venturers' Society in 1671-2. + +The other premises (6 and 8--1903) stand on the upper and lower sides +respectively of the old Elton Mansion. They belonged in 1709 to Eleanor +Seager, who mortgaged them to Edward Cook for L140. The property was +described in the mortgage deed thus:-- + +"All those two messuages or tenements situate and being in Small Street +in the Parish of St. Walburg (_sic_) in the City of Bristol in one (No. +6--1905) of which said messuages John Knight Gent now liveth and in the +other of them (No. 8--1905) one M.E. Balley now doth or lastly did +inhabit and dwell, in the said City of Bristol and all houses, +outhouses, edifices, buildings, courtyards, and backsides to the said +messuage or tenement." + +[Illustration: GARGOYLE IN ELTON MANSION WALL.] + +The two messuages were leased to Mary Knight by Eleanor Seager for 1s. +in money by indenture of 26 June, 1716, thus:--"Between John Saunders +of Hazell in the parish of Olveston in the County of Gloucester, Esq., +and Eleanora his wife the only daughter and heirs of William Seager late +of Hazell aforesaid on the one part and Mary Knight of the city of +Bristol widow, on the other part. + +"hath granted bargained sold all these two several messuages or +tenements situate being in Small Street in one of which said messuages +or tenements John Knight, deceased, formerly dwelt and wherein the said +Mary Knight his widow doth now dwell and in the other of them Thomas +Balley Painter and Glazier doth also dwell (afterwards in tenure or +occupation of John Mason Broker and Thomas Taman Gunsmith) and all the +outhouses," &c, &c, &c. (as in 1709 mortgage deed). + +In 1758 (24 June) there was a conveyance of the two messuages from Miss +Knight to Mr. Samuel Page (one of the partners with Edward Garlick, +Richard Reynolds, &c.) for L700. It was this same firm which purchased +the Elton "Great House" in 1772. + +The firm was known as Messrs. Reynolds, Getley and Company, by virtue of +an indenture of co-partnership, dated 1st June, 1764. The document was +signed and sealed by Richard Reynolds, Edward Garlick, Richard Summers, +James Harford, William Cowles, James Getley, Samuel Page, William +Weaver, John Partridge, and John Partridge, jun. The firm was engaged in +the iron and tin-plate trades, and, according to the _London Gazette_ of +Saturday, March 17th, 1820, it was being carried on under the style of +Harfords, Crocker, and Co. The partnership dissolved on the 30th day of +June, 1821, by Alicia Calder, Elizabeth Weaver, and Sarah Davies +retiring from the firm, and by reason of the death of the Philip +Crocker. The business was continued by Richard Summers Harford, Samuel +Harford, John Harford, William Green, and William Weaver Davies, under +the firm of Harford Brothers and Co., under the date of 25th day of +February, 1822. + +These two tenements became the property of the Bristol Water Works +Company at the same time as the Great House, in 1865, and a portion of +ground at the back, facing St. Leonard's Lane, belonging to the St. +Werburgh's charities, in 1902. + +[Illustration: CHIMNEY-PIECE IN ELTON MANSION, SMALL STREET, BRISTOL.] + +The old chimney-piece--a fine specimen of mediaeval stone carving--which +stood in the principal upstairs room of No. 7, used as a boardroom by +the Water Works Company, the richly decorated ceiling, and the panelled +walls, marked the period at which the Eltons occupied the house; and the +initials A. and M.E., representing Abraham and Mary Elton (Mary, +daughter of Robert Jefferies, whom he married in 1676), and the date, +1700, quaintly cut, are on the chimney-piece. The chimney-piece has been +removed, and re-erected in the new Water Works building in Telephone +Avenue. The inquirer of the far-distant future may be misled when he +finds it in this spot, unless, indeed, there be some tablet provided to +indicate and perpetuate the history of this antique stone carving. The +ceiling and panelling have been purchased by Sir Edmund Elton, and taken +to Clevedon Court. + +In letters to the _Bristol Times and Mirror_ newspaper, certain writers +have, in treating of the Water Works premises, sought to establish that +the great philanthropist, Edward Colston, possessed a mansion on the +east side of Small Street, and lived therein. No tangible facts have, +however, been adduced to substantiate the statements. On the other hand, +there is very conclusive evidence to the contrary contained in the notes +on "Colston's House," read at the annual meeting of this society, in +1890, by the late historian of Bristol, John Latimer. Mr. Latimer +demonstrated, beyond doubt, that Thomas Colston purchased the mansion of +the Creswicks, on the west side of Small Street, upon the site of which +the present Post Office stands. It was in that house that Edward Colston +resided, if, indeed, at any time he ever did live for more than a short +period at one time in Small Street. + +When King Charles II, as Prince of Wales accompanied his father to +Bristol, and the Court was located in Small Street on that very site, +probably he rode into, and about, the city in a coach such as is given +in the illustration at page 23, but there is no doubt, that in later +days, after the Battle of Worcester, he rode in on horseback as a +fugitive on his way to Abbotsleigh. His start on the long journey from +Boscobel mounted on the Miller's pony, sans wig and sans royal garb, was +not altogether dignified, although the incident here depicted is not +wanting in pathetic interest, as indicating the attachment to His +Majesty of the five faithful Penderel brothers. + +[Illustration: [_From a painting in the Merchant Venturers' Hall, +Bristol._ + +EDWARD COLSTON, 1636-1721. + +_(Copyright.)_] + +[Illustration: [_By permission of Mr. John Lane, The Bodley Head, Vigo +St., London._ + +CHARLES II. + +_(From "After Worcester Fight," by Allen Fea.)_] + +In a report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary enquiry into +the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary conditions +of the inhabitants of the City and County of Bristol in 1850, it was +stated in a petition from Messrs. H.J.J. Hinton & Son, Small Street, +"There is a filthy lane, called Leonard's Lane, near the bottom of Small +Street, and which leads round into Corn Street. The state of it, in a +general way, is so bad as to be quite sufficient to produce pestilence." + +According to the report the Parish of St. Werburgh contained 30 houses. +Its population in 1841 was 99, and its area was 300 square yards. It had +one burial ground, and the average number of interments was 5 per +annum. Leaden coffins were always required. + +The "Inspector of Lamps, etc.", reported that there were 21 houses in +Small Street. + +[Illustration: [_By permission of Mr. John Lane, The Bodley Head, Vigo +Street, London._ + +CHARLES II. AFTER BATTLE OF WORCESTER ON ROAD TO BRISTOL. + +_(From "After Worcester Fight," by Allen Fea.)_] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE POST OFFICE TRUNK TELEPHONE SYSTEM AT BRISTOL.--THE COLUMBIA +STAMPING MACHINE. + + +The Post Office in Bristol commenced to undertake telephone business in +1896. It began with trunk telephone lines working to Bath, Birmingham, +Cardiff, Exeter, London, Taunton, and Weston-super-Mare. At the outset +the conversations averaged about 170 daily. In that same year the +department took over from the National Telephone Co., Cardiff, +Gloucester, Newport and Sharpness lines, and the conversations soon +increased to nearly 400 per day. At the present time the department has +from 1 to 5 (according to size of town) trunk lines to Bath, +Bradford-on-Avon, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Gloucester, London, +Lydney, Plymouth, Newport, Sharpness, Southampton, Swansea, Taunton, +Tiverton, and Weston-super-Mare. An increased number of wires has had +marked effect in diminishing the delays which at first occurred through +paucity of trunk lines, but as the business is constantly increasing, +the department is still looked to for additional lines. That the better +accommodation is appreciated, however, is indicated by the fact that now +the Bristol conversations average nearly 1,500 a day, or considerably +over a quarter of a million a year. On Sundays the trunk telephones are +available, but use is made of them only to a small extent, there being +only about 150 conversations per Sunday. The total number of trunk wire +transactions throughout the kingdom during the last year, according to +the Postmaster General's annual report, was 13,467,975, or, reckoning +each transaction as involving at least two spoken messages, a total +number of 26,935,950 (an increase of 16.3 per cent. over that of the +preceding year). The revenue was L325,525 (an increase of 18.4 per +cent.), and the average value of each transaction was 5s. 8d. There is a +silence box in the Public Hall of the Bristol Post Office, from which +conversations can be held with all parts of the Kingdom, with Belgium +and France. Of course, the greater number of trunk line telephone +conversations are held through the medium of the National Telephone +Company's local exchange, but many important Bristol firms have +contracted with the Post Office for private telephone wires in actual +connection with the trunk line system, independent altogether of the +National Co.'s exchange. + +The intermingling of the National Telephone business with that of the +Post Office telegraphs has had a further development in a system under +which subscribers to the National Company telephone communications to +the Post Office to be sent on thence as telegrams over Post Office +telegraph wires. This privilege is taken advantage of at Bristol to the +extent of seven or eight hundred messages weekly. The accession of the +trunk telephone business to the already over-crowded office has had the +effect of necessitating the detachment of some part of the staff from +the Post Office headquarter premises in Small Street, and the friendly +relations between the Telephone Company and the Post Office have been +further strengthened by the Bristol Post Office having taken certain +rooms in the headquarters of the National Telephone Co., and located its +Returned Letter Office therein. + +Another new feature in Post Office development is the use of Stamping +Machines for the rapid obliteration of the postage stamps and for the +impression of the day's date on letters. Quite recently a machine of the +kind has been introduced into the Bristol Post Office. The machine, +which is of modern invention, goes by the name of the "Columbia" +Cancelling Machine, and is manufactured by the Columbia Postal Supply +Company, of Silver Creek, New York, U.S.A. It is said to be in use in +many Post Offices in the large towns of America and other countries. The +public will no doubt have noticed the new cancelling marks on the +postage stamps, as the die and long horizontal lines are very striking. +The cancelling and date marking operation is performed at the rate of +400 or 500 letters per minute. The motor power of the machine is +electricity. + +[Illustration: COLUMBIA STAMPING MACHINE.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE POST OFFICE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY: ITS ANNUAL MEETING AT BRISTOL.--POST +OFFICE SPORTS: TERRIBLE MOTOR CYCLE ACCIDENT.--BRISTOL POST OFFICE IN +DARKNESS. + + +The United Kingdom Postal and Telegraph Service Benevolent Society held +its Biennial meeting at Bristol, in June, 1903, and a Banquet was given +by the Bristol Branch to the members of the Conference. + +Such a visit to Bristol occurs only once in about 20 years, so it was +regarded as an event of no small importance in the local Post Office +community; and it is, perhaps, worthy on that account of record in this +publication, which aims to be somewhat historical in character. In the +following account of the Banquet there has been withdrawn the seasoning +of the "hear, hear," "laughter," "applause," "loud cheers," etc. The +reader can add it to his or her liking. + +The attendance at the Banquet was large, and the guests closely filled +the large central hall of the Royal Hotel, College Green. The High +Sheriff, Mr. Weston Stevens, presided, and amongst those present were +the Lord Bishop of Bristol, Colonel C.E.H. Hobhouse, M.P., Rev. A.N. +Blatchford, Messrs. J. McMurtrie, S. Humphries, R.C. Tombs, I.S.O. +(Postmaster and Surveyor of Bristol), E. Bennett, J.T. Francombe, J. +Asher, J.C. Gilmore, L.J. Botting (the Bristol Central Secretary), E.C. +Taylor (the Chairman of Conference), and many others. + +The speeches were interesting as throwing a light on the Post Office +working, and on Post Office benevolence. + +When he received the invitation to attend that dinner, Mr. Francombe +said, he was at a loss to know why he should be so honoured. He thought +that possibly some gentleman engaged in the dead-letter office knew he +was a member of the Education Committee of Bristol, and that he might +give a hint to the rising generation to write better, and so save him a +great deal of trouble. If that was the reason, he certainly would +attend to it. Afterwards he said he knew why it was; it was because Sir +Francis Freeling was born in Redcliff, where he (Mr. Francombe) happened +to be schoolmaster of the parish. Sir Francis worked his way up to high +rank in the Postal Service, which was something to be proud of. He hoped +members of the Conference would not go away from Bristol without +visiting Redcliff Church and seeing the slab to his memory. But his duty +was to propose the toast of the Bishop and ministers of religion of that +ancient city. They did not know as much about the Bishop as he should +like them to know. They in Bristol believed him to be physically, +mentally, and spiritually fit to be a leader in the great city. He +believed the work of a Bishop was something like that of a +policeman--not altogether a happy one. His Lordship attended many +functions, gave a fillip to every one of them, and all he said was +reported and saved up ready to be cast in his teeth sometimes. If he +were of a tender disposition he would say, "I could weep my spirit from +mine eyes." But he was not one of that sort. His toast was "Ministers +of Religion." He thought it would have been "Ministers of all +denominations." There was one denomination in Bristol that had no +ministers, and it went on wonderfully well. He referred to the Society +of Friends. He was sure His Lordship would agree. They only spoke when +_the_ spirit moved them, but a good many spoke when _a_ spirit moved +them. Some denominations were better without a minister, and some +ministers would be better without denominations. In the city of Bristol +there was room enough for all, and they need not spend time in attacking +each other, but might do the work God sent them to do. They had one +present that night--a broad-minded gentleman who did his work like the +Bishop, and minded his business, and did not interfere with other +people--Mr. Blatchford. + +They always listened in Bristol with special pleasure to a speech from +their friend Mr. Francombe, the Lord Bishop said. He desired to thank +Mr. Francombe for the pleasant manner in which he had spoken of him. The +clergy and ministers had looked about in the world for the faces that +were on the side of right, besides the purely spiritual faces and +spiritual work, and he was always thankful to think a great deal of good +was done in the country by that great service represented that evening. +Their army of postmen and employes of the Post Office were a very great +factor indeed in keeping steady a State like their own. He always said +the same of certain other bodies, but of the postmen it seemed to him +they were so particularly careful about their business, they learned of +necessity to be so sober and so well conducted, or they would lose their +place, that he looked upon them and the railway men as two of the +greatest civilising influences they had among them, apart from such work +as Mr. Blatchford and he were called upon officially to do. He desired +to express, on his own part, his extreme gratitude to those gentlemen +for another reason--the wonderful accuracy with which they delivered the +letters. That gentleman who laughed might once in his life have missed a +letter addressed to him, but it did not happen to the Bishop. In the +five and a half years he had been in Bristol, with a large +correspondence, he was not conscious of having lost one single letter. +He should have been exceedingly glad if a good many had been lost. It so +happened he gave the Post Office a good deal of trouble. He lived at a +place called the Palace. Now Henry VIII. created a bishop's residence in +Bristol, a palace, and it was supposed that a palace must mean something +royal. The real fact was, the name was derived not from a king's palace +but from that of a shepherd--a most suitable thing for a bishop. Henry +VIII., besides creating his residence a palace, created Bristol a city +in the same document. The name palace gave a certain amount of trouble, +because there were palaces in some cities where other things than +bishops were sold. There was a palace where a certain innocuous drink +was sold, and letters sometimes went there. There was also a most +delightful place of entertainment called the People's Palace in Bristol, +and letters sometimes went there. When grave clergymen from a distance +came to stay at his house they were occasionally driven up to the doors +of the People's Palace, and the cabmen expected that they were going to +purchase tickets for the entertainment. A letter came to Bristol +addressed "March 25th, Bristol." The Postmaster was puzzled at first. +Then it occurred to him that the assizes were on, and Justice Day was +the judge, and that his wife was Lady Day. He should like to tell them +one thing more from history. Admirable as the Post Office was now, a +little more than 1,200 years ago, a letter was sent to his predecessor, +St. Aldhelm, from Ireland. The only address given was from an anonymous +Scot. The letter said, "You have a book which it is only the business of +a fortnight to read; I beg you to send it to me." That was all. He did +not name the book. The Post Office in those days was so marvellous a +thing that, as far as they knew, Aldhelm just took the book, put it in +the post, addressed to an anonymous Scot, and he supposed it found its +way to him in Ireland. He did not think they could beat that to-day. Few +people knew how much the country was saved in taxation by people who had +a large correspondence. Their letters were the most agreeable and easy +way of paying their taxes. When they came to see the Budget analysed it +was surprising what a large amount of taxation was paid in this innocent +way. He could not see how it was done. It seemed that the work for which +a penny was charged must cost at least a penny. He could only understand +it on the principle of the old Irish lady who lost on every single apple +she sold, but, by the blessing of God, sold so many that she got a good +living out of it. + +He was not surprised, the Rev. A.N. Blatchford said, that the toast +should be so heartily received in a city known as the city of churches. +The Church had thrown herself from ancient time into the cause of the +people; progress and religion had been indissolubly linked together. + +In proposing the toast "The Postal and Telegraph Service," Mr. Sidney +Humphries, J.P., present President of the Chamber of Commerce, said that +when he was asked to propose the next toast on the list, his thoughts +naturally turned to the reason for his being put forward to do this +duty, and the only explanation that had occurred to him was that having +had the hardihood to be one of a deputation to the Postmaster-General +quite recently, on the question of their local postal service, those who +had had the arrangement of this function, Mikado like, had lured him to +his punishment; but still, being in for it, many interesting thoughts +had arisen. The first, as to the foresight of that Worcestershire +schoolmaster, Rowland Hill, who, feeling the pinch of expense, made an +agreement with his sweetheart to only write once a fortnight, the rates +of postage in his early days varying from 2d. to 1s. in accordance with +the distance at which they were separated. Fortunately, his thoughts +were directed to the penny postage for all distances within the United +Kingdom, and although many spoke of him as an over-sanguine dreamer, +still events had proved his wisdom, and to-day they had a postal service +that dealt with over 3,832 million letters, postcards, and papers per +annum, giving 91 per head of the population, as against 940 millions 33 +years ago, with the comparatively small number of 30 per head then. +Whilst speaking of the enormous growth of the postal business, they +must not lose sight of the wonderful growth of both the telegraph and +Savings Bank business. The former, since it was taken over by Government +in 1870, had more than justified that step, for in the following +year--1871--the number of telegrams sent was 10 millions, whilst last +year the number was well over 92 million messages. Then as regards the +Savings Bank, they could flatter themselves as to the proof it furnished +of the increased wealth of the country, for whilst the total Savings +Bank capital in 1869 was 13-1/2 millions, in 1901 it stood at over 140 +millions. But whilst all this progress had been made, many helpful +suggestions had been made by men of moderate position. Take, for +instance, a time so long ago as 1784: the credit of first suggesting the +mail coach was made by a Mr. Palmer, who was then the manager of the +theatre in their neighbouring city of Bath. This was a great improvement +as to speed and safety of delivery when compared with the old postboy; +but think of the mail coach when compared with the mail trains that +covered now over three millions of miles per annum. But with all this +progress there had been many other changes. Think of the notice that was +issued to all postal employes in 1832, that none were to vote or advise +electors how to vote. This was very different to running a candidate on +postal lines, as was to take place at the next election at York. And in +considering what for a better term he might call the commercial side of +the question, there were instances that ought not to be overlooked in +great numbers of devotion to duty--for example, take that of the Scotch +mail carrier, who, feeling himself overcome by the gale and snow, hung +his mail-bag on a tree so that the letters should not be lost, even if +his life were sacrificed. Then this postal system seemed to develop a +special shrewdness. One local case had been mentioned by the Bishop as +having recently occurred, and there was another in which a pictorial +address of Daniel in the lion's den found its rightful owner, who had +become talked about by his visit to a menagerie just before. But in case +they should all think that at last perfection had been reached, there +was another circumstance that he could relate from his own personal +experience. Wanting to send a parcel to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, he +foolishly sent it to his private address, at 40, Portman Square, instead +of his official residence, he being Chancellor of Exchequer at the time, +and judge of his own astonishment when he received an official +announcement, "Cannot be delivered owing to address being unknown." But +this did not tell against their Bristol friends, a body of men, he +ventured to say, who for smartness and anxiety at all times to meet the +various calls made upon them could not be surpassed, and therefore he +called upon them all to drink heartily the toast of the Postal and +Telegraph Service, coupling with it the name of their local Postmaster +and Surveyor, who was always to the fore in anything that would help +forward Bristol or Bristol interests. + +[Illustration: POSTMASTER OF BRISTOL. + +_(The Author.)_] + +In replying, the Postmaster thanked them all for the cordial reception +of the toast of the Postal and Telegraph Services, and especially Mr. +Humphries, the proposer, for the kind and considerate and genial way in +which he had alluded to his department. In the first place, he wished +to extend to the delegates assembled there--and they came from all parts +of the United Kingdom, North, South, East, and West--the right hand of +good comradeship. Welcome, delegates to Bristol, thrice welcome, he +said. He supposed, in response to this important toast, they would +expect that he should say something of the postal system. The Lord +Bishop had taken them back some hundreds of years--1200 years back, when +Bishop Aldhelm wrote a letter. He must go a little further back than +that. His friend, Mr. Humphries, found a parallel in Holy +Scripture--Daniel in the lion's den. He found in Holy Writ, the only +book of ancient date he had to refer to, that posts and letters were of +respectable antiquity. They would find recorded in Kings II. this +passage in connection with the account of that pathetic incident of the +little Israelitish maiden suggesting the means whereby Naaman might be +cured--"Go to," said the King of Syria, "I will send a letter to the +King of Israel." In the wisdom of Solomon were the words, "My days are +like a shadow that passeth away, and like the post that hasteth by." So +they saw in those ancient days it was all hurry for the postman. He +would skip a few thousand years and come to 1496. It was recorded that +the means of communication in this country were almost non-existent, and +news was carried to and fro by means of travelling merchants, pedlars, +and pilgrims. In 1637 letter posts were established by Charles I. King +Charles stopped in the building that stood on the site of their local +St. Martin's-le-Grand, but little could he have thought that the day +would come when it would be possible for a man to stand on that spot and +speak to a friend and recognise his voice, as far away as Wexford. Sir +Francis Freeling had been named. He became secretary to the Post Office. +He served in the Bristol office two or three years before being +translated to London to become the associate of Palmer, of mail-coach +renown. The old city of Bristol had been under a cloud. In the year 1793 +they had only one postman, and two or three years later two. Now they +had 500. In the last 60 years the letters posted and delivered in +Bristol increased from 66 millions to 134 millions in the year. This was +an enormous increase, and showed that Bristol was going to forge ahead +again. It made them glad that the old city had once again aroused +herself. The Post Office had become a giant in the kingdom, but it +exercised its power as a kindly giant. They heard the demand for all +sorts of reforms, but they felt that Mr. Austen Chamberlain was equal to +the occasion. + +"The Postal and Telegraph Benevolent Society" was submitted by +Lieut.-Colonel Hobhouse, M.P., who said he was not sure that before long +they would not have to add to their service, and include the telephonic +operators as well. He noticed they depended in their work, and for the +relief which they gave to their members, entirely upon the donations of +their own members. That was satisfactory, not only to them, but to him +as a Member of Parliament, because Members of Parliament seldom came to +gatherings of that sort without being requested to make some +contribution, direct or indirect, to the funds of the Society, so good +as to give them a dinner. He understood the provision of the Society +was in addition to the official pension of the Post Office. + +In reply, Mr. Botting said they must all feel very much flattered by the +terms in which Colonel Hobhouse had referred to their Society. He felt +that they might almost suggest to the Government that the questions of +old age pensions and the financial position of friendly societies might +be handed over to them to deal with. He might remind them of a remark +made at the meeting, although having an M.P. present, perhaps he should +not refer to it, that their Society got through more work in a day than +the House of Commons did in a month. He considered they had at their +Conference got through a good day's work. He would not give a long +string of statistics, but he must mention that the Society had a +membership of 19,600, had been in existence nearly 28 years, and during +that time had paid to the nominees of deceased members just upon +L300,000, made up chiefly of penny contributions. Such payments had been +in many cases all that had stood between the widows and orphans and +absolute destitution. In considering this, they must not forget his +friend beside him, whose fertile brain had created the Society. They +must all regret to learn of Mr. Asher's retirement from the Service +through ill-health, and they would all hope that the release from +official work would prove beneficial to him. He (Mr. Botting) hoped that +so long as the Society existed the name of Mr. Asher would never be +forgotten. + +Mr. Asher was received very heartily. He said the proposal that such a +society should be formed was regarded as the day dream of a sanguine +mind, but it was something to reflect upon, the immense amount of good +that had been done in the course of years. More practical help he could +not imagine rendering to the fellows in the Service. He trusted that the +work of that day's Conference might re-echo and redound to the credit of +the Bristol meeting, and he desired, in thanking their Bristol friends, +to couple with them the names of Mr. E.C. Taylor and the Reception +Committee. + +In proposing "The City and County of Bristol," Mr. Edward Bennett said +that he had attended a great number of these banquets, and had had on +several occasions to propose the toast of the particular town which was +for the moment entertaining the Society. For this reason he was, +perhaps, looked upon as a special pleader, and when he was praising a +provincial city his tongue was thought to be in his cheek, and London +was written on his heart. When Stella was told that Dean Swift had +composed a poem, not in honour of her, but of Vanessa, she replied, with +exquisite feminine amenity, that it was well known that the Dean could +be eloquent over a broomstick. If he that night extolled Bristol above +her other rivals, it would be said of him that he was a verbose +individual, who had called in past years Leeds a beautiful and inspiring +city, Liverpool a rising seaport, and Glasgow a town where urbanity and +sweet reasonableness prevailed. It might be remembered of him that he +had praised the Birmingham man for his childlike humility, and the +Edinburgh man for his excessive modesty. It was his first visit to +Bristol, and it was presumption on his part to speak on the subject at +all. Silence was the better part when a man was situated as he was. +There were some exquisite lines he learnt as a child which conveyed a +deep moral lesson to all day trippers:-- + + There was a young lady of Sweden + She went by the slow train to Weedon, + When she arrived at Weedon Station she made no observation, + But returned by the slow train to Sweden. + +That was what he ought to have done. His heart went out to that young +lady, and he often had pondered whether it was disgust, astonishment, or +admiration which had inspired her silence. There was a special reason +why Civil Servants should be drawn to Bristol. Doubtless even the +Bristol Chamber of Commerce was acquainted with the process known as +"passing over"--many persons in that room had perhaps undergone the +operation--and those who read the history of Bristol felt a pull at +their heart strings when they realised the fact that she also had been +"passed over" by younger and more pushful rivals. But the capable Civil +Servant never admitted the justice of being passed over. In many +instances he established his case, and he did not rest satisfied until +he had retrieved his position, and in time caught up his quondam +rivals. That, he took it, was the position of Bristol at the present +time. She had relied too much on her ancient name, and had allowed +mushroom places like Liverpool and Manchester to steal a march on her. +She was coming to the front again; she had a glorious past, but she was +going to have a brilliant future. He coupled with the toast the name of +the High Sheriff. If he knew any evil of the High Sheriff he would not +mention it that evening. He had still 24 hours to spend in Bristol, and +a man could do a lot of evil as well as good in that time. + +The High Sheriff made a short speech in reply to the toast. + +Other good speeches followed. + +The Post Office Cycling and Athletic Clubs have for some years past been +in the habit of holding Sports at the County Ground in Bristol. These +annual sports, having been held on Saturday afternoons, have usually +been successful, and have attracted large crowds. In 1903, the sports, +held on the 23rd May, attracted no fewer than nine thousand persons, +owing to the unusual feature of motor cycle races having been arranged +as a novelty--motor cycle racing not having been carried on in Bristol +before. There were several competitors, and London as well as local men, +took part in the motor cycle races. Unfortunately, the track, which had +been made some sixteen years previously for ordinary cycle competitions, +was not suitable for motor racing at great speed. In one of the heats +Bailey, of Bristol, was leading Barnes, of London, a noted motor +cyclist, and through some mishap at or soon after the moment of Barnes +getting past Bailey, his machine having run rather wide on the track, +got out of his command, and dashed into the fringe of sightseers who +were lying on the bank to get the best point of view. The result was a +fearful carnage, and ten or eleven people were carried away insensible +and much injured. In the end, three poor boys died in the Hospital, and +fortunately the seven or eight other people who were injured, slowly +recovered from their concussions and contusions. At the inquest, the +verdict was "Accidental Death." + +On the 23rd December, 1903, shortly after five o'clock p.m., the civic +supply of electricity in Bristol failed, and shops, business premises, +and houses depending upon it for light, were plunged into darkness in +all parts of the city. This was soon known to be due to a fire having +broken out at Temple Back Generating Station, and the glare in the sky +suggested that the outbreak had reached serious proportions. The Bristol +Post Office has a full installation of electric light; and the failure +could not have occurred at a more inconvenient time, as the pressure +incidental to Christmas was being experienced. Fortunately, not only for +the Post Office, but also for the general public, the large staff +engaged in the interior of the building was able to cope with the +extensive work before them practically without interruption, as +throughout the whole of the department, gas is still laid on, and, +beyond the shifting of one or two desks to within reasonable distance of +gas jets, no inconvenience was caused after the burners and +fittings--somewhat out of order through non-usage--were put to rights. +The public hall, however, suffered most, as, when thus robbed of the +electric light at one of the busiest periods of the evening, only +scattered gas jets were available, and they had to be supplemented by +lighted candles set at intervals around the semi-circular counter. Some +of the candles were in primitive holders, stuck in blocks of wood, and +plugged firmly with nails; others were even without these supports. The +Counter Officers had, therefore, to work under difficulties; but they +got through their manifold duties expeditiously. The greatest +inconvenience was occasioned at St. James's Parish Hall, which was being +temporarily used as a Post Office. Here, there was no gas service +available, and when the electric lights "gave out," the staff had to +scurry hither and thither to get illuminants, which took the form of +postmen's lamps, table lamps, candles in improvised holders, and such +few hurricane lamps as were procurable at the shops, in the general run +on them. The electric light was fully restored in the evening of the +next day. This fire recalls an occasion when at St. Martin's-le-Grand, +the gas supply failed, and the largest Post Office business of the world +was placed at a standstill. The officials, however, were equal to the +emergency, and cartloads of candles were quickly obtained. The staff of +carpenters employed on the building improvised receptacles, and the +postal work was proceeded with, candles as they burnt out being replaced +by men told off for the purpose. Some time afterwards, it was suggested +that the stock of candles left over should be disposed of, but it was +then found that these had been devoured by the innumerable rats which +infest the old building. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +QUAINT ADDRESSES AND THE DEAN'S PECULIAR SIGNATURE.--AMUSING INCIDENTS +AND THE POSTMAN'S KNOCK.--HUMOROUS APPLICATIONS. + + +The members of the Bristol Post Office Staff have to display no little +perspicacity in elucidating quaint addresses on letters going through +the post. To Postman Wade must go the credit of having correctly +surmised that the letter addressed simply "25th March, Clifton," to +which allusion has already been made, was intended for Lady Day, the +wife of the Judge of Assize, Mr. Justice Day, then staying in Clifton. A +letter addressed to "W.D. & H.O.", without street or town being named, +came from a distant county, and was delivered to the firm of Messrs. +W.D. & H.O. Wills & Co., in Bristol, for whom it was found to be +intended. + +The pictorial illustrations herewith demonstrate two instances of +letters correctly delivered by the post office officials after the +address had been deciphered by their _Sherlock Holmes_. + +In the _Bristol Royal Mail_ particulars were given of the peculiar way +in which correspondents addressed their envelopes to the Post Office, +Bristol. Since that publication was issued, other peculiar instances +have occurred. The following are cases of the kind, viz.:--The Head +Postmaster (Master's Parlour). The Honourable The Postmaster. Postmaster +Number 58 (in answer to query on Form "Postmasters No. 58"). Master, +General Post Office, Bristol. + +The Dean of Bristol in the preface of his very interesting book "Odds +and Ends," writes of the many liberties people take with his surname in +their communications, and says that none of their imaginary names are so +pleasing to him as his own proper name of Pigou. That his correspondents +are not altogether to be blamed may be gathered from the fact that the +Dean, in an official letter to the Bristol Post Office, signed his name +thus: + +[Illustration: Signature] + +The signature was submitted to 22 officers who decipher the badly +addressed letters at the "Blind" Division, at "Head Quarters," in the +General Post Office, London, and their interpretations were as follows, +viz.:--J. Rogers, J. Egan, Ryan, J. Lyon, Roper, J. or T. Rogers, J. +Rogers, J. Logan, J. Lyon, J. Logan, J. Pogon, T. Lyon, J. Rogers, J. +Goson, J. Rogers, J. Eason, T. Egan, J. Goyfer, J.G. Offin, J. Lyons, J. +Pyon, J. Pijou. + +[Illustration: LETTER CORRECTLY DELIVERED TO DR. W.G. GRACE, AT +BRISTOL.] + +[Illustration: QUAINT ADDRESS.] + +It is only fair to the "Blind Writers" to say, that the address heading +of the Dean's letter was withdrawn before the signature was submitted to +them. With that clue they would readily have been able to find out the +writer's correct name from their books of reference, so that the Dean is +not likely to suffer delay of his letters in the Returned Letter Office +through peculiarity of signature. + +During a recent Christmas Season a parcel, containing a lb. roll of +butter was received, without address, in the returned Letter Office, +Bristol, from a Devonshire town. As the parcel could not be returned to +the sender within such a time as the contents remained good, the butter +was sold for cooking purposes. When placed upon the kitchen table, the +edge of a yellow coin was observed to be slightly protruding from the +roll. The coin turned out to be a sovereign, and search was made to +ascertain whether any more money had been so strangely hidden, but only +the L1 was found. The money was at once forwarded to the proper Post +Office authorities, and subsequently returned to the sender, but +would-be imitators are warned that such practices are strongly +deprecated by the Post Office Department as tending to lead to +dishonesty. + +The Corporation of Bristol erected electric light ventilators in +different parts of the city. At a distance, possibly, these ventilators +appear, to the short-sighted, to be Post Office pillar boxes, as they +are iron boxes placed on the pavement near the kerbstones. They differ +in many respects from the familiar Post Office boxes, for, instead of +being round, they are square; they are painted of a different colour, +and are only about two feet high. They are without indicators, notice +plates, and doors. There is a slightly raised top for the passage of +air. Through this opening of one of the boxes letters have been recently +posted by three separate persons. Such carelessness is astonishing. + +The Electric Lighting Authorities, to prevent further mishaps of the +kind, arranged to have the apertures closed by means of perforated zinc. + +Even in these days of primary and secondary education, people have still +a very elementary knowledge of matters relating to the Postal and +Telegraph Services, in which everyone is vitally concerned. Recently, an +intelligent servant who had received a Board School education was sent +with a telegram to a Telegraph Office, and told to pay for a reply. +Having paid for the reply, she expected to get one there and then, and +it was only with very great reluctance that she was induced to leave the +Telegraph Office without a reply to convey back to the person who +entrusted her with the commission. + +A complainant to the Post Office expressed himself thus:--"Jan. 1st, +1904. Dear Sir,--Your Postman on 28th by the First post In the morning, +With a newspaper,) My Sister Was at the back at the time Getting Sum +cole In. He could not Stop a few Minets; but nock So hard That he brock +a New Nocker on the door and then run off, we not Seen Him Since,) I. +think he Ought to bye Nother Nocker. Ther to much that boy Game with Sum +them The paper after came With Nother postman, He was on a bike wot +Broke the Nocker and Off at once and left the Peces on the door Step, +The postman got a Cast In his eye.) I. Should Not think he wood want us +to pay for a Nother Why dont him coum as A Man and pay for one Sir. I. +Must conclued with Best regurds to you, Yours Truley, F.H.G." + +Travellers from North and East to the West of England and _vice versa_ +are aware that the Bristol Joint Great Western and Midland station is a +busy railway centre. At a recent Christmas season, there was much remark +on the part of the railway passengers with respect to the platforms +being blocked up with barrows containing mails and the large stack of +parcel baskets to be met with at every point. Said one traveller, "It's +all blooming Post Office on the platform and no room for travellers to +get about." Said another, "The late arrival of the train was all due to +that 'parcel post.'" + +A sub-postmaster in the Bristol district was called to account for +employing on the delivery of letters a boy of fourteen years of age, +instead of a person of sixteen years of age or upwards. He nominated +another person, who, he stated, was of proper age, being over 16 years +old. A year or two afterwards a question of discipline arose about this +individual, and it then transpired that he was 68 years of age--rather +too old to commence life in His Majesty's Service! + +The phrase "guileless Ministers" in the speech of a former Prime +Minister on the fiscal question (1903) became in course of telegraphing +"guileless monsters," and so reached the Bristol press. Fortunately, the +newspaper proof readers were wide awake, and the error was corrected in +time. + +Correspondents have a peculiar idea of the functions devolving on a +postmaster, as the following letters will indicate, viz.:-- + + +"Brighton, March 13th, 1904. To the Postmaster; Sir,--Would you have +pleased to try and get me a small tin of very light coloured dry snuff +(I think it is called Lundifoot) from one of the leading tobacconists in +Bristol. If you will let me know the amount thereof I will send you the +money for the same before you send it. I am, Yours, etc., J.S.A. + +"Scarborough, 6th August, 1904; Sir,--Would you please be good enough to +let me know by return, whether the nightingale is in song in Clifton +Woods at the present time. Thanking you in anticipation, and apologising +for troubling you. Believe me, Yours truly, (Sd.) (Mrs.) F.F." + +"Cardiff, April 29th, 1902. Sir,--May I ask you the favour to hand over +the enclosed Bristol Blister to the chemist who sells it in your town, +when some person of your office passes the shop. I received considerable +benefit from the blister. I shall be very much obliged to you and the +chemist if he will be so good to let me know how he sells them. I am, +Yours truly, (Sd.) T.B." + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A RECEIPT FOR L20 GIVEN BY THE TRUSTEES OF +THE BRISTOL PRUDENT MAN'S FUND SUBMITTED FOR PAYMENT 78 YEARS AFTER +ISSUE.] + +Not only are the articles themselves of a diversified character that +pass through the parcel post, but the mode of packing often produces a +certain amount of dubiousness in the minds of the Parcel Department +officials as to which is really the "Right side up," and how to handle +the packages. The sender of a rabbit, however; left no doubt on the +matter, as he had arranged poor defunct "Bunny" in such a way that its +head was securely tied between its hind legs, and the latter formed a +convenient handle, the front legs being tucked under the neck, and the +rabbit presenting the appearance of a ball. Another incident was of +rather an amusing character. The "tie-on" labels had become detached +from two packages which reached Bristol. A label which properly belonged +to a bottle of cough medicine was attached in the Returned Letter Office +to an old slipper, and the label proper to the medicine was delivered +without packet or other attachment to the shoemaker for whom the slipper +was intended. Fortunately, upon inquiry being made by the interested +parties, the medicine and slipper were delivered to the rightful +addressees. + +The facsimile herewith of a receipt for L20 given by the Trustees of the +Bristol Prudent Man's Fund of Savings recently submitted for payment, 78 +years after issue, will be interesting to Post Office Savings Bank +Investors of the present day. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +POSTMASTERS-GENERAL. (RT. HON. A. MORLEY AND THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY) +VISIT BRISTOL.--THE POSTMASTER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.--THE KING'S NEW +POSTAGE STAMPS.--CORONATION OF KING EDWARD VII.--LOYALTY OF POST OFFICE +STAFF.--MRS. VARNAM-COGGAN'S CORONATION POEM. + + +Mr. Arnold Morley, during his term of office as Postmaster-General, +visited Bristol, and was presented by the Chamber of Commerce with an +address, worded thus:--"The Bristol Incorporated Chamber of Commerce and +Shipping. To the Right Honorable Arnold Morley, M.P., Her Majesty's +Postmaster General. Sir,--The Council of the Bristol Incorporated +Chamber of Commerce and Shipping are glad to embrace the opportunity +afforded by your visit to this city of expressing their high +appreciation of the services rendered to the state in general and to the +commercial community in particular by the energy and enterprise +displayed in your administration of the Postal and Telegraphic +Departments of the public service. We recognise that in matters such as +are ranged under your control there can be no finality, and that however +excellent our present Postal and Telegraphic arrangements may appear, +your Departments must be quick to discern the arrival of fresh needs +such as our rapidly developing civilization must constantly bring. We +rejoice in the abundant evidence that you have thoroughly appreciated +the absolute necessity for continual advance and adaptation, and that +you are labouring with such zeal to keep the complicated machinery of +the General Post Office up to date and equal to the immense and ever +increasing strain it has to bear, whilst the Council think it only right +to acknowledge the marked and unvarying urbanity with which, at all +times, you and your officials receive and discuss any suggestions for +the improvement of the services, emanating from Chambers of Commerce and +other sources. In conclusion, the Council recognise in your person the +son of a late highly-esteemed Parliamentary Representative of the city +of Bristol, Mr. Samuel Morley, who for many years took an active +interest in the proceedings of this Chamber and of the Association of +Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom; and the Council take this +occasion to tender you their sincere congratulations on the high +position you have attained in the councils and government of this great +Empire. We remain, Sir, Your obedient servants, (Sd.) George H. Perrin, +President; E. Burrow Hill, Mark Whitwill, Vice-Presidents; H.J. Spear, +Secretary. Bristol, 1st Nov., 1894." + +The Marquis of Londonderry, when Postmaster-General, was the chief guest +at the annual banquet of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, held at the +Royal Hotel, Bristol, under the presidency of Mr. T.T. Lindrea, on the +24th April, 1901. Among those present were Earl Waldegrave, Sir Herbert +Ashman, J.P., Sir Frederick Wills, M.P., Judge Austin, J.P., Mr. C.E. +Hobhouse, M.P., Mr. Lewis Fry, the Lord Mayor (Mr. Colthurst Godwin), +the High Sheriff (Mr. E.B. James), etc. + +In responding to the toast of "His Majesty's Ministers," Lord +Londonderry alluded to the great growth that had taken place in the +population, trade, and prosperity of Bristol during the late Queen's +reign. Last February, he said, in eighteen days, the amount paid on +goods taken out of Bond reached L487,000. Of this sum, no less than +L430,000 was paid in the last eight days, and of this L370,000 came from +a single firm for withdrawals of tobacco from Bond. This included the +enormous single cheque paid by that firm one day for a quarter of a +million--the largest single cheque ever known at His Majesty's Customs +at Bristol. He also congratulated Bristol on the great development to +her trade that must come through the inauguration in February last of +the new service to the West Indies. This, he was sure, would do much not +only to strengthen the ties that bound this country to the West Indian +Colonies, but also to restore to Bristol some measure of that position +she had once enjoyed in the trade of the United Kingdom. He was rather +glad his good friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not there that +night, for if he heard how much was spent in benefiting those who relied +on the Post Office, and how little they handed over to the national +exchequer, he would not be inclined to meet him when he suggested +certain postal reforms, as he intended to do next year. He hoped they +would invite him to meet Sir Michael in Bristol, for he might then be +inclined to grant him (the speaker) any request he might make. He wanted +them to recognise that the Postmaster-General's good intentions, and +they were many, were controlled by Parliamentary and statutory +exigencies. He had also been asked to improve their rates on foreign +letters and parcels, as well as to cheapen the delivery of letters and +parcels from abroad; but it was entirely forgotten that he had to reckon +with foreign Powers. A Postal Reformer had declared, in a letter, that +it was possible to create an ideal Post Office. He wished he could +accede to every one of his requests, but he had to consider Parliament; +he was not master himself. He thought that if they were to meet the +requirements of the public as they were anxious to do, they must +proceed in the course in which they were moving at present--with +steadiness and sureness, and not promise things which it was impossible +to fulfil. + +The Ex-Postmaster of the House of Commons, Mr. E.W. Pike, is a +Somersetshire man; he was born at Ilchester, and his grandfather was the +last Governor of the Gaol of that town. When Mr. Pike was ten years of +age, his father received an appointment under the act constituting the +new County Court system, and removed to Temple Cloud in the Bristol +district. The family afterwards moved to the adjacent village of +Clutton, and Mr. Pike went there with the other members. + +Mr. Pike remembers that the Post Office at Temple Cloud was held by Mrs. +Carter, and after her death John Spear had the office. Mr. Pike's active +service in the Post Office terminated on Wednesday, the 14th September, +1903. His experience in the Post Office was unique, and no wonder that +he felt proud on retiring, that during a service of nearly 46 years he +had given full satisfaction to his superiors in the Post Office, and to +have had the approbation of the Members of the House of Commons +specially expressed to him by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.J. Balfour. + +There was no small stir at the public counter of the Bristol Post Office +on the first day of January, 1902, the day of issue of the new 1/2d., +1d., 2-1/2d., and 6d. postage stamps, bearing the medallion portrait of +King Edward the VIIth. People were very anxious to become possessed of +specimens, and many of the stamps sold were evidently intended to adorn +collector's books. The sales on the 1st January, 1902, were:--1/2d., +L175; 1d., L500; 2-1/2d., L27 10s.; 6d., L66 9s., and were slightly in +excess of the average. The general public demanded the new kind almost +without exception, but firms took old stamps to the extent of 10 per +cent. of the whole lot supplied. + +The Staff of the Bristol Post Office sent an illuminated address to the +King for His Majesty's Coronation Day. + +Mrs. Pattie E. Varnam-Coggan, a lady who at the time was Postmistress of +Chipping Sodbury composed the following hymn in connection with the +event. + + God save our King! + Up to the sky let loyal voices ring, + Joy to the land this Festal Day shall bring. + Roar guns! and peal O bells! + As loud the anthem swells-- + God save our King! + + God save our Queen! + A nobler consort ne'er hath England seen! + Bless her pure life with love and peace serene. + Crown her with heavenly grace. + Strength for her royal place-- + God save our Queen! + + God save our land! + As suppliants now before Thy Throne we stand, + Craving for gifts from Thine all-powerful Hand. + Let none make us afraid, + Foes find us undismayed-- + God save our land! + + Great King of kings! + Ruler supreme o'er men and earthly things, + Eternal source from which all goodness springs! + Bless Thou the Royal Pair, + Grant them Thy joy to share, + Great King of kings! + + God! thanks for peace! + Praised be Thou Who makest war to cease, + O'er all our Empire wide THY reign increase! + Let all men seek for good, + In one blest brotherhood-- + God! thanks for peace! + +The staff also made elaborate arrangements to take an active part in the +grand procession which had been organized at Bristol to celebrate the +Coronation, but, alas, the procession had to be postponed in consequence +of the King's sudden illness on the 24th June, and finally was abandoned +altogether. The Post Office section, which was to have been honoured +with first place in the procession, was designed to give the Bristol +public some idea of the working of this most useful branch of the public +service. The section was to have been arranged as follows:--Telegraph +Messengers' Drum and Fife Band. Company of Telegraph Messengers, with +Carbines. Telegraph Messengers' Cycle Corps. Company of Postmen. Mail +Carrier Tricycle. Country Mail Cart--present day. Town Mail Van--present +day. London to Bristol Royal Mail Coach of 100 years since, with +Coachman and Guard in Royal livery of the Period. Guard carrying an +ancient Mail Guard's blunderbuss, borrowed from the armoury of Mr. +Rawlins, of Syston Court. Post Office Tableau, illustrative of the +Collecting, Stamping, and Sorting of Letters, and the Despatch of Mail +Bags; also the sending of Telegrams. + +[Illustration: ADDRESS TO THE KING.] + +The following acknowledgment of the Address was received on the King's +recovery:-- + + "Home Office, Whitehall, 5 Sept., 1902. Sir,--I am commanded by the + King to convey to you hereby His Majesty's thanks for the Loyal and + Dutiful Address of the Staff of the Postal and Telegraph Services at + Bristol. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A. Akers Douglas. The + Surveyor Postmaster, Post Office, Bristol." + +The address to His Majesty is here reproduced, and as the sentiments +contained in it represent the writer's wishes for King and Queen, it +may, perhaps, fittingly close the chapters of "The King's Post." + + + + +INDEX. + + + PAGE + + Aberystwith, Mail Coach, 77 + + Addresses, Quaint, 223, 224 + + African War, P.O. Volunteers, 172 + + Aldhelm, Bishop, 205 + + Allen, Col., 48, 49 + + Allen, Ralph, Cross Posts, 25 + " " Honoured, 46, 47 + " " Medal, 49, 50 + + Allen, Richard, P.M.G., 3 + + Almondsbury, Penny Post, 154 + + American Mails _via_ Plymouth, 164-167 + + Anabaptist Opinions, 6 + + Anderson, James, Bush Inn, 98 + " " Lamb Inn, 100 + + Arlington, Lord, Letters Delayed, 23 + + Arno's Vale Turnpike, 115 + + Arrowsmith, Mr. J.W., Publisher, 147 + + Asher, Mr., Speech, 215 + + Avon Motor Co., 91 + + Avonmouth Dock, New, 161 + + + Baptist College, 7 + + Bear Inn, Devizes, 102 + + Beaufort, Dukes of, 102, 108 + + Benevolent Society, P.O., Banquet at Bristol, 199 + + Bennett, Mr. E., Speech, 215, 218 + + Birmingham, Coach, 24, 64, 66 + " George and Rose Inn, 65 + " Rose Inn, 66 + + Bishop of Bristol, Speech, 202, 206 + + Bisshopp, Henry, Farmer of Posts, 22 + + Blatchford, Rev. A.N., Speech, 206 + + Boar's Head Inn, 64 + + Botting, Mr., Speech, 214 + + Brewham, Foot post to, 2 + + Brightstowe, Plan of, 177 + + Brighton Coach, 66 + + Brill, Mail Coach Inspector, 88 + + Bristol Cathedral, 93 + " Copper Co., 12 + " Mail Coach robberies, 119-122, 124, 126, 127 + " Rejuvenated, 160 + " Turnpike Gates, 117 + " Water Works Co., 12, 15 + + Broadmead Chapel Records, 7 + + Broad Street, 102 + + Brooks, Thos., & Co., 65 + + Browne, Letter of year 1671, 6-7 + + Brunswick, Duke of, at White Lion, 102 + + Bull and Mouth Inn, London, 72, 73, 87 + + Burglaries, Post Office, 134-136 + + Burnett, Mail Coachman, killed, 88, 89 + + Bush, Mr. J. Paul, C.M.G., in Africa, 173 + " " " P.O. Medical Officer, 174 + + Bush Inn, Bristol, 9, 26, 63, 64, 66, 68, 71, 79, 93, + 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101 + + + Canadian Mail Service, 163 + + Cann Family, 178-180, 183 + + Carriers warned, 30 + + Cathedral, Bristol, 93 + + "Cavilears" threatening Postmaster Teig, 5 + + Chamber of Commerce, 163 + + Chamberlain, Mr. Austen, 75, 76 + + Chaplin, Coach proprietor, 105 + + Charles I., 2 + + Charles II., 4, 8, 192, 193 + + Chatham, Lord, friend of Allen, 48 + + Cheltenham Coach, 71 + + Chichester Mail Coach, 75, 79, 81 + + Chimney-piece, Old Elton, 191 + + Chronometer, London Coach, 69 + + City Chamberlain's account, 1, 2 + + City Chambers Co., 10 + + Clevedon Mail Cart accident, 155, 157, 158 + + Clift, Pratt & Co., 70 + + Coach accident, Kennet Hill, 34 + + Coaches, Better equipment wanted, 43 + + Coach and Horses Inn, Southampton, 66 + + Coach, Long, Portsmouth, 79 + + Coachman fined for giving up reins, 88 + " Musical, 90 + " Warminster, drunk, 84 + + Coach Service to Bristol, 28, 31, 33 + + Coggan, Mrs. Varnam, 238 + + Coin secreted in Parcel, 226 + + Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 107 + + Colston, Edward, 192 + + Columbia Stamping Machine, 198 + + Commons, P.M. of House of, 237 + + Constantine, Duke, of Russia, Visits the White Lion, 102 + + Copper Co., Bristol, 12 + + Cornishman, G.W.R. Train, 148, 149 + + Corn Street, 1663 + + Coronation Poem, Mrs. Varnam-Coggan, 239 + " Procession projected, 240 + + Cornwallis Coach, 65, 66 + " Admiral, 66 + + Coutts, Thos., 96 + + Cranford Bridge, Postboy robbed, 127 + + Creswick Family, Mansion of, 14 + + Cross Posts, 24, 41 + + Crown Inn, Portsmouth, 79 + + Cumberland, Duke of, 50 + + Curious Incidents, 226, 227, 229, 230, 231 + + + Dean of Bristol's Signature, 224, 225 + + Devizes, Bear Inn, 102 + + Devon Coach, 69 + + Devonport Mail snowed up, 86 + + Diligence Mail, 31, 33 + + Disastrous Gale and the Telegraphs, 3, 159 + + Ditton, Antony, Marlboro' Mayor, 21 + + Doddington, Barth., 21 + + Dolphin Inn, 6-7 + " Street, Bristol, 106 + + Duchess of St. Albans, 96 + + Duke of Beaufort, Horses burnt, 103 + " Brunswick visits White Lion, 102 + " Gloster Sloop, 100 + + + Electric Light Fails, 220-222 + + Elizabeth, Queen, 220-222 + " Her Progress, 16, 17 + + Elton Family, 179, 180, 184, 185, 186, 187 + " Mansion, 177, 179-181, 183, 188, 190 + + Emerald Post Coach, 104 + + Exchange Avenue, 9, 85 + + Express Posts, 26 + + Exquisite Coach, 105 + + Extension of Post Office, 14 + + + Fairfax, Lord, 3 + + Feecham, Mail Guard, 86 + + Fifth Clause Post, 152 + + Fish, conveyance declined, 70 + + Fittler, James, Engraver, 51 + + Flying Machine, Bath, 21 + + Folwell, Mail Guard, 84 + + Foot Post, The, 1, 2 + + Francombe, Mr., Speech, 200, 201 + + Freeling, Miss Edith, 59, 60 + " Sir Francis, Birthplace, 51 + " " In London, 53 + " " On his mettle, 55 + " " Death of his wife, 55 + " " His death, 56 + " " Obituary notice, 57 + " " Relics, 58-60, 79-80 + " Sir G.H., 60 + + Freeman and Brass Co., 10, 11 + " Thorough Post, 2 + + Fylton Hay, The Rodney, 100 + " Niblett's Farm, 106 + " Open Post, 154 + + + Gascoigne, lays a Post, 18 + " Court Postmaster, 19 + " Extraordinary Post, 20, 21 + + George IV., King, 60 + + George, Philip, Dep. Town Clerk, Bath, 40 + + Gloucester Mail Coach, 73 + + Gore, Thomas, of Barrow, 8 + + Gosport Mail, 61, 80 + + Grand Hotel, Bristol, 106 + + Griffiths, Richard, Mail Guard, 89 + " " His Post Horn, 90 + + G.W.R. and P.O. Arbitration, 150 + " In construction, 146 + " In contemplation, 141 + " Night Mail Train, 143 + " Service, 147 + + + Hare and Hounds, 88 + + Harford & Co., Iron Merchants, 12 + + Harper, Mr. C.G., 111 + + Hatton Garden Robbery, 133 + + Hellier, Mr., receives letter in 1663, 6 + + Henty, G., "The Road", 128 + + Hereford Coach, 71 + + Hero, Birmingham Coach, 68 + + Hicks, James, Roads Clerk, 22 + + Hill, Rowland, 40 + + Hobhouse, Lt.-Col., Speech, 213, 214 + + Holyhead Coach, 65 + + Hope, Weston Coach, 72 + + Hopton, Lord, 3 + + Horne & Sherman, Coach proprietors, 105 + + Horton Post Office, 152 + + Huton, William, 1475, 175 + + Humphries, Mr. Sidney, Speech, 206-210 + + Hungerford, Sir Hy., 175 + + + Inland Revenue Dept., 13 + + + Jamaica, Bristol Mail Service to, 45, 162 + + James I., King, 2 + + Johnston, C., Supt. of Mail Coaches, 67, 84 + + Joyce, Herbert, C.B., 54 + + + Karstadt, G.F., 141 + + Kennet Hill, Coach Accident, 34 + + Kent, Luke, Mail Guard, 81 + + Kerans, Mr., P.M., Bath, 46 + + King, Address to the, 241 + + King of Syria's letter, 211 + + Knowle Turnpike, 111 + + + "La France" Engine, 147 + + Lansdown, Mr. F.P., 171 + + Lavars, Messrs., Lithographers, 107 + + Lawrence, Sir Thos., 102 + + Lawford's Gate Turnpike, 116 + + Letter Woman, 29 + + Lewis Levy, Turnpike Contractor, 112 + + Lifeboats and Telegraph, 158 + + Lloyd's Bank, 101 + + London and Plymouth, Mail Coach Race, 63 + + Londonderry, Marquis of, 45, 46, 234, 235, 237 + + Longleat, Queen Elizabeth at, 17 + + Louis, Mr., 146 + + Luce, Thomas, Innkeeper, 103, 105 + + + Maberley, Lt.-Col., 145 + + "Magnet," Weston Coach, 72 + + Maidenhead Turnpike Abolished, 118 + + Mail Coaches, 62 + + Mail Coaches Exempt from Toll, 111 + + Mail Coach, First, 27 + + Mail Coach Robbers Hanged, 123 + + Mail Coach System, 26 + + Manchester and Liverpool Railway, 140, 144 + + Marlborough Post, 31 + + May, Mr., 39 + + McAdam, Mr., Roads, 67, 68 + + Mercury, Light Motor Van, 92 + + Morley, Arnold, Address to, 232, 234 + + Motor Cars, 77 + + Motor Cycle Accident, 219 + + Motor Van, Avon, 93 + + Mount Pleasant P.O., London, 74 + + Moysey, A., 40 + + Muniment Room, P.O., 169 + + Musical Coachman, 90 + + + Nash, Bill, Mail Robber, 131 + + Nevill, Mail Guard, Frozen to Death, 86 + + New Buildings, 13 + + Newick, R.C., 130 + + New London Inn, Exeter, 62 + + New Passage, Ice Shoals, 85 + + New Royal Mail Coach, 104 + + Niblett, Isaac, 106 + + Niblett, Isaac, Innkeeper, Coach Proprietor, 104, 105 + + Nobbs, M.J., Mail Guard, 73 + + Norwich--London Coach, 89 + + + Old Passage, 63, 64 + + Osborne, John, and Jere, Messrs., 114 + + Oxford Mail, 67 + + + Packer, the foot post, 2 + + Pack Horse, Packmen, 21 + + Palace, Bishop's, 204 + + Palmer, Col., 49 + + Palmer, Death of, 44 + + Palmer, John, Coach system, 27 + + Palmer, John, honoured, 46, 47 + + Palmer's Mail Coach system:-- + Attacked, 36, 38 + Enlarged, 32 + Extended, 41 + Pitt's approbation, 40 + Success, 42 + Thanks--Memorials, 39 + Troubles, 33 + Vindicated, 37, 38 + + Passengers Coach, Protection of, 34 + + Paul, J., Mail Coachman, killed, 86 + + Penny Posts, 153 + + Pickwick, Moses, Coaching Notice, 132 + + Pike, E.W., Mr., 237, 238 + + "Pike" Keepers, 112 + + Pine, Henry, Postmaster, 9 + + Pitt, Rt. Hon. W., 39, 40 + + "Plume of Feathers," Wine Street, 69 + + Plymouth Coach, 71, 72 + + "Port Antonio," R.M.S., 161 + + Porter, George, Innkeeper, 103 + + "Port Kingston," R.M.S., 162 + + "Port Royal," R.M.S., 162 + + Portsmouth Coach overturned, 82 + + Portsmouth Coaches, 84, 85 + + Portsmouth, Crown Inn, 79 + + Portsmouth Mail, 73, 79, 81 + + Portsmouth Railway, projected, 75, 76 + + Postages, 21 + + Postage Stamps, King Edward Issue, 238 + + Post Boys, 23 + + Postboy robbed, 80 + + Post Bridge Turnpike, 81 + + Posts, Cross, 24 + + Post, Express, 26 + + Post, Extraordinary, 19, 20 + + Post House, 22 + + Post House, The Bristol, 8, 9 + + Post, King's Special, 4 + + Postman's Knock, 228 + + Postmaster-General, Deputation to, 75, 77 + + Postmaster-General, Lord Stanley of Alderley, 10 + + Postmaster Henry Pine, 9 + " of Bristol, Speech, 210-213 + + Post Office Buildings, 14, 15 + " All Saints' Lane, 9, 10 + " Bristol, 10, 11 + + Post, Queen Elizabeth's, 17 + " Running, 3 + " The Foot, 1-2 + " Thorough, 2 + + Pratt, J.J., 40 + + Prideaux, Master of Posts, 3 + + Primitive Post Office, 151 + + Prince and Princess of Wales, 160, 162 + + Prudent Man's Fund Receipt Note, 231 + + + Quaint Addresses, 223, 224 + + + Randolph, Master of Posts, 18 + + Ralph Allen, Cross Posts, 21 + + Redland Post Office, 170 + + Red Rover Coach, 105 + + Regent Coach, 68 + + Registered Letters Stolen, 133 + + Rennison, Sarah, Stokes Croft Baths, 113 + + Roads, 21, 23 + + Robertson, George, Painter, 51 + + Rocket, Holyhead Coach, 68 + + Romans, The, 67 + + Rose Inn, Birmingham, 66 + + Royal Livery, Coachman and Guard wear, 35 + + Rummer Tavern, Bristol, 31 + + Running Post, 3 + + + Salisbury Mail, Late, 38 + " Postboy Robbed, 80 + + Saltford Turnpike, 115 + + Savage, the foot post, 1 + + Severn, Ice Shoals, 85 + + Shamrock, London Coach, 69 + + "Ship Letters", 153, 167, 168 + + Shuter, Chris., Councillor, 187 + + Small Street, Bristol, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 102, 175, 176, 177, + 189, 194 + + Southampton Coach, 65, 67 + " Coach and Horses Inn, 66 + + Sovereign Coach, 72 + + Sports, P.O., 218 + + Sproule, Verger, 93 + + St. Albans, Duchess of, 96 + + St. Giles' Gate, 175 + + St. Leonard's Lane, 15, 193 + + St. Martin's-le-Grand, 37 + + St. Michael's Hill Turnpike, 117 + + St. Werburgh, Parish of, 11, 15, 193 + + Stage Coaches, 22, 24, 25 + + Stanley, Lord, _Frontispiece_ + " in Africa, 173 + " of Alderley, 10 + + Statistics--Bristol P.O., 163 + + Stealing Letters, Capital Offence, 121 + + Stokes Croft Turnpike, 114 + + Stop Gate, Horfield, 117 + + Streamer, Richard, 1680, 178 + + Stretch, Matthew, Bush Inn, 98 + + Swan Inn, 31, 66 + + Swan with Two Necks Inn, London, 31 + + Symons, Thomas, 42 + + + Teig or Teague, Anabaptist Postmaster, in peril, 4, 5, 6, 7 + + Telegraphs, Lifeboats, and Gales, 159 + + Telephones, Trunk P.O., 195, 196, 197 + + Thatched Post Office, 152 + + Thornbury, Fifth Clause Post, 154 + + Thorough Post, 2 + + Three Tuns, Bath, 31, 41 + + Terrill, Mr., letter of, 1671, 7 + + Tewkesbury, 71 + + Time Bill, Old Portsmouth, 82 + + Tipsy M.P., 91 + + Todd, Anthony, 30, 35, 36, 38, 128 + + Tokens, Mail Coach, 51 + + Toll Gates, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116 + + Townsend, John--Charles, Bush Inn, 98 + + Tracks Unenclosed, 2 + + Traveller, Exeter Coach, 70 + + Turner, Mail Coachman, killed, 87 + + Turnpike Trusts, 110, 111, 112 + + Turpin and Langdon, Book Binders, 11 + + Tyndale, William, 152 + + Tyson, Mayor, 1660, 6 + + + Uniform, Royal, introduced, 31 + + Union Post Coach, 63, 64 + + + Value of Tolls, 114 + + Vidler, Mr., Mail Contractor, 54, 55 + + + Waggons, Quaint, 25 + + Water Works Company, Bristol, 12 + + Water Works Premises, 177, 190 + + Weaver, Hon. John, 4 + + Weeks, John, 26, 79, 93 + " Boniface, 94 + " Coach Monopoly, 99 + " Mural Tablet, 92 + " Sloop Master, 100 + + Weeks, Poston & Co., 104 + + Wellington, Som., 1 + + Werburgh, St., Parish, 11, 15 + + Westbury-on-Trym P.O. burgled, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140 + + Westons, Mail Robbers, 129, 130 + + Whitchurch Turnpike, 115 + + White Hart Inn, Bristol, 63, 64, 80, 103, 104, 107 + + White Horse Cellars, London, 72 + + White Lion, Bristol, 73, 85, 101, 102, 103, 104, 107 + + White's, Mr. Stanley, Coach, 108 + " Motor Car, 108 + + Wimborne Minster, 1 + + Wilton, Queen Elizabeth at, 17, 21 + + Withering, Thomas, 3 + + Wood's Office, Bristol, 66 + + + Young, John, Knighted, 16 + + +W.C. HEMMONS, ST. STEPHEN STREET, BRISTOL. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The King's Post, by R. C. Tombs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE KING'S POST *** + +***** This file should be named 28533.txt or 28533.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/3/28533/ + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Jane Hyland, The Philatelic +Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |