free resisted by the Post Office and question tried at law, 197;
claim allowed by the Courts, 200;
decision carried out grudgingly, 203;
hour of delivery of foreign letters in 1790, 267;
early, that is preferential, delivery, 342;
hour of delivery in St. James's Square between 1820 and 1830, 409;
in the country, limits of free delivery not defined, 410;
morning delivery in London accelerated, 411;
limits of general post delivery fixed at three miles, 417;
recommendation of Royal Commission to abolish early or preferential
delivery not carried out, 423
Delivery penny, meaning of term, 69
Denmark, Frederick the Second, King of, his letter of complaint to Queen
Elizabeth, 8 _note_
De Quester, Matthew, appointed postmaster for foreign parts out of the
King's dominions, 10;
his appointment offends Lord Stanhope, 10;
is superseded by the Privy Council, 12;
is restored at the instance of Sir John Coke, 13;
assigns his patent, 14
Derby, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792, 293
Dereham, Sir Thomas, Court-post, his duties, 99
Derrick, Samuel, Master of the Ceremonies at Bath, his account of Ralph
Allen, 186 _note_
Despatch of mails, hour of, in 1690, 47;
and until 1784, 211;
indignation caused by the change then made, 220
Devonshire, William, Duke of, course of post between Chesterfield and
Manchester altered in 1736 at the instance of, 166
Directories, 195, 309
Distances, inaccuracy of, as computed by the Post Office, 175
Dockwra, William, establishes a penny post in London, 36;
his right contested and case decided against him, 40;
is granted a pension and, on the penny post being absorbed into the
Post Office, is appointed comptroller, 41;
is dismissed, 41;
provision made by, for the care of general post letters, 68;
contrast between Dockwra and Povey, 122
Donlevy, William, 368
Double letter, definition of, 139
Dover, a packet station, 73;
packets to Flanders provided by the packet agent, 103;
engage in smuggling, 103;
and bring news clandestinely, 106;
the Dover mail-coach seized by the Customs, 271
Drink and feast money, 50, 232
Dublin, Post Office establishment at, in 1690, 53;
penny post proposed at, in 1703, 69;
and opened in 1773, 196;
the clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194;
the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207;
office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367;
abuses, 370
Dummer, Edmund, Surveyor of the Navy, builds packets for the Harwich
station, 75;
also for the West India service, 78;
undertakes this service himself, 79;
his miscalculations, 79;
ill-fortune attends him, 81;
his bankruptcy and death, 109
Early, _i.e._ preferential, delivery, 342, 423
Eastbourne, mode of receiving its letters in 1792, 293
East India Company, send to the Post Office letters received at the India
House, 311;
object to the provisions of the Ship Letter Act, 361;
procure its alteration, 362;
their generosity, 363;
unhandsome return contemplated by the Post Office, 364
East Indies, rates of postage to the, in 1815, 362
Edinburgh, post to, set up by the city of London, 24;
Post Office establishment at, in 1707, 117;
horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow refused by the Treasury, 136;
course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180;
and increased in frequency in 1765, 195;
Edinburgh Post Office falls into decay, 207;
penny post established at, 300
Eldon, John, Lord, reluctantly assents to the giving of repressive
powers, 335
Elections, Parliamentary, Post Office servants prohibited from
intermeddling in, 128;
and from voting at, 206
Ellenborough, Edward, Lord, 335
Evelyn, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1708 to 1715. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part II.
Exeter, private post set up between, and Barnstaple in 1633, 17;
course of post between Exeter and Bristol in 1660, 29;
in 1696, 57;
salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Expresses, 63, 83;
when to be sent from Dover, 107;
employment of, becomes more general about the middle of the eighteenth
century, 182;
is jealously restricted, 182;
their number reduced on the establishment of mail-coaches, 214;
fees on expresses, 233;
express sent daily to and from Ireland after the Union, 387
Express clerks, 371
Express office, Haymarket, 408
Eyles, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1739 to 1744, 238
Falmouth, packet station opened at, in 1689, 75;
closed and reopened, 77;
packet regulations, 82;
systematic smuggling, 89, 238;
packet agent also victualler, 95
Fares, by packet to Holland before and after 1689, 76;
by steam packet and by sailing packet, comparative statement, 385
Farmers of the Post Office, their popularity and the reason of it, 59;
are ruined by increase of postage and converted into managers, 136;
as managers prove useless, 138
Farra, John, is supplied with a special travelling order, 131 _note_
Faversham, marriage of the postmistress, 334
Fees, exacted from postmasters, 232;
received by the chief sorter on the occasion of royal birthdays, 233;
on expresses, 233;
on the registration of foreign letters, 233
Ferrers, Countess, 182
Fielding, Henry, his tribute to Ralph Allen, 186
"Fifth-clause" posts, 350-352
Firearms, worthless quality of those originally supplied to mail guards,
261
Fire of London, intelligence of, takes five days to reach Worthing, 34
Flemings, resort to London, where they introduce the manufacture of wool
into cloth, 8;
instance of value set upon cloth made in London, 8 _note_
Flying coach, 63, 67
Flying packet, meaning of the term, 63 (108)
Flying-post, 63 _note_
Foreign bottoms, employment of, by the Post Office illegal, 98
Foreign merchants claim to set up a post of their own to the Continent,
9;
claim conceded by the Privy Council, 12;
and repudiated by Coke, 13
Foster, John, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, his efforts to improve
communication with Ireland, 388
France, Post Office treaty with, imperfectly observed, 77;
a new one made and its onerous conditions, 138;
postage on letters from, increased, 296;
improvement of communication with, deprecated by merchants of London,
298
Franking, abuses of, in 1711, and means taken to check them, 132;
effect of franking upon the Post Office revenue, 142;
becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 189;
conditions altered, 189;
franking in Ireland, 190;
of newspapers inland, 191;
franking privilege possessed by the clerks at Dublin Castle
surrendered, 194;
franks to be dated and are otherwise restricted, 216;
further restrictions imposed, 315;
franks do not clear either the penny, the twopenny, or the convention
posts, 350;
franking privilege withdrawn in the case of newspapers to and from the
Colonies, 402;
privilege remains in the case of newspapers to and from the Continent,
403;
and in the case of newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom
gradually disappears, 404;
franked letters charged immediately on dissolution of Parliament, 405;
franking privilege withheld from Roman Catholic Peers, 408;
abuse of franking in the case of the Money Order Office, 421;
specimens of franks, Appendix
Frankland, Sir Thomas, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1715. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part I.
Frankland, William, son of the preceding, Comptroller of the Inland
Office, in attendance upon the Queen at Newmarket, 99
Franklin, Benjamin, his dismissal, 203;
amicable relations with, not suspended, 204
Free delivery. _See_ Delivery
Freeling, Sir Francis, appointed surveyor, 228;
appointed joint secretary with Todd, 294;
devises new arrangements for the sorting of the American and West
Indian mails, 310;
his project for guarding the horse and cross-posts, 317, 335;
becomes sole secretary, 327;
his craze for high rates of postage, 330;
his zeal in repressing illicit correspondence, 333;
is checked by Auckland, 335;
procures additional measures of repression, 335;
recommends increase of postage rates, 340;
his estimate of Cobbett, 342;
his emoluments from franking newspapers, 344;
his indignation at criticisms in the _Times_ newspaper, 348;
brings an action, 348;
contemplates a high-handed proceeding towards the town of Olney in
Buckinghamshire, 351;
procures a charge to be made on returned letters, 360;
his contention with the India House in the matter of ship letters, 361;
urges a technical adherence to the provisions of the statute, 364;
his elation at the increase of the Post Office revenue, 365;
contrast between Freeling and Lees, 370;
his difference with Lees, 381;
his claim for the Post Office in the matter of steam vessels, 387;
opposes improvement of communication with Ireland, 389;
his interview with Sir Arthur Wellesley, 390;
attempts to get terms of a hostile motion altered, 397;
his dismay at the transfer of the Falmouth packets from the Post Office
to the Admiralty, 399;
his strictness in Post Office matters, 404;
is irritated by Sir Henry Parnell's assumption of superiority, 407;
the probable reason for not resigning on the opening of the new Post
Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 411;
his view that the packet service should not be thrown open to public
competition opposed by Althorp, 417;
defends the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads,
418;
his attitude towards the Royal Commission, 420;
averts a breakdown with the mail-coaches, 426;
becomes the object of vehement attack, 426;
broods over the past, 427;
his death, 428
Frizell, William, 14
Frowde, Ashburnham, comptroller of foreign office, 234
Furness, Sir Harry, 174
Gardner, penny postman, murder of, 183 _note_
Garrow, Sir William, his frank forged, 406
Gas, introduction of, into the Post Office, 408
General Steam Navigation Company undertakes first packet contract, 418
George the Third, when at Cheltenham or at Weymouth is attended by a
mail-coach, 251;
his illness and distribution of a prayer for his recovery, 254;
his interest in his coach, 288;
objects to roof-loading, 288;
attends trial trip, 288;
distributes largesse among mail guards and coachmen, 289
Gerrard Street, crowded condition of Post Office in, 410
Glasgow petitions for a horse-post to Edinburgh, 136;
and for a post office which shall not be kept at a shop, 408
Gloucester protests against certain houses being excluded from the free
delivery, 199;
salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Godolphin, Sidney Godolphin, Earl of, his rebuke to the
postmaster-general, 106;
insists upon communication with the army in Flanders being improved,
107;
his instruction about extraordinary payments, 137;
directs that in Post Office cases Counsel shall give receipts for their
fees, 324 (121, 124, 125)
Grafton, Augustus Henry, Duke of, specimen of his frank, Appendix
Grand mail, 83
Grand Post Nights, 46, 221
Granville, Lord, urges improvement of the Cornish posts, 62
Gratuities, on delivery of letters, 52, 61, 62, 152, 166;
legality of, questioned in the case of towns, 197;
question decided in favour of the public, 200;
still being charged, 422
Gray, Thomas, his prediction that mail-coaches would be displaced by
railways, 408
Grey, Charles, Earl, 412, 423
Grosvenor, Sir Richard, member for Chester, expostulated with as to the
irregular use of his frank, 141
Groyne, The, 75, 77
Guide to accompany post-horses when two are taken, 18
Guildhall Library, letter preserved in, showing tardy course of post in
1666, 34
Halfpenny carriage set up by Povey, 121
Halloran, a clerical impostor, 406
Hamburg, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174
Hamilton, Andrew, acts as Neale's agent for setting up posts in North
America, 110;
his suggestions for improving the posts, 112;
acquires Neale's patent, 116;
dies and the patent is surrendered to the Crown, 116
Hamilton, John, son of the preceding, appointed deputy postmaster-general
of America, 116
Harley, Robert, afterwards Earl of Oxford, raises the rates of postage,
124;
attempts to trace the writer of an anonymous letter, 181
Harwich, a packet station, 73;
number and strength of its packets, 75;
packet regulations, 82;
a hot-bed of smuggling, 91, 237;
its exorbitant charges, 96;
is closed as a packet station, 418
Hasker, Thomas, chief superintendent of mail-coaches, his pithy
instructions, 284;
is complimented by the King, 288;
will not suffer even the King to detain the mail-coach, 289;
enters a protest against the speed of the Holyhead mail, 394
Hayman, Peter, first postmaster of Virginia and Maryland, 111
Heath, Sir Robert, Solicitor-General, 11
Hickes, Prideaux's servant, imprisonment of, 22
Highwaymen, rewards for apprehension of, 183;
refrain from attacks upon mail-coaches, 290;
confine their attention to horse and cross-posts, 317;
instances of the recovery of mail bags stolen by, 336
Hill, Sir Rowland, 269 _note_, 420, 428
Hippisley, Sir John, 20
Hiver, Richard, 192
Holt, Sir John, Chief Justice, his opinion respecting compensation for
losses by post, 188 _note_
Holyhead, packet service at beginning of eighteenth century performed
with regularity, 82;
contemplated reduction of the packet establishment deprecated by the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 248;
conditions of passage between Holyhead and Dublin in 1813, 379
Hompesch, Baron, packet detained for, 87
Horn, when to be blown, 4;
a man on horseback blowing a post-horn assigned as a device for Post
Office colours, 75 _note_
Horses, to be kept in readiness for affairs of State, 2;
two to be kept at every post-house, 4;
use of, obtained under false pretences, 5;
overridden, overladen, and not always paid for, 5, 51;
charge for post-horses in 1603, 6;
in 1635, 18;
in 1660, 30;
not to be supplied except at post-houses, 6;
to be attended by a guide when two are hired, 18;
not to be let when the post is expected, 18;
not to be taken without the consent of the owners, 30;
only indirectly a source of revenue, 30;
monopoly of letting horses continued to the Post Office by the Act of
1711, 130;
control exercised by the Post Office over horses for travellers merely
nominal, exception given, 131;
charges for post-horses increased by the erection of milestones, 176;
monopoly of letting post-horses withdrawn, 205
Horse and cross-posts, project for checking robberies of, 317;
authority withheld, 318;
eventually given, 335
Hostages taken on capture of a packet, 93;
instance of inhuman treatment of, 94
Houses numbered, 195;
their not being so a hindrance to the Post Office, 36, 151
Hume, David, 29
Hume, Joseph, 402
Hungerford selected to try the question of free delivery, 198;
question decided in favour of the public and a letter-carrier
appointed, 202, 293
Illicit conveyance of letters, between town and town and between the
country and London, 54;
is stimulated by increase in the rates of postage, 134, 141;
becomes less after the introduction of mail-coaches, 227;
prosecutions for, 333;
return to the House of Commons, 422
Impressment, persons employed on the packets exempt from, 84;
specimen of protection order, 84 _note_
Instructions to the sorting office communicated by word of mouth, 324
Insurance an essential condition of Dockwra's penny post, 38;
this condition abandoned, 188
Invoices to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801, exemption
then withdrawn, 331
Ipswich asserts its right to a free delivery, 198;
right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202
Ireland, tardiness of post to, before 1635, 16;
postage to, 18;
method of Post Office business in 1690, 53;
abuse of franking in 1773, 190;
clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege, 194;
posts to and within Ireland improved, 195;
Penny Post Office opened in Dublin, 196;
the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in, 207;
the Irish Post Office separated from that of England, 221;
effects of the separation in the case of correspondence by the Milford
Haven and Waterford route, 249;
between the Irish and English Post Offices differences in point of law,
366;
and of practice, 367;
office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of, 367;
and improper use made of it, 371;
Clancarty's energy and decision of character, 368;
Lees, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his mode of conducting
business, 369;
Lees contrasted with Freeling, 370;
the postmasters-general absentees, 370;
absence also of the subordinates and other abuses, 371;
the express clerks and clerks of the roads deal in newspapers and are
given undue advantages, 371;
account of the alphabet, 374;
ingenious one in use at Belfast, 375;
arrangement in favour of soldiers' wives, 374;
peculiar mode of delivery at Belfast, 375;
mail-coach contracts in Ireland different from those in England, 376;
Charles Bianconi, 376;
arrangement between Ireland and Great Britain in the matter of the
packets, 378;
Lees is dissatisfied with it, 380;
and sets it aside, 381;
Freeling's indignation, 382;
sailing packets replaced by steam packets, 383;
effect upon the number of passengers carried by the Post Office, 385;
Irish traffic diverted from Holyhead to Liverpool, 385;
and Liverpool made a packet station, 386;
except in the matter of the packets, indisposition of the British Post
Office to improve communication with Ireland, 387;
such improvement urged by Foster, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer,
388;
and resisted by Freeling, 389;
Freeling forced to give way, 390;
the Irish Post Office consolidated with the Post Office of Great
Britain, 414;
and the Dublin establishment reformed, 415;
the auditing of the Irish accounts rendered futile, 415
Iron mail-cart stopped and rifled of its contents, 290
Isle of Wight, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 294
Jackson, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89
Jacob, Giles, 188 _note_
Jamaica, Post Office establishment in, and sea rates fixed, 78;
duration of voyage to and fro in 1798, 320;
House of Assembly vote sum of money in recognition of the gallant
defence of the _Antelope_ packet, 323
James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., opposes introduction of the
penny post, 37;
wrests it out of Dockwra's hands, 40;
suffers the clerks of the roads to retain their newspaper privilege,
49
Jamineau, Isaac, purveyor of newspapers to the clerks of the roads, 300
Jeffreys, Sir George, afterwards Lord, inflicts exorbitant fine upon
Edmund Prideaux, son of the Master of the Posts, 27
Johnson, Edward, letter-carrier, improves the penny post, 302;
is appointed deputy comptroller, 305
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 209 _note_
Jones, distiller of Old Street, St. Luke's, his action against the Post
Office, 203
Kent, post through the county of, more carefully nursed than any other, 9
Kenyon, Lloyd, Lord, when Attorney-General, gives receipts for fees in
Post Office cases, 325
King's coach, deception practised on Walsingham in the matter of the, 251
King's messengers, their complaint against the Post Office on the
erection of milestones, 176
Lambton, John George, moves for a return of the number of Post Office
Boards, 396
Lancashire, the badness of its posts in 1699, 60
Le Despencer, Francis, Lord, postmaster-general from 1766 to 1781, 221,
226
Leeds, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Lees, Sir John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, his testimony to
the abuse of franking, 191;
having been transferred to the War Office, recapitulates conditions on
which he accepts reappointment to the Post Office, 221;
recapitulation gives offence to Carteret, 222;
and leads to Carteret's exposure, 226
Lees, Sir Edward Smith, son of the preceding, also secretary to the Post
Office in Ireland, his method of conducting business, 369;
deals in newspapers, 373;
his instruction respecting the alphabet, 374;
his difference with Freeling, 381;
becomes a director of the Dublin Steam Packet Company, 383;
is transferred to Edinburgh, 415;
his unauthorised surrender of the receiver-general's bond, 415
Leet, express clerk, 373
Leicester, the Corporation of, binds itself to keep post-horses for the
use of the Sovereign, 2;
salary of postmaster at, in 1792, 293
Leicester, George, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1794 to 1799, 326
Letter-carriers, their pay in 1690, 49;
as late as 1772, none employed except in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin,
197;
are appointed at certain other towns, 202;
in London their interests suffer from the earlier closing of the Post
Office, 221;
are put into uniform, 299;
the sufferings of some of their number during the winter of 1794-95,
306;
select their walks according to seniority, 324;
deliver letters according to classes, one class for general post
letters, another for penny or twopenny letters, and a third for
foreign letters, 423
Letters, on affairs of State originally sent by courier, 2;
particulars of, when sent by post, to be carefully recorded, 4;
letters on other than the affairs of State received at the post-houses,
4;
not, without the authority of the Master of the Posts, to be collected,
carried, or delivered, 6;
notice that none are to be sent except through the post served on the
merchants of London, 9;
letters detected in being illicitly conveyed to be sent to the Privy
Council, and their bearers apprehended, 10;
what letters excepted from monopoly, 18;
are given precedence over travellers, 18;
circulate mainly through London, 29;
their mode of distribution, 47;
clandestine conveyance of, 54;
number of penny post letters for the suburbs of London at the end of
the seventeenth century, 69;
letters for America and Jamaica charged with postage, although there
was no packet service, 78;
clandestine conveyance of, stimulated by increase of postage, 134;
definition of single and double letter, 139;
Allen's injunction to check illegal conveyance of, 165;
are examined by means of a strong light, 171, 409, 422;
penalty for opening letters, 171;
letters containing patterns or samples, whether to be charged as single
or double letters, 177;
right to make, on the delivery of letters, any charge beyond the
postage contested, 197;
memorials for and against the earlier delivery of foreign letters in
London, 267;
average number of letters for each foreign mail in 1790, 268;
treatment of dead and missent letters before and after 1793, 308;
return of the number of letters passing through the London Post Office
submitted to the postmasters-general daily, 324;
made penal not only to carry letters, but to send them otherwise than
through the post, 335;
on the delivery of letters, despite the decision of the Courts, a
charge beyond the postage continues to be made, 422;
owing to the complication of rates, not possible to express the total
charge upon a letter in one taxation, 423
Lewis XIV. assembles a squadron before Dunkirk, 101;
his delay in refusing to sign the preliminaries of peace, 105
Lichfield, Thomas William, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general May
1835, 427 _note_
Lincolnshire, the paucity of its posts before 1705, 61
Liverpool, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293;
penny post established at, 339;
is opened as a packet station, 386
Liverpool, Robert, Earl of, mediates between Freeling and Lees, 382;
transfers the Falmouth packets from the Post Office to the Admiralty,
399
Lloyds supplied by the Post Office with ship news, 218
Loppinott, Colonel, 321
Losses by post, compensation for, 38;
when ceased to be given, 188
Lovell, Mary, receiver in St. James's Street, Lord Abercorn's complaint
against, 153
Lovell, Thomas, Lord, afterwards Earl of Leicester, postmaster-general
from 1733 to 1759, 167;
receives a threatening letter, 183 _note_;
his loose notions about smuggling, 238
Lowndes, William, Secretary to the Treasury, takes charge of the Post
Office Bill of 1711, 124;
overbears Swift, the solicitor to the Post Office, 126;
confounds gross and net revenue, 145 (325 _note_)
Macadam, John Loudon, introduces new method of road-making, 392
Macaulay, Lord, his account of the fine inflicted upon Edmund Prideaux,
son of the Master of the Posts, 27;
his statement that a part of the Post Office revenue was derived from
post-horses questioned, 30 (39)
Mackerness, Thomas, postmaster of Chipping Norton, 163
Macky, John, packet agent at Dover, proceeds to Flanders, 102;
receives a remarkable caution, 103;
having become contractor for the Dover and Ostend packet service,
his boats engage in illicit operations, 103;
and bring news clandestinely, 106;
is commissioned to settle posts for the army, his excellent
arrangements, 107
Maddison, George, 205
Magistrates, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the
service of the posts, 3, 6;
are enjoined to see that horses are procured at the post-houses alone,
9
Maidstone, excellency of the delivery at, in the seventeenth century, 48;
amount of the postmaster's salary, 50
Mails, hour of despatch of the, from the General Post Office in 1690, 47;
after 1784, 220;
cost of conveyance of, before and after the introduction of
mail-coaches, 290;
are exempt from toll in Great Britain but not in Ireland, 354;
exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359
Mail bags, curious instances of recovery of, 337
Mail-carts, mail-cart made of iron rifled of its contents, 290;
first used in London to bring letters to the General Post Office, 316
Mail-coaches, begin to run, 213;
rapid extension of the system, 214;
system deprecated by some of the leading merchants, 220;
their effect upon expresses, 214;
upon the illicit conveyance of letters, 227;
a mail-coach in attendance upon the King when at Cheltenham, 251;
are put off the road by Palmer, 270;
number of, in 1792, 281;
model of mail-coach preserved at the Post Office, 282;
mail-coaches of new pattern supplied, 283;
number of passengers by, restricted, 283, 401;
roof-loading, and objections to it, 287, 412;
roof not always safe, 288;
mileage allowance in the case of mail-coaches, 290;
their freedom from attacks by highwaymen, 317;
become liable to a duty of one penny a mile, 337;
are diverted from the direct route for a consideration, 341;
number of, in 1811, 352;
their unpopularity with road trustees, 353;
question considered of withdrawing their exemption from toll, 354;
mail-coaches withdrawn instead, 355;
in Scotland, are made liable to toll, 359;
and their number is reduced, 360;
speed of mail-coaches, 399, 426;
the mail-coach the great disseminator of news, 401;
supply of mail-coaches thrown open to public competition, immediate
result, 425
Mail guards, not originally Post Office servants, 260;
their little excesses, 261;
their wages, 263;
treatment of their wages a cause of difference between Walsingham
and Palmer, 263;
their position one of responsibility, 283;
their fees, 284;
specimens of instructions to, 285;
carry parcels and game, and suffer to be carried excess-passengers,
286, 287
Main, George, deputy-postmaster of Edinburgh, 117
Maitres de poste in Canada, 205
Managers, sometime farmers, of the Post Office, 137
Manchester, its Post Office establishment in 1792, 292;
establishment increased and Penny Post Office opened, 301
Manley, Captain John, Post Office farmed by, 27
Manley, Isaac, deputy-postmaster of Dublin, 69 _note_
Mansfield, William, Earl of, his opinion upon compensation for losses
by the post, 188 _note_;
his judgment as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of
delivering letters, 198
Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, interests himself in the post with
Flanders, 101 (104, 107)
Maryborough, William, Lord, postmaster-general from December 31, 1834 to
May 8, 1835, 427 _note_
Master of the Posts, his duties, 2;
no one not authorised by, allowed to collect, carry, or deliver
letters, 6;
his salary and emoluments, 12
Melbourne, William, Viscount, 423
Melville, Robert, Viscount, advocates transfer of the Falmouth packets
to the Admiralty, 399
Menai Straits, additional rate of postage imposed on letters crossing
the, 395
Merchants' accounts to and from abroad exempt from postage until 1801,
exemption then withdrawn, 331
Merchant adventurers. _See_ Foreign Merchants
Methuen, Sir Paul, ambassador to Portugal, calls attention to the
irregular proceedings of the packets, 91
Mileage allowance, in case of mail-coaches, 290;
higher in Ireland than in England, 376;
flippant return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 424
Miles, difference between measured and computed miles, 175
Milestones, erection of, 175;
their effect upon the charge for post-horses, 176
Milford Haven and Waterford, packet service between, 249
Missent letters, treatment of, before and after 1793, 309
Money Order Office, 420;
the subject of a flippant return to the House of Commons, 424;
facsimile of a money order issued in 1802, Appendix
Monopoly of the Post Office, origin of, in the matter of letters and of
post-horses, 7;
confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9;
confirmed by Act of Parliament, 27;
withdrawn as regards post-horses, 205
Mountstuart, John, Viscount, 256 _note_
Murray, Robert, reputed to have been the first to suggest the penny post,
36
Neale, Thomas, obtains grants for setting up posts in North America,
110;
his pecuniary difficulties, 112;
offers to surrender his patent, 115;
patent passes on his death to Andrew Hamilton, 116
Newcastle, Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke of, his orders about the packets
countermanded by Pelham, 173;
sends to the Post Office to inquire the price of corn, 255
Newcastle, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293
News, hunger after, 50;
the postmasters-general the great purveyors of, 104;
news disseminated by the mail-coaches, 401
Newspapers, franking of, by the clerks of the roads, 49;
are received from abroad by Post Office servants in advance of the
general public, 175;
conditions of franking newspapers altered, effect of alteration, 191,
250;
copies of, supplied to Post Office servants, 232;
newspaper office established, 261;
number and weight of newspapers passing through the Post Office in
1788, 262 _note_;
treatment of foreign newspapers, 343;
newspaper agency at the Post Office largely developed, 344;
London newspapers supplied by the Post Office with early intelligence
from abroad, 346;
newspapers, though franked, not exempt from postage by the penny,
twopenny, and convention posts, 350;
postage on newspapers for the East Indies reduced below the letter
rate, 363;
improper dealing with newspapers in Ireland, 372;
on newspapers to and from the Colonies special rates established
and franking privilege withdrawn, 402;
this privilege retained in the case of newspapers for the Continent,
403;
newspapers circulating within the United Kingdom exempted from postage,
404;
extent of newspaper business conducted by the clerks of the roads in
1829, 407;
in 1830, 418;
newspaper business finally withdrawn, 419
Newton, Sir Isaac, 66
New Year's gifts, extortion of, 325
Nicholas, Sir Edward, 20
Nodin, passenger on board the _Antelope_ packet, his gallantry, 321
Normanby, Henry Constantine, Viscount, proposes abolition of the office
of second postmaster-general, 397
North, Frederick, Lord, 206;
receives singular reply from the Post Office, 218
Northampton, Countess of, 63
Northey, Sir Edward, 143
Northumberland, Hugh, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 194
Nottingham, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Ogilby, John, calls attention to the difference between measured and
computed miles, 175 _note_
Oldfield, Thomas, postmaster of York, 337
Oldmixon, 26
Old Street, St Luke's, a second penny charged on penny post letters
addressed to, 203
Oliphant, Robert, deputy postmaster-general for Scotland, 271
Olney, Buckinghamshire, attempts to improve its post and the consequence,
351
O'Neile, Daniel, farmer of the posts, 33, 34
O'Neill, Charles Henry St. John, Earl, postmaster-general of Ireland
from 1807 to 1831, 368 _seq._, 415
Onslow, Denzil, 185
Opening of letters, during the Commonwealth, 28;
under James II., 44;
practice systematically carried on under Walpole's administration, 170;
continued, as regards foreign letters, until 1844, 269 _note_
Ordnance, Board of, 86
Ormonde, James, Duke of, 70
Oxenbridge, Clement, reduces postage, 29;
receives an appointment under the Post Office, 32
Oxford Street, branch post office opened in, 411
Packets (sailing), packet establishment in 1690, 45;
are forbidden to carry merchandise in times of war, 76;
regulations for control of, 82;
carry their own surgeon, 84;
are not, without a pass, to carry passengers, 85;
or goods, 88;
fares are not sufficiently made known and inconvenience arises,
instances given, 86;
curious assortment of goods sent free by packet, 88;
packets bring both passengers and goods without passes, 89;
engage in smuggling, 89;
are forbidden to give chase, 93;
are not entitled to the prizes they take, 93;
agreement with prizes honourably observed as a rule, exceptions given,
94;
are victualled at Falmouth and at Harwich on different principles,
objections to both systems, 95;
copy of letter-bill by the _Prince_ packet, 97;
transport recruits with disastrous results, 97;
must be of English build, 98;
engage with privateers, 101;
are placed on a peace footing, 108;
colours altered on Union with Scotland, 117;
sufficiency of the burthen and crew of the Falmouth packets questioned
by the merchants, 173;
the packets generally meet with a series of disasters, 207;
wholesale smuggling on the part of the Harwich packets, 237;
inordinate growth of the packet expenditure, 238;
and the reason, 239;
packets established between Milford Haven and Waterford, 249;
representation by the merchants as to the number of packets captured,
320;
their gallant actions with privateers, 321;
probable explanation of these actions occurring only when passengers
were on board, 323;
mode of procuring packets for the East Indies and the Cape in 1815, and
their cost, 363;
arrangement in the matter of packets between Great Britain and Ireland,
378;
steps taken by the Dublin Post Office to set the arrangement aside,
381;
sailing packets replaced by steam packets between Holyhead and Dublin,
384;
between Milford Haven and Waterford, 385;
between Portpatrick and Donaghadee, 385;
the Falmouth packets transferred to the Admiralty, 398
Packets (steam), between Holyhe ad and Dublin, charges by, as compared
with sailing packets, 385;
number of passengers before the introduction of steam, 383 _note_;
and after, 385;
number of steam packets possessed by the Post Office in 1827, 399;
packet service thrown open to public competition, 417;
Irish steam packets, defective return to the House of Commons in the
matter of, 424
Pajot, director of the French posts, his obstinacy, 77;
his unreasonableness, 138
Palmer, John, his activity, 208;
general sketch of his plan, 209;
his plan is brought to the notice of Pitt, 212;
and is tried on the Bath road, 213;
extends his plan, 214;
induces Pitt to raise the rates of postage, 215;
alleges obstruction, 217;
alters the length of the stages, 219;
his plan is opposed by the merchants, 220;
opposition dies away, 227;
procures appointment of his nominees, 228;
conditions of his own appointment, 228;
his jealousy of Allen, 230;
expedites the morning delivery in London, and introduces an improved
method of business, 235;
imposes upon Walsingham in the matter of the King's coach, 251;
his treatment of official papers, 256;
pays an unexpected visit to Walsingham at Old Windsor, 258;
betrays his jealousy, 259;
establishes, but without the necessary authority, a newspaper office,
261;
and a mail guards' fund, 263;
is called to account by Walsingham, 263;
takes umbrage at a rebuke administered to his deputy, Bonnor, 265;
disobeys orders, 266;
becomes aggressive and defiant, 270;
and appeals to Pitt, 272;
is charged by Bonnor with promoting a public meeting antagonistic to
the postmasters-general, 275;
suspends Bonnor, 275;
is suspended himself, 276;
is dismissed, 279;
receives a pension and, later on, a Parliamentary grant, 280;
general result of his plan, 290 (299, 302, 353)
Palmerston, Henry John, Viscount, his humorous reply to Freeling, 380
Parkin, Anthony, solicitor to the Post Office, 333
Parnell, Sir Henry, 407
Pascoe, John, boatswain of the _Antelope_ packet, his gallant resistance
to the attack of a privateer, 322
Patterns and samples, letters containing, and being less than one ounce
in weight, whether to be charged single or double, 177;
question tried at law, 178;
settled by Act of Parliament, 179;
concessions in favour of, 315
Pay. _See_ Wages
Pelham, Henry, countermands Newcastle's orders about the packets, 173
Pennant, Thomas, 261
Penny post, its introduction by Dockwra, 36;
general plan of, 37;
carries up to one pound in weight, 37;
includes a system of insurance, 38;
days on which it does not go, 39;
increases number of country letters, 40;
is absorbed into the General Post Office, 40;
establishment of, in 1690, 45;
stimulates the clandestine conveyance of letters into London, 54;
on its acquisition by the State its general conditions remain
unchanged, 67;
number of penny post letters for the suburbs at the end of the
seventeenth century, 69;
its contemplated extension to Dublin in 1703, 69;
affects the number of ship letters, 73;
is without legal sanction, 119;
legal sanction given, 128;
its limits restricted to ten miles, 129;
the charge of a second penny on all letters delivered outside the bills
of mortality made legal, 143;
weight carried by the penny post reduced from one pound to four ounces,
188;
compensation for losses by the, when ceased to be given, 188 _note_;
attempts made by the Post Office to charge a second penny within the
bills of mortality, 203;
principal officers of the penny post absentees, 231;
stagnation of the penny post, 302;
the post is improved by Johnson, a letter-carrier, 302;
financial result, 305;
prepayment, hitherto optional, made compulsory, 306;
restriction on limits withdrawn, 307;
the charge of a second penny, heretofore confined to letters delivered
at places outside the bills of mortality, imposed upon letters
coming therefrom, 307;
the penny post converted into a twopenny post, 331;
and the twopenny post into a threepenny one, 340. _See_ twopenny and
threepenny posts
Penzance, its post before and after 1784, 291
Pepys, Samuel, 84 _note_
Perceval Spencer, 354, 379
Percival, Joseph, a passenger by packet without a pass, 89
Pickwick, "Mr. Pickwick's coach," 281
Pitt, William, his attention is called to Palmer's plan, 212;
sweeps away frivolous objections and desires that it may be tried, 213;
raises the postage rates, 215;
relaxes the restrictions upon franking, 217;
dismisses Tankerville, 224;
settles conditions of Palmer's appointment, 229;
his knowledge of abuses at the Post Office and his unwillingness to
expose them, 241;
suppresses report of Royal Commission, 242;
authorises increase of salary to the clerks of the roads, 251;
declares Palmer's proceedings to be irregular, 263;
turns a deaf ear to the postmaster-general's request for an interview,
273;
interview at length granted, 277;
a second interview, 279;
acquiesces in Palmer's dismissal and grants him a pension, 279;
makes to Post Office servants a periodical grant pending a revision of
the establishment, 300;
promotes plan for improving the penny post, 305;
disallows practice of charging returned letters, 308;
modifies arrangements for dealing with ship letters, 329;
his precepts in this matter afterwards disregarded, 361
Plymouth, salary of the postmaster in 1792, 293
_Political Register_, its criticisms on Post Office practice, 342
Pope, Alexander, his lines on Ralph Allen, 186
Portage, 29
Portland, William Henry, Duke of, 379
Portland Packet, Captain Taylor, its gallant action with privateer, 321
Postage, introduction of, 18;
settled by Act of Parliament, 27;
original meaning of term, 29 _note_;
rates of postage in 1635, 18;
in 1657 and 1660, 28;
in 1711, 127;
in 1765, 187;
in 1784, 216;
in 1797, 318;
in 1801, 331;
in 1805, 339;
in 1812, 356;
device resorted to in order to evade high rates of, 142;
rates lapse through effluxion of time, 180;
rates of postage between London and the Channel Islands and within the
islands themselves, 314;
from Portugal and America, 319;
financial result of increase of rates, 341;
bewildering complications, 357;
extraordinary toleration of the public, explanation suggested, 358;
an additional rate imposed in Scotland on withdrawal of exemption from
toll, 359;
and on letters passing over the Menai Straits or Conway Bridge, 395;
rates of postage to the East Indies in 1815, 363;
instances of exorbitant rates, 409
"Poste for the Pacquet," 5 _note_
Post-boys, 164
Post-coaches, 214
Post-haste, 20
Post-horn. _See_ Horn
Post-horses. _See_ Horses
Post-houses, to have horses in readiness, 4;
horses not to be let except at, 6;
pay of keepers of, in arrear, 15
Postilions, 107
Postmarks, introduction of, 38
Postmasters, their duties in 1690, 48;
their salaries, 50;
their grievances, 51;
their contingent advantages, 52;
intercept postage on bye-letters, 52, 53;
their correspondence exempt from postage, 160;
their moderation on the erection of milestones, 177;
are enjoined to frequent the local markets and report the price of
corn, 254;
salaries of certain postmasters in Scotland in 1707, 118;
in England in 1792, 293
Postmasters-General (I.) [Cotton and Frankland, 1690 to 1708], their
simple-mindedness, 45;
their accessibility, 46;
their concern about the illicit correspondence, 53;
their powerlessness to check it, 56;
let the posts out to farm, 58;
refuse to sublet the penny post, 69;
their difference with Pajot, minister of the French posts, 77;
remonstrate with captains of packets at Falmouth, 89;
and at Harwich, 91;
chuckle over the capture of a prize, 93;
their rebuke to the captain of a Falmouth packet, 94 _note_;
instance of their rough-and-ready justice, 95;
take vigorous measures to protect the packets from Flemish privateers,
101;
their admonition to the packet agent at Dover, 102;
act as purveyors of news to the Court, instances given, 104;
advocate cheap postage to America, 114;
become, at the Union with Scotland, responsible for the Scotch posts,
117;
their inaction, explanation suggested, 119;
action forced upon them, 120;
are contrasted with their successors, 185, 202
Postmasters-General (II.) [Frankland and Evelyn, 1708 to 1715], their
interview with Godolphin, 106;
their instruction about expresses from Dover, 107;
treat personally with Povey, 123;
Frankland ceases to be a member of Parliament, 128;
concern themselves only slightly about travellers, 130;
take measures to check the abuse of franking, 133;
in vain urge the appointment of surveyors, 134;
negotiate new treaty with France, 138;
quit office on accession of George the First, 139
Postmasters-General (III.) [Cornwallis and Craggs, 1715 to 1721], are
amazed at the absence of check in the Post Office, 140;
note how little the increase in the rates of postage has added to the
revenue, 141;
and how largely it has stimulated the abuse of franking, 142;
their dispute with the merchants, 142;
convict Lowndes of a ludicrous error, 145;
their harsh treatment of their secretary, 152
Postmasters-General (IV.) [Edward Carteret and Walpole, 1721 to 1725],
their kindness to subordinates, 152;
their interview with Abercorn, 154.
[From 1725 to 1733 Carteret had for his colleague Edward Harrison, and
from 1733 to 1739 Lord Lovell.]
Carteret establishes a post to Aylsham, 167
Postmasters-General (V.) [Henry Frederick, Lord Carteret and, for the
second time, Tankerville, 1784 to 1786], collect opinions on
Palmer's plan and submit them to Pitt, 213;
entertain doubts as to its feasibility, 218;
their differences between themselves, 221;
their open rupture, 223;
Tankerville is dismissed by Pitt, 224;
his ungovernable temper, 225
Postmasters-General (VI.) [Carteret and Walsingham, 1787 to 1789],
Walsingham's industry and thoroughness, 243;
questions Carteret's right to sign first, 243;
his preponderating influence, 244;
his habit of annotating and execrable handwriting, 244, 263;
reduces packet establishment at Falmouth, 246;
is dissuaded from carrying out a similar reduction at Holyhead, 248;
is powerless to control the correspondence by the Milford packets, 249;
in conjunction with Carteret procures increase of salary for the clerks
of the roads, 250;
is imposed upon in the matter of the King's coach, 251;
calls for the surveyors' journals, 255;
his correspondence with Chalmers, 256;
receives an unexpected visit from Palmer, 258;
detects Palmer's jealousy and endeavours to allay it, 260;
calls Palmer to account for acting without authority, 263;
exposes Bonnor's attempt at deception, 265;
Carteret's dismissal, 266;
Walsingham inquires into the solicitor's accounts, 324
Postmasters-General (VII.) [Walsingham and Chesterfield, 1790 to 1794],
Chesterfield's playful allusions to Palmer, 269;
Palmer sets the postmasters-general at defiance, 270;
they seek in vain an interview with Pitt, 273;
receive assurances from Bonnor of Palmer's disloyalty, 275;
remove Bonnor's suspension and suspend Palmer, 276;
Chesterfield's letter, 276;
Walsingham's interview with Pitt, 277;
feel confident of their own dismissal, 278;
are furnished with evidence by Bonnor, 278;
have a second interview with Pitt and dismiss Palmer, 279;
contrast Palmer's reticence in official matters with Freeling's wealth
of explanation, 295;
Walsingham attempts to improve communication with France, 296;
and to reduce postage on letters containing the second halves of bank
notes, 298;
give attention to coach-building, 393
Postmasters-General (VIII.) [Chichester and Salisbury, 1816 to 1823],
are called upon for a return of the number of Post Office Boards,
396;
address to the Throne praying that one of the two offices of
postmaster-general be abolished, 397;
Salisbury stops his own salary, and on his death Chichester becomes
postmaster-general sole, 398;
Salisbury's testimony to increase of stringency in Post Office matters,
405
Post Office, origin of its monopoly, 7;
monopoly confined in the first instance to the county of Kent, 9;
a Post Office opened in the city of London, 20;
dispute for its possession, 21;
becomes the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 27;
its position in 1680, 39;
is the only receptacle for letters in London, 40;
description of it, 46;
relations between the Post Office and the Treasury, 57;
the Post Office becomes unpopular and the reasons, 170 _seq._;
its retrogression, 184;
assumes a new character, 202;
loses monopoly of letting post-horses, 205;
Post Office buildings in Edinburgh and Dublin fall into decay, 207;
indignation caused by the earlier closing of the Post Office in London,
220;
this office enlarged, 295;
state of the Post Office as between the years 1695 and 1813 compared,
356;
the Post Office disseminates news, 401;
and police notices, 402;
becomes object of interest to the House of Commons, 407;
is cleared of more than a century of debt, 408;
a new post office opened in St. Martin's-le-Grand, 410
Post-runners, 118
Posts, paucity of, in time of Henry the Eighth, 1;
their close connection with the Sovereign, 3;
instructions for the regulation of, 4;
designed not only to carry the letters of the Sovereign, but for the
use of persons travelling on the Sovereign's concerns, 4;
posts originally maintained at loss to the Crown, 7;
at the beginning of the seventeenth century only four in number, 8;
of these the post to Dover the most important, precautions taken lest
this post should be used for designs against the State, 9;
decadence of the posts, 15;
improved by Witherings, 16;
to be self-supporting, 17;
thrown open to the public, 18;
let out to farm, 25;
rent paid in 1650, 25;
in 1653, 27;
in 1660, 33;
in 1667, 34;
in 1657 become the subject of Parliamentary enactment, 27;
their inadequacy to meet public demands, 34;
even where they existed, their existence not generally known, 35;
at what intervals they left London in 1680, 36;
regarded as vehicles for the propagation of treason, 43;
again let out to farm, 58;
resumed by the State, 137;
as late as 1728, not of general concern, 152
Povey, Charles, sets up a halfpenny post, 121;
contrast between him and Dockwra, 122;
his insolence, 122;
is proceeded against and cast in damages, 123
Prideaux, Edmund, takes part with Burlamachi against Warwick, 21;
rescues the mail from Warwick's servants, 22;
brings the imprisonment of his own servant before the House of
Commons, 22;
becomes Master of the Posts, 23;
his activity, 24;
suppresses unauthorised post to Scotland, 25;
makes profit out of the posts and is called upon to pay rent, 25;
is dismissed, 25;
retains an interest in the posts, 26;
Oldmixon's estimate of his character, 26;
destination of a part of his wealth, 27
Prideaux, Edmund, son of the preceding, 27
Prior, Matthew, negotiates Post Office treaty with France, 138
Prior Park, 185
Prizes, practice observed on capture of, 93
Prosecutions, for the illicit conveyance of letters, 333;
measures taken to secure their publicity, 359;
return to the House of Commons on the subject of, 422
Protection order, specimen of, 84 _note_
Quartering of soldiers, a grievance to postmasters, 51
Quash, Ralph Allen's predecessor as postmaster of Bath, 147
Queen's letters, meaning of term in 1706, 83 _note_
Queen's servants not exempt from fare by packet, 86
Queensberry, James, Duke of, 64
Raikes, a diamond merchant, suggests the giving of receipts for
registered letters, 409 _note_
Railways, prediction concerning, 408;
first mail sent by railway, 412
Ramsgate, cost of Post Office at, in 1792, 293
Randolph, Thomas, Master of the Posts to Queen Elizabeth, 3
Receiving offices, first opened in London, 37;
generally kept at public-houses, 68;
to remain open on six nights a week instead of three, 196;
letter-boxes at, to be closed and fixed, 306;
receiving offices for twopenny post letters separate and distinct from
offices for letters by the general post, 409, 423
Recruits, exemption of, from fare by packet, 85;
disputes with officers in charge of, 87;
packets employed for transport of, 97
Registration, exorbitant fees for, of foreign letters, 233;
amount of these fees in 1783 and 1784, 235;
receipts for foreign registered letters begin to be given, 409 _note_
Returned Letters. _See_ Dead letters
Revenue of the Post Office, surrendered by the Crown to the public,
in part, in 1711, 126;
and wholly, in exchange for a Civil List, in 1760, 189;
amount of, from 1635 to 1694, 46;
in 1710 and 1721, 144;
in 1787 as compared with 1784, 227;
in 1796 and 1806, 341;
in 1824 and 1833, 422
Richmond, Charles, Duke of, postmaster-general from December 1830 to July
1834, declines to receive salary, 413;
his industry, 413;
becomes postmaster-general of Ireland as well as Great Britain, and
reforms the Dublin establishment, 414;
contemplates, apparently, a reduction of postage, 419
Ripon, Post Office at, refused in 1713, 151;
in possession of one in 1792, 293
Roads, condition of, in 1691, 65;
during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, 390;
begin to be constructed on scientific principles, 392;
Macadam's plan for dealing with the surface of, 392;
difference between roads in the country and roads in the neighbourhood
of London, 394
Rochester, Lawrence Hyde, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1685 to 1689,
43, 74 _note_, 110, Appendix _note_
Rogers, captain of packet, engages in smuggling, 89
Roof-loading of mail-coaches, 287, 412
Rosencrantz, the Danish envoy, to be specially accommodated on board
Harwich packet, 87
Rosse, Laurence, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1809 to
1831, 369, 415
Rotterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails, 174
Royal boroughs of Scotland, 208
Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Post Office in 1787, 227, 230;
in 1823, 407;
recommendations of this last Commission not carried into effect, 420;
another Commission appointed to ascertain the reason, 423;
this Commission procures the contract for mail-coaches to be thrown
open to public competition, 425
Runners, 118
Rye-House Plot, the cause of a Post Office proclamation, 43
Sailors on board the packets, their conditions of service, 83;
receive pensions for wounds, 85;
their wages withheld, 91;
their wages increased, 248
St. John, Henry, afterwards Viscount Bolingbroke, 211
St. Leonards, Shoreditch, a second penny on penny post letters improperly
charged at, 203
St. Martin's-le-Grand, opening of Post Office at, 410
Salaries. _See_ Wages
Salisbury, James, Marquess of, postmaster-general from 1816 to 1823.
_See_ Postmasters-General, Part VIII.
Samples. _See_ Patterns
Sampson, captain of packet, 313
Sandwich, John, Earl of, postmaster-general from 1768 to 1771, 172;
specimen of his frank, Appendix
Sandwich, John, Earl of, son of the preceding, postmaster-general from
1807 to 1814, 348
Sandwich, Kent, asserts its right to a free delivery, 197;
right admitted and letter-carrier appointed, 202, 293
Scotland, tardiness of communication with, before 1635, 16;
communication expedited by Witherings, 16;
postage to Scotland, 18;
post to Edinburgh set up by the City of London, 24;
extent of correspondence with Scotland in 1690, 53;
Scotch posts placed under the postmasters-general of England, 117;
salaries of Scotch postmasters, 118;
course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758, 180,
256;
in 1765 posts to and within Scotland increased in frequency, 195;
Post Office in Edinburgh no longer habitable, 207;
internal administration of Scotch Post Office revised by Palmer, 271;
penny post established in Edinburgh, 300;
postage rates within Scotland raised, 319;
wholesale prosecutions for illicit correspondence, 333;
exemption from toll withdrawn and an additional postage rate imposed,
359;
unhandsome conduct of the road trustees, 359;
roads discoached, 360
Search, powers of, refused by the House of Commons, 128
Sebright, Sir John, his letter accidentally opened, 333
Secretary of State, clerks in the office of, compensated for the loss of
the newspaper privilege, 193
Secretary of the Post Office, appointment of, created in 1694, 70
Secret Office, 170, 269
Sharpus, postmaster of New York, 111
Sheffield, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Shelburne, William, Earl of, 212
Ship letters, origin of ship letter money, 73;
by means of the penny post evade full postage, 73;
number of, in 1686, 74;
pence paid upon, without legal sanction, 119;
legal sanction given, 128;
ship letter office established, 328;
rates on, increased and restrictions imposed, 361;
restrictions modified, 362;
made compulsory upon private ships to carry mails, 362
Ship news supplied by the Post Office to Lloyds, 218
Shipwrecked seamen pass free by packet, 85
Shrewsbury, curious reply to petition from, for earlier post, 218
Single letter, definition of, 139
Smart and bounty money, 85
Smuggling, on board the packets at Falmouth, 89, 238;
at Harwich, 91, 237;
at Dover, 103;
in the Dover mail-coach, 271
Soldiers' wives, when travelling supplied with money through the medium
of the Post Office, 374
Solicitor to the Post Office, appointment of, created in 1703, 70;
an absentee and his duties performed by deputy, 231;
his accounts inspected by Walsingham's direction, 324
Somerset, Protector, superscription of his letter to Lord Dacre, 20
Sorters, pay of, in 1690, 49
Southampton, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Speed of post in Queen Elizabeth's time, 4;
in time of James the First, 6;
at the end of the seventeenth century, 62;
between London and Falmouth and London and Harwich, at the beginning
of the eighteenth century, 83;
under Allen's contract, 148;
in 1765, 187;
after 1784, 290;
speed of Holyhead mail-coach before and after Telford's improvement
of the road, 394;
of mail-coaches generally in 1821 and 1836, 399, 426
Spencer, Lord Charles, postmaster-general from 1801 to 1806, 333
Spitalfields, a second penny improperly charged on penny post letters
addressed to, 203
Sprange, James, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells, 408
Spring Rice, Thomas, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 428
Stage, inconvenience resulting from term not being defined, 219;
term dropped as unit of charge, 318
Stanhope of Harrington, John, Lord, Master of the Posts, 10;
resents what he conceives to be an invasion of his patent, 10;
dies and is succeeded as Master of the Posts by his son, 11
Stanhope of Harrington, Charles, Lord, Master of the Posts, son of the
preceding, vigorously asserts his rights, 11;
vacillating decisions of the Privy Council, 12;
surrenders his patent, 20;
alleges cajolery, 23
Stanhope, Arthur, comptroller of the foreign department, his emoluments
from franking, 344;
supplies newspapers with summaries of foreign intelligence, 346
Stanhope, James, Secretary of State, 64
Stanwix, Colonel, 97
State letters, 83 _note_
Staunton, John, postmaster of Isleworth; appointed comptroller of the
bye and cross-roads, 224
Steam packets, first employment of, by the Post Office, 384
Stock Exchange, The, outwits the Post Office, 106
Stockdale, a highwayman, execution of, 183 _note_
Stokes, William, 245
Stone, George, Receiver-General, a defaulter, 185
Stowmarket, its position and its trade unknown to Allen, 157
Strangers' post. _See_ Foreign merchants
Sudbury, duties and salary of postmaster in 1690, 50
Sunderland, Charles, Earl of, 89
Surveyors, appointment of, refused by the Treasury, 134;
afterwards sanctioned, 140;
their original functions, 134;
their functions and emoluments after 1786, 228;
their journals, 255, 259;
cease to hold postmasterships in addition to their appointments as
surveyors, 339
Swift, Richard, solicitor to the Post Office, prepares Post Office bill
of 1711, 125;
is overborne by Lowndes, secretary to the Treasury, 126
Tankerville, Charles, Earl of, postmaster-general from April 1782 to May
1783, and again from January 1784 to September 1786. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part V.
Telford, Thomas, takes in hand the road between Holyhead and Shrewsbury,
392;
between Shrewsbury and London, 393;
other roads, 409
Thanet, Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of, undertakes to establish a penny
post in Dublin, 69
"Thorough poste," 5 _note_
Thrale, Mrs., 209 _note_
Threepenny post, 340, 417
Thurloe, John, secretary, assumes direction of the Post Office in
1655, 27;
intercepts letters, 28
Thurlow, Edward, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Chancellor; his
opinion as to the duty of the Post Office in the matter of
delivering letters, 198, 201
Thynne, Henry Frederick, afterwards Carteret. _See_ Postmasters-General,
Parts V. and VI.
Timepieces, mode of regulating mail-guards', 283
_Times_ newspaper, its priority of intelligence, 347;
its criticisms on Post Office procedure, 348;
proceedings against, taken by Freeling, 349
Tinware, supply of, to the postmasters-general, 232
Todd, Anthony, secretary to the Post Office; his correspondence with
Benjamin Franklin, 204;
his indifference, 218;
comments upon Tankerville's temper, 225;
his compromising position in respect to the packets, 240;
his emoluments, 240;
his remark upon Bonnor's dilatory replies, 264;
devotes himself to social amenities, 294;
unknown to the postmasters-general, retains his shares in the packets,
327;
his death, 327
Toll, mail-coaches exempt from, in England and Scotland but not in
Ireland, 354;
exemption withdrawn in Scotland, 359
Townshend, Horatio, Lord, 64
Townshend, Charles, deprecates alarm because a letter is sent by express,
182
Travellers, obtain use of post-horses under false pretences, 5;
are not to be supplied with horses except at the post-houses, 6;
paucity of travellers, 15;
are not to be supplied with horses when the post is expected, 18;
have to pay more for horses after the erection of milestones, 176;
their restriction to post-houses for a supply of horses withdrawn, 205
Treasury, its relations to the Post Office, 57, 416;
refuses the appointment of surveyors, 134;
refuses a horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow, 136;
experience of its ways a bar to the suggestion of improvements, 169;
extorts blackmail, 325
Treves, Peregrine, the recipient of Carteret's bounty, 226
Tring, the postmaster of, opens a letter addressed to Sir John Sebright,
333
Tuke, Sir Brian, Master of the Posts to Henry the Eighth, his letter to
Thomas Cromwell, 1;
his duties, 2;
explanation suggested of statement in his letter, 4
Tunbridge, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
Tunbridge Wells, old-fashioned postmaster of, in 1823, 408
Turnpikes, condition of the trusts at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, 353;
number of Turnpike Acts passed between 1760 and 1809, 390
Twopenny post, a second penny charged by Dockwra on delivery of letters
in the outskirts of London, 38;
this second penny not legally sanctioned until 1730, 143;
the twopenny post thus established in one direction established also
in the other, 307;
the penny post converted into a twopenny post, 331;
and the twopenny post into a threepenny one, 340;
the revenue of the twopenny post as compared with that of the penny
post, 341;
the crowded condition of the twopenny Post Office in Westminster, 410
Tyrconnel, Richard Talbot, Earl of, opens the mails at Dublin Castle, 53
Uniform, letter-carriers put into, 299
Urin, captain of packet, makes wrong port, 89
Vanderpoel, packet agent at the Brill, 92
Vansittart, Nicholas, Chancellor of the Exchequer, insists upon
mail-coaches being withdrawn from the roads, 355;
raises the rates of postage, 356;
changes the route of the Holyhead coach, 390;
refuses to get the terms of a hostile motion altered, 397
Van Vrybergh, Envoy Extraordinary from the States-General, 101
Venetian Ambassador, the, protests against the opening of his letters, 28
Vidler, his contract for the supply of mail-coaches terminated, 425
Village posts. _See_ Convention posts
Viner, Sir Robert, 70
Wade, General, 146
Wages and salaries, of Post Office servants in 1690, 49;
of seamen on board the packets, 83;
of certain postmasters in England, 50, 293, and in Scotland, 117;
of mail-guards, 263
Waghorn, Thomas, 409
Wainwright, postmistress of Ferrybridge, her original mode of supplying
an omission, 159
Walcot, John, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, terms of his
agreement with Barham, packet agent at Dover, 222
Walpole, Sir Robert, maintains an office for the opening of letters,
170
Walpole, Galfridus, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1725. _See_
Postmasters-General, Part IV.
Walpole, Horace, precautions taken by, to secure his correspondence
against inspection, 172
Walsingham, Thomas, Lord, postmaster-general from July 1787 to July
1794. _See_ Postmasters-General, Parts VI. and VII.
Warwick, Robert, Earl of, acquires Witherings's patent and claims
possession of the letter office, 21;
attempts to obtain it by force, 22;
continues to assert his claim, 23
Warwick, course of post to, altered in 1695, 57
Waterhouse, Benjamin, Secretary to the Post Office, 131 _note_
Watson, Sir Charles, 296
Way letter, meaning of term, 147
Weights to be attached to sea-borne mails, 82
Wellesley, Sir Arthur, sets aside objections to improving communication
with Ireland, 390
West Indies, packets to the, established, 78;
amount of correspondence in 1705, 80;
service discontinued in 1711, 109;
resumed in 1745, 173;
improved arrangements for disposing of the West Indian mails, 310
Westmorland, John, Earl of, postmaster-general from September 1789 to
March 1790, 266
Weston, Henry, secretary to the Post Office, harsh treatment of, 152
Weston brothers, trial of, 290
Wetherall, Robert, master of ship _Albinia_, proceedings against, for
refusing to take mails on board, 362 _note_
Weymouth, constituted a packet station, 313
Whinnery, Thomas, postmaster of Belfast, his revolving "alphabet," 375;
his mode of delivery, 375
Whitworth, Richard, 192
Wildman, Colonel John, postmaster-general from July 1689 to March
1690, 44
Willatt, Dame, postmistress of Manchester in 1792, 292;
granted a pension, 301
Willes, Doctor, Dean of Lincoln, afterwards Bishop of St. Davids; the
"chief Decypherer," 171
Willes, Mr. Justice, his judgment upon the question of free delivery, 200
William III., confers a pension upon Dockwra, 41;
refuses to exempt postmasters from the quartering of soldiers, 51;
is unwilling to prosecute for the illegal conveyance of letters, 54;
his opinion as to the requirements of a mail packet, 75;
the soundness of that opinion confirmed, 76
Williamson, Peter, sets up an office for the delivery of letters in
Edinburgh, 300
Willimott, Receiver-General, 398 _note_
Wilson, mail-coach contractor, his exorbitant bill for horsing the
King's coach, 251
Witherings, Thomas, succeeds De Quester as foreign postmaster, 14;
is commissioned to examine into the inland posts, 14;
suggests a scheme of reorganisation, 16;
introduces postage, 17;
contemplates posts being self-supporting, 17;
but not, apparently, a source of revenue, 19;
becomes postmaster for both inland and foreign letters, 20;
his appointment is sequestered, 21;
assigns his patent, 21
Wolters, Dirick, a suspected person, to be searched for at Harwich, 88
Worthing, course of post from London to, in 1666, 34
Wren, Sir Christopher, surveys the Post Office premises in Lombard
Street, 71
York, salary of postmaster in 1792, 293
[Illustration: Bugler on galloping horse]
_J. D. & Co._
_Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh._
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Page 339 "further period of eighteen months, viz. from the 10th of
October 1892 to the 5th of April 1804" changed to October 1802
according to context.
Two changes were made according to the errata:
Page 324 "that the practice dated from 1713" changed to 1703.
Page 339 "further period of eighteen months, viz. from the 10th of October
1892 to the 5th of April 1804" changed to October 1802 according to
context.