STRANGE ADDRESSES.
The addresses of letters passing through the post have often very
curious features, arising from various causes: sometimes the whole
writing is so bad as to be all but illegible; sometimes the orthography
is extremely at fault; sometimes the writer, having forgotten the
precise address, makes use of a periphrase; sometimes the addresses are
insufficient; and sometimes the addresses are conjoined with sketches on
the envelopes showing both artistic taste and comic spirit. Post-office
sorters, who constantly have passing through their hands writing of
every style and every degree of badness, acquire an aptitude for
deciphering manuscript; and writing must be bad indeed, if to be read at
all, when it fails to be deciphered in the Post-office. A very large
collection might be made of the vagaries of writers in the addresses
placed by them on letters; but the following will give some idea, though
not a complete idea, of one of the troubles met with in dealing with
post-letters.
Some time ago the Danish and Norwegian Consul at Ipswich, being struck
by the ever-varying way in which the word "Ipswich" was spelt in the
addresses of letters reaching him from abroad, took the pains to make a
record of each new style of spelling, and after a time he was able to
collect together fifty-seven incorrect methods of spelling the word
"Ipswich," which had been used upon letters addressed to him. They are
given as follows, viz.:--
Elsfleth, Epshvics, Epshvidts, Epsids, Epsig, Epsvet, Epsvidts,
Epwich, Evswig, Exwig, Hoispis, Hvisspys, Ibsvi, Ibsvig, Ibsvithse,
Ibwich, Ibwigth, Ispsich, Ie yis wich, Igswield, Igswig, Igswjigh,
Ipesviok, Ipiswug, Ipswitis, Ipsiwisch, Ipsovich, Ipsveten,
Ipsvick, Ipsvics, Ipsvids, Ipsvidts, Ipsvig, Ipsvikh, Ipsvits,
Ipsvitx, Ipsvoigh, Ipsweh, Ipsweich, Ipswgs, Ipswiche, Ipswick,
Ipswict, Ipswiceh, Ipswig, Ipswigh, Ipswight, Ipswish, Ipswith,
Ipswitz, Ispich, Ispovich, Ispwich, Ixvig, Iysuich, Uibsvich,
Vittspits.
Letters so addressed generally reached the Consul in direct course of
post, though some of them were occasionally delayed by being first sent
to Wisbeach. In other cases assistance was given in reading the
addresses by the northern version of the county "Suffolg" following the
word intended for Ipswich.
The address,
23 Adne Edle Street, London,
proved to be intended for
2 Threadneedle Street, London.
In another case,
No. 52 Oldham & Bury, London,
was written for
No. 52 Aldermanbury, London.
On another occasion the following address appeared on a
letter:--
too dad Thomas
hat the ole oke
Otchut
10 Bary. Pade.
Sur plees to let ole feather have this sefe;
the address being intended for
The Old Oak Orchard,
Tenbury.
A further odd address was as follows, written, it is presumed,
by a German:--
Tis is fur old Mr Willy wot brinds de Baber in Lang Kaster ware ti
gal is. gist rede him assume as it cums to ti Pushtufous;
the English of the address being--
This is for old Mr Willy what prints the paper in Lancaster where
the jail is. Just read him as soon as it comes to the Post-office.
The next address is one made use of, apparently, owing to the true and
particular address being lost, but the directions given served their
purpose, and the letter was duly delivered:--
For a gentleman residing in a street out of the ---- Road, London.
He is a shopkeeper, sells newspapers and periodicals to the trade,
and supplies Hawkers, and others with cheap prints, some of which
are sold by men in the street. he has for years bought the waste of
the Illustrated ---- their prints printed in colours particularly.
he is well known in the locality, being wholesale. Postman will
oblige if he can find this.
Similar cases are as follows, but we are unable to say whether the
addresses given served their intended purpose:--
Mr ----. Travelling Band, one of the four playing in the street.
Persha [Pershore],
Worcestershire.
Please to find him if possible.
To E----, a cook as lived tempery with a Mrs L----, or some such
a name, a shoemaker in Castle St. about No. ---- Hoburn in 1851; try
to make this out. She is a Welsh person about 5 feet 1--stoutish.
Lives in service some ware in London or naboured. London.
This is for her that maks dresses for ladies, that livs at tother
side of road to James Brocklip.
Edensover, Chesterfield.
This is for the young girl that wears spectacles, who minds two
babies.
30 Sherriff St.,
Off Prince Edwin St.,
Liverpool.
In two further instances the indications sufficed, and the letters were
duly delivered. Thus--
To my sister Jean,
Up the Canongate,
Down a Close,
Edinburgh.
She has a wooden leg.
And--
My dear Ant Sue as lives in the Cottage by the Wood near the New
Forest.
In this case the letter had to feel its way about for a day or two, but
Ant Sue was found living in a cottage near Lyndhurst.
Another letter was addressed thus:--
This letter is for Mrs ----. She lives in some part of Liverpool.
From her father John ----, a tailor from ----; he would be thankful
to some Postmaster in Liverpool if he would find her out.
Unfortunately, in this instance the directions given failed to trace the
person to whom it was sent, and it had to go to that abyss of "rejected
addresses," the Dead-letter Office.
It occasionally happens that when the eye is unable to make out an
address, the ear comes to the rescue. In London a letter came to hand
directed to
Mr Owl O'Neil,
General Post Office.
But no one was known there of that name. A clerk, looking at the letter,
commenced to repeat aloud, "Mr Owl O'Neil, Mr Owl O'Neil," when another
clerk, hearing him, exclaimed, "Why! that must be intended for Mr
Rowland Hill,"--which indeed proved to be the case. A similar
circumstance happened in Edinburgh, with a letter from Australia,
addressed to
Mr ----
Johns. 7.
Scotland.
It proved to be intended for Johnshaven, a village in the north of
Scotland.
Two odd addresses are as follows, one being from America, the other from
Ireland:--
Little Alice,
Serio-Comic Singer,
London, England.
to Edinburgh City, Scotland,
For Pat Feeley, Katie Kinnigan's Son,
Ould fishmarket close,
Number 42, send this with speed.
An American gentleman having arrived in England, and not knowing where a
sister was residing at the time, addressed a letter to her previous
residence thus--
Upper Norwood,
or Elsewhere.
The letter having been delivered to the lady, the writer intimated to
the Post-office that he had received a reply in ordinary course, and
explaining that the letter had been delivered to her on the top of a
stage-coach in Wales. In admiration of the means taken to follow up his
sister, the writer ventured to add, "that no other country can show the
parallel, or would take the trouble at any cost."
It would be impossible to explain in words the difficulties that are met
with, and the successes which are obtained, in deciphering badly written
addresses; and facsimiles of the directions upon some such letters are
therefore appended to enable the reader to appreciate the facts. In the
London Post-office indistinctly addressed letters are at once set aside,
so as not to delay the work of sortation, and are carried forthwith to a
set of special officers who have an aptitude for deciphering indistinct
writing. These officers, by a strange contradiction in the sense of
things, are called the "blind officers"; and here the letters are
rapidly disposed of, either by having the addresses read and amended,
or marked with the name of a post-town for which the letters may be
supposed to be intended. To facilitate this special work, the blind
officers are furnished with a series of gazetteers and other books
containing the names of gentlemen's seats, farms, and the like,
throughout the country, and many a letter reaches the hands of the
person addressed through a reference to these books.
In addition to instances of indistinctly addressed letters, a few
specimens of addresses of an artistic and humorous character are
furnished in this chapter.
[Illustration: _Read
E. C. _____
Sierra Leone
Cape Coast Castle
or elsewhere_]
[Illustration: _Read
50 ...... Lane?
Scotland Road
Liverpool_]
[Illustration: _Read
Hugglescote
Ashby de la Zouch
Warwickshire_]
[Illustration: _Read
Mr C_____
7 Charlotte Place
Goodge Street W_]
[Illustration: _Read
No 1306 Pvt W_____
No 2 Section 1st Oxfordshire
Light Infantry
Convalescent Depot
Madras, East Indies_]
[Illustration: _Read
Mrs _____
103 Minories
Nr Aldgate Church
London_]
[Illustration: _Read
Harrow Weald
Harrow_]
[Illustration: _(Read
Forest Gate)_]
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The letter, of which the above represents the address, was posted in a
town in the north of England, and delivered to the editor of the
'Courant' in Edinburgh. A facsimile of a portion of the communication
enclosed is also shown, which will give an idea of the interest
attaching to editorial work, and afford some valuable information to the
reader!
[Illustration]
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