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diff --git a/34197.txt b/34197.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c428725 --- /dev/null +++ b/34197.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6139 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bristol Royal Mail, 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 Bristol Royal Mail + Post, Telegraph, and Telephone + +Author: R. C. Tombs + +Release Date: November 2, 2010 [EBook #34197] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRISTOL ROYAL MAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Henry Gardiner, The +Philatelic Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +No copyright date is indicated in the source material, but the last date +mentioned is November, 1899. + +Found at the end of the text is a list of corrections of discovered +publisher's typographic errors. + + + + + THE + BRISTOL ROYAL MAIL. + + +[Illustration: THE POSTMASTER'S OFFICE, BRISTOL. + +_From a photograph by Mr. Protheroe, Wine St., Bristol._] + + + + _All rights reserved._ + + + + + THE + BRISTOL ROYAL MAIL. + + POST, TELEGRAPH, AND + TELEPHONE. + + BY + + R. C. TOMBS, + + _Postmaster of Bristol, + Ex-Controller of the London Postal Service._ + + BRISTOL: + J. W. ARROWSMITH, 11 QUAY STREET. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. _Page_ + DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIL SERVICES. RALPH ALLEN. + 1532-1764 1 + + CHAPTER II. + MAIL COACH ERA. JOHN PALMER. 1770-1818 17 + + CHAPTER III. + 1818 ONWARDS. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. OLD MAIL + GUARDS 35 + + CHAPTER IV. + VICTORIAN ERA, 1837-1899. MAIL TRANSPORT BY + RAILWAY. TRAVELLING POST OFFICES 49 + + CHAPTER V. + BRISTOL POSTMASTERS. 1678-1899 68 + + CHAPTER VI. + NOTABLE POST OFFICE SERVANTS OF BRISTOL ORIGIN 82 + + CHAPTER VII. + POST OFFICE BUILDINGS 89 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE LOCAL POST OFFICE IN EARLY DAYS. SIR ROWLAND + HILL. RECENT PROGRESS 121 + + CHAPTER IX. + BRISTOL AS A MAIL PORT 141 + + CHAPTER X. + POSTAL SERVICE. STAFF: ITS COMPOSITION, DUTIES, + RESPONSIBILITIES. VOLUME OF WORK 160 + + CHAPTER XI. + CHRISTMAS AND ST. VALENTINE SEASONS 175 + + CHAPTER XII. + PUBLIC OFFICE: ITS BUSINESS. THE SAVINGS BANK. + PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS 186 + + CHAPTER XIII. + TELEGRAPHS. TELEPHONES. EXPRESS DELIVERY 198 + + CHAPTER XIV. + TELEGRAPH MESSENGERS 222 + + CHAPTER XV. + LETTER DELIVERY SYSTEM. POSTMEN: THEIR DUTIES + AND RECREATIONS 234 + + CHAPTER XVI. + POST LETTER BOXES: POSITION, VIOLATION, PECULIAR + USES 253 + + CHAPTER XVII. + RURAL DISTRICT SUB-POSTMASTERS. RURAL POSTMEN. + INCIDENTS 257 + + CHAPTER XVIII. + GENERAL FREE DELIVERY OF LETTERS 287 + + CHAPTER XIX. + RETURNED LETTER OFFICE 292 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + THE POSTMASTER'S OFFICE, BRISTOL Preface iv + + RALPH ALLEN OF CROSS POST FAME _Page_ 8 + + " HIS RESIDENCE AT PRIOR PARK, BATH 10 + + " HIS TOWN HOUSE IN BATH 12 + + " HIS TOMB AT CLAVERTON 16 + + JOHN PALMER, INTRODUCER OF MAIL COACHES 20 + + OLD ENGLISH "FLYING" MAIL COACH 22 + + MAIL COACH. PLATE DEDICATED TO PALMER 34 + + THE WEST COUNTRY MAIL COACHES ABOUT TO LEAVE + PICCADILLY 36 + + THE LAST OF THE MAIL GUARDS 44 + + ARRIVAL OF THE BATH AND BRISTOL MAIL COACH AT + ROADSIDE INN 48 + + START OF MAIL COACHES FROM BUSH INN, BRISTOL 52 + + THE OLD PASSAGE, AUST 56 + + JOHN GARDINER 70 + + THOMAS TODD WALTON, SENIOR 72 + + THOMAS TODD WALTON, JUNIOR 74 + + EDWARD CHADDOCK SAMPSON 80 + + SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART 82 + + THE BRISTOL HEAD POST OFFICE IN 1899 118 + + THE "GREAT WESTERN" 152 + + R.M.S. "MONTEREY" 158 + + THE PUBLIC HALL OF THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE 186 + + THE TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT ROOM, BRISTOL 204 + + CRIBBS CAUSEWAY POST OFFICE 261 + + MR. EDWARD BIDDLE 263 + + LETTER BOX AT WINTERBOURNE 269 + + HANNAH BREWER, THE BITTON POSTWOMAN 276 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In these days when books on every conceivable subject are written in +their thousands annually; when monthly journals are produced by scores, +and daily newspapers in hundreds, to supply the public with a record of +the world's doings; and when readers are found for them all, it may not +be thought unfitting that each large mail centre in the United Kingdom +which contributes by its postal and telegraph organisation to the +dissemination of much of this literature, should in its turn have some +record of its own doings. This present compilation has, therefore, been +undertaken with that object in view, as regards the Bristol Post Office, +and in the hope that the facts, figures, and incidents contained in it +relating to past doings and present days and present ways may prove of +interest to the inhabitants of the County and City, and its surrounding +districts, and in an unpretentious way commence, or add to, local +Post Office history, and demonstrate that though Bristol is not, +unfortunately, the leading provincial seaport, as of yore, she has not +lagged one step behind her competitors in respect of postal progress. + +The profit which may accrue from the publication of _The Bristol Royal +Mail_ will be devoted exclusively to the Rowland Hill Memorial and +Benevolent Fund, the chief patron of which is Her Most Gracious Majesty +the Queen-Empress, who is about to show her great interest in works of +the kind by visiting our ancient city to open the new Convalescent Home. +The object of the fund is the relief of all Post Office servants +throughout the United Kingdom, who, through no fault of their own, have +fallen into necessitous circumstances. It also affords assistance to +their widows and orphans, for whom no provision is made under the +Superannuation Acts. The fund is managed by a body of trustees, who are +assisted by a committee of recommendation composed of officers of the +Post Office. The trustees are well-known gentlemen of high standing and +repute in the city of London, to whose benevolent efforts on behalf of +the department the fund owes its origin. The Superannuation Acts afford +pensions to those who have been in the Post Office not less than ten +years. Sometimes a deserving and distressed Post Office servant has not +served long enough to qualify for a pension, and sometimes help is +needed by persons whose time has been partly spent in the postal +service, but who, because they have been permitted to carry on some +other occupation, are not entitled by law to any pension at all. A +pension, even if it should prove to be sufficient for the pensioner's +own support, ceases at death, and the widow and orphans are often left +destitute. There are more than eighty-one thousand, and, counting those +employed only a portion of their time, nearly one hundred and fifty +thousand servants in the Post Office; and in comparison with the number +of persons amongst whom cases needing relief may arise, the assured +income at the disposal of the trustees of the fund is still inadequate. +In the period since 1893 the trustees have granted to necessitous cases +in the Bristol district L120, so that any proceeds from the sale of this +book will be bestowed where such bestowal is certainly due. + +It is right to state that some of the information in these pages has +been derived from _The History of the Post Office_, by the late Mr. +Herbert Joyce, C.B.; _Forty Years at the Post Office_, by Mr. F. E. +Baines, C.B.; _The Royal Mail_, by Mr. J. Wilson Hyde; and from _St. +Martin's-le-Grand Magazine_, also Latimer's _Annals of Bristol_. Thanks +are due also to Mr. Norris Mathews, the Bristol City Librarian, for his +courtesy in permitting and facilitating access to old records in the +Public Library; to Mr. H. J. Spear, Secretary to the Chamber of +Commerce; to the proprietors of the _Times and Mirror_, for allowing +inspection of their old files; and for illustrations to Mr. A. F. +Walbrook, of the _Bath Chronicle_; to the proprietor, _Black and White_, +and many others whose kindness is hereby acknowledged. + + + + +The Bristol Royal Mail. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +1532-1764. + +DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIL SERVICES. + +RALPH ALLEN. + + +It appears that before Post Offices were established special messengers +were employed to carry letters. It is recorded that such a special +messenger was paid the sum of one penny for carrying a letter from +Bristol to London in the year 1532, but the record affords no further +particulars as to the service, and the assumption is that the special +messenger was, in his own person, a rough-and-ready "post." Later on, a +post would be suddenly established for a particular purpose, and as soon +abandoned when no longer specially required. Thus in the year 1621 a +post to Ireland--Irish firms being then considered to require "oftener +despatches and more expedition"--was set up by way of Bristol, only to +be discontinued in a few years. + +There was in 1660 a direct but irregular post between London and some of +the larger provincial towns, but there were no cross posts between two +towns not being on the same post road. Letters could only circulate from +one post road to another through London, and such circulation through +London involved additional rates of postage. Bristol and Exeter are less +than eighty miles apart, but, not being on the same post road, letters +from one place to the other passed through London, and were charged, if +single, 6d., thus:--one rate of 3d. from Exeter to London, and another +rate of 3d. from London to Bristol. This was in conformity with a system +established in the reign of Charles II. That system went on until 1696 +when a post was established between Bristol and Exeter, that being the +first cross post in the kingdom authorised by the Monarch's own personal +assent. From Bristol the posts went on Mondays and Fridays, starting at +10.0 in the morning. The posts left Exeter on Wednesdays and Saturdays +at 4.0 in the afternoon, and arrived at Bristol at the same hour on the +following days. Under this cross post plan, the two towns being less +than eighty miles apart, the charge was reduced to 2d. for a single +letter. In three or four years the new post produced a profit of L250 a +year. In 1678 Provost Campbell established a coach to run from Glasgow +to Edinburgh, "drawn by sax able horses, to leave Edinboro' ilk Monday +morning, and return again (God willing) ilk Saturday night." In 1700 the +service between Bristol and London became fixed, and on alternate days +at irregular hours, depending upon the state of the weather and the +roads, the extent of the journey and the caprices of the postboys and +the sorry nags that carried them, the mail arrived in Bristol. There +were, however, only a mere handful of letters and newspapers. At the end +of the same year, the Post Office authorities in London, after being +earnestly petitioned by local merchants, counselled the Government to +establish a "cross post" from this city to Chester. Up to that time the +Bristol letters to Chester, Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester had +been carried round by London under the system already described, +involving double postage and great delay. The effect of this system, as +on the Bristol and Exeter road, had been to throw nearly all the letters +into the hands of public carriers, by whose wagons they were conveyed +more quickly than by the postboys through London, and at a cheaper rate. +Moved by the success of the new cross posts from Bristol to Exeter, the +Treasury consented to the starting of the Chester service. The Post +Office reported to the Treasury in March, 1702, that the profit for the +first eighteen months of the Chester service had been about L156. The +accounts of Henry Pyne, the Bristol postmaster, appended to the report +in the State papers, show that so far as this part of the service was +concerned, he had received L168 for letters by this post, whilst his +expenses had been L60. + +The people of Cirencester and Exeter, hearing of the Chester concession, +hastened to complain of shortcomings affecting themselves. The +Devon clothiers had a considerable trade with the wool dealers of +the district of Cirencester, which town was served by the postboys +riding between Gloucester and London, with a branch postboy mail to +Wotton-under-Edge. By there being no direct postal service of any kind +between Bristol and Wotton-under-Edge, correspondence between Exeter and +Cirencester had to be sent _via_ London, and a fortnight elapsed between +the despatch of a letter and the receipt of an answer, the result being +that not one letter in twenty was sent through the post. All that was +needed to shorten the transit from fourteen days to four was to put +Bristol in direct communication with Wotton, the expense being estimated +at only L30 a year. The Government declined to comply with this +reasonable request, and nothing was done! + +[Illustration: RALPH ALLEN. + +_By permission of the Proprietor of "The Bath and County Graphic."_] + +Soon after this time a Post Office reformer arose in our immediate +district in the person of Ralph Allen. He, unlike later reformers, +passed all his working days in the Post Office service. Born at the +"Duke William Inn," at St. Blazey Highway, in Cornwall in about 1693, he +went as a boy to help his grandmother, who was postmistress at St. +Columb. In 1710 he was transferred as a clerk to Bath, and on the 26th +March, 1712, he became postmaster of that city, in succession to one +Mary Collins, and in that year appears to have taken over the management +of the Bristol and Exeter Cross Road Post, previously farmed by Joseph +Quash, postmaster of Exeter. In 1720 Ralph Allen contracted to farm the +cross-country posts throughout the country generally, and to carry the +mails by what were subsequently known as "Allen's Postboys," who were +supposed to travel on horseback at a pace averaging five miles an hour. +A robbery from these postboys carrying the mails between London and +Bristol was a common occurrence. Two men were executed in April, 1720, +for having twice committed that crime, yet the letter bags were again +stolen seven times during the following twelve months. The _London +Journal_ of August 27th remarked: "It is computed that the traders of +Bristol have received L60,000 damages by the late robberies of the +mail." In 1722 the postboys were robbed twice in a single week, and for +the crimes three men were executed in London. Another incident of the +kind worthy of mentioning occurred in September, 1738. The bag then +carried off by three highwaymen contained a reprieve for a man lying +under sentence of death in Newgate, and a second reprieve despatched +after the robbery became known would have arrived too late to save the +man's life, had not the magistrates postponed the execution for a day +or two in order that it might not clash with the festivities of a new +Mayor's inauguration. + +[Illustration: PRIOR PARK, BATH. + +(_Formerly residence of Ralph Allen._) + +_By permission of the Proprietor of "The Bath and County Graphic."_] + +About 1732 the Bristol riding boys were deprived of their perquisite of +1d. a letter for "dropping of letters" at the towns and villages through +which they passed. This was done because the postboys not only carried +letters which they picked up on the road and did not account for at the +next post office of call, but even went to the length of taking out +letters from the mail bags when those bags were, as was the case +sometimes, not properly chained and sealed. In connection with Ralph +Allen's "By-Posts," in the year 1735 arrangements were made so that the +mails sent from Manchester, Liverpool, or any other place in Lancashire, +to Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, etc., might be +answered four days sooner than they could possibly have been answered +before. In 1740 a new branch by-post was established from Bristol and +Bath to Salisbury, through Bradford, Trowbridge, Devizes, Lavington, +Tinhead, Westbury, Warminster, Heytesbury, and Wilton. In 1741 the +growth of trade and population encouraged the Bristol citizens to +appeal to the Ministry for an improvement in the postal communication +with London, which was still limited to three days per week. Yielding to +this pressure, Allen converted the tri-weekly posts into six-day posts +in June, 1741. The post began to run every day of the week, except +Sunday, between London and Bristol, and all intervening towns +participated in the benefit. In 1746 a further extension took place, +whereby letters were conveyed six days in every week, instead of three +days, at Mr. Allen's expense, between London and Wells, Bridgwater, +Taunton, Wellington, Tiverton, and Exeter, through Bristol. The mail +service is not in further evidence in local history until 1753, when the +Bristol merchants again showed themselves tenacious of their rights, and +waged a bitter war against the Postmasters-General in respect of the +imposition of a double rate of postage on letters which, although under +an ounce in weight, contained patterns of silk or cotton or samples of +grain. There was a lawsuit, and the Bristol merchants won it. + +A Government notification in the local newspapers of the 4th September, +1752, announced an acceleration of the mails between the Southern +Counties and Bristol. In future a postboy was to leave Salisbury on +Mondays at six o'clock in the morning, to arrive at Bath (a distance of +about thirty-nine miles) at eight or nine at night, and to leave Bath +for Bristol at six next morning. On Wednesdays and Fridays the departure +from Salisbury was in the evening, the journey occupying about nineteen +hours. By this arrangement letters from Portsmouth were received in this +city two days earlier than before. + +[Illustration: RALPH ALLEN'S TOWN HOUSE IN BATH. + +_By kind permission of the Proprietor of the "Bath and County +Graphic."_] + +Ralph Allen's improvements had great influence in the Post Office +services in this western city. The profits on the contracts enabled +Allen to take up his residence at Prior Park, Bath, one of the finest +Italian houses in England, in addition to having a grand house in the +City. It is said that the profits which accrued to him from his long +contracts amounted to about half a million of money. + +Mansions so lordly are not for the hardest and best workers in the Post +Office field of present times, for the nation does not reward its great +men so liberally as then. Nowadays an introducer of the inland parcel +post service, the foreign parcel post service, an improver of the +telegraph service, and leader in bringing about vastly accelerated mail +services throughout the country,--works of great moment, even if not +comparable with Ralph Allen, John Palmer, or Rowland Hill's great +achievements,--has, after forty years at the Post Office, to be +contented on retirement with no more than the modest pension due to him, +which will not even be continued to his nearest and dearest relative. + +Allen benefited the Bristol postal district in another way than by his +improved Post Office services when he built the bridge over the Avon at +Newton-St.-Loe at a cost of L4,000. He was buried in Claverton +Churchyard, near Bath. The inscription on his tomb runs thus:--"Beneath +this Monument lieth entombed the Body of Ralph Allen, Esqr., of Prior +Park, who departed this life y^e 29th day of June, 1764, in the 71st +year of his Age. In full hope of everlasting happiness in another state +thro' the infinite merit and mediation of our blessed Redeemer, Jesus +Christ." + +Ralph Allen did not hoard up his money or spend it on riotous living, +but bestowed a considerable portion of his income in works of charity, +especially in supporting needy men of letters. He was a great friend and +benefactor of Fielding, and in _Tom Jones_ the novelist has gratefully +drawn Mr. Allen's character in the person of Squire Alworthy. He enjoyed +the friendship of Chatham and Pitt; and Pope, Warburton, and other men +of literary distinction were his familiar companions. Pope has +celebrated one of his principal virtues--unassuming benevolence--in the +well-known lines: + + "Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, + Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." + +Derrick has thus described Allen's personal appearance shortly before +his death: "He is a very grave, well-looking man, plain in his dress, +resembling that of a Quaker, and courteous in his behaviour. I suppose +he cannot be much under seventy. His wife is low, with grey hair, and of +a very pleasing address." Kilvert says that he was rather above the +middle size and stoutly built, and that he was not altogether averse to +a little state, as he often used to drive into Bath in a coach and four. +His handwriting was very curious; he evidently wrote quickly and +fluently, but it was so overloaded with curls and flourishes as to be +sometimes scarcely legible. + +The lack of all show about his garb seems to have somewhat annoyed +Philip Thicknesse, the well-known author of one of the Bath Guides, for +he speaks of Allen's "plain linen shirt-sleeves, with only a chitterling +up the slit." + +Allen's son Philip became Comptroller of the "By-Letter" Department in +the London Post Office. + +[Illustration: RALPH ALLEN'S TOMB IN CLAVERTON CHURCHYARD, NEAR BATH. + +_By kind permission of the Proprietor of the "Bath and County +Graphic."_] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +1770-1818. + +MAIL COACH ERA.--JOHN PALMER. + + +Notwithstanding Ralph Allen's innovations, the conveyance of letters +between the principal towns was carried on in a more or less desultory +fashion. Speaking of the want of improvement in 1770, and the haphazard +system under which Post Office business was conducted, a local newspaper +gave this instance of unpunctuality: "The London Mail did not arrive so +soon by several hours as usual on Monday, owing to the mailman getting a +little intoxicated on his way between Newbury and Marlborough, and +falling from his horse into a hedge, where he was found asleep, by means +of his dog." Mr. 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. + +The mail service was carried on chiefly by means of postboys (generally +wizened old men), who continued to travel on worn-out horses not able to +get along at a speed of more than four miles an hour on the bad roads. +On the London and Bristol route, indeed, it had been found necessary to +provide the postboys with light carts, but that method of conveyance of +the mail bags brought about no acceleration in time of transit,--from +thirty to forty hours, according to the state of the roads. A letter +despatched from Bristol or Bath on Monday was not delivered in London +until Wednesday morning. On the other hand a letter confided to the +stage coach of Monday reached its destination on Tuesday morning, and +the consequence was that Bristol traders and others sent letters of +value or urgency by the stage coach, although the proprietors charged +2s. for each missive. + +At 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. It is said, however, that it was the sight of Ralph +Allen's grand place at Prior Park, and the knowledge of how Allen's +money had been made, which first suggested to Palmer the attempt to +bring a scheme for a mail coach system to the notice of the postal +authorities. 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, the 31st July, 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, the 2nd August, +1784, the first "mail coach" started. On its first journey it ran from +Bristol,--not from London as generally supposed,--and Palmer was present +to see it off. A well-armed mail guard in uniform was in charge of the +vehicle, which was timed to perform the journey from Bristol to London +in sixteen hours. Only four passengers were at first carried by each +"machine," and the fare was L1 8s. The immediate effect was to +accelerate the delivery of letters by a day. The coaches were small, +light vehicles, drawn by a pair of horses only, but leaders were +subsequently added, and four-horse coaches soon became the order of the +day, and more passengers were carried. An old painting represents the +Bath and Bristol mail trotting along close to a wall, the guard +receiving one bag and handing another to the postmaster without the +coachman pulling up. One coach left Bristol at 4.0 in the afternoon, +reached Bath a couple of hours later, and arrived at the General Post +Office, London, before 8.0 the next morning. The down coach started from +London at 8.0 in the evening, was at the "Three Tuns," Bath, at a few +minutes before 10.0 the next morning, and pulled up at the "Rummer +Tavern," Bristol, at noon. Palmer gave up his theatrical enterprises and +entered the service of the Post Office as Comptroller at a salary of +L1,500 a year, and certain emoluments, which, after a year or two, +brought him in an annual sum of more than L3,000. Before Palmer's mail +coaches were at work the post left London at all hours of the night, but +it was part of his scheme that the mails should all leave at the same +time, 8.0; and as the number of mails increased so there was more and +more bustle in the vicinity of the General Post Office at that hour. In +London the arrival of all the mails was awaited before any one of them +was delivered; and this led to the delivery sometimes not taking place +until 3.0 or 4.0 in the afternoon, or even later. Palmer, with his +regard for the Bristol coach, occasionally had the Bristol mails +distributed immediately on reaching St. Martin's-le-Grand, but all other +mails if behind were kept waiting as before. + +[Illustration: JOHN PALMER. + +THE FOUNDER OF THE MAIL COACH SYSTEM. + +_By kind permission of the Proprietor of the "Bath and County +Graphic."_] + +Upon the beginning of Palmer's system on the Bristol road a marvellous +superstructure was raised. Coaches were at once applied for by the +municipalities of the largest towns, Liverpool being the first to aim +at equality with Bristol, and York claiming what was due to the great +highway to the North. Palmer's plan made rapid progress and was attended +with complete success. A splendid mail service was eventually set up all +over the country. One result was that the "expresses" to Bristol, which +before had been as many as two hundred in the year, ceased altogether. +In July, 1787, the mails from Bristol to Birmingham and the North, +previously three per week, were ordered to be run daily. The London to +Bristol coach was stopped by other means than those employed by +highwaymen, the service having at one time in 1790 been suspended for +several days by Palmer, in defiance of the Postmaster-General. + +In Bonner and Middleton's (weekly) _Journal_ for the 11th February, +1792, is an announcement to the effect that the Irish mails arrived in +Bristol on the 6th instant instead of on the first of the month. The +bare fact was stated, and the assumption is, therefore, that it was not +an unusual circumstance. Five days' delay would be thought intolerable +now, as, indeed, is the present length of time occupied by the Irish +night mails on their journey to Bristol. After being conveyed by fast +boat to Holyhead and express train to Birmingham, they come on from that +city by a "crawler" and do not reach Bristol until nearly the mid-day +hour. + +[Illustration: OLD ENGLISH "FLYING" MAIL COACH.] + +In the same year (1792) sixteen mail coaches worked in and out of London +every day. There were fifteen cross-country mail coaches, as, for +instance, the coach between Bristol and Oxford, or, as it was commonly +called, Mr. Pickwick's coach. During winter, in frosty weather, at this +period, some of the mail coaches did not run at all, but were laid up +for the season, like ships during Arctic frosts. + +There is a model of an old mail coach at the General Post Office, St. +Martin's-le-Grand, London, popularly supposed to be the model of the +first mail coach which was built, but such is not the case, for, as +already stated, the first mail coach ran between Bristol and London, and +the model has upon it the inscription "Royal Mail from London to +Liverpool." + +The expense of horsing a four-horsed coach running at the speed of from +nine to ten miles an hour was reckoned at L3 a double mile. Mails were +exempt from turnpike tolls. + +With the introduction of the mail coaches with well-armed, resolute +guards, there was a cessation of mail robberies on the main roads. +Pilfering, however, was occasionally carried on; for instance, in the +early winter of 1794 one Thomas Thomas travelled day after day up and +down on the London and Bristol coach. At last his opportunity came when +the guard temporarily left his coach with the mailbox unlocked, and then +Thomas Thomas looted the mails. On the cross roads the saddle horse and +cart posts were frequently stopped and robbed (1796). One of the worst +roads in this respect was that between Bristol and Portsmouth. Proposals +for the postboys to be furnished with pistols, cutlasses, and caps lined +with metal, like hunting caps, for the defence of the head, fell through +on account of the expense which their supply would have entailed. + +There exists a popular belief that the mail coaches were driven up and +down the steep Queen Street in Bristol now known as Christmas Steps. The +belief is erroneous, for an inscription over the recessed seats at the +top of the passage tells us that-- + + "This STREETE WAS STEPPERED DONE + & Finished, September, 1669. + The Right Worpfl Thomas Stevens, + Esqr. Mayor. + + Named QVEENE STREETE." + +Probably, however, the postboys who carried the mails in earlier days +rode up the steep incline. + +A gentleman now writing in the _Bristol Times and Mirror_ under the +_nom-de-plume_ of "Old File," delving in the historical garden of _Felix +Farley's Journal_, has unearthed the following very interesting +announcements and advertisements, which throw light on the mail services +of the time:-- + + "MILFORD AND BRECKNOCK MAIL COACH. + +"A coach sets out from the 'White Hart,' Broad Street, Bristol, over the +Old Passage (Aust), every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, at noon, and +joins the above coach at Ragland the same day; and a corresponding coach +returns from Milford on certain days." The chief point in the +advertisement was in the paragraph: "N.B.--This road is nineteen miles +nearer to Carmarthen and Milford than the lower one," that is, by the +New Passage. + +This was replied to by another advertisement, as follows: + +"A CAUTION.--The public will please to observe that no other mail coach +whatever does now, or ever has, run from Bristol to Milford Haven, +excepting the Royal London, Bath, Bristol, and Milford Haven mail coach, +which sets out from the 'Bush Inn and Tavern,' Corn Street, every +Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and the mail coach to Swansea +every day from the same inn, notwithstanding the flaming advertisement +of a certain set of men to deceive and mislead the public, by their +asserting that the road over the Old Passage is nineteen miles nearer +than that over the New Passage, which is so far from being a fact that +the road of the New Passage is seven and three-quarters nearer, as was +proved by admeasurement by orders of the office, making a difference of +twenty-six miles and three-quarters nearer the lower (that is, the New +Passage) than the upper road." + +On August 4th the proprietors of the New Passage coach came out with a +larger announcement, and produced figures to prove their assertion-- + +"N.B.--This road is nineteen miles nearer to Milford than the lower one, +viz:-- + + UPPER ROAD. | LOWER ROAD. + Miles. | Miles. + Old Passage 11 | New Passage 10 + Across the Water 1 | Across the Water 3 + Ragland 14 | Newport 15 + Abergavenny 9 | Cardiff 12 + Brecknock 19 | Cowbridge 12 + Trecastle 10 | Pill 12 + Llandovery 9 | Neath 13 + Llandilo 12 | Ponterdilas 10 + Carmarthen 15 | Kidwelly 14 + St. Clare's 9 | Carmarthen 9 + Narberth 13 | St. Clare's 9 + Haverford-West 10 | Narberth 13 + Milford 10 | Haverford-West 10 + | Milford 10 + --- | --- + Total 142 | Total 161 + +In favour of the Upper Road, 19 miles." + + + "BRISTOL, _4th January, 1799_. + +"Lost, on Monday morning, small letter-bag, marked on it 'Worcester and +Bristol.' Whoever has found the same shall, on delivering it at the Post +Office, receive five guineas reward; and whoever detains it after this +notice will be prosecuted." + + * * * * * + + "GENERAL POST OFFICE, + _Friday, 15th February, 1799_. + +"George Evans, of Steep Street, St. Michael's, in the City of Bristol, +Grocer, having been committed to the Gaol of Newgate, in the said City, +charged with feloniously negotiating two Bills of Exchange contained in +the bag of letters from Worcester for Bristol of the 30th December last, +which was lost or stolen, and there being great reason to believe that +one or more person or persons is or are privy to or concerned with him +in the said felony: Whoever will give information at the Council Chamber +in Bristol within one month from the date hereof, so that the said +George Evans may be convicted of the offence with which he is charged, +shall be entitled to a reward of fifty pounds. And if an accomplice +shall make discovery he will also receive His Majesty's most gracious +pardon. + + "By command of the Postmaster-General. + "FRANCIS FREELING, Secretary." + + * * * * * + + _June 29th, 1799._ + +"We understand that a bill for L50, drawn by the Worcester Bank on +Messrs. Harfords, Davis and Co., of this City, and which was one of the +bills contained in the Worcester bag lost on the 31st December last, has +been presented within these few days for payment--a circumstance which +may probably lead to the discovery of the party who found the said bag." + + * * * * * + + _August 10th._ + +"Last week George Evans, who was tried at the Old Bailey in June last on +a charge of forging endorsements on two bills (which, with many others, +were contained in the Worcester bag destined for this City that was lost +on the 21st December last, and of which intelligence has since been +obtained), but who was acquitted for want of sufficient evidence, was +again apprehended, and was committed to gaol on a charge of having +stolen a promissory note, drawn by Messrs. Harfords, Davis and Co., of +this City, value fifty pounds, which note was likewise sent by the same +conveyance from Worcester, and being attempted to be negotiated, was +stopped and traced back into the hands of the said Evans, against whom a +detainer was lodged on account of a similar charge for another bill of +the same value, and precisely under all the circumstances attending the +former." + + * * * * * + + "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 convict, 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. + +This, so far, is the end of "Old File's" researches. + +As the Bristol mail coach was going through Reading on the night of +Thursday, the 18th January, 1799, the coachman was shook off the box, +and, through his hands having been so benumbed by the cold, was unable +to save himself. The guard jumped down and endeavoured to stop the +horses, but without effect. They ran as far as Hare Hatch (four miles), +where the coach changed horses, and then stopped, having met with no +accident whatever, though they passed two wagons. The passengers in the +coach did not know anything of it at the time. + +According to the _Bristol Directory_ for 1811, the "Bush Tavern" office +in Corn Street, conducted by John Townsend, played an important part in +the mail coach system of the country. Its announcement ran thus: "Royal +mail coach to London at 4.0 every afternoon; comes in at half-past 11 +every morning. 'Loyal Volunteer' to London at 12.0 every day. Royal mail +coach to Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Neath, Swansea, and Carmarthen +every day on the arrival of the London mail. Royal mail coach through +Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Swansea, Carmarthen, to Haverford-west and +Milford Haven every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday on the +arrival of the London mail. The 'Cambrian,' a light post coach, the same +route as the mail, to Swansea every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday +morning at 6 o'clock; returns every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday +evenings. + +"Royal mail coach to Birmingham through Gloster, Tewkesbury, Worcester +and Bromsgrove every evening at 7.0; comes in every morning at 6.0. A +post coach to Birmingham every day. Royal mail coach through Bath to +Tetbury, Cirencester, and Oxford, every morning at quarter-past 7, comes +in at 6.0 every evening. Royal mail coach through Bath, Warminster, and +Salisbury to Southampton and Portsmouth at 3.0 every day; comes in at +10.0 in the morning. Coach to Salisbury, Romsey, Southampton, and +Gosport every day at 5.0 (Saturdays excepted), comes in at half-past +10.0 at night. Exeter, _Original_ 'Duke of York' coach, through +Bridgwater, Taunton, Wellington, and Cullompton every Tuesday, +Thursday." + +In 1813 the London to Bristol mail coach was robbed of the Bankers' +parcel, value L2,000 or upwards. This was made known in the form of a +warning to the mail guards who travelled in charge of the Post Office +bags. When in 1813-14 the great frost occurred, the Bristol mail coaches +were obstructed by the heavy snowdrifts on the roads, and they came in +day after day drawn by six horses each when they could struggle into the +City. + +The literature of the period yields nothing of interest again for some +time. + +The "Bristol Guide" in 1815 stated that--"Bristow is the richest city of +almost all the cities of this country, receiving merchandize from +neighbouring and foreign places with the ships under sail." And again, +"Bristow is full of ships from Ireland, Norway and every part of Europe, +which brought hither great commerce and large foreign wealth." There was +no mention of their carrying mails. + +The year 1818 is memorable in postal annals as that in which John Palmer +died. His decease took place at Brighton, but not before he had lived +long enough to see mail coaches splendidly turned out. Palmer, on the +conclusion of his connection with the Post Office, was awarded a pension +of L3,000 a year, equal to his full salary, which sum he declared did +not represent the amount of his salary and emoluments. Further +difficulties ensued, and his son, Colonel Palmer, fought his father's +battles right manfully in the House, and eventually, in 1813, the +Government gave John Palmer a sum of L50,000. + +In recognition of Palmer's great invention, the Chamber of Commerce of +Glasgow not only made him an honorary member, but voted him fifty +guineas for a piece of plate. The fifty guineas was spent on a silver +cup, which bore the following inscription:-- + + TO + JOHN PALMER, ESQ., + SURVEYOR AND COMPTROLLER-GENERAL + OF THE POSTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, + FROM + THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE + AND MANUFACTURERS + IN THE CITY OF GLASGOW, + AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT + OF THE BENEFITS + RESULTING FROM HIS PLAN + TO THE + TRADE AND COMMERCE + OF THIS KINGDOM, + 1789. + +[Illustration: TO JOHN PALMER, ESQ., SURVEYOR AND COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF +THE POST OFFICE THIS PLATE OF THE MAIL COACH IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED +BY HIS OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, JAMES FITTLER.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +1819 ONWARDS. + +CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INTERVENES IN MAIL AFFAIRS. OLD MAIL GUARDS. + + +A new coach, from "The Bush Hotel" to Exeter, was put on the road on the +6th of April, 1819, the time allowed for the journey--74-3/4 +miles--being fourteen hours--less than 5-1/2 miles an hour. In June, +1820 a new coach started for Manchester, performing the journey in two +days, the intervening night being spent at Birmingham. To accomplish the +first half of the task, the vehicle left Bristol at half-past 8 in the +morning and reached Birmingham--85-1/2 miles--in thirteen hours. An +advertisement, published in December, 1821, headed "Speed Increased," +informed the public that the "Regulator" coach left London daily at 5 +a.m. and arrived at the "White Hart," Bristol, at five minutes before 9 +at night, the speed being barely seven miles an hour. + +No fewer than twenty-two coaches were by this time utilised daily +between this city and London. The start of the West Country mail coaches +from Piccadilly at this period was an interesting sight. The continued +wretched condition of the highways was not conducive to quick +travelling; but in about 1825 matters were improved in that respect in +our district by Mr. John Loudon MacAdam, who studied and practised +road-making. Mr. MacAdam was general surveyor of Bristol turnpike roads, +and although he found the trustees' funds only one remove from +bankruptcy and their roads almost impassable, he succeeded so well that +the finances flourished, and his highways became an object lesson to the +world. Mr. Latimer, the Bristol historian, mentions that although +MacAdam was shabbily treated by members of the old unreformed +Corporation, and had many opponents, Bristol deserves the credit of +being the first to appreciate the value of his labours, which were +recognised later by a Parliamentary grant. He left Bristol for London, +and died in 1836; but his son became surveyor of the Bristol roads, and +continued to hold the appointment till his death in 1857. + +[Illustration: THE WEST COUNTRY MAIL COACHES ABOUT TO LEAVE PICCADILLY +WITH "GO CART," BRINGING UP LATE MAILS FROM THE G.P.O.] + +The _Gentlemen's Magazine_, November, 1827, announced: "A Steam Coach +Company are now making arrangements for stopping places on the line of +road, between London, Bath and Bristol, which will occur every six or +seven miles, where fresh fuel and water are to be supplied. There are +fifteen coaches built." The Turnpike Trustees, who imposed extraordinary +tolls on steam carriages, frustrated this scheme; but the threatened +competition stirred up the coach proprietors, who increased the speed of +their vehicles from the jog-trot of six or seven miles an hour, although +not to such an extent as desired by the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, +which in this year made a suggestion to the Post Office for bringing the +London mail to the city in twelve hours. The Postmaster-General was also +memorialised to accelerate the arrival of the West mail, so as to effect +its delivery before the departure of the London mail,--a convenience of +no little moment to the West India trade of the port, since it was +thought that it would save one day in the conduct of business with the +metropolis. At a general meeting in January, 1828, it was announced that +the president had a conference on the subject with the leading officer +of the Post Office Department, with the result that the latter proposed +alterations which were carried out, and were held to be proofs of the +Postmaster-General's disposition to consult the accommodation of the +Bristol public. The former proposal was not adopted at the time, for at +the Accession of his late Majesty King William IV. (1830) the London +mail coach took 13 hours 37 minutes on its journey _via_ Reading. It +departed at 8 p.m., reached Bath 8.11 a.m., and arrived in Bristol at +9.37 a.m., leaving again at 5.50 p.m. for the G.P.O. The Bristol and +Brighton coach (138 miles) was bound to a speed of 10.4 miles per hour. + +In January, 1830, there were further Post Office matters on the agenda +of the Chamber of Commerce, for it was resolved--"That this meeting +recommends to the Board the instituting an enquiry into the exact +distance between the Post Office of London and Bristol, with a view to +ascertain whether the rate of postage at present demanded is correct." +The enquiry was prosecuted with vigour, for at the January annual +meeting in the following year reference was made to the Turnpike +Commissioners for the several districts on the line of road between +London and Bristol having supplied a statement of the precise extent of +ground over which the mail coach travelled, comprised in their +respective trusts. In several instances measurements were expressly +made. In the result it appeared that the route exceeded in distance 120 +miles, and the Post Office Department was therefore entitled legally to +obtain the rate of 10d. per letter as the amount fixed by the provisions +of the Act of Parliament. It was thought by taking the route from +Chippenham through Marshfield instead of Bath the distance would be +considerably shorter, and consequently bring about a reduced rate of +postage. It was reported in the next year (January, 1832) that the +requisition for changing the route had been pursued, and the president +held a conference with Sir F. Freeling on the subject; but though every +due consideration was promised, the alteration had not yet been acceded +to. There was the significant addition that the application would +nevertheless be renewed. A new royal mail direct from Bristol to +Liverpool was established in 1831, leaving the "White Lion," Broad +Street, Bristol, at 5.0 p.m., reaching Liverpool at twenty minutes past +12 a.m. The new service was notified to Mr. Samuel Harford, the +President of the Commerce Chamber, by Sir Francis Freeling, in the +following terms:-- + + "G.P.O., _27th August, 1831_. + +"SIR,--Having brought under consideration the memorial from the Board of +Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Bristol, and from the bankers, +merchants, and other inhabitants of Liverpool, transmitted in your +letter of the 2nd May last, I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that +His Grace the Postmaster General (Duke of Richmond) has consented to try +the experiment of a mail coach between those towns, through Chepstow, +Hereford, and Monmouth, and I flatter myself that it may commence about +the middle of next month. + + "I have the honour to be, Sir, + Your most obedient Servant, + F. FREELING, Secretary. + + "Samuel Harford, Esq." + + * * * * * + +In the next year the Chamber learnt with satisfaction that the direct +Liverpool mail through Chepstow, Monmouth, Hereford, Shrewsbury and +Chester, which was started as an experiment, had been continued, to the +decided advantage of the public, particularly to all connected with the +line of country through which it passed. As compared with the former +route, the saving of time was equal to one day; the rate of postage was +likewise reduced. The starting and arriving were at the most convenient +hours the distance and circumstances, with reference to the passage of +the two rivers, Severn and Medway, would permit. The coach had to run +over the flat parts of the ground at a great pace, to make up for time +lost at the hills. The contract time was 9 miles 2 furlongs in the hour. + +One of the chief mail coaches in the kingdom in 1837 was the Bristol, +Carmarthen and Milford (150 miles _via_ Passage, one hour allowed for +ferry), Cardiff and Swansea. Its down journey occupied 19 hours 38 +minutes, and its up journey 20 hours. + +The Liverpool and Milford mails were conveyed across the Severn at Aust +Passage, where the ferry had been located since the Lord Protector's +time. A moderate expenditure on the piers at Aust Passage, though little +regarded by the citizens at the time the work was in progress, with the +introduction there of a steam vessel, was one of the principal means of +bringing about the establishment of the additional communication with +the districts over the Severn, the uncertainty and inconvenience of +crossing its estuary being then to a large extent removed. + +Mr. Oliver Norris, now nearly 80 years of age, and who has lived in the +district adjoining the Severn Tunnel from his boyhood, can call to mind +the time when the Liverpool and Milford coaches were running. They had +to make their way from Pilning through Northwick, up to the Old Passage +at Aust, and in rough weather the passengers must have had a cold ride +on the bleak river banks over which they had to journey. When the +Bristol and South Wales Railway was opened in 1863, the Aust Passage was +abandoned, and the ferry steamers commenced to cross from the revived +New (or Pilning) Passage, to connect with the new train services at +Portskewet. When the penny post was introduced, Mr. Morris says that as +the coaches passed through the villages the inhabitants in his district +adopted a primitive way of posting their letters, which was to place +the letter and penny in a cleft stick, and so hand up to the mail guard +as the coach was driven by, and who, if the penny was not forthcoming, +promptly threw the letter to the ground. + +The mail coach system was attended with many adventures. Mr. Moses James +Nobbs, the last of the mail coach guards, recounted in the history of +his career how, in the winter of 1836, when guard of the Bristol to +Portsmouth coach, there were terrible snow-storms towards Christmas +time, and many parts of the country were completely blocked. After +leaving Bristol one night at 7 p.m. all went well until the coach was +nearing Salisbury, at about midnight. Snow had been falling gently for +some time before, but after leaving Salisbury it came down so thick and +lay so deep that the coach had to be brought to a standstill, and could +proceed no further. Consequently Nobbs had to leave the coach and go on +horseback to the next changing place, where he took a fresh horse and +started for Southampton. There he procured a chaise and pair, and +continued his journey to Portsmouth, arriving there about 6 p.m. the +next day. He was then ordered to go back to Bristol. On reaching +Southampton on his return journey the snow had got much deeper, and at +Salisbury he found that the London mails had arrived, but could not go +any further, the snow being so very deep. Not to be beaten, he took a +horse out of the stable, slung the mail bags over his back, and pushed +on for Bristol, where he arrived next day, after much wandering through +fields, up and down lanes, and across country--all one dreary expanse of +snow. By this time he was about ready for a rest. But there was no rest +for him in Bristol, for he was ordered by the mail inspector to take the +mails on to Birmingham, as there was no other mail guard available. At +last he arrived at Birmingham, having been on duty for two nights and +days continuously without taking his clothes off. For his exertions and +perseverance in getting the mails through Mr. Nobbs received a special +commendation from the Postmaster-General. + +[Illustration: MOSES NOBBS. + +THE LAST OF THE MAIL GUARDS.] + +Mr. Nobbs tells that one night when the Bristol coach was between Bath +and Warminster, two men jumped out of the hedge; one caught hold of the +leaders, and the other the wheelers, and tried to stop the coach. The +coachman, immediately whipped up the horses, and called out, "Look out! +we are going to be robbed!" Mr. Nobbs took the blunderbuss out of the +arms case (which was a box just in front of the guard's seat); but, just +as he did so, he saw the fellows making towards the hedge, and then lost +sight of them altogether. To let them know that he was prepared, he +fired off into the hedge. He didn't know whether he hit anything, but he +heard no cries or groans. The recoil of the blunderbuss, however, nearly +knocked him off his seat. The blunderbuss, he said, kicked like a mule. +It had no doubt been loaded to the muzzle, as was usual with those +weapons. In the memorable storm of Christmas, 1836, alluded to by Mr. +Nobbs, the Bath and Bristol mail coach, due in London on Tuesday +morning, was abandoned eighty miles from the metropolis, and the mails +taken up in a post-chaise and four by the two guards, who reached St. +Martin's-le-Grand at 6.0 on the Wednesday morning. For seventeen miles +of the distance the guards had from time to time to go across the fields +to get past the deep snowdrifts. + +In the annual procession of mail coaches round London, at the head +thereof was "the oldest established mail,"--the Bristol mail, probably +with Guard Nobbs in charge. Some twenty-seven to thirty coaches took +part in the procession thus headed. The old mail guards had a literature +of their own. As an example, one report on a guard's way-bill ran as +follows (it was a note to account for loss of time on North Road):--"As +we wos comin' over Brumsgroove Lickey won of the leaders fell, and wen +we com to him he was ded." + +One old fellow used to laugh, as the men said, down in his boots, or +like a pump losing its water. Another used facetiously to say that he +had better than a dozen children. "Oh, Mr. ----," said a barmaid to him +one day, "what can you do with so many?" "Well, my dear," he replied, +"you see I've got but two, and they be, you must confess, a good deal +better than a dozen." + +It is said that, with the exception of a single instance, no guard was +ever convicted of a breach of trust while performing his duties. + +In the year of Her Majesty's accession (1837) there were no fewer than +twenty-seven coaches running daily between Bristol and London, and +twenty-seven others passed between this city and Bath every twenty-four +hours. The times of the London coach were as follow: London depart 8.0 +p.m., Bath 7.21 a.m., Bristol arrive 8.43 a.m., depart 6.15 p.m., arrive +G.P.O. 6.58 a.m.,--a slight acceleration over 1830. + +Where now is the fashionable roadside "Ostrich Inn" on Durdham Down of a +century ago, approached by a rough and winding track from Black Boy +Hill? At this inn the coaches called on their way to the Passage. Where +now are the old four-horsed coaches rattling up to "The Bush," "White +Hart," and "White Lion" hostelries, and the old jolly dozen-caped +coachmen and scarlet-liveried mail guards, with blunderbuss and horn? +Where now the Bath and Bristol mail pulling up at the roadside "King's +Head Inn"? The inns are gone, the coaches gone, the jolly guards all +gone too. What happiness their smiling faces brought to many who watched +for their arrival by the mail coach from the West of England, and how +gladdening the sight of their colonial mail bags to the merchants of the +city and to the sailors' wives looking out anxiously for the monthly +mail of those days! Though single-sheet letters cost 2s. 1d. each, what +of that? Did they not contain accounts of sugar and rum cargoes, and of +good news from absent ones. Letters were letters in those days, and not +the notes and cards and "flimsies" of to-day. + +[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE BATH AND BRISTOL MAIL COACH AT A ROADSIDE +INN.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +VICTORIAN ERA, 1837-1899. + +MAIL TRANSPORT BY RAILWAY.--TRAVELLING POST OFFICES. + + +Although the world's railway system was inaugurated by the opening of +the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, it was not until 1838 that +any attempt was made by a great railway to open up the traffic to the +West from the Metropolis. It was in that year that the Great Western +Company made a line between Paddington and Maidenhead, and mails were +sent by it. The section from Bristol to Bath was opened in the same +year. _Woolmer's Gazette_ of January, 1840, speaks of the 9.0 a.m. +"Exquisite" coach for Bristol, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Manchester, and +Liverpool, with part of the service by rail. Intermediate sections of +the railway were completed from time to time, and, finally, on the 30th +January, 1841, the Western line was opened throughout, and the coaches +which had formed so striking a feature both of town and country life +generally disappeared. One coach, however, obstinately held its ground +in spite of the railway, and continued to carry passengers from and to +London and Bristol at the rate of 1d. per mile until October, 1843. + +In consequence of the completion of the Great Western Railway to +Bristol, extensive mail alterations had to be made, and they were +commenced on the 30th July, 1841, affecting the whole district right +through Somersetshire and Devonshire into Cornwall. Some towns were made +post towns and others were reduced from the rank of post towns to that +of sub-post offices. To meet the altered circumstances, revised sacking +of bags had to be resorted to. The instructions given by the President +to the staff in St. Martin's-le-Grand ended thus: + +".... Any bags in addition to the ordinary number must be reported to +the road officers by the clerks of the divisions, that they may be +entered under the head of 'extra,' also any agents or portmanteaus for +Falmouth; and they must instruct the men carrying out the sacks and bags +first to report them to the check clerk, and then take them through the +letter carriers' office to the Devonport or Gloucester omnibus, as the +case may be, as the guards will not for the future come into the +office." + +It was at this time that the villages of Hallatrow, High Littleton, +Paulton, Harptree (East and West), Farrington Gurney, Temple Cloud, +Cameley, and Hinton Blewett were transferred from the postal control of +Bath to that of Bristol, under which they still remain. + +For several years the only trains carrying third-class passengers from +Bristol started at 4.0 o'clock in the morning and 9.0 o'clock at night, +offering the travellers, who were wholly unprotected from the weather, +an alternative of miseries, and at first travellers were not much better +off in point of speed when travelling by railway, as third-class +passengers were 9-1/2 hours on the railway between Bristol and London. +The coach at the time of its being taken off performed the journey under +12 hours. + +The "Bush" coach office was closed in March, 1844. + +The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was opened to the public on the 8th +July, 1844. Of the seven coaches which had been running between the two +cities six were immediately withdrawn, and on the 22nd July the +time-honoured "North Mail" left Bristol for the last time, the horses' +heads surmounted with funereal plumes and the coachman and guard in +equally lugubrious array. + +As late as 1845 Her Majesty's mails were conveyed between Bristol and +Southampton in a closed covered cart, "proper for the purpose," as set +forth in an advertisement inviting tenders for a new contract. The whole +journey had to be performed at the rate of eight miles within the hour, +stoppages included. The hours of despatch were: From Bristol at about +6.0 p.m., and from Southampton about 9.0 p.m. + +[Illustration: "THE OLD BUSH HOTEL," CORN STREET, BRISTOL. + +_From a picture in the possession of E. G. Clarke, Esq._] + +In 1849 a great mail robbery took place, which was committed with very +much daring. The robbers, who booked from Starcross station on the 1st +January, left a compartment of the up night mail train (which left +Bridgwater at 10.30 p.m. and reached Bristol at midnight); they crept +along the ledge, only 1-1/2 inch wide, to the mail-brake at the rear of +the post office sorting carriage, and effected an entrance, having +previously possessed themselves of a key of the lock. After having +rifled the mail bags they crept back to their compartment, and +alighted from the train at the Bristol station, giving up their tickets +to the Great Western Railway policeman. Not contented with robbing the +up mail, they got into the night mail train from London to the West, +which left Bristol at 1.15 a.m., and actually had the daring to pursue +the same tactics with regard to the mail bags in the locked brake. This +further audacity brought about their capture, for the news of the +robbery of the up mail reached the ears of the officers at Bristol who +were in the down mail, and so they were on the alert. On arrival, +therefore, at Bridgwater the second robbery was at once detected, all +exit from the station was stopped, and the train searched. Two men were +discovered in a first-class compartment near the travelling post office, +and registered letters and money letters were found upon them. In +addition to the letters, masks, and false moustache found, a +woolstapler's hook, which it is supposed was used by the thieves to hang +on to the tender when leaving the first-class carriage, was also +discovered. One of the registered letters stolen, it was stated, +contained L4,000, and the loss, as far as it was known, unquestionably +amounted to _fifty times_ that sum. The robbers turned out to be Henry +Poole, a discharged Great Western guard, and Edward Nightingale, a +London horse dealer. The case excited a great deal of interest in the +West of England, and when the trial took place at Exeter the court was +crowded to excess, and the avenues and approaches thereto were very +inconveniently crowded. Mr. Rogers, Q.C., and Mr. Poulden appeared for +the prosecution, and Mr. Slade, Mr. Cockburn, Q.C., and Mr. Stone +defended. + +Evidence was given by clerks in the Lombard Street Post Office, +messengers and letter-carriers in the G.P.O., "register" clerks, clerk +at Charing Cross Post Office, the clerk of the Devonport Road, guard of +the mail from St. Martin's-le-Grand to Paddington, and by letter-sorters +in the travelling Post Office. Jane Crabbe, barmaid at the "Talbot Inn," +Bath Street, Bristol, recollected the two men entering the bar and +calling for two small glasses of brandy-and-water. They were shown to an +adjoining room, where they remained until 1 o'clock, and then went to +the bar to pay. They appeared impatient, and looked at the clock. It was +suspected that all the property which, had been abstracted from the up +mail was secreted somewhere in Bristol, and a most rigid search was +instituted, but without success. Mr. Cockburn's speech to the jury for +the defence occupied over two hours. Lord Justice Denman, the Judge of +the Spring Assize, sentenced the culprits to fifteen years' +transportation. + +A Select Committee was appointed in 1854 to inquire into the causes of +irregularity in the conveyance of mails by railways, and to consider the +best means of securing speed and punctuality; also to consider the best +mode of fixing the remuneration of the various Railway Companies for +their services. The local witnesses, Mr. James Creswell Wall and Mr. J. +B. Badham, Secretary and Superintendent respectively of the late Bristol +and Exeter Railway Company, and Bristol residents, gave evidence before +the Committee, composed of Mr. Wilson Patten (chairman), Mr. James +MacGregor, Mr. H. G. Liddell, Mr. H. Herbert, Mr. C. Fortescue, Mr. +Cowan, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Philipps, and Mr. Milner. + +Replying to questions, witnesses considered two hours forty minutes, as +fixed by the Post Office Department, insufficient time for the down +night mail to travel from Bristol to Exeter, including six stoppages. +The delivery of mail bags at certain stations by apparatus without +stopping the train was suggested, but witnesses considered the plan +dangerous and that it could not with safety be adopted. + +The Secretary of the South Wales Railway Company, Mr. F. G. Saunders, +gave evidence as to the frequent loss of time sustained by the South +Wales night mail through the late receipt of the Bristol and West of +England mails at Chepstow. At that time the bags for South Wales were +still conveyed from Bristol to the Aust Passage, thence by ferry to the +opposite bank of the Severn and on to Chepstow. The conveyance of mails +for South Wales _via_ Gloucester was subsequently adopted. + +All the witnesses complained of the reduction of railway parcel traffic +through the then recent establishment of book postage and consequent +falling off of receipts, also that the remuneration awarded for the +carriage of mails was insufficient, although decided by +mutually-appointed umpires. + +[Illustration: THE OLD PASSAGE, AUST.] + +For many years the night mails were conveyed between Paddington and +Bristol by a special train, which did not carry passengers. It was the +only train of its kind in the kingdom, but so useful was it held to +be in securing a regular delivery of letters that the Government +introduced a clause in a Postal Bill in 1857 rendering it compulsory for +all railways to provide similar trains. On the 1st June, 1869, the Post +Office special Great Western train commenced to be a mail train limited +to carry a certain number of passengers, so that opinion had by that +time become altered as regards the value in relation to cost of a train +exclusively for Post Office purposes. + +The travelling Post Office service assists greatly in the speedy +distribution of letters, and by its agency remote places are put on an +equality with the country generally in respect of deliveries and +despatches. Two of the most important travelling Post Office systems in +the kingdom are conducted through, or to, Bristol--the gate to the +Western country--viz.: The Great Western Railway, with a travelling Post +Office annual mileage of 500,000; and the Midland and North-Eastern +lines from Newcastle, with a mileage of 220,000. Travelling Post +Offices, with a combined coach length of from 48 feet on the day mails +to 158 feet on the night mails, are attached to the Great Western down +trains which arrive at Bristol at 12.13 a.m. and 8.48 a.m.; to the up +trains, at 12.45 a.m. and 3.0 p.m.; to the trains leaving Bristol for +the West at 6.15 a.m. and 12.9 p.m., and for the North at 7.40 p.m. The +Midland travelling Post Office carriages are attached to the 5.40 a.m. +inward train and to the 7.0 p.m. outward train. + +There is living at Midford, about fifteen miles distant from Bristol, a +gentleman (Mr. Coulcher) who--now pensioned from the Post Office--was +the clerk in charge of the Midland Travelling Post Office on its first +run from Bristol to Derby in 1857. He well recollects the night, and +what impressed it upon his memory more than anything else was the fact +that on reaching Bristol, after he and his two subordinate clerks and +his mail-guard (Samuel Bennett) had made almost superhuman efforts to +get the work completed, he had to send 13,000 letters unsorted into the +Bristol Post Office, there to await despatch by day mails to towns in +the West of England, instead of going at once in direct travelling Post +Office bags by the connecting early morning train. + +Samuel Bennett, the old mail guard mentioned, and contemporary of Moses +Nobbs, was frequently injured on road and rail. In 1847 he was much +shaken when a Birmingham-to-Bath train by which he was travelling ran +off the line. A few years later he nearly came to an untimely end, +having been regarded as dead after being much knocked about when two +trains between Bristol and Birmingham collided. On that occasion, after +he recovered consciousness, he got together some of his mail bags and +carried them on to Bristol. + +The _Gloucester Journal_ said of the occurrence:--"Samuel Bennett, the +guard of the mail bags, appeared dead when found, and was dreadfully +cut; but on recovering, he manifested great anxiety for the bags. When +the special train arrived in which the wounded passengers were conveyed +onward, Bennett, with great courage, determined to take the bags by this +train, which was done." + +And the _Bristol Mercury_ wrote of him as follows:--"The mail guard, +Samuel Bennett, was very much cut over the face and head, and bled +profusely. Happily, he was not rendered long unconscious or disabled, +and with a conscientious and self-denying attention to duty not often +met with, he refused any attention to his hurts until he had gathered up +the mutilated letter bags and their contents, and made provision for +bringing them on to this city." + +In the Bristol district there is a railway Post Office apparatus station +at Fishponds, on the Midland Railway, bags being deposited thereat by +the train due at Bristol at 5.40 a.m., and taken up by the train ex +Bristol at 7.0 p.m. On the Great Western Railway, the apparatus +arrangement is in operation at Flax Bourton, Nailsea, Yatton, and +Hewish, chiefly in connection with the 6.15 a.m. train ex Bristol. It +rarely happens that any failures occur at Fishponds or Hewish, but +vagaries of the apparatus are more frequent at Yatton. About once a year +something or other goes wrong, the pouch usually being dropped and +carried along by the train, with mutilation of the mail bags and a +general scattering of the letters. On the last occasion, after the line +had been searched up and down, the embankment closely looked over, and +the ground on the other side of the hedge on the down side closely +scrutinized, all unavailingly, some two or three days after the +accident a bundle of letters was picked up which, such was the force of +the impact, had been "skied" into a field over two hedges of an +intervening lane. + +On another similar mishap, a Post Office remittance letter containing +L20 in gold was burst open and the coins scattered over the line. After +diligent search in every direction, L18 10s. was recovered. One half +sovereign, bent in an extraordinary manner, was found between the metals +three-quarters of a mile from the apparatus standard. The apparatus has +to be adjusted with mathematical nicety, and if not so arranged failures +are liable to occur. It is well that the public should bear in mind that +packets sent by mails which are exchanged by apparatus are in more or +less danger, and any article of a fragile or costly nature should, if +possible, be forwarded by mails carried by stopping-trains. The places +so affected in this neighbourhood are:--Alveston, Bitton, Blagdon, +Burrington, Clevedon, Congresbury, Downend, Fishponds, Flax Bourton, +Frampton Cotterell, Frenchay, Glastonbury, Hambrook, Hewish, Iron Acton, +Langford, Mangotsfield, Nailsea, Oldlands Common, Portishead, +Pucklechurch, Rudgeway, Sandford, Staple Hill, Thornbury, Tockington, +Warmley, West Town, Willsbridge, Winterbourne, Wrington, and Yatton. + +Until lately mails for Bristol were forwarded by the midnight train from +Euston (L. & N. W. R.) and reached this city by way of Birmingham in +time for the North mail delivery. It was on that railway that in 1890 a +sad occurrence happened at Watford, when a young man whilst in the +discharge of his duties as fireman lost his life. The deceased was +leaning over the side of his engine, which was stationary, watching for +the signals to be turned, when the day mail train from London dashed by. +The travelling Post Office apparatus net which had picked up a pouch at +a point a few score yards away was still extended and it struck the +unfortunate young man on the head, completely severing it from the body. +The poor fellow's cap was torn from his head by the apparatus net and +fell into the travelling Post Office carriages with the mail pouches +much to the consternation of the travelling sorters, who found evidence +of the mutilation on the apparatus framework. The net was only down for +the short space of ten seconds. The travelling officials first heard +full details of the accident on their arrival at Tring, where the train +next stopped. + +"Once upon a time," writes Mr. A. W. Blake in the _St. Martin's-le-Grand +Magazine_, "the London afternoon mail was made up at a provincial office +down West (Chippenham), and despatched to be taken off by apparatus. All +proceeded as usual up to the actual point of transfer, when a strange +thing happened. Instead of falling soberly into the net, the man in +charge was astonished to see the pouch leap high into the air and +descend he knew not whither. Search was carefully made along the track +of the departed train, but not a vestige of the missing pouch could be +seen, and a local inspector who was travelling up the line promised to +keep a look-out for it. Just at this time an 'S.G.' was received from +the officer in charge of the sorting tender notifying the non-receipt of +the pouch. As the mystery seemed to deepen, word was received that a +signalman at a level crossing two miles away had noticed the missing +article on the top of the train. Quoth the worthy apparatus man: 'If +it'll ride two miles, it'll ride two hundred'; and accordingly a wire +was sent to the sorting-tender people asking them to search the top of +the train, and soon came the reply that the pouch had been found on the +roof of the guard's van at Didcot. The train had stopped the regulation +time at that hub of the Great Way Round, Swindon, and proceeded on its +way without the extraordinary position of Her Majesty's mails being +discovered." + +The occurrence was attributed to the swaying of the carriage, and to the +apparatus-net not working quite steadily in consequence. + +At a later period than the mishap narrated by Mr. Blake, the bags for +Oxford and Abingdon, due to be picked up at Wantage by the up night mail +travelling Post Office apparatus, and to have been delivered by the same +process at Steventon, were not found when the net was drawn in, and it +was thought they had been missed; but at Didcot it was discovered they +had been thrown over the end of the net and were hanging outside it. + +Since the opening of the Severn Tunnel in 1883 it has not often been +found an absolute necessity to make use of it for the conveyance of +mails diverted from the route from South Wales through Gloucester to +London; but such was the case in February of the present year (1899), +when a tidal wave of forty feet was experienced in the Bristol Channel, +which caused serious damage by displacing the railway line between +Lydney and Wollaston. The effects of the high tide were disastrous. A +wave dashed on to the Great Western Railway with huge force, and so +disintegrated the ballasting of the permanent way that the lines were +twisted into all manner of shapes. The mails to and from Paddington to +South Wales were circulated _via_ Bristol and the Tunnel for some time. + +Bristol is at a disadvantage as compared with London in respect of its +Continental correspondence, but is far better situated than many other +provincial towns. The letters from the Continent by night mails reach +Bristol by the train leaving London at 9.0 a.m. and, arriving at Temple +Meads at 11.57 a.m., are on delivery in the private box renters' office +at about 12.30 p.m. The postmen start out with the letters at 1.10 p.m. +As the hour of posting for the outward Continental night mails is 2.10 +p.m., it is only the private box renters who have time, brief though it +be, to reply to their correspondence on the day of receiving it. + +An appeal to the Hon. Member for Bristol East was made by the writer at +a Chamber of Commerce dinner to exercise his influence as a director of +the Great Western Railway in the direction of obtaining the use of a +goods train for the conveyance to Bristol of a midnight mail from +London. In the end the Railway Company afforded the Post Office the +means of bringing down a midnight mail, not by goods train as was +originally contemplated, but by new and fast passenger train, with the +result that half a million letters a year now fall into the first +delivery throughout the town, instead of into the second delivery as +heretofore. The letters posted in London up to 9.0 p.m. reach the head +office in Small Street in time to be delivered throughout the city and +suburbs by the postmen on their first round. Under the old system, when +"routed" _via_ Birmingham, the arrival was often so late and irregular +that the letters missed even the second delivery. The letters for the +rural districts having no day mail deliveries had to lie at Bristol for +twenty-four hours, while now they are delivered on the morning of +receipt from London. The advantages oL the new system apply to parcels +as well as letters, and the acceleration in delivery is particularly +serviceable as regards parcels containing perishable articles. + +The Railway Company recently gave the Department another opportunity of +improving the mail services by establishing a merchandise train from +Cornwall and the West to London, reaching the Metropolis in time for the +letters sent by it to be delivered some three or four hours earlier than +when conveyed by the first passenger train in the morning. Strangely +enough, the establishment of this new mail service was the means of +enabling the hon. baronet (Sir W. H. Wills), the Member for Bristol +East, to take his seat in the House of Commons on the day of his last +election, for the writ and return were sent by that mail to London in +time to reach the Crown Office for all formalities to be gone through in +connection with the seat being taken at once. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +1678-1899. + +BRISTOL POSTMASTERS. + + +Official records at St. Martin's-le-Grand show that postmasters of +Bristol were appointed as follows; viz., Thomas Gale, 1678; Wm. +Dickinson, 1690; Daniel Parker, 1693; Henry Pine, September, 1694; +Thomas Pine, senior, 1740; Thomas Pine, junior, 16th January, 1760; +William Fenn, 1778; Mrs. Fenn, 1788; Mr. Fry managed the office for Mrs. +Penn from 1797 to December, 1805, when he died, and Mrs. Fenn retired on +an allowance in 1806; Mr. Cole, March, 1806, died whilst holding office; +John Gardiner, 9th June, 1825; Thomas Todd Walton, senior, 21st +February, 1832; Thomas Todd Walton, junior, 23rd May, 1842, succeeded +his father; Edward Chaddock Sampson, 21st June, 1871; Robert Charles +Tombs, 19th April, 1892, after having been invalided from Controllership +of the London postal service. + +In his history of the Post Office, Mr. Joyce tells us that in 1686 the +Postmaster-General himself settled applications for salary. Thus when +Thomas Gale, postmaster of Bristol, applies for an increase of salary, +Frowde the governor satisfies the Earl of Rochester, the +Postmaster-General, that the increase will be proper. Forthwith issues a +document, of which the operative part is as follows:-- + +"You are therefore of opinion that the said salary (L50) is very small +considering the expense the petitioner is att, and his extraordinary +trouble, Bristoll being a greate Citty, but you say that you doe not +think all the things he setts downe in the aforesaid accompt ought to be +allowed him, the example being of very ill consequence, for (as you +informe me) you doe not allow either candles, pack-thread, wax, ink, +penns or paper to any of the postmasters, nor office-rent, nor returns +of mony, you are therefore of opinion that tenn ponnds per annum to his +former salary of L50 will be a reasonable allowance, and the petitioner +will be therewith satisfied, these are therefore to pray and require you +'to raise his salary from L50 to L60 accordingly.' + + "ROCHESTER. + Whitehall Treasury Chambers, + _December 13th, 1686_." + +The office of postmaster was in the hands of the Pine family, +grandfather, father, and son, from 1694 till 1778. In an old manuscript +in the public library it is stated that there was a portrait in the +possession of a descendant of the family, then residing on Kingsdown, +representing the older Pine in the midst of his official duties, a +bracket supporting a bust of Mercury, and in his hand a letter thus +addressed:--"On His Majesty's Service. To Mr. Pine, Postmaster of +Bristol," and in the corner, "P. Express. T. Strickland." Endeavours to +trace the descendants and the portrait have proved fruitless. + +[Illustration: MR. JOHN GARDINER. + +_Postmaster of Bristol, 1827-1832._] + +There is little history obtainable of the postmasters until the time of +Mr. John Gardiner, of whom it is related that, born October 15th, 1777, +he held the office of postmaster of Bristol from 1825 till his death in +1832. It is believed that he obtained his appointment in a great measure +through friendship with Mr. Francis Freeling. Mr. Gardiner had to bear +the brunt of the Bristol Riots (1831), in so far as they affected the +Post Office administration of the city. In order to save the mails and +belongings which were portable, such as the books, post dating stamps, +etc., he set off with them in a coach and four for Bath Post Office. He +got safely through the mob and reached Bath, where the Bristol Post +Office business was carried on until the riots had been quelled. Mr. +Gardiner, in addition to being postmaster, was also an exporter of +woollen and Manchester goods, chiefly to the West Indies until the slave +trade was abolished. He then traded with Newfoundland. He was High +Sheriff of the city in the year 1820, residing at that time in Berkeley +Square. Later, however, he was enabled to live quietly at the Old Manor +House, Easton-in-Gordano. He was buried at St. Peter's Church, Bristol. + +[Illustration: MR. THOMAS TODD WALTON. + +_Postmaster of Bristol, 1832-1842._] + +Mr. Anthony Todd, the Secretary to the Post Office, 1762-65 and 1768-98, +seems to have been attracted to Todd Walton, of Cheshunt, Herts, either +by relationship or from his name, and took him in hand. Born in 1772, +Mr. Todd Walton entered the Post Office in 1786 (fourteen years old). He +had the long spell of service of forty-six years in the foreign Post +Office and ten years as postmaster of Bristol. He was five times +selected for foreign missions, which compelled his residence in Holland, +Sweden, Spain, and Portugal during the most disturbed state of those +countries. Mr. Walton is described as having been a fine old English +gentleman, one of the olden time, who wore hair powder, blue coat with +gilt buttons, and shoes and gaiters; one who used to express his meaning +distinctly, and mean what he said too. This description is borne out by +his appearance in his portrait. He used to visit the Bristol Post Office +after his retirement, especially to have a morning glass of water from +the old well on the premises. He died in July, 1857, at his residence, +King's Parade, Clifton, in his eighty-fifth year, and was buried in the +adjacent church of St. John's. On his tombstone is this inscription: +"Here rests the body of Thomas Todd Walton, late of Cheshunt, Herts, and +of the foreign post, London, Esquire. A quarter of a century an +inhabitant of this parish, and for some years head postmaster of the +Bristol district. Deceased 13th July, 1857. Aged 85. Also of Catherine +Elizabeth, his wife, elder daughter of Thomas Todd, of Durham, Esquire. +She died April 11th, 1860, aged 77 years." + +On Mr. Walton's retirement, in 1842, in view of his services, Lord +Viscount Lowther, the Postmaster-General of the day, conferred the +appointment of postmaster of Bristol on his son, Thomas Todd Walton, who +had been employed as chief clerk in the Bristol Post Office for ten +years. Mr. Todd Walton, it seems, was properly initiated into the +mysteries of the Post Office art by his father, who decreed that he +should commence at the bottom of the ladder and work his way up thence, +so that young Todd Walton was in his day to be found at mail-bag +opening, letter sorting and other routine work of the kind, which will +account for the thorough knowledge of his business which he is said to +have possessed when called upon to take the reins of office handed over +to him by his popular parent. + +[Illustration: MR. THOMAS TODD WALTON (JUNIOR). + +_Postmaster of Bristol, 1842-1871._] + +In connection with the recent selection of the port of Bristol as a mail +station, alluded to in later pages, it may be mentioned that Mrs. Todd +Walton well remembers how, when the _Great Western_ steamship, which +carried the American mails between Bristol and New York for several +years, was first due (1838) to reach this port, her husband organised +his small staff for a night encounter with the pressure of work which +the heavy mail would inevitably occasion, and obtained auxiliary aid. +The little staff was at "attention" for two or three days, and when the +news came by means of the runner from Pill that the ship was coming up +the Avon, Mr. Walton turned out at 2 a.m., rallied his little band, and +went manfully to the work, which lasted for many hours before the +letters were fully sorted and sent off to their respective destinations +or delivered through the streets and lanes of the old city. In the +autumn of 1841 the _Great Western_ happened to arrive on the same day +that a large ship mail from Australia by the _Ruby_ was received, and +the whole staff available--then only ten men for all duties--had to work +night and day continuously to get off the letters by the mails to other +towns. As many as 20,000 letters and newspapers were brought by these +two vessels on that occasion. It is recorded that every available space +in the premises was filled with letters piled as high as they could be +got to stand, and great was the joy of the sorters when the flood of +letters subsided. + +Mr. Todd Walton had many other night reminders of the mail services +besides those respecting the arrival of direct mails from America, as +the rattling of the horses' hoofs, the clang of the pole-chains and the +twang of the mail guard's horn as the coaches dashed past his house on +their way to the passages must have frequently reminded him of his +responsibilities as "mail master" of Bristol. He would have blessed +Bristol's very able General Manager of the Tramways Company had he been +to the fore in those days to procure the benefit of freedom from the +noise of traffic by the use of wood paving in our principal +thoroughfares. + +Mr. Todd Walton had the interests of the staff of the Post Office at +heart, and, as an exemplification of his sympathy with them, it may be +mentioned that when a promising officer in the heyday of youth met with +an accident which eventually necessitated the amputation of his right +leg, Mr. Walton did not allow the misfortune to stand in the way of the +young man's continuing in remunerative employment in the Post Office, +but found for him a suitable sedentary duty which he performed for +fourteen years. + +Mr. Todd Walton the second counted amongst his contemporaries and +personal friends those Post Office literary stars, Anthony Trollope and +Edmund Yates. + +Mr. Walton retired from the Post Office in 1871. His death occurred at +the Clifton Down Hotel on the morning of Christmas day, 1885. He was in +the act of dressing to attend the early morning service at All Saints' +Church, when he fell into a fit of apoplexy, from which he did not +rally. The _Times and Mirror_ of January 2nd, 1886, gives the following +memoir of him:--"The death of this estimable gentleman calls for more +particular notice than the necessarily brief one given in last +Saturday's impression; for although Mr. Walton had for some time past +ceased to be a citizen of Bristol, he continued to feel an interest in +the old city and its surroundings, and was remembered by many +Bristolians as one who had obtained, as he deserved, their affectionate +esteem. Succeeding his father--a gentleman of the 'old school'--as +postmaster of Bristol, Mr. Todd Walton, through the long series of years +in which he occupied that public position, evinced unwearied industry, +keen intelligence, and singular courtesy in discharging the +multifarious duties connected with it, and when on his retirement +(carrying with him into private life the respect of his fellow-citizens) +he was called upon to fulfil the duties of High Sheriff of Bristol, +those duties were discharged by him for two years successively in a +manner distinguished by great public spirit and generous hospitality. He +was a man of considerable culture and taste, an extensive reader, and a +reader who, happily, remembered what he had read. He possessed also a +sense of humour and a ready wit which made him an agreeable and +intelligent companion; whilst to those who enjoyed his friendship he was +ever a friend, courteous and kind. Blessed with abundant means, he +helped without ostentation the poor and needy, many of whom in our own +city will share in the general regret his loss has occasioned." + +In the centre of the church garden at All Saints', Clifton, stands a +cross, which Mrs. Walton erected in 1888 to the memory of her husband. +It was designed by Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A. It is of granite, and stands +on three steps. In the centre of the shaft is a figure of the Good +Shepherd, and at the top are four sculptures, beautifully executed, of +the Annunciation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension. +Over these rises a crocketed finial, and the whole is surmounted by a +cross. At the base are inscribed the words: "In loving memory of Thomas +Todd Walton, sometime churchwarden of the Church of All Saints, and a +most generous benefactor to that church." + +By the death of Edward Chadwick Sampson, the next postmaster, which +occurred at Clevedon, December 7th, 1895, the Post Office lost one of +its most gentlemanly and genial pensioners. + +For many years postmaster of Bristol, Mr. Sampson was well known +throughout the city, and held in high esteem by all with whom he was +brought into contact. He had a long service in the postal department, +dating, as it did, from 1837 to the last day of 1891. In 1837 he began +his connection with the Bristol Post Office. He went to Manchester as +chief clerk in 1865, but was away only six years, and returned in 1871 +to assume the postmastership of his native city. It is interesting, as +showing the enormous increase in the postal traffic, to recall the fact +that when Mr. Sampson joined the Corn Street office in 1837 the +premises were only twenty feet square, there were only fifteen clerks +and postmen all told, and no one was allowed to have his letters from +the boxes whilst a mail was being sorted. + +For his wide experience, his ability, and high integrity his work was +greatly valued by leading officials in the postal service; whilst his +sincerity and kindliness of disposition endeared him to employes of +every grade over whom he had control. + +As the postman came to Mr. Sampson's door one morning, it was seen that +the man was too ill to discharge his duties. Mr. Sampson thereupon +begged the man to come into his house and rest, and he himself, with the +aid of his son, delivered every one of the letters at its destination, +afterwards seeing the poor man safely home. That kind act was indicative +of Mr. Sampson's general consideration for those over whom he ruled. + +[Illustration: EDWARD CHADDOCK SAMPSON. + +_Postmaster of Bristol, 1871-1891._ + +_From a photograph by Mr. Abel Lewis, Bristol._] + +On the resignation of Mr. Sampson, it was generally felt that he should +not be allowed to retire into private life without taking with him +tangible evidence of the goodwill and respect of those with whom he +had been associated. This feeling found expression in a gratifying +manner, and the services he had rendered the commercial community during +his postmastership were gracefully recognised by the Chamber of Commerce +presenting him with an address illuminated and engrossed on vellum. + +Exactly at midnight on the last night of 1891 he was invited, as his +last official act, to seal what is known to Post Office employes as the +"London and Exeter T.P.O., going west"--that is, the mail bag of the +travelling Post Office bound for Exeter. Mr. Sampson discharged the +slight duty devolving upon him, and received the new year greetings of +his former colleagues, "Auld Lang Syne" being afterwards sung. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NOTABLE POST OFFICE SERVANTS OF BRISTOL ORIGIN. + + +Probably the most illustrious man of the Post Office service who had +Bristol for a birthplace was Sir Francis Freeling. Sir Francis was born +in Redcliffe parish, Bristol, in 1764, and was educated partly at +Colston School and in part by the Master of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar +School. In an ancient city record it is stated that he commenced his +official career as "an apprentice" at the Bristol Post Office, where the +combined results of his education, probity, and talents were soon +discovered. On the establishment of the new system of mail coaches in +1784, he was appointed to aid the inventor, Palmer, in carrying his +improvements into effect. Two years later he was transferred to the +General Post Office, London, where, in course of time, he successively +filled the offices of Surveyor, Principal and Resident Surveyor, +Joint-Secretary, and Secretary from 1798-1836. In a debate in the +House of Lords, in 1836, the Duke of Wellington stated that the English +Post Office under Freeling's management had been better administered +than any Post Office in Europe, or in any other part of the world. He +possessed "a clear and vigorous understanding ... and the power of +expressing his thoughts and opinions, both verbally and in writing, with +force and precision." For his public services a baronetcy was conferred +upon him on March 11th, 1828, a meet reward for his long, arduous, and +valuable services. He was a warm supporter of Pitt, but he suffered no +political partisanship to affect his administration of the Post Office. +Freeling's leisure was devoted to the formation of a curious and +valuable library. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries +in 1801, and was one of the original members of the Roxburgh Club, +founded in 1812. He died while still at his post on the business of the +country which he had so faithfully served, and was buried in the church +of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. + +[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART. + +_Secretary to the G.P.O., 1798-1836._] + +The inscription on the memorial tablet runs thus: "To the memory of Sir +Francis Freeling, Baronet, who was born in this parish the 25th August, +1764, and who died in Bryanston Square, in the county of Middlesex, the +10th July, 1836. For more than half a century his life was devoted to +the public service in the General Post Office, in which for thirty-eight +years he discharged the arduous duties of Secretary. By unwearied +industry in the employment of great talents, and by unblemished +integrity, grounded upon Christian principles, he acquired and retained +the favour of three successive Sovereigns, and the approbation of the +public. He has left a name which will be remembered with honour in his +birthplace, and which is cherished with affection and veneration by his +children, who have raised this monument." + +Sir Francis Freeling was thrice married. By his first wife, Jane, +daughter of John Christian Kurstadt, he had two sons. He was succeeded +in the baronetcy by the elder, Sir George Henry Freeling, born in 1789, +who matriculated at New College, Oxford, 17th March, 1807, and was for +some time Assistant-Secretary at the Post Office, and subsequently +Commissioner of Customs (1836-1841). There is a descendant of Sir +Francis in the service, and the name may again be read of in Post +Office history. + +The editor of _Felix Farley's Journal_ (Mr. J. M. Gutch), of 15 Small +Street, Bristol, wrote many letters on "the impediments which obstruct +the trade and commerce of the city and port of Bristol," under the +signature of "Cosmo," in the years 1822-3. The letters were afterwards +published in book form, and the dedication was--"To Francis Freeling, +Esq., Secretary to the General Post Office, F.A.S., etc., a native of +Bristol, than whom, whenever opportunity has occurred, no citizen has +exerted himself more in the promotion of the public and private welfare +of this city, the following letters are dedicated, and this humble +opportunity gladly embraced of testifying the obligations and sincere +respect of his obedient servant, THE AUTHOR." + +A Postmaster-General has not emanated from our western city, but Mr. +Arnold Morley, late General-in-Chief, is the son of one who worthily +represented Bristol in Parliament for many years, the late +highly-respected Mr. Samuel Morley, the legend on whose statue near +Bristol Bridge tells us--"Samuel Morley, Member of Parliament for this +city from 1868 to 1885. To preserve for their children the memory of the +face and form of one who was an example of justice, generosity, and +public spirit, this statue was given by more than 5,000 citizens of +Bristol."--"I believe that the power of England is to be reckoned not by +her wealth or armies, but by the purity and virtue of the great men of +her population."--S. MORLEY. + +Although Sir Francis stands out pre-eminently, there is a long list of +Bristol officers who have gone forth and gained Post Office laurels. +First on that honourable roll may be mentioned J. D. Rich, who, over +half a century ago, first hung up his hat in the Bristol Post Office, a +"furry" hat of the old stovepipe kind, as he tells the story. Mr. Rich +showed so much ability in meeting the requirements of the times at +Bristol that he rose to the position of president clerk. In 1848, on the +recommendation of the Surveyor General, he was removed to Bath, as +peculiarly fitted to assist Mr. Musgrave, who from his advanced age was +unequal to the duties, and the result was apparent in a great +improvement of the local service. That Mr. Rich won golden opinions was +proved by a memorial for his appointment to succeed Mr. Musgrave, +addressed to the Postmaster-General, and signed in a short time by more +than a thousand citizens. The memorial was, however, unavailing. Mr. +Rich, after performing various services under five other provincial +postmasters, found himself at last in the enviable position of lord of +postal matters in Liverpool, and Surveyor of the Isle of Man. On +retiring from the Service recently, he was made a Justice of the Peace +in recognition of his distinguished services to the city. Mr. Kerry, +telegraph superintendent, became postmaster of Warrington, Mr. Harwood +of Southport, Mr. Carter (chief clerk) of Southampton, Mr. Brown +(telegraph assistant-superintendent) of King's Lynn, Mr. Rogers (postal +assistant-superintendent) of Newton Abbot, Mr. Walton of Teignmouth, Mr. +Righton of Penzance, and Mr. Barnett (chief clerk for twenty years) of +Swansea. + +Several officers of the Bristol Post Office have entered telegraph +services abroad. Mr. J. Wilcox is in the service of the Western +Australian Government at Perth, and Mr. W. A. Devine in that of the +British South Africa Chartered Company at Fort Salisbury. Mr. C. +Harrison is employed at Pretoria, and was carrying on his vocation of +telegraph operator at that town at the time of the Jameson raid. Mr. +Keyte has become assistant storekeeper under the British Government in +Chinde, on the East Coast of Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +POST OFFICE BUILDINGS. + + +There is record of a Post Office having been established in Bristol by +the Convention Parliament in 1670, but the site is unknown, and probably +the postmaster had post horses--not letters--to attend to. In the year +1700 Mr. Henry Pine, the postmaster of the day, was one of the parties +to an agreement for leasing a piece of land "with liberty to build upon +the same for the conveniency of a Post Office." The wording of the said +agreement shows that the old-fashioned form of building was not in every +instance (as it now seems to us to have been) so grotesquely shaped from +fancy, or, perhaps, from a desire to economise ground space, for it is +therein expressly stated that the building to be used for a Post Office +was to have the second storey extended to a truss of eighteen inches +over the lane, for the purpose of enabling people to stand in the dry; +for there was no indoor accommodation for the public provided in those +days. "Let the imaginative reader," wrote an imaginative writer years +ago, "picture to himself our great-great-grandfathers in doublet and +ruff, standing in a row under the eighteen-inch truss, while the worthy +postmaster, Pine himself, with perhaps one assistant, was sorting the +contents of the mail bag. Doubtless," wrote he, "they grumbled when it +rained that the said truss was not half a dozen inches wider, and many a +person as he became saturated in his time of waiting for his letters +growled out his intention of doing something very desperate to the +powers that were." + +In the "Bargain" books of the Corporation is the following memorandum +relating to the foregoing:-- + +"_22nd June, 1700._ Then agreed by the Surveyors of the city lands with +Henry Pine, deputy postmaster, that he, the said Henry Pine, shall have, +hold, and enjoy the ground whereon now stands a shedd having therein +four severall shopp seituate in All Saints' Lane, and as much more +ground at the lower end of the same shedd as that the whole ground shall +contain in length twenty-seven foot, and to contain in breadth from the +outside to the churchyard wall five foot and a half outward into the +lane, with liberty to build upon the same for conveniency of a Post +Office (namely) The first storey to go forth into the said lane to the +extent of that ground and no farther, and the second storey to have a +truss of eighteen inches over the lane or more as the said Surveyors +shall think fitt that persons coming to the Post Office may have shelter +from the rain and stand in the dry. To hold the same from Michaelmas +next for fifty years absolute in the yearly rent of 30s. clear of +taxes...." + +This agreement must have been afterwards modified. For some reason or +other, Pine paid no rent until Michaelmas, 1705, when a sum of 25s. was +received by the Chamberlain, and "The post house produced the same +yearly sum until 1742 when the rent was raised to L3." + +The site of the little Post Office alluded to was required in 1742 in +connection with the building of the Exchange, and the Post Office was +transferred to a house in Small Street, in later days occupied as the +printing office of the _Times and Mirror_ newspaper. + +There seems to have been some informal understanding that when the +Exchange was finished a suitable site would be provided by the +Corporation for postal business, and in August, 1746, a Committee +reported to the Council that they had contracted for the erection of "a +house intended to be made use of as a Post Office, certain workmen +having agreed to build and find all the materials at the rate of L60 per +square (_sic_); while Mr. Thomas Pine (nephew to Henry, the former +postmaster) had offered to become the tenant at L40 a year, which he +alleged is the highest rent he is able at present to pay." The Council +approved of the proposal, recommending the Committee to get as much rent +as was practicable. The house, which was of scanty dimensions, cost L700 +exclusive of a ground rent of L15 a year given for the site. Only the +ground floor was set apart for postal business, Mr. Pine residing on the +premises. The first year's rent (L43) was paid in 1750. Between 1750 and +1815 the building must have been considerably enlarged, for in the +latter year the Post Office is spoken of as a handsome and convenient +building of freestone, near to the western end of the Exchange, to which +it has a wing projecting forward into the street; and there is another +building, exactly similar to it, at the eastern end, which is occupied +for a stamp office. In 1827 there was a contemplated removal of the Post +Office, and it was deemed proper by the Chamber of Commerce to come on +the scene by presenting a memorial to the Postmaster-General; it is +stated that the timely remonstrance no doubt contributed to relieve the +public of the inconvenience of such removal. Colonel Maberly, the +Secretary to the Post Office, advised Lord Lichfield in 1838 that as the +ground-floor portion of the Post Office premises occupied by the +solicitors was necessary for the extension and improved accommodation of +the office, no time should be lost in giving the several sub-tenants +notice to quit, and Mr. Hall or the postmaster should be instructed to +communicate with the Corporation as to the means of effecting such +alterations as might be requisite. His lordship gave authority to that +effect. In 1839 the Corporation granted the Government a new lease of +the premises and of additional ground behind for the purpose of having +the Post Office enlarged. The annual rent previous to this new +arrangement had risen to L100. + +The building alluded to is that now rented by Messrs. Corner and Co. as +a tea warehouse. Few indeed, even of the oldest citizens will remember +the Bristol Post Office as located there, and the old square open public +lobby where the letters were given out through barred windows. Only the +ground floor was utilised, and the area, of the site was but 21 ft. by +20 ft. A door opened from the passage by the Exchange into a very small +public lobby. In this lobby was the letter-box, and here all business +with the public--viz., giving out private letters, taking in letters +prepaid in money, and the issuing and paying of money orders--was +transacted by clerks standing in the office behind a glass partition. +The prepayment of letters by means of postage stamps was not introduced +till some months after penny postage was established. There was not at +the time a continuous attendance of clerks at the glass partition. At +two of the slides in the partition there were small brass door-knockers, +and on the public knocking a clerk appeared; from the inside office and +attended to the wants of the applicants. When letters for the private +box renters were being sorted a blind was drawn down. When the mail was +ready the blind was drawn up, and three clerks attended to disperse the +crowd which had gathered during the half-hour or so while the office was +closed. The small space behind the public lobby sufficed for the +stamping, sorting, and other necessary duties. One man, history saith, +amongst the crowd generally got to the front without difficulty; he was +a flour-dusted messenger from the Welsh Back! + +In 1847 the Money Order Department had grown amazingly, and a separate +room had to be provided for its accommodation. This caused the removal +of certain solicitors from the first floor to make room for the +postmaster's office, the one formerly held by him on the ground floor +being converted into a money order office. In 1855 the shop on the north +side of the entrance to Albion Chambers from Small Street was taken by +the Post Office and converted into a money order office, it being found +that the department devoted to this purpose at the general office in +Exchange Buildings was not sufficiently commodious or convenient. + +It is on record that in 1863 the Post Office authorities offered L10,000 +towards erecting a new Post Office if the citizens would consent to +contribute L2,000 more. A meeting of some gentlemen took place in the +committee-room of the Council House to take the proposition into +consideration, but owing to the small number of persons that attended +further deliberation was postponed to a day not named. Some of the +leading citizens were of opinion that it would be wise to defer any +decision on the subject until the intention of the Government as to +granting a criminal assize for Bristol was known; for should the answer +from head-quarters be in the affirmative, it would be necessary to build +a new court somewhere, in which case the Guildhall would perhaps suit as +a Post Office. Nothing appears to have come of the negotiations, and the +business of the Post Office was removed on the 25th of March, 1868, to +the new office erected in Small Street on the site where it is now +carried on. This original portion of the structure covers 11,000 square +feet. The purchase of the site was completed on the 21st December, 1865. +It is stated in a legal document that the bricks, stones, and material +on part of the site belonged to the Bristol Chambers Co. Limited. Where +the sorting office stands there formerly flourished a fine mulberry +tree. There appears to have been no ceremonial in the way of laying a +foundation stone, and the antiquarian of the distant future may be +disappointed in not discovering the usual coins deposited on such +occasions. + +In fifteen years the need arose for more space, and that then the +Bristol public manifested a keen interest in the position of the Bristol +Post Office was indicated by an animated debate which took place in our +Council Chamber; and as this book affects to be in part a history as +well as a narrative, it is thought well to give the report of the +proceedings a full record herein, under permission from the proprietors +of the _Bristol Times and Mirror_:-- + + _Friday, January 2nd, 1885._ + "THE SITE FOR THE POST OFFICE. + +"The TOWN CLERK said that as the next part of the report referred to the +site for the Post Office, he would read a letter he had received from +Mr. Lewis Fry, M. P., which was as under:-- + + "'Goldney House, Clifton Hill, + _30th December, 1884_. + +"'My dear Sir,--As I observe that the question of the site of the new +Post Office will come before the Council on Thursday, I think it best, +in order to avoid any misunderstanding, to ask you to state to the +Council that the matter is not to be considered as a proposal made by +the Postmaster-General or the first Commissioner of Works. The exact +position of the matter is this, that Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, soon after his +visit to Bristol, requested me to intimate to the Corporation that in +case they desire the change of situation to Baldwin Street, he is ready +to entertain any proposal which they may make to him with that object, +provided it be upon the basis of an exchange of properties as mentioned +in the report of the Finance Committee. + + "'I am, yours truly, + LEWIS FRY. + The Town Clerk of Bristol.' + +"Mr. ROBINSON said he would like to say a word or two on the subject of +a new Post Office, as the wording in Mr. Fry's letter referred to the +subject of the proposed change in the position of the Post Office. They +did not want change for change's sake (applause), and if they could do +without it they would be glad to do so, but sometimes change became a +necessity (applause). He would wish to say a word or two with reference +to the provisions for the postal arrangements in Bristol, as to the +inconvenience that the officials and the public were subject to, and a +word as to the great increase in postal matters in the city and in the +country generally. He wished to convey to them the magnitude of the +question and the very growing character of the communications by +letters, parcels, and newspapers, which were being circulated through +the medium of the Government and through the Post Office. He the +previous day called upon Mr. Sampson, the head official of the Bristol +Post Office, and he might say that his ability was only exceeded by his +courtesy (applause). He gave him all the information he had asked for, +and he showed him over a considerable part of the building. In the +course of the interview he gave him no opinion as to the site, and he +did not think it wise to ask him. All he asked him, was as to facts--as +to the present accommodation. He described the condition of the office +as being one of congestion, and that they were put to all kinds of +shifts, and that the sorting and minor offices were inadequate for their +respective purposes (hear, hear). He saw a room where eighty postmen +were engaged in partial sorting. It was upstairs and was approached by +winding stairs with only a 21-inch tread, and the room was utterly +inadequate for the purpose. Letters had to be sent to Clifton to be +sorted because of the want of space in the Post Office. Mr. Sampson said +more particularly that a large hall was necessary on the ground floor +for an entrance, from which the various subsidiary offices should be +entered. Then he said that a good frontage was desirable. Some people +had suggested tunnelling and going to the other side of the street, and +others had suggested a viaduct. Offers of property had come from +different people, so that the want of further accommodation seemed to be +recognised not only by the Post Office itself, but outside. The present +office was erected in 1868, and had the officials been sanguine, or +known that the business would have increased as it had, they probably +would not have selected the present site. The work of the office had +perfectly outgrown the capacity of the place. Since 1868 new departments +had been opened, and new duties had been created, and they wanted more +room. The telegraph work was added in February, 1870, and the sale of +revenue stamps and payment of stamps as money had also been added. The +parcel post came into operation in 1883. They did not desire an +extravagant outlay. The increase of the population was 1 per cent., and +the letters increased 3 per cent. They were not asked to buy a whole +street. He felt it would be admitted that the telegraphic despatches +formed the essential, if not the primary, part of the arrangements of +the Post Office. He was informed that the site in Baldwin Street was +more convenient and closer to the warehouses and offices which greatly +used the present telegraphic advantages than the present site in Small +Street (a voice: 'No'). Well, he gave his word for what he had heard. He +maintained that the Council had a supreme moment at the present time. +They had a gentleman at the head of the Post Office who had viewed the +new site, and now they found that the Post Office authorities were in +the humour to make the outlay they had better embrace the opportunity. +His resolution was: 'That, considering the want of adequate space in +Small Street for postal and telegraphic arrangements, it is desirable +that a new Post Office be erected in Baldwin Street, on the site +recently viewed by the Postmaster-General, if equitable arrangements +can be made with the Government for the transfer of the property.' If +the Government were not prepared to lay out money for the site, they +could let them have the property on a ground-rent, without an outlay +being made. It would not cost less than L20,000 to L25,000 to enlarge +and improve the present Post Office, and he maintained that that sum +would go a great way towards erecting a new Post Office in Baldwin +Street. They would not always be able to get sites; and they could not +always buy sites as they could oranges and nuts (laughter). In America +people ran after him and asked him to buy land. Not so here. He repeated +that they had Mr. Shaw-Lefevre looking favourably upon the new site, and +he thought it desirable that they should take a bold step--such a step +as indicated in the resolution--and put up a building which not alone +should be noble, but commodious (applause). + +"Mr. Alderman EDWARDS seconded the resolution. He was glad that the +matter had been laid before the Postmaster-General. A great deal had +been said about the present site being more useful and convenient than +the proposed, but he felt that the difference was very small indeed. The +sites were within a minute or two of each other. In Baldwin Street they +had a road 60 ft. wide, and if Small Street were altered, however much, +they would not widen it half as much as that. As to the positions of the +banks, some of the important ones were nearer Baldwin Street than the +other street. At any rate, the Old Bank, Stuckey's, and the National +Provincial Banks were nearer Baldwin Street than Small Street. The +speaker then named several large warehouses which were, he urged, closer +to the proposed site than Small Street. At Baldwin Street they had an +acre of ground for the present or future. He would not give the land to +the Post Office authorities, but he suggested that they should be +liberal towards them in their offer. If the Post Office authorities +wished to give them the old office in exchange for the site, it might be +utilised by the Corporation. + +"Mr. C. WILLS supported the resolution. He would advance one or two +reasons why they should make the best terms they could with the +Postmaster-General. That the present Post Office was inconveniently +small was generally admitted, and he maintained that if the proposed +additions were made to the existing building, the extra facilities would +not meet the ever-increasing demands on the Post Office for more than +six or eight years. The various departments of the present building were +too small for development and carrying on the important work of a Post +Office. Personally, he would as soon for the Post Office to be in one +street as the other, but he felt it would redound to the credit of the +city to see a fine building erected in Baldwin Street. If they had the +Post Office there it would enhance the value of the other sites in the +thoroughfare. Very shortly they would have the sixpenny telegrams, and +then the increase in telegraphic communication would be very great +indeed, and the present building would soon become inadequate to the +demand. Then, again, they saw that the present Postmaster-General did +not intend to give up the parcels post, and the development of this +branch of the Post Office work would be very great indeed. Then, again, +there would be increased vehicular traffic to the Post Office; and could +this, he asked, be carried out to the comfort of the citizens in Small +Street? The turning point arose from Mr. Shaw-Lefevre visiting the +Chamber of Commerce recently. That gentleman visited the site in Baldwin +Street, and he, no doubt, saw that the site would be better and superior +to the one in Small Street. + +"Mr. PETHICK said that they had come to a turning point in the history +of the city of Bristol. The question was whether they should continue +the system of compression that they had suffered from for so many years. +Small Street was a narrow thoroughfare; it was only a back lane to Broad +Street. ('Oh! oh!') It was called Small Street and had a carriage way of +only 9 ft. ('No, no.') He must repeat that at one point in Small Street +the carriage way was only 9 ft. wide. + +"Mr. DANIEL protested against Mr. Pethick saying that Small Street was +the back lane to Broad Street, and that the carriage road was only 9 ft. +(hear, hear). The narrow part of Small Street would come down when the +improvements to the Post Office took place. + +"Mr. PETHICK: I state facts--what the street is to-day. + +"Mr. DANIEL: But is the narrow part you speak of the entrance to Small +Street? + +"Mr. PETHICK: It is the approach from Bristol Bridge, _via_ the +Exchange, for mail carriages and other traffic, and all must pass +through the narrow part, which is only 9 ft. wide. Even if this were +taken away, Mr. Pethick continued, they would still have a narrow space +to pass through. The whole would not be 14,000 superficial feet; and +above all, with so bad an access, they proposed to enlarge the present +building. + +"Mr. Alderman PROCTOR BAKER: It is not proposed. + +"Mr. PETHICK observed that in Baldwin Street they had a good carriage +way, and they would have a front and back entrance to a new building. He +hoped no little or narrow parochial spirit would be put forward in this +matter. The difference of the distance of the two sites was so small as +to be insignificant, and he trusted they would endeavour to get a +handsome and commodious building erected on the Baldwin Street side of +the city. + +"Mr. Alderman PROCTOR BAKER said they were indebted to Mr. Robinson for +his interesting details, but he did not think they were details for the +Council to study, but for the study of the Government. The Post Office +was a Government undertaking, and carried on for profit by the +Government, and it was on their shoulders, and theirs alone, to provide +proper premises. There were two questions involved in the resolution +before them, and if it could be so arranged he should like a separate +opinion being taken. One question was the actual position of the future +Post Office--whether it was to be in Small Street or Baldwin Street. The +other question was whether the Council was prepared to sell to the Post +Office the land in Baldwin Street and receive in exchange the building +in Small Street. As regarded the question of convenience there was very +little to be said on either side; but with regard to the other matter he +thought they should not agree to exchange the land for the present Post +Office building. If they took over the existing building, it could only +he pulled or used for public offices. Already they had a population of +200,000 persons, and the area of the city was to be extended; and if +they believed in the progress of the city they must expect it by-and-by +to be the centre of a quarter of a million of people. It would be +impossible, as it would be discreditable, for them to attempt to carry +on that great municipality in such buildings as they now had. The +chamber in which they were assembled was in a bad condition; the air at +that moment was as foul as it could be; and if they took over the +present Post Office and applied it for the purposes of the municipality, +they would perpetuate the present discomfort, inconvenience, etc., of +having divided offices, and postpone for half a century the erection of +a large municipal building, in which all their offices would be. As to +Baldwin Street and Small Street sites, there was much to be said on both +sides; but if it was proposed to take in exchange the Post Office +building for their land the Council should vote against it (hear, hear). +He sincerely trusted they would not take over a building which would +keep up the inconvenience they now suffered from (hear, hear). + +"Mr. LANE said it seemed to him that they were simply asked the question +whether the Council were desirous that there should be such a change in +the position of the Post Office. Every argument for the change was a +thoroughly good one which should weigh with them. Selfish considerations +and every consideration should be banished (applause), and they should +consider it in the interest of the city and in the interest of the +development of the trade of the future. The opinion of the postmaster +was a great argument in favour of larger premises. + +"Mr. INSKIP argued that the representatives of the ratepayers were not +there to carry out the bidding of the postmaster. It might be wise and +proper for him to communicate his views to the department with which he +was connected, but it seemed unreasonable to ask members of the Council +to vote for what he was in favour of. He ventured to suggest that the +arrangement proposed by the report would be unlawful, and to enter into +the exchange would be an unlawful proceeding. They acquired land in +Baldwin Street under the Public Health Act for carrying out +improvements, and he could not see how it could be said that the +buildings in Small Street would be required for the purpose of +improvements. Before they entered into the exchange they ought to obtain +power by Act of Parliament. If they entered into a speculation of that +sort they would be transgressing the law of the land. With regard to the +matter of convenience, if they took the outlying districts of the city +they would see that the people who lived there went to the Post Office +after the branch offices were closed, and they would see that Small +Street was appreciably more convenient for the outlying population than +the Baldwin Street site could possibly be (applause). Then as to the +piece of land which would be obtained, the argument of Mr. Pethick was a +strong one to retain it. The Guildhall was there, and it had been +promised for years that Small Street should be improved, and that +improvement would be accomplished if the Government had No. 3, Small +Street, which would be set back, and they would have done a great deal +to redeem the promise made some years ago (applause). + +"Mr. DIX said he was very much obliged to Mr. Robinson for his figures. +They all felt that there had been a great growth in the postal +arrangements of the country, and that there would be a great growth in +the future; and if it had been shown to him that they could not have a +good building in Small Street by having the one there altered by the +authorities, and that they could have a proper one in Baldwin Street, he +would say let them go to Baldwin Street; but it did not come before them +in that light. They were anticipating that the postal authorities could +not make a proper building in Small Street; but he could not see how Mr. +Robinson and those who advocated the Baldwin Street site came to such a +conclusion. If they had the buildings in Small Street, that street would +be improved, which had been anticipated for years, and they would have +the Post Office close to the Guildhall and that great place of +commerce--the Commercial Rooms (applause). He argued that the city did +not want the property in Small Street--it would be useless to them; and +he hoped they would pronounce against it going forth to the +Postmaster-General that it was the wish of the Council to alter the site +(applause). + +"Mr. S. G. JAMES said he did not think that they should be saddled with +a building that would not be any good to them. He suggested that it +should be represented to the Government that the building would be a +good one for a Stamp and Excise Office, and that it would be convenient +to have those offices moved from Queen Square to the building in Small +Street. He thought that would be a very wise suggestion to make to the +Government. + +"Mr. DANIEL said he viewed the proposition to shift the Post Office as +one of the most solemn and weighty that had been considered by the Town +Council for years (hear, hear). By common consent, and by the +development of the city trade, where the Post Office now was the centre +of commerce, and they should hesitate very much before they changed it +(hear, hear); and the Council, being trustees of the property owned by +the city, and looking at the extent of that property in the +neighbourhood of the Post Office, and the outlay made on it by the city, +he could not understand why they made the suggestion to run away from +Small Street (applause). They had under arbitration paid to the bank +L9,600 for a piece of land, and that was surely not to keep the street +as a narrow lane. If the present Post Office were retained, the +authorities would take the houses that would be put in a line with the +Post Office, and two-thirds of Small Street would be converted into a +wide street--and it was only to shave off the Water Works offices and +adjoining building, and then they would have a good wide street (hear, +hear). The Corporation during the last twenty years had spent in the +neighbourhood not less than L50,000, and if by establishing the Post +Office in Baldwin Street they would enhance the value of the adjoining +property, so taking it away from the centre of the city would depreciate +the property there. It would not be doing justice to the citizens to +take it away from Small Street and remove it to a remote spot like +Baldwin Street. ('Oh, oh!' and laughter.) It was a remote spot, and he +did not know that a street through which were a tram line and continual +cab traffic was the best place for a Post Office. He believed a quiet +street would be the better place. He farther argued that the proper +place for the Post Office was where it was--in the neighbourhood of the +Assize Courts, where the County Court was held all the year round, and +the assizes and sessions were held, and at the back of the Commercial +Rooms, to which there were upwards of 600 subscribers. + +"Mr. Alderman NAISH said that what weighed with him was that the +Government had not applied for a better site. He apprehended that Mr. +Shaw-Lefevre was perfectly satisfied with the accommodation he could get +on the present site. He had seen the draft of the Bill promoted by the +Government for taking possession of a building under the compulsory +powers at a fair valuation. Someone in Bristol wished them to go +somewhere else. All Mr. Shaw-Lefevre said was that if the citizens +wanted to go elsewhere they must take the old building. The +Postmaster-General did not suggest the removal, but somebody else did +(hear, hear). The Postmaster-General knew his business, and he probably +considered that the present office could be enlarged so as to provide +all the accommodation necessary. They could thus have a good public +improvement in the centre of the city, and at the same time provide for +the postal requirements. They were simply asked to go to a street in +which certain people were interested, which, although a large +thoroughfare, had two lines of tramways running through it. He hoped the +Council would not agree to the proposal. + +"Mr. MATTHEWS said if the question was put to them simply, did they +require more postal accommodation?--they would unhesitatingly say that +they did; but the question of site was a totally different matter. They +had not gone into the question whether another site would not be a +better one than the Baldwin Street one. He moved that the question of a +site be remitted to a committee, with instructions to report to the +Council, and that the committee consist of the Mayor, Aldermen Spark, +Harvey, and Naish, and Messrs. Townsend, C. F. Hare, Barker, and Inskip. + +"Mr. LEVY considered that the city was indebted to those who suggested +the Baldwin Street site. There could be no two opinions about the matter +(cries of 'Oh,' and laughter). They had seen an amusing correspondence +in the papers about it. He would not do anything to injure the _Times +and Mirror_ for a moment (laughter). In Baldwin Street a Constitutional +Club had been established, and the _Times and Mirror_ might consider +that institution (laughter). + +"Mr. WHITWILL thought they should simply confine themselves to an +expression of opinion as to the desirability of Baldwin Street site, for +he should be strongly opposed to the exchange (hear, hear). + +"Mr. H. G. GARDNER said the position in Small Street was preferable to +him, but they ought to sink personal convenience. The Chamber of +Commerce suggested the matter, and he looked on that body as young +Bristol. + +"Mr. ROBINSON said he only meant that the property should be taken over +if an equitable arrangement could be come to. He would drop the last +part of his resolution, and it would now read as follows:--'That, +considering the want of adequate space in Small Street for the postal +telegram arrangements, it is desirable that a new Post Office +be erected in Baldwin Street on the site recently viewed by the +Postmaster-General.' + +"The motion was then put with the following result:--_For_: Aldermen +Lucas, Edwards, Jose, Spark; Messrs. Moore, Robinson, James, Pethick, +Wills, Bartlett, Fear, Bush, Townsend, C. Gardner, Jefferies, H. G. +Gardner, Low, Lane, Levy, Garton, Derham, Whitwill, Barker--23. +_Against_: The Mayor; Aldermen Morgan, Smith, Naish, Fox, Jones, +Hathway, Harvey, Cope-Proctor; Messrs. Terrett, Dix, Gibson, Alsop, +Francis, Bastow, A. Baker, C. F. Hare, C. B. Hare, Harvey, C. Nash, +Hall, Lockley, Daniel, Matthews, Follwoll, Sibly, Inskip--27. Aldermen +Proctor Baker and George and Mr. Dole did not vote. + +"Mr. LEVY asked if the Postmaster-General made an offer it would be +entertained. + +"The TOWN CLERK said he supposed that any offer from the +Postmaster-General or anybody else would be considered." + +The Council dropped the matter of removal, and an enlargement of the +Post Office was commenced in 1886 on 5,500 square feet of ground on +which the Rectory House of St. Mary Werburgh formerly stood. The +enlargement was completed in 1889. The structure was designed by the +Surveyor of Her Majesty's Office of Works. In making his plan in 1868 no +doubt the Surveyor thought he was building for, at least, fifty years; +and so he set back his building to form a square structure, instead of +following the line of street as laid down by the city authorities in +their Act of Parliament. The new part of the building had to conform to +the city line, and had, therefore, to be built at an angle with the old +office, which detracts from the general appearance. The Post Office +building in Small Street stands on a site 17,300 square feet in extent; +and now, thirty-one years from the opening of the new office and ten +years from its enlargement, further extension is necessary, and the +erection of a second or supplementary office larger in dimensions than +the present structure is about to be proceeded with. + +As the work in the Post Office goes on through the whole day and night, +the air in the working rooms became vitiated and over-heated when +lighted with gas. In 1896 the effectual remedy of abandoning the use of +gas and adopting electric light was carried out. The Corporation +provides the current. The lamps used are 4 arc lamps, of approximately +750 candle-power each, and 450 glow lamps of 8, 16, or 25 candle-power. + +Two million gallons of water a year are used to keep the buildings +clean. + +[Illustration: THE BRISTOL HEAD POST OFFICE IN 1899. + +_From a photograph by Mr. Protheroe, Wine Street, Bristol._] + +As the Post Office, from its size, if not from its architectural beauty, +dominates Small Street in some measure it may be well here to introduce +particulars from an ancient manuscript in the City Library, which show +that Small Street has been a street ever since Anglo-Saxon times. +About Small Street and St. Leonard's Lane lived some of Bristol's +greatest merchants. For hundreds of years there was not within the walls +of Bristol a more fashionable street than Small Street. Many of the +mansions there had good gardens. In the reign of Charles II. there were +only six houses on the west, or Post Office, side of the street. Amongst +the worthies who resided there were the Colstons, the Creswicks, the +Kitchens, the Seymours, the Esterfields, the Codringtons, the Haymans, +the Kilkes; John Foster, the founder of the almshouse on St. Michael's +Hill; Nicholas Thorne, one of the founders of our Grammar School; and +Thomas Fenn, attorney, who in 1762 succeeded to the Earldom of +Westmoreland. It is not indicated whether he was related in any way to +William Fenn, who was postmaster, 1778-88, but it might have been so, +for William Fenn must have been a person of some note or the appointment +would not at his death have been conferred on his widow. In Small +Street, too, more Royal and noble visitors have lodged and received +hospitality than in any other street in Bristol. The Earl of Bedford and +his son were received there in 1569, and Robert Dudley, Earl of +Leicester, one of Queen Elizabeth's favourites, and the Earl of Warwick, +in 1587; the latter lodged at Robert Kitchen's. In 1643 King Charles I., +with Prince Charles and the Duke of York, lodged there, so did Oliver +Cromwell and his wife in 1649; and James II., with George, Prince of +Denmark, and the Dukes of Grafton, Beaufort, and Somerset, in 1688. +Queen Catherine was entertained at Sir Henry Creswick's house in 1677, +where Sir Henry, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the good and great Duke +of Ormonde, lodged for several days in 1665. We learn that Small Street +was selected for the reception of these illustrious visitors "by reason +of the conveniency of the street for entertaining the nobility." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE LOCAL POST OFFICE IN EARLY DAYS. SIR ROWLAND HILL.--RECENT PROGRESS. + + +It is pleasing to look back to the time, little more than one hundred +years ago, when Bristol was the premier provincial post town. It had +long ranked next to London in wealth, in population, and in its Post +Office. Bristol has, however, in a postal sense, yielded place to other +towns, and now ranks after Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, and +Manchester. + +Dipping into history, it is found that there was a Post Office at +Clifton a hundred years since. At about the time of the Battle of +Waterloo it was situated near Saville Place, in a small tenement. The +post keeper was a knight of the shears, who sat cross-legged at his work +on a shop-board in the window, whilst his better-half sold "goodies." +The "Staff" consisted of this pigeon pair, and the work of carrying the +bags to and from Bristol, and of delivering the missives, was +undertaken by them conjointly. + +The year 1793 was signalised by the extension to Bristol of the penny +post for local letters, that is, letters for Bristol city, its suburbs, +and neighbouring villages. That post covered a wide area ranging from +Thornbury and Wotton-under-Edge in the North, to Temple Cloud, +Chewton-Mendip, and Oakhill in the South; eastward in the direction of +Box, and westward to Portishead. This institution had until then been +established nowhere else but in London and in Dublin; but Birmingham, +Edinburgh, and Manchester were granted the privilege at the same time as +Bristol. During the year 1794-95 the penny post brought a clear gain to +the revenue:--in Bristol of L469, in Manchester of L586, and in +Birmingham of L240. Notwithstanding these gains, the Post Office +authorities concluded that neither at Liverpool nor at Leeds, nor at any +other town in the Kingdom, would a penny post defray its own expenses. + +There is little more on record about local Post Office details for some +years; but we learn that in April, 1825, an evening delivery of post +letters was ordered to Kingsdown, Montpelier, Wellington Place, and +Catherine Place, Stoke's Croft, all the year round; and to Lawrence +Hill, West Street, Gloucester Lane, in the parish of St. Philip and +Jacob, from 1st of March to 1st of November in each year. A receiving +house for letters was established at the corner of West Street on May +20th, 1825; and also one in Harford Street, New Cut. In December, 1827, +the population of Bristol was estimated at 50,000 persons; and in +August, 1831, the number of persons the Post Office had to serve was +59,070. + +Evans's _New Guide; or, Pictures of Bristol_, published in 1828, +furnishes the next record. It stated that "the London mail goes out +every afternoon at twenty minutes past 5, and arrives every day at 9.0 +in the morning. Bath: Out every morning at 7.0 and 10.0, and at twenty +minutes past 5 in the evening; arrives at 9.0 morning, and a quarter +before 5 and a quarter before 7 in the evening. Sodbury, through +Stapleton, Hambrook, Winterbourne, and Iron Acton: Goes out at twenty +minutes before 10 in the morning; arrives at half-past 4 in the evening. +Thornbury, through Filton, Almondsbury, and Rudgeway: Goes out twenty +minutes before 10 in the morning; arrives at half-past 4 in the evening. +Bitton, through New Church, Kingswood, Hanham, and Willsbridge: Goes out +at 10.0 in the morning; arrives at half-past 4 in the evening. Exeter +and Westward: Out every morning between 9.0 and 10.0; arrives every +evening between 4.0 and 5.0. Portsmouth, Chichester, Salisbury, etc.: +Out at half-past 5 in the afternoon; arrives every day previously to the +London mail. Tetbury and Cirencester: Out every morning at half-past 9; +arrives every evening at 5.0. Birmingham and Northward: Out every +evening at 7.0; arrives every morning between 6.0 and 7.0. Milford and +South Wales: Out every day at half-past 9; arrives at half-past 3 in the +afternoon. The Irish mail is made up every day, and letters from Ireland +may be expected to arrive every day at half-past 3. Jamaica and Leeward +Islands, first and third Wednesday in the month; Lisbon, every week; +Gibraltar and Mediterranean, every three weeks; Madeira and Brazils, +first Tuesday in each month; Surinam, Berbice, and Demorara, second +Wednesday in each month; France and Spain, Sundays, Mondays, +Wednesdays, and Thursdays; Holland and Hamburgh, Mondays and Thursdays; +Guernsey and Jersey, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Letters for all +parts may be put into the Post Office at any time, but should be +delivered half an hour before the mail is made up. Letters delivered +later than half an hour previous to the departure of the respective +mails to be accompanied with one penny. Payment of postage will not be +received unless tendered full half an hour before the time fixed for +closing the bags. Letters for Axbridge, Weston-super-Mare, and adjacent +places are sent and received by the Western mail. Letter bags are made +up daily, after the sorting of the London mail, for Bourton, Wrington, +Langford, Churchill, Nailsea, Clevedon, and their respective deliveries. +The letters must be put in by 9.0 o'clock. The return to Bristol is at +4.0 in the afternoon. Letters may be put into the receiving offices for +all parts of the kingdom, and the full postage, if desired, paid with +them. Letter carriers are despatched regularly every day (Sundays not +excepted) with letters to and from Durdham Down, Westbury, Stapleton, +Frenchay, Downend, Hambrook, and Winterbourne; and also to Brislington, +Keynsham, and other places. The delivery of letters at Clifton is each +day at 10.0 and 6.0. Letters should be in the offices at Clifton and the +Wells for the London and the North mails by 4.0." + +It may be interesting to state, what the rates of postage from this city +were in 1830. Thus: Australia, 11d.; Buenos Ayres, 3s. 5d.; Canary +Islands, 2s. 6d.; Cape de Verde Islands, 2s. 6d.; Chili, 3s. 5d.; China, +11d.; Colombo, 3s.; Cuba, 3s.; East Indies, 11d.; Havana, 3s.; St. +Helena, 11d.; South America, 3s. 5d.; Van Dieman's Land, 11d.; whilst +for the Continent the rates were considerably higher, thus: Austria, 2s. +2d.; Belgium, 1s. 11d.; Corsica, 2s. 2d.; Denmark, 2s. 3d.; Flanders, +2s. 2d.; France--Calais, 1s. 5d.; Germany, 2s. 3d.; Gibraltar, 2s. 6d.; +Holland, 1s. 11d.; Italy, 2s. 2d.; Malta, 2s. 6d.; Poland, 2s. 3d.; +Prussia, 2s. 3d.; Russia, 2s. 3d.; Spain, 2s. 2d.; Turkey, 2s. 2d. At +that period the Inland Rates were very high, and the cost was regulated +thus: From any Post Office in England or Wales, to any place not +exceeding 15 miles from such office, 4d.; above 15 to 20 miles, 5d.; 20 +to 30 miles, 6d.; 30 to 50 miles, 7d.; 50 to 80 miles, 8d.; 80 to 120 +miles, 9d.; 120 to 170 miles, 10d.; 170 to 230 miles, 11d.; 230 to 300 +miles, 12d. And one penny in addition on each letter for every 100 miles +beyond 300. Thus a letter from Bristol to Cirencester cost 7d.; +Cheltenham, 8d.; Banbury, 10d.; Leeds, 11d.; Hull; 12d., and so on. Now +a letter four ounces in weight can be sent from one end of the land to +the other for a penny, and a parcel one pound in weight for threepence. + +The Bristol ex-Postal Superintendent, Mr. H. T. Carter, carrying his +mind back over his forty years of diligent and zealous service, recalls +the time when the mails for the not far-distant village of Shirehampton +were conveyed in a cart drawn by a dog, the property of rural postman +Ham. The cart was not large, but of sufficient size to carry postman and +mail bags. The dog, of Newfoundland breed, got over the ground at a +rapid pace. Ham was addicted to drink, but nevertheless, whether he was +drunk or sober, asleep or awake, in stormy or fine weather, the dog took +him and the mails to their proper destination. + +A venerable man now living at Earthcott Green, a hamlet within ten +miles of our great city, well recollects the time when he received his +letters through Iron Acton, at a special cost to him of 2d. each, with a +delivery only every other day. The plan was for an additional penny to +be charged on all letters sent out by rural posts for delivery, and in +addition to this penny an extra charge was levied on all letters +delivered from sub-Post Offices to bye houses or places beyond the +several village deliveries. In some cases recognised men or women +attended at the Head Office, Bristol, once or twice a week to take out +letters for delivery in the remote country regions--of course for a +"consideration." + +The Bristol district shared in the representations in 1838 of the +hardships borne by poor people in respect of the heavy charges for the +conveyance of letters. The postmaster at Congresbury deposed thus:--"The +price of a letter is a great tax on poor people. I sent one, charged +eightpence, to a poor labouring man about a week ago; it came from his +daughter. He first refused it, saying it would take a loaf of bread from +his other children; but, after hesitating a little time, he paid the +money, and opened the letter. I seldom return letters of this kind to +Bristol, because I let the poor people have them, and take the chance of +being paid; sometimes I lose the postage, but generally the poor people +pay me by degrees." Then the postmaster of Yatton stated as follows:--"I +have had a letter waiting lately for a poor woman, from her husband who +is at work in Wales; the charge was 9d.,--it lay many days, in +consequence of her not being able to pay the postage. I at last trusted +her with it." Of the desire of the poor to correspond, a Mr. Emery gave +evidence, stating "that the poor near Bristol have signed a petition to +Parliament for the reduction of the postage. He never saw greater +enthusiasm in any public thing that was ever got up in the shape of a +petition; they seemed all to enter into the thing as fully and with as +much feeling as it was possible, as a boon or godsend to them, that they +should be able to correspond with their distant friends." + +Uniform penny postage came in 1840. The Bristol citizens, of course, +found it no cheaper than before to send a single letter to places in +their own neighbourhood, but a light enclosure could be put in without +extra charge, though the weight had to be brought down from four ounces +to half an ounce. + +It may not be out of place to mention in these pages that one of the +penny postage stamps of the very earliest issue after the penny postage +system came into operation in 1840 was made use of for the prepayment of +a letter sent by His Grace the Duke of Wellington to H. Nuttall Tomlins, +Esq., of the Hotwells, Bristol. It was sent six days before stamps and +stamped covers were first used by the general public, the Duke, as Prime +Minister, having no doubt been supplied in advance with stamps, one of +which he attached to his letter, to give a surprise to his friend +Nuttall Tomlins. The envelope, with the stamp still upon it, is now in +the possession of a well-known philatelist in London. + +The allusion to the "Penny Post" naturally calls to mind its originator. +On the hill slope of the still pleasant rural village of Stapleton, four +miles from Bristol Post Office,--once a Roman settlement, and in later +days the head-quarters of Oliver Cromwell during the siege of +Bristol,--the great postal reformer, Sir Rowland Hill, frequently spent +some of his leisure time with his brother, the late Recorder of Bristol, +Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill. There is in the Bristol postal service at +the present time a mail officer who recalls that, in his very young +days, it was his mission to set out from Heath House to fetch the +morning letters for Sir Rowland from the Stapleton Post Office. He tells +how he had to ride the old pony at a rapid rate, as, even in those days, +Sir Rowland's time was valuable, and if his letters were late he had to +curtail his "constitutional," which usually consisted of a three-mile +sharp walk, with cap in hand instead of on head, over Purdown, past +Stoke House, returning through Frenchay. + +In December, 1844, Sir Rowland Hill, in connection with the National +Testimonial to him as the author of Penny Postage, recorded the +circumstance that he had received a letter from Mr. Estlin, an eminent +surgeon of Bristol, giving an account of proceedings in that important +city anterior to any movement in London. Sir Rowland believed it was in +Bristol, and from Mr. Estlin, that the testimonial had its origin. The +sum presented from Bristol to the national collection amounted to about +L300. + +The celebration of the Jubilee of Penny Postage in 1890 took the +practical turn in one respect of increasing the Rowland Hill Benevolent +Fund. Bristol contributed its quota of L72 14s. 6d., made up in great +measure of public subscriptions. When the grand celebration took place +on July 2nd, at the South Kensington Museum, with the Duke and Duchess +of Edinburgh present at the conversazione, Bristol took its part, and +immediately after a signal from South Kensington was received over the +telegraph wire at 10 o'clock three hearty cheers for Her Majesty were +given, the postmaster leading. The Post Office band then struck up the +National Anthem, and cheers for the Queen were at once taken up by a +body of about 200 postmen who had assembled in the Post Office yard. + +As in 1847 the state of things at the provincial offices generally was +not regarded as satisfactory, Sir Rowland Hill, in accordance with the +wish of the Postmaster-General, visited Bristol on April 1st in that +year. He found that the first delivery of the day, by far the most +important of all, was not completed until 12 o'clock; the +letter-carriers, as he was informed, often staying after departure from +the office to take their breakfast before commencing their rounds. He +was able to show how at a small cost (only L125 a year) it might be +completed by 9.0. The office itself he found small, badly lighted, and +ill ventilated. The day mail bag to London was nearly useless, its +contents for London delivery being on the morning of his inquiry only +sixty-four letters, thirty-seven of which might have been sent by the +previous mail on the mere payment of the extra penny. His impression +regarding this mail, both in and out of the office, agreed exactly with +his evidence in 1843; viz., that all day mails, to be efficient for +their purpose, should start as late as was consistent with their +reaching London in time for their letters to be forwarded by the +outgoing evening mails. The satisfaction Sir Rowland felt in such +improvements as he had been able to make on the spot was much enhanced +by his receiving at the termination of his visit the thanks of both +clerks and letter-carriers for the new arrangements. It should be said +that Sir Rowland Hill did not by his action cast any reflection upon Mr. +Todd Walton, junior, as he was at pains to say that, regarded as a +specimen of the administration of provincial Post Offices at the time +the Bristol specimen was by no means an unfavourable one. At that time +there were only about 20,000 letters, etc., delivered in a week. + +The Bristol Chamber of Commerce took no notice of the Post Office for +nearly twenty years (1835-1855), but in the latter year it did so, for +its records of the annual meeting of 31st January, 1855, with John +Salmon, President, in the chair, shew the following, viz.:-- + +"The Post Office questions of salaries, internal arrangements, and local +inquiry, are still in the same position as they were six months ago, +except that, after repeated further applications to the +Postmaster-General, your Committee extracted, on the 10th December last, +a renewed promise from his lordship that 'no time should be lost in +making the enquiry at the Bristol Post Office.' As the inefficiency of +the public service arises from the unjust treatment of the employes and +defective internal arrangements of the local office, your Committee +cannot desist, notwithstanding the tedious and disagreeable nature of +the task which they have undertaken, from insisting on these repeated +promises being redeemed." + +Then, under the same presidency, at the next half-yearly meeting in the +same year, it was stated that "Subsequent to the date of the last +report, your Committee discovered that the Postmaster-General had caused +a private local enquiry to be made with respect to the classification +and salaries of the officers of the Bristol Post Office." + +There was this further remonstrance:-- + +".... It would have been more satisfactory to your Committee if the +Postmaster-General had fulfilled his promise to the deputation who +waited upon him on the 30th of January, 1854, to hold a local enquiry at +which they should be present, as there were several other matters +connected with the internal arrangements of the Bristol Post Office +(particularly the money order department, which is still very defective) +with respect to which they were desirous of making some suggestions." + +Then followed a copy of the report made to the Postmaster-General by Mr. +Tilley, who conducted the enquiry, also a statement of the proposed +Establishment. + +At the Chamber's next annual meeting on 30th January, 1856, with James +Hassell, the president, in the chair, the Post Office is again reproved +thus:-- + +"No further reply than the official printed acknowledgment and promise +of attention has yet reached your Committee respecting the memorial on +the subject of the Welsh mail, the West India mails, etc.; but past +experience and general repute do not lead them to anticipate prompt +redress from the Post Office authorities. It required repeated +applications, extending over a period of about eighteen months, to +obtain a remedy for the grievances set forth in our former memorial; and +even now the Money Order Department is not completed, and probably +similar perseverance will again be required, as it is now more than a +month ago the memorial relating to the West India mail was presented." + +It was thought worthy of note in the _Bristol Mirror_ of November 5th, +1831, that "500 letters were brought yesterday from Clifton for the +general post." In demonstration of the strides which the Post Office has +made, it may be mentioned that in the "fifties," in addition to the Post +Office at Clifton, the only offices were the branches at Haberfield +Crescent and Phippen Street, with four collections a day, and the +receiving houses at Ashley Road, Bedminster, Hotwells, and Redland, with +three collections a day. The city only boasted at that time of pillar +letter boxes at Arley Chapel, Armoury Square, Bedminster Bridge, Bristol +Bridge, Castle Street, Christmas Steps, College Green, Freemantle +Square, Kingsdown, Milk Street, Railway Station, St. Philip's Police +Station, Kingsland Road, Whiteladies Road, and Woodwell Crescent, with +three collections daily. Now there are 167 Post Offices in the district. +On the Gloucestershire side there are 99, at 41 of which telegraph +business is carried on; and on the Somersetshire side 68, 27 of which +are telegraph offices. In addition telegraph business is carried on for +the Postmaster-General at five railway stations on the Gloucestershire +side and five on the Somersetshire side. Licenses to sell postage stamps +are held by over a hundred shopkeepers. + +There are now 350 pillar and wall letter boxes provided for public +convenience. + +It may be mentioned in passing that during the strike amongst the +deal-runners in Bristol, when men were brought from other towns and +housed and fed at "Huntersholm" (a large wooden building erected +specially in one of the timber yards), and allowed out under police +supervision, a stamp license was applied for and granted, to meet a +large demand for postage stamps which these men made in consequence of +having to send their wages home weekly to their families. + +In detail, but without complication by mention of the names of all the +districts, the local improvements for the seven years from March, 1892, +to February, 1899, inclusive, were as follows:--New post offices +established, 33; telegraph offices opened, 18; money order and savings +bank business extended to 17 offices; postal orders sold at 6 additional +offices; new pillar and wall boxes erected, 142; new or additional day +mails from 34 districts; and out to 44 districts; new extra deliveries +established in 65 districts, and two extra deliveries in 7 districts. +Free delivery extended in 35 rural districts, and the ordinary second or +third delivery extended in 44 rural districts; morning delivery +accelerated in 63, and the day delivery in 8, rural districts. A later +posting for North mail in 6, and for the night mail in 58, rural +districts. New collections established in 73, and a later collection in +30, rural districts. + +Increased facilities in the postal world are almost invariably followed +by augmentation of business. It certainly has been so in the Bristol +district, for there has been a marvellous development in the last seven +years. The letters delivered have increased by 60 per cent., and those +posted have grown at the rate of 55 per cent. Parcels have increased by +25 per cent. There has been a similar marked increase in all branches of +business. The three preceding periods of seven years were comparatively +"lean" periods, for the increase in the number of letters during the +whole twenty-one years was actually less than during the seven last +years. The increase is altogether out of proportion to the growth of +population, and it is far in excess of the general increase of letter +correspondence throughout the country generally, which has been only at +the rate of 22 per cent. during the period as against Bristol's 60 per +cent. It is hoped that this may be taken as a sure indication of the +well-being of the trade of Bristol, and as a sign that there is +quickened life in the commerce of the good old city. At all events, it +shows that the local Post Office organization is quite abreast of the +times, and that the facilities afforded are appreciated and are fully +taken advantage of. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BRISTOL AS A MAIL STEAMER STATION FOR IRELAND, WEST INDIES, AMERICA, AND +CANADA. + + +From the archives of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce it transpires that +from the very first constitution of the Chamber in 1823, it had before +it a scheme for the conveyance of mails between this port and the South +of Ireland by direct steam packet. It was considered that such a service +would be highly advantageous to the city, and correspondence on the +subject from time to time took place with the Post Office Department. +Allusion is made to it in the Chamber's Annual Report in January, 1824; +again in 1828, when the President of the Chamber, Mr. Joseph Cookson, +had a conference with the leading officer of the Post Office; and once +more in 1829. The case is so fully and ably set forth in the Board's +Annual Report of the 26th January, 1829, that its reproduction _in +extenso_ cannot fail to be of deep interest to the citizens of the +present day as their attention is often drawn to the steamship traffic. +It ran thus:-- + +"The transmission of the mails direct from Bristol was earnestly pressed +upon the attention of the Postmaster-General in the year 1823, on which +occasion the Chamber minutely investigated the practicability, safety, +and general advantages of the measure, the material points of which were +embodied in a memorial, accompanied by a list of queries and replies. +The Civic Corporation, the Society of Merchant Venturers, and the +Bristol Dock Company each presented similar memorials. + +"In resuming the enquiry, the Board have resorted to the channels best +calculated to convey accurate information. The managing proprietor of +the steam packet establishments at this port, Captain Dungey, an +individual on whose experience and judgment reliance may be placed, and +other persons of practical knowledge, have been consulted on the +subject. All concur in establishing the fact that the voyage to and from +Dunmore may, with general certainty, be accomplished by efficient +steamboats in from 24 to 26 hours during the eight summer months, and in +from 26 to 30 hours in the four months of winter; that the instances of +exceeding this scale would not be more frequent than at the present +station, the navigation of the Bristol Channel being protected by the +coast on either side, and consequently less influenced by severe weather +than the Irish Sea. + +"The earlier arrival of the London mail and its later departure, as +altered some time since, accords materially with the proposition for +making Bristol a packet station. By the present regulations, the London +mail arrives in Bristol at five minutes past 9 in the morning; and +leaves at half-past 5 in the evening; it is capable of being still +further accelerated by taking the two last stages in the direct line +through Marshfield, instead of passing through Bath. According to the +present arrangements, the Irish mails may with ease and convenience to +passengers be despatched from the mouth of the Bristol river, five miles +from the Post Office, every day at half-past 10, and those from Ireland, +if arriving by 4.0, be forwarded to London the same evening. The time +saved by this route as compared with that of Milford would be, at least +during the summer months, equal to one whole day for the purposes of +business, since the arrival at Dunmore would be in the morning instead +of evening, and the departure at noon instead of at an early hour of the +morning as at present. + +"The present slips at Lamplighter's Hall and Broad Pill now serve for +landing passengers from the packets on special occasions; with very +trifling expense they may be made efficient for passengers, and not more +objectionable than the present accommodation for crossing the estuary of +the Severn--carriages, horses, baggage, and heavy goods might at an +earlier hour be put on board at the Bristol Docks, which the boat would +leave at the height of tide in order to be in waiting for the mails at +the place appointed for receiving them. At Lamplighter's Hall an hotel +is established, which, with the contiguity to the city, would ensure to +the public a supply of all the accommodation a packet station would +require. These are the facilities which can at present be afforded. At +no very distant date the accommodation will, in all probability, be yet +further increased, first, by the erection of a pier with hotel and +establishment at Portishead on the Somersetshire side of the Avon, +which the Corporation of the City have for some time had under +consideration with a view to promote the convenience of passengers by +the steam vessels and thus encourage the intercourse between this city +and the South of Ireland. In aid of the present enquiry they have +directed a survey and report by Mr. Milne, the engineer, on the +practicability and probable cost of the proposed pier. Secondly, and +arising also from this scheme, is a plan for erecting a bridge across +the Avon, by the application in part of a fund amounting to nearly +L8,000, held by the Society of Merchant Venturers in trust under the +will of William Vick, deceased, for the especial purpose; with the +formation of an improved line of road by Mr. Gordon, Mr. Miles, and +other landed proprietors on that side of the river, for the short +distance to Portishead. These several improvements the respective +parties interested are disposed to effect, and which any impelling +motive, such as the establishment of a regular mail packet station, may +induce them immediately to undertake. The accomplishment of these works +would render Portishead a most eligible station. It is protected from +weather, is a safe anchorage, would have ample depth of water at any +state of the tide, the landing would be instant on arrival, and it would +be supplied with every convenience and accommodation for passengers. + +"The Board believe an important saving of expense to Government would +result from establishing Bristol as a mail packet station. The great +deficiency on the Milford station in the receipts as compared with the +expenditure arises from the very limited number of persons who avail +themselves of that line of communication. The land journey of twenty +hours at a fare of L3 10s., followed by a twelve hours' voyage by open +sea at a further expense of L1 10s., with the inconvenience frequently +sustained in crossing the estuary of the Severn, deters people from +taking the Milford route by choice. The general introduction of steam +packets, the degree of perfection in sailing to which they have been +brought, the regularity and safety with which the voyages are performed, +the accommodation to passengers, and the moderate scale of fares, have +contributed to effect of late years a material change in the general +opinion on steamboat conveyance. The long voyage by sea is now +generally preferred to a long journey by land and the shorter one by +sea. The number and efficiency of the Bristol boats, and the economy in +the fares, induce a large proportion of travellers to take the direct +course from Bristol. Indeed, to so great an extent has this preference +operated that the contractors for conveying the mail throughout the +whole line from Bristol to Milford are understood to have given notice +of their intention to determine their engagement, on account of the +gradual decrease in the number of passengers and the consequent loss +they incur. A similar statement appears in the report of the +Postmaster-General on the memorial of the innkeepers on the Holyhead +route. + +"In favour of Bristol it may be fairly stated that, at a comparatively +trifling expense, the port may be made commodious for a packet station; +that the present strength of the establishment at Milford would serve, +with some addition, for that of Bristol; that the difference in price of +coal at Portishead would reduce the expense of sailing the packets from +that station; that Bristol affords every prospect of increase of +receipt, whilst at Milford it must, for the reasons before stated, +necessarily decrease; that the demands of a large commercial city, with +its populous adjoining and connected districts, will create a traffic +for boats making quick and regular voyages, which Milford, from its +position, never can acquire--the conveyance of fish and provisions alone +could be made to yield a revenue of consequence. Numerous other sources +of receipt would arise from the conveniency of its regularity and +expedition. Indeed, so much are the Board impressed with the belief that +the traffic would be extensive and productive that they venture to +anticipate it may, at no very distant period, relieve the Government +from any further charge than a comparatively nominal sum for the +transport of the mails. The Board are induced also to put the +proposition in a national point of view. They feel that the more closely +Ireland can be brought into direct and active communication with this +country, the more rapid will be its course of improvement. The +introduction of steam navigation has, at this port, given an energy and +extension to the Irish trade that far exceeds any previous expectations; +each succeeding month brings a vast increase of import and a +corresponding export, to the material benefit of each kingdom, and the +more complete the intercourse can be established the more important will +the trade become. + +"The port of Bristol, from its position, possesses numerous capabilities +for a mail packet station. Its contiguity and means of land and water +communication with the capital; its being the principal shipping port +for the manufacturing districts of the South-west part of the kingdom; +its close connection and water communication with Birmingham, Worcester, +and other large towns in the centre of the kingdom; the convenience of +its floating harbour; the reduced scale of its local tolls--all these +circumstances combine to give Bristol a superiority over other places on +the coast, whether the subject he viewed as regards the economy of the +Post Office Department or the accommodation of the public. + +"The Board have placed the subject of the Commissioners' enquiry in the +several points of view which appear to them fairly to arise upon the +investigation and consideration it has received, and they shall feel +sincere gratification if, on this or any future occasion, they should in +the least degree prove of assistance to a department of Government, or +should otherwise by their exertions conduce to the advancement of the +public interests. + + "THOMAS STOCK, President. + July 7th, 1828." + +A strong memorial (under the hand of Thomas Cookson, President) was +forwarded to the Postmaster-General. + +Francis Freeling, Secretary, in his reply for the Postmaster-General, +refused to admit that the port of Bristol did afford the requisite +facilities for a station for His Majesty's packets. When the projected +works were carried out the matter would be reconsidered by the +Government. + +Replying further, Mr. Freeling, on the 2nd March, alluded to the +impossibility of despatching the mails at a fixed time every day in the +year, and said that that presented insurmountable objections to the +choice of Bristol as a station for His Majesty's packets. He said that +the first requisite for a packet station was that the port should afford +the means for embarking and landing the mails at all times of tide and +under all circumstances of weather. + +The Bristol Dock Directors and a Standing Committee of the Society of +Merchants considered the matter, but did not see their way to press it +under the chilling response received from the Postmaster-General. + +The Board did not give up the case, for in the Annual Report 28th +January, 1833, it was stated that the proposition for establishing at +this port a mail packet station by steam vessels to the South of Ireland +was being diligently pursued, and that the House of Commons having +appointed a Committee to enquire into the communications between England +and Ireland, a favourable opportunity was presented of again urging the +advantages Bristol port was calculated to afford. + +The numerous appeals, representations, and enquiries did not result in +the manner desired, and to this day the mails from the South of Ireland +for Bristol and its district follow the same route _via_ Waterford and +Milford Haven, the only difference being that from the latter port to +Bristol the service is carried on by rail instead of by road. + +Bristol became a mail packet station eventually, as steamships carried +the American mails between this port and New York for several years, +commencing in 1837, the year of Her Most Gracious Majesty's accession to +the throne. The _Great Western_, constructed under the direction of +Brunel, the famous engineer of the Great Western Railway, was chiefly +used in the service. + +[Illustration: THE "GREAT WESTERN." + +THE FIRST STEAMER WHICH CARRIED MAILS FROM BRISTOL TO NEW YORK.] + +On the 31st May, 1838, writing from 19 Trinity Street, Bristol, Mr. +Claxton, managing director to the _Great Western_--which was then, +nearly due,--asked the Bristol postmaster whether a consignee at New +York might charge the foreign postage on letters to parts on the +Continent with which no arrangement, similar to that then existing +between France and England, had been made. The idea was that such +letters might be put into a separate bag, and the foreign postage from +Bristol be handed over to the local Post Office. He wrote that notice +had been given by the Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool that masters of +ships need not send anything but letters to the Post Office on arrival. +Mr. Todd Walton replied on the next day to the effect that the agent +should only direct letters to Mr. Claxton's care to forward from such +persons as he could refer to in case of errors. Then followed a long +communication from Mr. Walton to Colonel Maberly, Secretary to the Post +Office, the gist of which was that a difficulty existed in preventing +illegal conveyance of ship letters; that the commanders of vessels did +not receive money with letters to any great extent; that the public +prints stated that 1,600 letters were received on board the _Great +Western_ besides those sent from the Post Office; that an immense number +of letters was collected at the Great Western office; and that as the +_Great Western_ and _Syrius_ were regularly established, and other +vessels of the same description were preparing, unless some means were +taken to protect the revenue, it could not fail to suffer very +considerably. + +The _Great Western_ brought to England 5,500 post letters and 1,770 post +papers, which, had that conveyance not been offered, would most likely +have been sent by private ships. Mr. Walton conceived it would be very +advantageous to the revenue to contract with those superior vessels to +carry mails, so as to render the latter chargeable with package rates; +and he submitted that ship letter mails should be made up at Bristol, +the same as at London and Liverpool, for all vessels leaving this port. +About 5,500 ship letters were brought to the Bristol Post Office +annually, and he had no doubt that vast numbers were carried from +Bristol in the same manner; but with the exception of those by the +_Great Western_, no mails had ever been made up here for foreign +countries. The Secretary, replying for the Postmaster-General, said it +did not appear to Lord Lichfield that cognizance need be taken of the +suggestion conveyed in Mr. Claxton's letter of the 31st May, for the +transmission through this country of letters from the United States +addressed to those foreign countries upon which the postage must be paid +here before they can be forwarded to their destination. The Post Office +could have no objection to such letters being addressed to the care of +Mr. Claxton or any other agent in this country who would pay the foreign +postage and send them on to their destinations. The letters in question, +would, of course, be subject, so far as the Post Office was concerned, +to the ship letter rate to Bristol, and when re-posted, to the inland +and foreign rates forward. + +The postmaster's proposition for making up mails to be forwarded by the +steam vessels charged with packet rates of postage was out of the +question; but with regard to making up ship letter bags for foreign +countries, so strangely neglected at this great port, the postmaster was +to embrace every opportunity in his power of despatching ship letter +bags by sailing as well as by steam vessels. There is no official +record, however, of any such ship letter mails having been forwarded +from Bristol. + +In the year 1841 a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into the +question of the most suitable port for the embarkation and debarkation +of the West Indian Mails. The committee consisted of Mr. Freshfield, +Lord Dalmeny, Lord Viscount Ingestre, Captain Pechell, Captain Duncombe, +Mr. Chas. Wood, Sir Thomas Cochrane, Mr. John O'Connell, Mr. Cresswell, +Lord Worsley, Mr. Gibson Craig, Mr. De Horsey, Mr. Oswold, Mr. Richard +Hodgson, and Mr. Philip Miles, who was prominent as representing +Bristol. Much evidence was given in favour of the ports of Bristol, +Dartmouth, Devonport, Falmouth, Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Southampton +respectively. The case of Bristol was strongly supported by Lieut. J. +Hosken, R.N., commander of the _Great Western_ screw steamer from +Bristol to New York, and Lieut. C. Claxton, R.N., the Bristol Harbour +Master. + +The principal reasons put forward in favour of our old port were: that +the Bristol Channel was navigable at all states of the tide and in all +weathers; that there was good anchorage in the Kingroad; and that +although Bristol was not quite so near to Barbadoes, the first island of +call, as some of her rival ports, yet it admitted of quicker +transmission of mails between London and the northern towns than any +other English port. The arguments in favour of the Bristol port were not +strong enough to induce the committee to report in its favour. + +From the "forties," when the American mail service was withdrawn from +Bristol, no foreign or colonial mails left the port until the autumn of +1898, when Mr. Alfred Jones, the enterprising managing director of the +firm of Messrs. Elder, Dempster & Co., made arrangements for carrying +private ship mails from Avonmouth to Montreal by a weekly service of +steamers. The Bristol merchants found it convenient to make use of this +ship mail system for the conveyance of their invoices, bills of lading, +and advices, as, by travelling in the same ship as the goods which they +related to, their delivery in time to be of use in connection with the +ship's load was ensured. The first vessel to carry such a ship mail was +the s.s. _Montcalm_. + +When it was in anticipation at the Bristol Post Office that the ship +mail service might be resumed in 1899 on the breaking up of the ice in +the Gulf of St. Lawrence, there came a cablegram from the Canadian +Government intimating that a contract had been entered into with Messrs. +Elder, Dempster and Co.; and, heigh presto! Avonmouth at once became the +port of departure and arrival of the steamers carrying the direct +Canadian mails. The suddenness of the event naturally created quite a +stir after Bristol had been so long waiting, and the mail services +outwards and inwards were watched with close attention by the public. +The first steamer to run under the new contract was the s.s. _Monterey_. +She left Avonmouth on the 23rd July, but time had not admitted of +arrangements being made for her to carry the mails from Avonmouth, which +were therefore picked up at Queenstown. The s.s. _Ikbal_ took the next +trip, leaving Avonmouth on the 30th July. The parcels from the whole of +the kingdom, including Ireland, were circulated on Bristol, and made up +here in direct mails for Montreal, Quebec, Hamilton, Kingston, Toronto, +Winnipeg, Prince Edward Island, Hawaii, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Nova +Scotia, British Columbia, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Yokohama. The notice to +the Bristol Post Office was very short, but the necessary arrangements +were smartly made to meet the emergency. Mr. Kislingbury, the divisional +superintendent of the Great Western Railway, ever ready to heartily +co-operate with the local Post Office, had a special tender placed in +readiness for the reception of the mails at Temple Meads and they were +despatched by the 9.50 a.m. train to Avonmouth. On the part of the Dock +authorities, the general manager, Mr. F. B. Girdlestone, had provided an +engine to take the brake-vans containing the parcel mails direct from +the Docks junction to the pier head. The system was fully tried, for the +mails had to be taken from the train to the steam-tug _Sea Prince_ to be +conveyed to the steamer, which was moored in Kingroad, having arrived +too late to enter the dock. The mails weighed close upon three tons, and +were contained in fifty-five large hampers. In the following week the +s.s. _Arawa_ (a sixteen-knot boat, 440 feet long) carried the mails, +which were taken by train alongside the ship in dock; and which +consequently, although five tons in weight, were put on board under much +more favourable circumstances than in the preceding week, when the +steamer had to lie out in the Kingroad. It is noteworthy that the +_Arawa_ took out 400 emigrants. + +[Illustration: R.M.S. "MONTEREY." + +FIRST LINER IN THE NEW CANADIAN MAIL SERVICE. + +_From a photograph by G. M. Roche, Esq., Dublin._] + +Subsequent steamers used for carrying on the mail service were the +_Montfort_, _Monteagle_, and _Montrose_. + +The arrangements for the new service worked very smoothly from the +outset, thanks in no small measure to Mr. Flinn, the local general +manager for Messrs. Elder, Dempster & Co., who facilitated in every way +the Post Office and Customs operations. The trial so far has proved that +the use of Avonmouth as a port for the Canadian mail traffic is attended +with advantages on this side of the ocean, but greater facilities for +embarking and disembarking the mails at Avonmouth are absolutely +necessary. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +POSTAL SERVICE STAFF; ITS COMPOSITION, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES.--VOLUME +OF WORK. + + +In 1855 the Bristol Post Office staff consisted of a postmaster and +fifteen clerks, with sixty-four letter carriers. Over 1,500 people of +all grades, including sub-postmasters and their assistants, are now +employed; and the annual bill for salaries, wages, and allowances of +men, women, and boys amounts to little short of L100,000. It will thus +be seen that the Post Office ranks as one of the largest employers of +labour in the western city. + +The head office is centrally situated both for the receipt and despatch +of the letter correspondence. It is not very far from a point known as +"Tramway Centre," upon which the tram services of the city converge. It +plays an important part with regard to the Bristol postal system, as out +of a total of 833,000 letters posted weekly in the city delivery +area--exclusive of 55,300 Clifton posted letters--221,000 letters are +posted at the head office itself, and the total posted within a radius +of a mile is 652,290, or more than three-fourths of the whole. In +addition to the 888,000 letters posted weekly in Bristol city and +Clifton, there are 108,000 letters posted in the suburban and rural +districts. The posting every Sunday consists of 35,000 letters. + +The greater extent to which the well-to-do classes in Bristol use the +post than their less fortunate brethren may be gathered from the fact +that the average yield of letters, newspapers, etc., per day per box in +the Clifton district is 128 per cent. higher than in Redland and Cotham, +and 179 per cent. higher than in Redcliffe; and in the Redland and +Cotham district 22 per cent. higher than in Redcliffe. + +The mails are chiefly conveyed between the head office and the principal +railway station by horsed carts. + +About 7,000,000 "forward" letters--that is, letters neither posted nor +delivered locally, but passing through the Bristol Post Office--are +dealt with annually. + +The parcel post, started in 1883, has done well in Bristol. Nearly +three-quarters of a million of parcels are posted in the district +annually. The greater part of the parcel despatching duties is performed +at a separate parcel office on the Temple Meads Railway Station +premises. People often avail themselves of the parcel post for obtaining +a regular weekly supply of produce. A joint of beef from Scotland, +weighing just under eleven pounds, invariably reaches Bristol at the +week end, and a package of butter from Dublin is observed every Friday +in the Bristol parcel depot on its way to Weston-super-Mare. + +The London mail is, naturally, the most important mail which leaves +Bristol. In the course of the day fifty-five mail bags are forwarded, +containing about 20,000 letters; the trains used being those leaving at +3.10 a.m., 7.50 a.m., 9.35 a.m., 11.40 a.m., 12.13 p.m., 1.54 p.m., 3.0 +p.m., 3.43 p.m., 4.45 p.m., 7.22 p.m., and 12.45 a.m. So numerous are +the London and "London forward" letters in the evening, that three +clerks are engaged from 5.0 p.m. to midnight in sorting them. In the +opposite direction fifty mail bags are received from London daily, +containing about 30,000 letters. Birmingham comes next in the +importance of exchange, thus: twelve mail bags go out daily, containing +5,500 letters, and ten bags come in, with 4,500 letters. The +neighbouring city of Bath figures next, with ten outward mail bags +daily, containing 4,200 letters, and ten inward bags, containing 2,700 +letters. The same three cities also stand in the forefront in respect of +the import and export of parcels, 870 parcels being received from London +and 550 parcels sent thereto daily. Birmingham sends 190 parcels and +takes a like number; whilst Bath sends 160 and takes in return 250 +parcels daily. + +The members of the permanent staff have fallen on better days than their +predecessors of old times. They are granted holidays varying in periods +according to rank, from the twelve working days allowed to the telegraph +messengers to the month enjoyed by the superintending officers. Medical +attendance is afforded gratuitously, and full pay is, as a rule, given +during sick absence, and under special circumstances sick leave on full +pay is allowed for six months, and a further six months on half-pay. +After that time, if there appears to be little or no chance of +recovery, a pension or gratuity is given. The appointment of medical +officer to the Post Office was in 1862 conferred upon Mr. F. Poole +Lansdown, who has held the post ever since. For the last four years the +average sick absence per year has been ten days for males and seventeen +days for females per head; and during the last seven years the average +mortality amongst the established officers of the Service has been two +per annum. + +Uniform and boots are provided by the Department for the postmen and +telegraph messengers, at an annual cost of about L2,000. + +Good-conduct stripes are the reward to all full-time postmen, +established or unestablished, of unblemished conduct. A stripe is +awarded after each five years' meritorious service, and each man is +eligible for six stripes, each of which carry one shilling a week extra +pay. The value of the stripes is taken into account in calculation of +pensions. + +Of the 1,500 persons of all grades alluded to there are in the postal +department a superintendent, 24 superintending officers, and 154 male +and 8 female clerks. + +The selection of candidates for situations in the Bristol Post Office as +sorting clerks and telegraphists, both male and female, was for many +years vested entirely in the postmaster, and persons were given +temporary employment without passing any educational test as to their +special fitness for Post Office employment. It so happened that not +infrequently a clerk would be employed in a temporary capacity for some +years, and finally be rejected by the Civil Service Commissioners on +educational or medical grounds. In 1892, however, a special preliminary +educational examination was instituted. All candidates of respectable +parentage, of good health and character, were allowed to sit at this +examination, the successful ones being taken into the office and trained +for appointment to the Establishment. The Civil Service Examination had, +of course, to be undergone before an appointment could be obtained. In +1896 a new system was introduced, whereby a Civil Service certificate +had to be obtained before a person was taken into the office. This +obviated the necessity of holding the preliminary educational +examination, but the postmaster still exercised the privilege of +nominating candidates to the situations. The open competitive system of +examination was commenced last year, and the appointments are now open +to general competition. + +There is a term of probation in the Post Office, and details of the +duties devolving on postal clerks may not be without interest to the +Bristol public. The business, with its multitudinous ramifications, +takes a long time to learn thoroughly. To become a perfect all-round +postal clerk a man must possess intelligence, must be cool, fertile in +expedient, have a retentive memory, and withal be quick and active. He +must know how to primarily sort, sub-divide, and despatch letters. He +must have a good knowledge of Post Office circulation and be able to +bear in mind the names of the smallest places--hamlets, etc.--in the +kingdom, the varying circulations for different periods of the day, and +the rates of postage of all articles sent through the post. Be must be +able to detect the short-paid letter, and to deal with the ordinary +letter, the large letter, the unpaid, the registered, the foreign, the +"dead," insufficiently addressed, the official, the fragile, the +insured, the postcard (single and reply), the letter card, the +newspaper, the book-packet, and the circular (the definition of which is +very difficult). He is responsible for the correct sortation of every +letter that he deals with, and he has to be expert in tying letters in +bundles. He has to cast the unpaid postage and enter the correct account +on the letter bill; take charge of registered letter bags and loose +registered letters, and advise them on the letter bill; see to the +correct labelling, tying, and sealing of the mail bags he makes up; +check the despatch of mails on the bag list; dispose of his letters by a +given time, the hours of the despatch of mails being fixed. In +consequence, he often has to work under great pressure in order to +finish in time. The postal clerk has to surcharge unpaid and +insufficiently prepaid correspondence; to see that all postage stamps +are carefully obliterated, that the rules of the different posts are not +infringed; to attend to the regulations relating to official +correspondence. He has to decipher imperfectly and insufficiently +addressed correspondence, search official and other directories to trace +proper addresses. In addition to all this he has in turn to serve at the +public counter, and there attend to money order, savings bank, postal +order, and other items of business of the kind. + +As an illustration of the perspicacity of officers of the Post Office in +the Western Division of the Kingdom and of the postmen of Bristol, may +be cited the circulation through the post and prompt and safe delivery +of a letter from Plymouth bearing as its only address the magic letters +"W. G.," with cricket hat, stumps, and ball, so dear to the individual +who bears the initials. + +Delay in delivery of articles sent by post, however, not infrequently +takes place in consequence of misdirection. A parcel was addressed to a +reverend gentleman at "Publow Church, near Bristol," and as it could not +be presented at the fine old structure itself, the postman took it to +the adjoining vicarage, where, in the absence of the vicar, it was taken +in by a servant upon the inference that it might be intended for some +future visitor. It turned out, however, that the address was inaccurate, +and that the parcel was actually intended for a village some miles from +Bristol, on the other side, having for its name Pucklechurch. + +Occasionally there is very slow transmission in these speedy days. A +rather remarkable case occurred here of a postcard having occupied +nearly eight years in travelling between Horfield Barracks and the +premises of a firm in Stokes Croft,--a distance of less than two miles. +The missive was posted and stamped on the 10th July, 1890, and trace of +it was lost until it turned up at Bournemouth and received the +impression of the stamp of that office in April, 1898, whence it was +sent to Bristol and delivered. There were no other marks to indicate its +long detention. + +Not infrequently the Post Office has to contend with difficulties +arising from want of thought on the part of the trading community. +Recently there was a somewhat unusual occurrence at the Bristol Post +Office. A sack containing samples of biscuits in small tin boxes was +received. Around the tins flimsy paper was tied, on which the addresses +were written. The paper had become so frayed in transit that scarcely a +single wrapper was complete, and when the tins were turned out of the +sack there were showers of small pieces of paper like a snowstorm. In +order that the samples might reach their destinations, the addresses +were, as far as practicable, re-copied, and the samples sent out. +Nearly every one of the 500 packets received was then sent out for +delivery without delay, no doubt to the astonishment of those who +received the biscuits in envelopes from the Returned Letter Office. + +In the sorting office all through the twenty-four hours there is work +going on. As one batch of officials goes off duty another comes on, and +these relays never cease--not even on Sundays, Christmas Days, or Bank +Holidays. The sorting office is at its busiest from 5.15 to 6.45 in the +evening, and from 8.30 p.m. till midnight. Then postmen enter hastily, +one after another, with bags from the branch offices and pillar-boxes, +which are immediately taken charge of, opened, and the contents shot +out. The postmen rapidly arrange the small letters face upwards, pack +them in "trays" of 400, pass them over to the stamping department; the +stampers obliterate Her Majesty's head, and record the hour, date, and +place of departure, with one and the same stroke of the stamp, at the +rate of a hundred a minute. The stamped letters are placed on sorting +tables, where the first division takes place. Those for Bristol and +neighbourhood are assigned to a compartment for further sortation, and +the outward correspondence is sorted out into the different "roads" by +which it will travel. Letters for small places are sent to the mail +trains, where they are sorted to their respective stations as the +locomotive is whirling them along at the rate of fifty miles an hour. +Many of the larger towns, such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, +Leeds, Exeter, Plymouth, Reading, Bath and Swindon, have their own bags +made up at Bristol. Newspapers, packages, and book packets are sorted +separately, and subsequently put into their respective bags. By-and-by +the country postbags come pouring in, and no sooner are they opened than +the letters they contain are subjected to the same analytical treatment. + +In a week 2,600 separate bags (or sacks containing several bags) are +sent away from the Bristol Post Office over the Great Western and +Midland Railway systems. The weight is 21 tons, or an average of over 18 +lbs. per bag or sack. Of the total number, 500 of the bags, with an +average weight of nearly 14 lbs. each, are for places within the +Bristol district, and 300 of them are sent to London, with a total +weight of 4 tons 33 lbs., or an average of 30 lbs. per bag or sack. The +bags and sacks received in Bristol from all quarters are about equal in +number and weight to those going outwards. Those from London weigh 6 +tons 3 cwt. 44 lbs.--an average of 51 lbs each. + +In order to simplify the disposal of the letters in London, they are not +sent up unsorted from Bristol, but are divided into thirty-seven +labelled bundles or separate bags, a bundle or bag being made up for +each London district, for each great railway out of London, for several +foreign divisions, for seventeen large provincial towns, and even in +such detail as for Paternoster Row and Wood Street. + +It is not often that ships of war appear in Bristol waters. Indeed, the +old inhabitant saith that it is fifty years since a warship anchored in +the vicinity. The recent visit of a squadron calls therefore for a +passing mention. Such an event took place during the British Association +Meeting in September, 1898. The ironclads composing the squadron were +H.M.S. _Nile_, _Thunderer_, _Trafalgar_, _Sans Pareil_, and the gunboat +_Spanker_. The vessels anchored in Walton Bay, midway between Clevedon +and Portishead. In these pages the interest attaching to them must +necessarily be centred in their mail arrangements. Nearly a thousand +letters a day were received at Clevedon for delivery to the fleet. The +ships' postman from each ship came ashore by launch three times a day to +fetch the letters. Launches were specially employed to fetch telegrams +on signal being given by flag from the end of Clevedon Pier. + +A first aid class in connection with the St. John's Ambulance Society +was formed by members of the Bristol Post Office staff in 1894, and +there was an average attendance of twenty members, under the skilled +direction of Dr. Bertram Rogers, of Clifton. Of the members who +presented themselves for examination at the termination of the course of +lectures, eight were successful, and were presented with certificates at +the Society's Annual Meeting, held at the Merchant Venturers' Technical +College; and in the following year they qualified for the Society's +much-prized medallion of efficiency. At the conclusion of the course, +Dr. Bertram Rogers was presented with an ivory-handled and +silver-mounted malacca cane, subscribed for by members of the class. A +writing-case was also presented to Mr. Blake for organising the class. + +The want of a gymnasium in or near the Post Office premises is greatly +felt, but the staff do not neglect opportunities of improving their +health in other ways. Cycle Clubs have been in active operation; the +Cricket Clubs come off victorious in many matches; and the Electric +Swimming Club has been attended with great success. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +CHRISTMAS AND ST. VALENTINE SEASONS. + + +A century ago the Christmas card was unthought of; whether it will be a +thing of the past in the year 2000 cannot be foretold. The preparations +made to meet the annually recurring pressure involve much forethought +and considerable labour, and have to be in progress for a long time +prior to Christmas. The time occupied in getting the instructions ready +for the staff and making all arrangements incidental to the season is +equivalent to more than the entire duty of a clerk for a whole year. +Nothing whatever is left to chance; for unless the arrangements are +organised in full detail, the work could not go on with the clock-like +smoothness which is necessary to ensure a successful issue. At Christmas +many people find a difficulty in deciding what to give their friends. +The difficulty in the Post Office is how to convey Christmas gifts from +friend to friend, from relative to relative, and the solution is found +in the extensive preparations alluded to. They consist of many and +various ways of affording means of rapid circulation and facilitating +the traffic. Thus arrangements are made as regards London for direct +bags to be made up at Bristol for each of the eight principal district +offices, and separate bags for the inclusion of all the London +sub-district letters throughout the day. At normal times such bags are +made up only for the night mail and heaviest despatches. All foreign +letters are sent in separate bags, so as to keep them apart on arrival +in London from the inland Christmas missives. Then, in the reverse +direction, London relieves the Bristol office by making a direct bag for +the tributary office of Clifton by every mail, instead of by two mails +only. To further facilitate matters, the parcels and letters for the +environs of Bristol are kept separate from those for town delivery at +all the large offices sending parcel baskets and mail bags here, and +Bristol reciprocates by adopting the same plan for towns with which it +exchanges mails. Even the expedient of putting specially-lettered +neck-labels on the bags to indicate their contents is adopted. Where, +ordinarily, bundles of letters are made up for particular towns, direct +bags take their places, and where, ordinarily, letters are sent in bulk +from many towns separate bundles are made up for each town: thus, +letters from Bristol for Brighton, which are usually dealt with in +London, are forwarded in a direct bag to pass through the metropolis +unopened. The individual attendances of the ordinary staff are increased +from eight hours to twelve, fourteen, and sixteen hours per day. All +holidays are suspended for the time being, which enables some +telegraphists to undertake postal duty; clerical labour is stopped, +outside help is obtained, and altogether additional labour provided for +to the extent of 50 per cent. over the normal staff. Although there is +such a large augmentation numerically, the value of it cannot be judged +in that way, as it takes a long time to make a really efficient postal +officer, and the novices who are engaged, although willing enough, can +do little more than undertake manual labour. Many army reserve men and +army and navy pensioners are engaged to assist on the occasion. The +weather is always a potent factor. The ordinary types of mail vehicles, +contracted for by the Bristol Tramways Company, and always well turned +out by Mr. G. Matthews, have to be supplemented at the Christmas season +by the employment of large pair-horse trolleys, which, are used not only +for the conveyance of mails between office and railway station, but are +also sent round the town to pick up the heavy parcel collections from +the numerous sub-offices. + +The great unpunctuality of the mail trains which invariably sets in +early in the Christmas week causes no little inconvenience, particularly +as regards the mails from the North of England, and the merchants are +therefore not slow to avail themselves of the Post Office new system, +under which, for a small fee, they can get their letters brought by +delayed trains delivered by special messenger promptly on their arrival +at the Head Post Office. The extra posting of letters and parcels for +places abroad, intended for delivery about Christmas Day, begins to +manifest itself early in November. + +A great number of people appear to think that Christmas cards and other +printed matter may be sent by book-post in covers which are entirely +closed, except for small slits cut at the sides. These packets are +liable to charge at letter postage rates unless they are made up in such +a manner as will admit of the contents being easily withdrawn for +examination. To educate the public in the matter of full prepayment, it +has become necessary for the Department to be particularly vigilant in +surcharging the Christmas missives which contravene the regulations, +and the Bristol clerks have the unpleasant task of raising an +impost on letters during the Christmas season which infringe the +Postmaster-General's not severe regulations. The custom of sending +Christmas cards in open envelopes is increasing. + +With regard to telegrams, the public have recently received at the hands +of His Grace the Duke of Norfolk the great benefit of being allowed to +have their telegraphic messages delivered up to distances of three miles +without payment of any charge whatever for porterage. In this +neighbourhood, the concession has resulted in an increase in the number +of messages for delivery over a mile, especially at Christmas. During +the Christmas season there is always a decrease in the number of +business telegrams, but that is in some measure made up for by a large +number of telegrams being sent by the public who are travelling to keep +holiday, and in this connection more use is made of the telegraph than +the telephone service. The decrease in the volume of work admits of +telegraphists aiding their brother officers on the postal side. + +The inflow of Christmas cards is pretty evenly dispersed over the +earlier days of the season, but the great rush comes on the night of the +23rd and the morning of the 24th of the month. Letters up to four ounces +in weight are now conveyed at the small cost to the public of a penny. +So far as this city is concerned, letters and book-packets over two +ounces in weight, which are now blended in one post, are quadrupled in +number at the Christmas season. This increase in the letter packets has +the effect of retarding the postmen in effecting their deliveries, +inasmuch as they have to search in their bags for the packages which +they cannot carry tied up in consecutive order. The trouble arising +therefrom is somewhat mitigated, however, by the circumstance that the +charged letters are less numerous than heretofore, owing to the large +increase in the weight which is now carried for a penny. The Christmas +season is departmentally regarded as consisting of the days from the +20th of the month to Christmas Day, the 25th, inclusive. From the most +reliable calculations that the officials are capable of making, it would +appear that during the Christmas period no fewer than 2,000,000 letters +are dropped by the residents into the 500 receptacles dotted here and +there over Bristol's large postal area. The letters distributed by +Bristol's regular postmen, with their 250 followers, are a million and a +half, in each case about an extra week's work to be got through in three +days. + +Some 20,000 letters and parcels find their way to the Bristol Returned +Letter Office as the flotsam and jetsam of the Christmas postings. They +consist of letters without addresses, letters addressed in +undecipherable caligraphy, letters for people dead, gone away, and not +known; parcels of poultry and game without name of sender or addressee. +Certainly handwriting does not improve, hence all these failures and +embarrassments to the Post Office. + +The articles for transmission by parcel post handed in at the head Post +Office, branch, offices, sub-offices in town, suburbs, and villages, +reach the total of 40,000, being about four times as numerous as at +ordinary periods. The rural districts alone produce 8,000 parcels. The +parcels delivered number 35,000, being treble ordinary numbers. Ten +thousand of these parcels are delivered in the villages. Nearly a +thousand large hampers of parcels are exchanged between London and +Bristol, and of these some forty contain foreign parcels alone. + +Notwithstanding the vastly increased numbers, it becomes noticeable at +Bristol, year by year, that there is a diminution of parcels conveyed by +parcel post containing articles of good cheer: the geese, the fowls, and +the game having decreased, plum pudding's, however, being as much in +evidence as ever. The reduction in the parcel post rates which took +place in 1897 has had a very marked effect upon the parcel post traffic, +and the increase, particularly in the heavy weights, has been very +great. On the other hand, the reduction in the rates of charge for the +conveyance of post parcels has had the effect of bringing about a +decrease in the number of parcels weighing under 2 lb. + +As showing that the postal deliveries at the Christmas season are +arranged as well as the extraordinary circumstances will admit, and that +the public on its part can appreciate the difficulties to be contended +with, it may be worthy of mention that complaints of delay are rarely +made. + +The Postmaster-General is not unmindful of his duty in providing +sustenance for his legions at the busy season, and refreshments are +supplied for the permanent staff without stint. There are no trams +running on Christmas Day, so that the postmen with their heavy loads are +much worse off than on ordinary days, when, with lighter loads, they can +ride to and fro on the tramcars. There are some pleasing social features +which are worthy of record. For instance, the ladies of the Clifton +Letter Mission have for some years past sent "A Christmas Letter" and +Christmas card to each of the 150 telegraph messengers employed in the +Bristol district. The ladies who manage the society known as the Postal +and Telegraph Christian Association invariably send to every postman in +the Bristol district a sympathetic and seasonable letter, accompanied +by a pretty Christmas card and the best of all good wishes. The staff of +the Bristol Post Office usually pay the compliments of the Christmas +season to their postal friends elsewhere in the form of a +prettily-designed card. + +Christmas Day of 1898 is rendered memorable in postal annals from the +circumstance that on that day the postage on letters to and from many of +our colonies and foreign possessions was reduced from the modest sum of +2-1/2d. per half-ounce to the still more modest sum of 1d. per +half-ounce. Bristol has a not inconsiderable colonial and foreign +correspondence. British India takes 550 letters, etc., on the average +weekly; the Dominion of Canada, 450; Newfoundland, 110; and Gibraltar, +100; the other countries to which the reduced rate of postage has been +applied take 500 in the week. + +One of the many changes that have taken place in the manners and customs +of the people as affecting the Post Office is very noticeable as regards +the observance of St. Valentine's Day. Thirty years ago the votaries of +the patron saint, in their thousands, vied with each other, year after +year, to honour his memory, and make the Post Office the medium of +sending to every close friend some kind of love token, ranging from the +artistic production at one guinea, down to the humble penny fly-leaf +which contained the simple but expressive pleading, at the bottom of a +neat woodcut, "O come, true love, be mine." Only too often, however, the +day was made the occasion to strike a blow at the fickle lover by means +of some gross caricature. On the eve of St. Valentine the energies of +the staff, which was limited as compared with now, were formerly greatly +taxed to get rid of the enormous piles of packets which flooded the +various receptacles in the city. All this is, however, changed; the +occasion now passes by almost unnoticed in the sorting office and by the +postmen. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PUBLIC OFFICE: ITS BUSINESS--THE SAVINGS BANK--PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS. + + +[Illustration: THE PUBLIC HALL, BRISTOL. + +_From a photograph by Mr. Protheroe, Wine Street, Bristol._] + +The public office of the Bristol Post Office is very commodious (50 ft. +by 44 ft.), and affords ample counter accommodation to the citizens for +properly conducting their Post Office business. It is markedly superior +as regards size and fitting-up to almost any other provincial office, +and indeed its equal in those respects is scarcely to be found in all +London. In contrast to the spacious public hall of the Bristol Post +Office and the civility of its clerks, the writer's first impressions of +the postal service of his country were by no means of a pleasant +character. When quite a small child, he was entrusted by his mother with +the mission of conveying a small rose-coloured and delicately-perfumed +letter to the Post Office in a world-famed Warwickshire town--an errand +of which he was "no end" proud. Timidly he knocked at a little wicket in +the window of the house to which he was directed. Almost immediately +the wicket was thrown open, and a very red visage appeared. "What do you +want?" "Will you put a stamp on this letter, sir, please?" "No! What the +devil do you mean by bringing letters like this? 'Tisn't big enough. +It'll get lost in some hole or corner." Frightened at this "Giant Grim," +a hasty retreat was made, and the irascible old postmaster was left to +do as he liked with letter and penny. + +The penny combined postage and Inland Revenue stamp was introduced in +1881. A new series of postage stamps was issued in 1884, and the present +series in January, 1887. + +In the year 1833 the value of the postage stamps obtained from London +for distribution in the Bristol district was L33,844; in 1862 it had +only grown to L35,720; but in 1898 it had reached the more prodigious +proportions of L171,000, of which sum those stamps of the halfpenny +denomination were of the value of L30,700, and in number 14,735,000; and +the penny stamps in value L85,775 and in number 20,586,000. Stamps of +other denominations were issued thus:--1-1/2d., 207,360; 2d., 205,920; +2-1/2d., 207,000; 3d., 364,320; 4d., 277,680; 4-1/2d., 16,000; 5d., +147,120; 6d., 534,600; 9d., 51,200; 10d., 27,840; 1s., 82,320; 2s. 6d., +2,800; 5s., 2,588; 10s., 688; 20s., 550 and L5, 4. Post-cards, embossed +envelopes, newspaper wrappers, telegraph forms and other articles of the +kind were of the value of L14,334. At the earlier period the postmaster +of the day was allowed 1 per cent. on the value of the stamps sold, in +addition to his salary. It is not so now! + +Under the system inaugurated in 1880 the postal orders issued and paid +at the Bristol public office counter number nearly half a million in the +year. The money orders paid at the counter preponderate over those +issued--the amounts respectively being L237,000 and L34,000. These sums +include the amounts received in respect of telegraph money orders--the +Department's new departure of 1890. The Government insurance and annuity +business commenced by the Post Office in 1865 is making progress in +Bristol, and the same may be said of the system started in 1880 of +investments in Government stock through Post Office medium. + +The first Post Office Savings Bank in the district was established at +the Clifton Branch Post Office on the 16th September, 1861, the year in +which savings bank business was commenced throughout the country +generally. Several accounts were opened on that day, and the amount +deposited was L35 4s. A similar institution was opened in the city in +March, 1862, at the Money Order Office, then located in the corner shop +in Albion Chambers, Small Street, opposite the present Head Post Office. +From such small beginnings a vast savings bank business has grown up. +The sum standing to the credit of depositors in the Post Office Savings +Bank in the Bristol postal area at the end of 1895, when the last +account was published, was nearly L2,000,000, deposited by some 100,000 +separate individuals. The deposits made at the head office in Small +Street reached close upon L400,000, and the other part of the amount is +made up thus: Gloucestershire side--Town Post Offices, L659,085; rural +Post Offices, L192,934. Somersetshire side--Town Post Offices, L215,295; +rural Post Offices, L91,944. The estimated amount due to depositors in +the Post Office Savings Banks throughout the whole country on the 21st +December, 1898, was L123,155,000, and the amount due to trustees of +Savings Banks on November 20th, 1898,--the latest date on which the +figures were made up--was L50,634,655. The Bristol Savings Bank was +closed in 1888, and its 12,814 accounts were transferred to the Post +Office Savings Bank. The amount of money involved was a little over half +a million. + +During Mr. Fawcett's administration at the Post Office, thrift on the +part of the nation was encouraged in every possible way. Then was +inaugurated the now familiar system for facilitating the placing of +small sums in the Post Office Savings Bank by means of postage stamps +affixed to a Post Office form as penny after penny is saved until an +amount of one shilling is reached, the minimum for a Post Office Savings +Bank deposit. + +A case occurred at a Bristol Post Office fifteen years since, in which a +young servant girl, in her desire to be thrifty under the system alluded +to, craftily obtained the key of the letter box from the secret place in +which the sub-postmaster kept it, and abstracted a number of circular +letters on School Board business, and took off the stamps for +attachment to the Savings Bank slips. She was sentenced to a term of +imprisonment, which, on account of her youth, was limited to six months. + +Amusing incidents sometimes occur to break the monotony of counter work. +For instance, a woman applied for a postal order, and when it was handed +to her, the clerk, acting upon the official instructions, recommended +the good lady to take the number before sending the order away. A few +days afterwards she appeared at the Post Office with the order and +complained that payment had been refused because the order had been +mutilated. The clerk on examining the order found that the direction to +"take the number of the order" had been acted on literally. The number +had been carefully cut out, and retained in the possession of the +applicant. It was some time before she could be made to realize her +mistake. In another instance early one fine autumn morn a young couple +presented themselves at the public office of the Bristol Post Office and +begged in earnest language that they might be supplied with a marriage +license. The request could not, of course, be complied with, but the +applicants, much to their satisfaction, were informed where they could +obtain the needed document. On another occasion some money was observed +on the counter, and on the very small child near it being asked what was +required, "Two ounces of tea and a pound of sugar" were at once +demanded. This mistake no doubt arose from the fact that the business +carried on in the late Post Office building in Exchange Avenue is that +of a tea dealer. It is a rule of the Service that letters should not be +delivered from the _Poste Restante_ except to the actual addressees or +to other persons bearing authority to receive the letters on behalf of +the addressees. A request was made at the Bristol Head Post Office for +the delivery of letters to a person other than the addressee, which +person could not produce the necessary authority to act as recipient. +The excuse given for non-production of authority was that the addressee +was asleep. The enquirer having been advised to get authority when the +addressee awoke, rather astonished the counter clerk by saying that such +awaking would not take place until Saturday, the day of application +being Tuesday. It transpired that the application was made in respect of +letters for a person who was undergoing a state of hypnotism at a +Bristol music hall. The touching incident occurred at the Bristol Post +Office of a poor woman--pressing want having come upon her at last--who +had to withdraw a shilling which she had thirty years previously +deposited in a trustee savings bank which was taken over by the Post +Office. She had to receive one penny by way of interest for the use of +her mite for thirty years. Some years since a collector of old issues of +crown-pieces presented seventy of such coins, in a good state of +preservation, at the Bristol Post Office counter as a Savings Bank +deposit. The depositor, after taking the trouble to accumulate these old +coins, had come to the conclusion that an annual interest of eight +shillings and sixpence would be more useful to him than an occasional +inspection of the coins. Few people know so little about Post Office +matters as an individual from over the Severn who recently asked for a +postage stamp. "Do you want a penny or a halfpenny stamp?" asked the +clerk. "I want a South Wales stamp," was the reply of Taffy. Then the +surprise of the counter officer must have been great when, on counting +up his money, he found that on one of the shillings the legend "Baby" +boldly appeared impressed where the Queen's head is usually found, the +coin having evidently been used as a brooch. + +The Department, in communicating with the public, prescribes that its +officers should subscribe themselves as the public's most obedient +servants, and on some of the printed forms which have to be returned in +answer to queries raised by the Department the same style is adopted for +the public to use. One dignified gentleman returned his form, from which +he had erased "Your obedient servant" and substituted "Yours +respectfully," adding a marginal note to the effect that he was not the +servant of the Department, but that the Department was his servant. + +The postmaster of Bristol is addressed by the public in various ways, as +for instance: "Postmaster General," "General Postmaster," "Bristol +Postmaster," "H.M. Chief Postmaster," "To the Postmaster in State, Small +Street, Bristol," "Head Post-Master and Surveyor of the Bristol +District," "Head Master, Post Office," "Post Office Master," +"Postmaster-in-General," "Master General, Post-Office," "Mr. ----, Esq., +Post M.G.," "Mr. ----, Esq., Post Office General," "To the Reverend Sir +Postmaster, Bristol, England." + +It is astonishing how many Foreigners and Colonists apply to the Bristol +Post Office respecting their relations, or for information as regards +trading matters. The former questions are sometimes answered, but the +latter are handed over to the courteous secretary of the Chamber of +Commerce to deal with. + +Very unusual was the circumstance of the receipt at the Bristol Post +Office in 1895, anonymously, of a sum of ten shillings in postage stamps +as conscience money, and, oddly enough, the next day threepence in +stamps was received in the same anonymous manner and for the same +purpose. These two instances were the first and the last. + +The difference between romance and fact is exemplified by an article +which appeared in a monthly magazine as follows, viz.:-- + + "A PUBLIC SERVANT." + +"Her Majesty possesses one more faithful public servant than she is +aware of, though its name does not transpire in the list of the +Ministry. Every night at the General Post Office, Bristol, a spirited +mare attached to the red mail-cart is brought, at a quarter before +midnight, to fetch the bags of letters, &c. She stands perfectly still, +waiting while the mails are sealed and tossed one by one into the +vehicle. At the five minutes before twelve, however, should all not be +ready for departure, her driver sings out 'Any more for the down train?' +by way of hurrying the officials. No sooner does the mare hear those +words than she begins to dance and curvet, showing in every possible way +her anxiety to start and her sense of the importance of her duties. But +if by any chance the first stroke of midnight should sound before they +are ready to proceed to the station, she takes matters into her own +hands, and nothing will then hold her in. Those who have to do with this +clever and beautiful creature are very proud of her, on account of the +example she sets of punctuality and attention to the affairs of the +nation." + +The real facts on which this incident is founded were, that the horse +(not mare) remained in the Post Office yard quietly from 11.10 p.m. +until midnight on one particular night only, and not generally, and +when the loading of the van commenced the horse became restive, the +final slamming of the van doors causing it to start off for the street. +In consequence of a repetition of this restlessness on another night, +and "kicking-in" the front of the van, the horse was taken off the Royal +Mail Service. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, EXPRESS DELIVERY. + + +The Saxon King, Edmund I., doubtless never conceived, when he held court +(A.D. 940-946) at his palace in the village of Pucklechurch, seven miles +from Bristol, that in generations to come there would exist, as there +does now, a telegraph office within a few yards of the site of his +castle, whence a question could be wired to the ends of the earth, and a +reply obtained in the short space of a few hours. Probably at that +remote period a journey from Pucklechurch to the north of Scotland would +have been considered as great an achievement as that in recent days of +Dr. Nansen in his endeavour to get to the North Pole. + +The first actual working telegraph was erected in 1838 between +Paddington and West Drayton on the Great Western Railway, and in the +following year Wheatstone and Cook constructed a telegraph line from +Paddington to Slough. Mr. Brunel then wished to extend the line to this +city, but the shareholders would not support him to that extent. In +1852, however, the Great Western Railway Board had the line constructed +through to Bristol. By means of it messages could, at that later date, +be forwarded to and from most parts of the kingdom from the office at +the Bristol Railway Station. Arrangements were put in progress for +extending the wires into the centre of the city, in order that greater +facilities might be afforded to those parties who might wish to avail +themselves of the means of inter-communication, and before the end of +the year the wires were laid from the railway station to the Commercial +Rooms, and subsequently three telegraph offices were opened in the city, +viz.: the Electric and International, on the Exchange; the Magnetic, in +Exchange Avenue; and the United Kingdom, in Corn Street. A telegraph +line was laid to Shirehampton, and the committee of the Commercial Rooms +subscribed L30 a year towards its maintenance. + +It is recorded that in 1859 the firm of Messrs. W. D. and H. O. Wills, +tobacconists and snuff manufacturers of this city, laid down an +electric telegraph wire between their warehouse in Maryport Street and +their manufactory in Redcliff Street, whereby the partners and employes, +although engaged in different parts of the city, were enabled to +converse with each other as readily as if occupying the same +counting-house. The wire was used solely for their own business. + +In 1862 a turnpike road telegraph was spoken of as being in course of +construction between Bristol and Birmingham. + +Mr. James Robertson, the senior assistant superintendent oL the Bristol +Telegraph Office, during his forty-two years' service, thirteen of which +were passed in the employment of the Electric and International +Telegraph Company, has had many experiences. He has culled from his +"ancient history" the fact that the amount of telegraph business +transacted by the E. and I. T. Co. at Falmouth, Plymouth, Bristol, and +London (Lothbury, head office) on March 10th, 1858, at the respective +times of day stated, was:--Falmouth, 8 messages, handed in by 10.20 +a.m.; Plymouth at 10.36 had managed to transmit 7; Bristol, at noon, +39; and Lothbury had received 116 by 12.17 p.m. Plymouth transmitted for +Falmouth, and Bristol for Plymouth. Bain's chemical recorder was the +system used on the Falmouth wire, the double needle on the Plymouth and +Bristol, and "Bains" and needles on Bristol-London circuits. The average +delay on messages at Plymouth was eighty-three minutes and at Bristol +fourteen minutes. The charge at the time from Falmouth to London was +four shillings for twenty words, addresses free. The present proprietor +of _Lloyd's Newspaper_, Mr. Thomas Catling, records an incident in which +Mr. Robertson was concerned. Mr. Catling was the only London newspaper +reporter who visited Windsor on the eventful night when the deeply +lamented Prince Consort breathed his last on 14th December, 1861. On +reaching Windsor by the last train from London he learned that His Royal +Highness had passed away about twenty minutes previously. Having +obtained at the Castle particulars of the sad event, Mr. Catling hunted +out the residence of the clerk of the Electric and International +Telegraph Company. On ringing him up, the clerk pleaded that before +going to bed he had been taking gruel and hot water to get rid of a bad +cold. He, however, got up and proceeded with Mr. Catling to the +telegraph office in High Street, whence intelligence was wired to +London. Mr. Catling preserved the receipt of that message as a souvenir +of the occasion. Mr. Robertson was the telegraph clerk who arose from +his bed to perform the service in the dead of night. + +On the transfer of the telegraph business from the companies to the +State early in 1870, the Post Office, Bristol, engaged sixteen clerks +from the Electric and International Telegraph Company, five from the +United Kingdom Company, and six from the Magnetic Company. Additional +clerks were employed by the Post Office as soon as the volume of work +could be gauged, but in the meantime the transferred clerks had to do +practically double duty. The officials taken over from the companies +were located in the Small Street Post Office, but it was not until +January, 1872, that room could be found there for the entire staff, +which had then grown to be ninety clerks and fifty messengers. The +telegraphic system soon after the Government took to it was extended in +this district to twenty of the principal villages. In the first year of +Post Office working there were 450,000 messages dealt with here, and now +the yearly number is 3,500,000. The sixpenny telegram was introduced in +1885. The local telegraph service now has a staff consisting of a +superintendent, 23 superintending officers, 140 male and 44 female +telegraphists, eight telephonists, and 155 telegraph messengers. +Telegrams are delivered from the head office, two branch offices, +fifteen town sub-offices, forty rural sub-offices, and four railway +stations. The head office has 600,000 messages delivered from it +annually, the branch and town sub-offices 220,000, and the rural +districts 74,000. Of the latter (74,000), about 8,000 are delivered at +distances of from one to three miles, and 350 at distances over three +miles. After 8.0 p.m. all the messages in the town area are delivered +from the head office. The Duke of Norfolk's 1897 concession of free +delivery of telegrams for all distances under three miles has been +appreciated by all those concerned. + +The telegraph gallery has direct telegraphic connection with the +undermentioned towns: Bath, Birmingham, Bridgwater, Cardiff, +Cheltenham, Chippenham, Clevedon, Cork, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, +Guernsey, Jersey, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newport (Mon.), +Oxford, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon, Taunton, and +Weston-super-Mare, and thirty-two smaller towns. + +Bristol plays a not unimportant part in the Post Office telephone trunk +line system, commenced in 1896. It has direct trunk lines to Bath, +Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Gloucester, London, Newport, Sharpness, +Taunton, and Weston-super-Mare. The conversations held by the public +through the medium of these lines number 4,000 weekly. + +[Illustration: THE TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT ROOM, BRISTOL POST OFFICE. + +_From a photograph by Mr. Protheroe, Wine Street, Bristol._] + +The well-ventilated and well-lighted telegraph instrument room is on the +upper floor, and extends from end to end of the building. In it there +are 102 telegraph instruments of various kinds in use, viz.: 5 A.B.C.'s, +19 double-plate sounders, 30 sounders, 28 duplexes, 5 quadruplexes, 5 +Wheatstone sets, 7 repeaters or relays, 2 concentrators and 1 hexode. +Divested of technicalities, it may be said that telegraphing on the +A.B.C. instruments is effected by alphabetic manipulative keys, which +are depressed by the fingers of the left hand of the sender at the +same time that a handle is turned with the right hand, and a +corresponding effect is produced on the dial plate of the receiver. The +double-plate sounder is read by sound from two small metal hands +striking right and left against two pieces of metal. In sending, the +working is by means of keys manipulated by the hand. The sending upon +the sounder instrument, which is that chiefly used, is done by a small +key with handle being depressed and released according to the dots and +dashes of the Morse alphabet. The signals by which messages are received +and read by the ear are produced by a bar of soft iron striking upon a +steel point placed between two coils of wire. With the A.B.C., +double-plate sounder, and sounder, only one message can be sent or +received on the wire at one time; but the duplex sounder instruments are +so constructed that two messages can be sent on the wire--one in each +direction--at the same time. Double-current duplex instruments are in +use for telegraphing to busy towns such as Plymouth, Exeter, Cardiff, +Swansea, &c., &c. The quadruplex consists of two duplex sets upon one +wire. Upon these circuits two distinct messages may be sent +simultaneously from each end. The hexode has six instruments at each end +of a single wire, enabling twelve clerks to operate at the same +time--six at each end,--and thus admits of a single wire doing so much +work as six wires worked with the ordinary sounder instrument. + +At times of pressure when race meetings are going on, or during the +cricket and football seasons, the ordinary methods of working are +supplemented by extraordinary means, thus: the duplex working between +Bristol and Manchester is augmented by Manchester connecting there a +Bristol wire with a Newcastle wire: Newcastle in like manner further +connecting the line with Glasgow, Glasgow with Edinburgh, Edinburgh with +Dundee, and Dundee with Aberdeen. Then at the Bristol end, instead of +working by means of the ordinary keys, Wheatstone working is resorted +to, viz.: the messages instead of being "keyed" are "punched," the +punching process being performed by means of iron punching sticks upon +an apparatus called the "perforator." The sticks are rapidly worked by +skilful operators upon three steel keys, which, when struck, +mechanically draw a strip of white paper tape, at the same time +perforating holes which indicate signs in accordance with the Morse +alphabet system. These slips thus "punched"--which, by-the-by, very much +resemble the perforated slips used in connection with the organette +instrument--are passed through a Wheatstone "transmitter," and buzzed +through so rapidly that 400 or 500 words can be sent in a minute. The +signals are simultaneously reproduced upon blue slips in the form of +dots and dashes at Manchester, at Newcastle, at Glasgow, at Edinburgh, +at Dundee, and at Aberdeen. The message recorded on the slips is broken +off at about every hundred words to form a "press" page at the receiving +offices for writing up by the telegraphists, a large number of whom can +be employed on the work at the same time. When this process is resorted +to the battery power for the wire has to be greatly increased. The +repeater instruments are worked in like manner, except that the system +is permanent instead of occasional. The concentrator is a recent +invention, and is used for the purpose of economising force and +apparatus, and of minimising delay and table space. By its means the +wires for eighteen to twenty offices, which use the same form of +telegraphic instrument, are led into a special switch-board, and each +wire as it is required is "switched" through to a telegraph instrument, +at which a clerk is ready to send or receive the message. Thus the +telegraphist is "fed" by the operator at the concentrator, and has to +send a message to any one of the thirty towns instead of, under ordinary +working, to only three or four towns. + +In place of over 700 batteries with 3,500 cells of the Bichromate, +Daniel and Leclanche type in use at the Bristol telegraph office for +many years, a system of accumulators or storage batteries has been +brought into operation. The power for charging the accumulators is +generated on the spot by a Crossley's gas engine driving a dynamo. The +accumulators number 250, and each has seven divisions. The hexode +instrument between Bristol and London requires a voltage of 400 dry +cells. There are two complete sets of accumulators, each with separate +connecting wires to the instrument room. One set is in use at a time. +The system of accumulators has been introduced for the purposes of +economy and saving of space. + +It may be interesting to the uninitiated to learn that in telegraphy the +earth plays the part of a return wire; thus the circuit between Bristol +and Birmingham is rendered complete by earth. The wires connected with +the two towns indicated are brought into the test boxes at the +respective places, and there connected to a single wire at each town +which finds earth by means of a zinc plate buried some twelve feet in +the soil near or under the Post Office buildings. + +Occasionally when people have been out for a drive or a cycle ride, and +their eyes have been delighted with the grand scenery to be found around +Bristol, they look, as they journey homewards, to the Government poles +and to the many wires therefrom suspended, and wonder which are +telegraph wires, which are telephone wires, where they all lead to, and +between what points messages are sent and conversations held. Such +travellers returning to Bristol by way of Almondsbury would see the +wires on the one side (telegraphs), which run from Bristol to Falfield, +Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, Gloucester, Liverpool; London to Swansea, +Newport, and Cardiff; Birmingham to Exeter; Plymouth to Liverpool; and +(telephones) Bristol to Birmingham, Gloucester, Cardiff; and on the +other side of the road (telephones) Horfield, Fylton, Almondsbury, +Newport, Cardiff, Gloucester and Birmingham. In some instances there are +two or three wires for the same place. The telegraph, and telephone +wires cross and recross each other at frequent intervals along the road, +and the whole sets of wires cross from side to side of the road between +Fylton and Almondsbury. + +Alternative routes for the wires are adopted where practicable, so that +in case of a break-down on one line communication may be kept up on the +other. + +By way of illustration of such alternate routes, it may be mentioned +that the two wires from the Head Post Office in Small Street for Swansea +run underground to Stapleton Road, at which point they are brought above +ground and diverge, one running to Wee Lane, thence to Ashley Hill, +Horfield, Almondsbury, Alveston Ship, Falfield and Berkeley, up to the +Severn Bridge; and the other branching off at the end of Stapleton Road, +and carried along the Fishponds and Chipping Sodbury roads nearly to +Yate, and down the Tortworth road to just beyond Falfield, where it +joins the other Swansea and South Wales wires, and passes over the +Severn Bridge into Wales. + +The telegraph and telephone wires in this district are chiefly erected +and maintained by soldiers of the Royal Engineers. Sixteen military +telegraphists, members of the Royal Engineers, are attached to the +Bristol Post Office, and kept in training for telegraph service with the +army. Twelve of them are now--November, 1899--in South Africa on active +service, in connection with the troubles in the Transvaal. + +In the great hurricane which occurred in January, 1899, the telephone +and telegraph wires radiating from Bristol were blown down in all +directions. In consequence Bristol was entirely cut off from direct +telephonic communication with Birmingham for 21 hours, and had only one +wire instead of two for 9-1/4 hours; from Bath for 18 hours, and had +only one wire instead of two for 5-1/2 hours; from Cardiff for 18 hours, +and had only two wires instead of three for 10-1/2 hours; from +Weston-super-Mare entirely for 24-1/2 hours; from Taunton for 28-1/2 +hours; from Exeter for 27 hours; from Sharpness for 26 hours. There was +only one wire instead of two to Gloucester for 26-1/4 hours, to London +for 6 hours, and to Newport for 20-3/4 hours. + +The trunk telephone lines were more or less interrupted for a week, +caused by the working parties engaged on repairs. + +The telegraph wires for the counties of Gloucester, Somerset, Monmouth, +Warwick, Shropshire, Worcester, Wilts, Devon, Cornwall and Lancashire +were those chiefly deranged. + +It is believed that there is only one telegraph cable in the Bristol +district, and that cable does not belong to the Postmaster-General. It +crosses the river Avon at a point adjacent to Pill and Shirehampton, and +was used by the Commercial Rooms in connection with reports of the +arrival of vessels. Up to the time of its introduction, as already +stated, "warners" were employed. The last of the old running "warners" +were Gerrish and Case. These men lived at Pill, and on hearing news from +pilots-men of the arrival of a ship in the Bristol Channel they started +off on foot to Bristol and _warned_ the merchants and wives of sailors +of the vessel's arrival in the Channel, getting, of course, fees for +their trouble,--a guinea from the merchants, and so on, down to the +shillings of the sailors' wives,--and fifty years ago these fees were +willingly paid, and the heavy postages too. The runners were men of some +little mark. + +The Post Office at Avonmouth, a Bristol sub-office, is much used for +telegraph purposes by persons on board vessels passing up and down the +Kingroad in the Bristol Channel. The Bristol Corporation placed outside +the port a large white notice board with "TELEGRAPH OFFICE" painted upon +it in black letters, to attract the attention of mariners. The messages +are chiefly received from vessels with cargoes consigned to Sharpness, +which in neap tides have often to lie in the roads for days. + +Telegrams for vessels lying in Kingroad are often taken out by boat at +midnight or in the early hours of the morning. This is often in +consequence of the tide not serving, or being too strong for the boatman +to go out at seasonable hours. + +Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel, is connected with the mainland by +a submarine cable, which is considered to be one of the most perfect of +its kind. Letters for Lundy, from Bristol and elsewhere, are carried +across by boat from Instow once a week. The nearer small islands of +Flat Holm and Steep Holm have cable telephonic communication with +Weston-super-Mare. The telephone, which is carried into the Weston Post +Office, is rented by the War Office Authorities, who allow the islanders +the use of it. Letters from Bristol for the Flat Holm are conveyed by +way of Cardiff. The island is rented from the Cardiff Corporation by a +farmer who resides upon it. His son, who lives in Cardiff, daily visits +the island in a yacht, and conveys the letters for the Trinity House +officials and residents. For the Steep Holm, Bristol letters are sent +from Weston-super-Mare; the services to the island being +tri-weekly--Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,--and are performed by a +contractor, who goes across on behalf of the War Office. The Steep Holm +is inhabited by military men only. In a manuscript of 30th March, 1825, +it is described as "Stipe Holme." One of the first serious efforts in +connection with the plan of telegraphing through space without +connecting wires was conducted between the diminutive island of Flat +Holm and the shore, a distance of about five miles; and between Penarth +and Brean Down, a distance of nine miles. An interesting illustration +of the system of wireless telegraphy was given, under the direction of +Mr. W. H. Preece, C.B., F.R.S. (now Sir W. H. Preece, K.C.B., F.R.S.), +at the Clifton College conversazione, held in honour of the learned +British Associates during the meeting of the Association at Bristol in +1898. + +The telegraph staff have seldom had their skill and smartness more +thoroughly tested than on the memorable Monday evening in February, +1893, when press messages of great length relating to the introduction +of the Home Rule Bill were sent over the wires. Twenty minutes after Mr. +Gladstone rose to speak in the House of Commons the first instalment of +the special summary of his speech reached this city. The conclusion of +the summary was received at two minutes to 7. The verbatim report +commenced to arrive at 4.49, and the last instalment reached the Bristol +Office at 8 o'clock. The total number of words in the messages sent to +Bristol was nearly 40,000. + +During the early potato season telegraphing is very brisk with Jersey. +Bristol is the only large office besides London which has direct +communication with the island. Some idea may be gathered of the extra +labour entailed on the telegraph service from the fact that in the month +of June, 1899, no fewer than 20,904 telegrams passed between Bristol and +Jersey, the normal number being only 5,800 monthly. Five or six +telegraph operators are usually sent during the season to Jersey from +Bristol. + +In Bristol about 700 firms use abbreviated telegraphic addresses. + +The telegraph money order system, started in 1889, is exhibiting +marvellous developments in the local service. + +The express letter delivery service, which came into operation in 1891, +is very useful to the public. By means of this agency the Post Office +distributes by express messenger 300,000 letters and parcels annually. +Of that number Bristol contributes 7,000 services. Bicycles and +tricycles are now delivered for the public from any telegraph office in +Bristol and district by special messenger at a fee of 3d. per mile, +without any charge for weight. The messengers are not permitted to ride +upon the cycles, except by the permission of the senders, but will wheel +them up to a distance of three miles. + +An express delivery messenger has been used, ere now, for the convoy of +a traveller from point to point in a town unknown to him or her. The +Post Office is often required to assist even more closely in the +domestic relations of life. Recently a gentleman from America wrote to +the Clifton Post Office to enquire whether a certain near relative of +his could be found, as he was very anxious to see her before return to +America. He enclosed a shilling stamp for a reply by telegraph, and +begged for urgency. The relative was found and her address given. The +applicant's ardour to see his relative cooled, or his stay in the +country was abridged, for instead of paying the proposed visit, he +begged the Post Office officials to expend five shillings, which he +sent, in the purchase of cut roses for his relative. Of course, this was +outside the round of Post Office duties, but the clerks obligingly +attended to it, with the aid of a telegraph messenger who was off duty +at the moment. + +Occasional mistakes are not to be wondered at when people write +illegibly. Through the improper formation of the capital letter, D, in +the proper name Dyster, has in telegraphing been turned into O, and the +name made Oyster, with the result of misdelivery of the telegram to a +firm of fishmongers having "Oyster" as an abbreviated address. It must +have been extremely painful to an anxious parent to receive a telegram +summoning him to a nursing home far distant, in terms that his "sow was +worse," and begging him to come at once; the telegraphist having made +the slight mistake of transcribing "w" for "n." The gentleman who sent a +telegram to his town house in the West End of London asking that his +covert coat might be forwarded to him was no doubt considerably +astonished when his butler returned the telegram to him by post asking +for an explanation, and he found that the text of it was "Pigs, 9/3, +8/9, and 8/-." The error was occasioned in connection with the use of +multiple addresses for a bacon-trading firm's telegrams. In another +instance a curious complication resulted through imperfect spacing on +the part of the signalling telegraphist, thus:--A telegram written by +the sender as "To ----, Fore St., Northam, Bideford. Be in attendance +Public Offices," was transcribed thus:--"To ---- forest, Northam, +Bideford. Be in at ten dance Public Offices," and, owing to the number +of words counting the same as the number signalled, the inaccuracy was +not discovered until a repetition had been obtained from the office of +origin on application of the addressee. It was printed in a Midland +newspaper that at the presentation of a sword of honour to the Sirdar +the Common Councilmen attended in their "margarine gowns," and, of +course, the error of using "margarine" for "mazarine" was put down to +the carelessness of the telegraph clerk. A telegram was sent indicating +arrival at 8 Mostyn Crescent, in a favourite North Wales town. At one +stage in transmission "Mostyn" became converted into "mostly," and at +the next office of transmission "Crescent" became "pleasant," and the +telegram when delivered read "Arrived 8 mostly pleasant." The Prime +Minister who had informed his audience that "there was no prospect of an +immediate general election, that they had a working majority, and the +Government was of good cheer," would not have been pleased had he seen +that the last word in the telegram posted up in the Bristol Commercial +Rooms had been transcribed as "of good cheek." + +A telegram, "Have arranged for Sunday. Dening," with the first two words +struck out, and "arrangement complete" substituted underneath, was +handed in at a telegraph office by a well-known and much respected +Bristol clergyman. At the forwarding office the message was +unfortunately read "For Sunday Dinning arrangement complete," the +erasure and addition not having been properly understood and the proper +name misspelt. At the delivering office the message again suffered +alteration, and became "For Sunday dining arrangements complete." It may +readily be supposed that the addressee was somewhat astonished at the +peculiar text of the message. + +The following is from the Bristol _Times and Mirror_ of February, 1893, +and has reference to a little inaccuracy on the part of a telegraph +assistant employed at a Bristol sub-post office. The incident itself is +correctly reported:--"Garraways, 12 o'clock. Dear Mrs. B.--Chops and +tomato sauce. Yours Pickwick," settled the hash of a well-known +character; and a wire, "Going to Bath to meet girl. Not back to dinner," +had, very nearly, a similar effect on the domestic relations of one of +the smartest solicitors in our city. The telegraph has had, in its time, +much to answer for, "but never aught like this." When Puck said: "I'll +put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes," he little thought +what mischief he might do. It was only the other day we read how a stray +dropped line destroyed a horse, killed a cow, and cut off the head of a +nigger; but these accidents were a trifle compared with what might have +happened if the message first quoted could not have been explained. The +learned gentleman it appears has a brother, by name Gilbert, familiarly +known in the circle as "Gil." The latter, having business in Bath, wrote +asking his relative to dine with him at the "Christopher." The learned +advocate at once accepted; but, being a thoroughly domesticated man, +telegraphed to his better-half: "Going to Bath to meet Gil; not back to +dinner." Then came in the "cussedness" of the wire which substituted +"girl" for "Gil," and hence the temporary ructions when the happy +husband, having succeeded with his latchkey, sought repose. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +TELEGRAPH MESSENGERS. + + +The telegraph messengers in uniform employed in the Bristol district +number about 160. They have a literary institute, a drum and fife band, +hold swimming classes, etc. That there is need of night classes may be +inferred from the following specimens of telegraph messengers' +orthography and syntax:-- + +(1) "Supt, Sir, I will try to be more careful in the pass. Yours obed, +H. P----." + +(2) "Supt, Sir, I having asked where the message was ment for and they +told me to go up the road where I should see a chemist shop where I +should find it about there and I having could not find it I asked, a +gentleman which he said it was farther up the road and I left it with +cotton the undertaker which he said it was quite right.--G. H----." + +(3) "Supt, sir, I will try to be more extint in the future as this is +the truth.--M. T----." + +(4) "Supt, Sir, I much regret not returning my report But I left it home +in my other Pocket in my overcoat which is home drying which was wet +through on Saturday last. Yours obed H. E----." + +The institute was inaugurated at a public meeting at the Colston Hall on +the 1st December, 1892, which was attended by a large and influential +gathering of citizens. Upon the platform were the Mayor of Bristol (Mr. +W. R. Barker), who presided, the Very Rev. the Dean of Bristol (Dr. +Pigou), Mr. Charles Townsend, M.P., Rev. R. Cornall, Mr. R. C. Tombs +(the postmaster), Mrs. R. C. Tombs, Dr. Lansdown, jun., Miss Synge, Miss +Pollock, Messrs. John Harvey, Arthur Baker, E. G. Clarke, H. Lewis, C. +H. Tucker, R. L. Leighton, W. H. Lindrea, J. R. Bennett, E. Sampson; +also Messrs. A. J. Flewell (superintendent of the telegraph department), +W. H. Gange, J. Robertson, J. S. Gover, J. J. Mackay, H. T. Carter +(superintendent of the postal department). + +It was explained that the telegraph messengers were engaged at from +thirteen to fourteen years of age, and the lessons they had learned at +school had chiefly been supplemented by a knowledge acquired in the +streets. The object was to counteract street influences by providing +elementary instruction, recreation, and interesting literature. There +was no desire to educate the boys to such a pitch that Jack would think +himself better than his master, but to take care that they should not +degenerate. It was announced that the hours of labour had just been +reduced from sixty-two to fifty per week, which would be a great boon to +the boys. It was further stated that a private appeal had been made, not +in vain, to a few of Bristol's most generous citizens, and that through +their kindly aid, with subscriptions from the members of the staff and +the grant which it was hoped to earn from the Education Department, the +institute would be carried on without pecuniary embarrassment. The +description of the institute's work was as follows:-- + +1. The institute would be open to the telegraph messengers and to junior +officers of the postal and telegraph service, the charge to each member +to be one penny per week. + +2. The institute would be carried on in a room at the General Post +Office. + +3. In connection with the institute an evening school would be held, the +educational session to last from October to May. An annual examination +of the members of the classes would be held. + +4. In addition to the three elementary subjects,--reading, writing, and +arithmetic,--classes would be arranged for the study of Scripture, +geography, drawing, composition, and shorthand. + +5. For the purpose of recreation certain games would be provided. + +6. In connection with the institute there would be a library, which had +been formed by means of books generously given by the citizens of +Bristol. + +7. The library would be open to any established or unestablished officer +of the postal and telegraph service at a slight subscription per month. + +8. A penny savings bank would also be started. + +The Chairman said he gladly consented, to preside that evening, because +the object of the meeting was one in which he took deep interest, and +one which he felt sure would commend itself to a very large number of +his fellow-citizens. He thought he might say that everything connected +with the postal service was peculiarly interesting to them all, and +anything they could do to ameliorate the lot of those who daily rendered +them such important service they would be very glad to do. He thought it +would not be well to make the movement too "goody" in its character, or +too educational, so he was glad to see that there was a lighter side to +the scheme. + +Mr. Charles Townsend, M.P., Mr. Arthur Baker, Mr. Harold Lewis, Miss +Synge, and members of the postal and telegraph, staff, also spoke. + +Then, the Dean of Bristol addressed the telegraph messengers, and said +he really should have been disappointed if he had not been invited to +attend the meeting. It was a pleasant part of his privilege in +ministering in Bristol to be asked to take a share in such an +interesting gathering as they were holding that evening. One of the best +features of this institute was that it would assist them to put their +leisure to the most profitable use. + +The educational work has been progressing steadily ever since its +inauguration, and much good has resulted from it to the messengers. + +Ever ready to give their countenance to entertainments for the benefit +of the community, their Graces the late lamented Duke, and the Dowager +Duchess, of Beaufort, as their first public act after coming to reside +at Stoke Park, near our city, attended a concert at the Redland Park +Hall, which was held for the purpose of benefiting the funds of the +Telegraph Messengers' Institute. Later on, May 21st, 1898, they were +kind enough to attend an annual meeting and a prize distribution at the +Colston Hall. The late Duke, who presided on the occasion, said it was a +great pleasure to him to be present. He had witnessed a good deal of the +care and discipline with which the Post Office messengers were looked +after. Like everybody who had a great deal of correspondence, he had the +privilege of having the services of the best regulated Post Office in +the world. They also had in this country the privilege of being able to +use the best regulated telegraph service. They might be perfectly sure +that if a man wanted to send a telegram, when once he put it into the +hands of the postal officials, however ill-written or badly addressed it +might be, it was very probable that the telegram would reach its +destination. Those who had a good deal of correspondence were deeply +indebted for the splendid organisation of the Bristol Department. They +were also very much indebted to the telegraph clerks, who deciphered the +scrawls handed them, and who transmitted the messages. They were deeply +indebted also to the boys for the way in which they refrained from +stopping to play marbles, and did their duties with great zeal, and +delivered their messages at the proper places and to the proper persons. +They would understand that they were Government officers, and that they +had to discharge important duties. He could personally say that those +duties were thoroughly well carried out in the city of Bristol and its +neighbourhood. + +The Duchess of Beaufort then distributed the prizes, after which a +telegraph messenger presented Her Grace with a basket of choice flowers. + +The Bishop of Bristol addressed the lads, and urged them to do their +duty thoroughly when on duty, and to enter heartily into healthy play +when off duty. In doing their duty they should remember one or two +things. They might be charged with the delivery of a message which was a +matter of life or death; it might be one regarding which thousands of +pounds depended; or it might be one of little importance. But, whatever +it was, it was not for them to enquire, but to deliver the message with +punctuality and promptness. Having spoken of the discipline and training +telegraph boys received, he observed that of all telegraph boys, for +punctuality, steadiness, courtesy, and politeness, the Bristol boys were +about the best. He urged them also to live pure lives and observe +complete honesty, that they might become worthy citizens of whom the +country might be proud. He was glad to hear the name of the lady (Miss +Pollock) who conducted the scriptural class so cordially received, which +showed that the lady and her work had taken hold of the hearts of the +boys. The excellence of their work as boys, and as men, and the +enjoyment of their lives, in the best sense, depended upon their +becoming God-fearing. He should be pleased to give a prize in connection +with the Scripture class. + +The letters of the Bishop, written with reference to the occasion, +should not be left unchronicled. They ran as follows, viz.:-- + + "Church House, + Dean's Yard, S.W., + _May 10th, 1898_. + +"MY DEAR POSTMASTER,--I am speaking at Bath on the afternoon of the +20th, and am engaged to stay the night. But I think your proposal so +important that I am writing to my host, Mr. S., to ask if he has engaged +friends to meet me. If he can excuse me, I will, if all be well, come to +you and say something. + + "Yours very truly, + G. F. BRISTOL." + + "The Athenaeum, + _May 12th, 1898_. + +"MY DEAR POSTMASTER,--I have arranged to return to Bristol on the +evening of May 20, and if all be well can be with you. Send me a card of +place and hour. + + "Yours very truly, + G. F. BRISTOL." + +The following extract from a letter in which His Grace wrote concerning +the meeting, is indicative of the interest which he took in matters +affecting the postal and telegraph services of Bristol, viz.:-- + + "Stoke Park, + Stapleton, near Bristol, + _21st May, 1898_. + +"DEAR MR. TOMBS,--I must write you a few lines of thanks for the very +pleasant evening you gave us last night. Both the Duchess and I enjoyed +it very much. I was remarkably struck with the appearance of your boys: +such nice, clean, smart-looking youths. What a difference drill makes to +lads! They have already a smart--soldierlike, I should call +it--appearance, and I am sure it tends to sharpen their minds as well as +to straighten their bodies. + + "Believe me to remain, + Yours truly, + BEAUFORT." + +The messengers little thought as they listened to the Duke's encouraging +words, addressed to them on the occasion of the meeting, that they +would before a year had passed away be sending a modest, humble, but +loving tribute, in the form of a wreath, which was thought worthy to be +suspended over the pulpit in Badminton Church at the Duke's obsequies, +in juxtaposition with a wreath of mammoth proportions sent by the +officers of the 7th Dragoons (the Duke's old Regiment). + +The Bristol telegraph messengers have cause to remember that bright +Saturday afternoon in 1895 when, preceded by their drum and fife band, +they marched out to Burfield, Westbury-on-Trym, the country residence of +Sir (then Mr.) R. H. Symes, the Mayor of Bristol. They were there +enabled to have a few hours of recreation and pleasure, and to forget +the busy hum of the city with its turmoil and heat. Following the +excellent example, Mr. Arthur Baker, of Henbury, and other country +gentlemen have invited the boys out on Saturday afternoons, to encourage +them to keep banded together for good purposes, and to maintain that +_esprit de corps_ which is so necessary in a body of youths drawn +together after the manner of the Telegraph Messengers' Class. + +A most memorable occasion was that in 1897, when the messengers were +inspected by Lieutenant-Colonel MacGregor, of the 24th Middlesex R.V.C., +London. They mustered at the Post Office, and, under the direction of +Inspectors Mawditt, Appleby (late 29th Regiment and sergeant-major +Scinde Volunteers), and Cook (late Royal Marines), and headed by their +drum and fife band, marched to the Artillery Drill Ground in Whiteladies +Road where, in presence of many visitors, military and civilian, they +were put through manual exercises, physical drill to music, and then +reviewed on the parade ground. In the speeches which followed the boys +were complimented on their efficiency and smart appearance. It was on +this occasion that it was announced the Postmaster-General had obtained +the sanction of the Treasury for a grant of money in order to encourage +telegraph messengers' institutes and drill in the large towns. Under +this scheme, prizes for proficiency in drill and general good conduct +are awarded--a system which has since been found to work admirably. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +LETTER DELIVERY SYSTEM. POSTMEN: THEIR DUTIES AND RECREATIONS. + + +The extent of the Bristol postal establishment in 1775 may be gleaned +from the reply given by the Postmasters-General to a memorial +complaining that there was only one letter carrier for the delivery of +all the letters received in Liverpool. The answer was that only one +letter carrier was maintained in any provincial town, including the +premier city of Bristol, and that they did not think themselves +justified in incurring for Liverpool the expense of another. An +additional Bristol postman was, however, appointed between then and +January, 1778. In 1792 there were four letter carriers at Bristol, but +only two appear to have been allowed by the Department, the other two +being employed as extras, and provided for, probably, by an extra charge +on the letters delivered. The Bristol letter carriers were not supplied +with uniform clothing until 1858. Then, a hat and coat once yearly, and +a waterproof cape once in two years, were given to them. The uniform +clothing was not supplied to the auxiliary letter carriers. Bags or +pouches for the men to carry for the protection of the letters were at +that time provided. + +In 1859 the postmen wore scarlet uniform and issued out from the Post +Office three times daily to traverse the length and breadth of the city +in the distribution of letters. In 1899 the "men in blue" sally forth +six times every day. + +In the postmen's department there are now seven inspectors and three +hundred and seventy postmen. The delivery of letters in the town +district is made from the head office. There is a branch delivering +office at Clifton, but those at North Street and Phippen Street were +long since abandoned. In the Bristol postal district, sixty years ago, +there were fewer than 20,000 letters delivered in a week, or about +1,000,000 in a year--a number now nearly reached in a week. The letters +delivered annually from the Central Post Office number 31,000,000; from +the Clifton Post Office, 6,250,000; from the suburban offices and rural +offices, 7,300,000. It is a noteworthy fact that the letters posted in +Bristol for delivery within its own limit form 27 per cent. of the +total number, which percentage is only surpassed at two or three of the +large cities of the Kingdom. Six deliveries of letters and five +deliveries of parcels are made in the city, with ten collections. The +average number of persons to whom letters are delivered by each postman +in Bristol (city) is 1,800. There are 666,536 parcels delivered +annually. To each of two firms are delivered more than one quarter of a +million letters annually, equal to one hundredth part of the total +number of letters delivered. + +The distances from the head office to the extreme outward terminal City +and Clifton delivery points are as follows:--Westbury Park, 2-1/2 miles; +Horfield Barracks, 3 miles; Ridgeway, 2-1/2 miles; Barton Hill, 1-3/4 +miles; Arno's Vale, 1-3/4 miles; Totterdown, 2 miles; Bedminster Down, 2 +miles; Ashton Gate, 2 miles; and Clifton Suspension Bridge, 1-1/2 miles. +The trams are used by the postmen, and the Department pays the Tramways +Company a lump sum in respect thereof. The convenience in this respect +will be enhanced when the electric traction system is fully introduced. + +In the sorting office the letters are sorted to the various rounds by +postmen dividers, and the general body of postmen then have to arrange +them at their desks seated on little revolving stools. The process +adopted by the postmen in setting in their letters for delivery may be +explained by the following example relating to what is technically known +as the "Cotham Brow Walk." The letters are first primarily divided +(upright) into streets, roads, squares, courts, etc., taken thus--viz.: +(_a_) Sydenham Road, 1 to 18 (one side only); (_b_) Sydenham Hill, 45 to +11, odd numbers (one side only); (_c_) Tamworth Place 13 to 1 (one side +only); (_d_) Arley Hill, 2 to 34 and 5 to 27 (cross); (_e_) Arley Park +(cross); (_f_) Arley Hill, 36 and 38 and 29 to 41 (cross); (_g_) Cotham +Brow, 124 to 88 and 125 to 27 (cross); (_h_) Southfield Road, 2 to 28 +and 1 to 27 (cross); (_i_) Upper Sydenham Road, 38 to 19 (one side +only); (_j_) Springfield Road, 47 to 85, odd numbers (one side only). +Then the letters for one of the above-named ten divisions or streets are +taken one by one and placed in order of actual delivery flat on the +table; then all are gathered together and stood upright, the letters +for each division being treated in like manner. When the letters for +any one street or road, etc., have been set in order, fresh batches of +letters of, say, thirty or so, are fully sub-divided by the same process +before being set in with the accumulated and finished letters. This +course is necessary in order to obviate the postman having to go through +a set of fifty or a hundred letters time after time as he gets a fresh +batch of letters. Two hours are allowed for the morning delivery and one +and a half hours for other deliveries. As those who have the longest +rounds have the lightest burdens, they all contrive to finish at about +the same time. + +The Clifton Suspension Bridge, which was erected in 1864 at a cost of +L100,000, plays a very unimportant part in postal affairs, as it serves +for the passage over the Avon of three postmen only, who cross with +letters for the Leigh Woods and Failand districts. Long Ashton, which +has a carriage road approached by the bridge from the Clifton side, +receives its letters by a postman who crosses by a ferry lower down the +river and reaches his destination more expeditiously than by crossing +over the bridge. + +A Bristol postman, who was well acquainted with the locality which he +had to serve, met with an ugly accident through colliding with a +lamp-post, recently erected and not supplied with gas for lighting up. +It had been put up during the man's interval of duty, so that he came +upon it for the first time when it was shrouded in darkness. The +postmen, having in the discharge of their duties to be early birds and +to be first out and about in the morning, often pick up articles lost or +deposited overnight. Thus it was that a postman found on one winter's +morn in a Bristol suburb a parcel containing the dead body of a child, +and had to constitute himself a corpse-carrier for the nonce. It was in +this city of Bristol that the following somewhat amusing and certainly +interesting incident took place. Two rats were found in combat over a +letter, which, delivered in due course by the postman, had fallen upon +the floor at the entrance to a warehouse, and had been dragged thence to +the spot where the rodents were engaged in their fierce encounter, the +gum on the flap probably being the attraction. The letter contained a +cheque for L300, and its loss for some days caused no small amount of +consternation and anxiety to the gentleman who should have received it, +and who, it need scarcely be said, at once gave orders for a letter-box +to be attached to his warehouse door. + +It was well for the Magistrates' Clerk for the Gloucestershire Division +of Bristol that he was well known to the postman, or assuredly he would +never have received the letter addressed thus: "Mr. Latchem Laforegat +pleace stashun," the proper address being: "Mr. Latcham, Lawford's Gate +Police Station, Stapleton Road, Bristol." + +Recently many valuable dogs were poisoned in different parts of the +city, and a suggestion appeared in the newspapers that the postmen might +be urged to constitute themselves amateur detectives for the discovery +of the miscreants, on the ground that they enter every garden and knock +at every door throughout the length and breadth of Bristol, and that at +early morn and late at night as well as by day. The postmen are public +spirited, but it is hardly likely that they would go considerably out of +their way for the purpose, considering the risks which they run from +dogs and the annoyances to which they are subjected to by them. The +postmen have to face the snappish terrier and the ferocious-looking +bulldog. Not infrequently they get bitten, and more frequently get +soundly abused if, for their own protection, they belabour a dog +occasionally, or give it a taste of their belt for want of a better +weapon of defence or offence. Reciprocity would demand that if the +postmen look out for dog poisoners, the owners of dogs on their part +should take the utmost care to keep their dogs properly secured when +known to be dangerous or to have a special dislike to the public +servants in blue. The bold announcement given on the pillar of a gateway +of a residence in a fashionable suburb of Bristol, "Beware of the +bulldog," is not calculated to give confidence to the postmen who have +to deliver the letters. One poor dog, well known in the city, fell dead +in Small Street; and as the dog had just been seen to visit the Post +Office, and even to drink from a Bristol Dogs' Home trough standing in +the portico, it was assumed by the many spectators of the poodle's sad +death that he had come to an untimely end through drinking poisoned +water from the Post Office trough. The vessel was therefore confiscated +by an over-zealous supporter of the Dogs' Home, and the water was +subjected to analysis, but investigation proved that it was innocuous, +although from an examination it transpired that the dog really had died +from poison, which had, however, been taken in meat. + +A London firm made indignant enquiry as to why a letter had been +returned to them through the Returned Letter Office, seeing that it was +addressed to a well-known and distinguished baronet living near Bristol. +It turned out that the right hon. gentleman was himself the cause of the +return of the letter, as he read the contracted words "Rt. Honb.," in a +line preceding his own name, as the name of "Robt. Hunt," a person who +lived near his mansion, and he gave the letter back to the postman with +the foregoing result. In 1847 a letter indicative of the times, with the +following superscription, as noticed in the post:--"To the Post Office, +Bristol, Somersetshire, England, 115 miles west of London, this letter +is to be delivered to the Ladey that transported Jobe Smith and 2 others +with him near Bristol." Members of the public complain from time to time +in indignant terms respecting the loss of letters in the post, but in +very many instances they afterwards write in meeker strain to say they +have discovered the missing letters--in most unlikely places in their +homes. + +At a dinner given by officials of the Bristol Post Office, the Dean of +Bristol bestowed praise on the postmen for success in conveying +ill-addressed letters to their destination. Dr. Pigou cited their +performances in his own case. He had been addressed as Pigue, Picken, +Pigon, Pigour, Pickles, Peggue, Puegon, Ragou, and Pagan. That +"Ragou"--not being a name beginning with "P"--should have reached him, +he thought could only be explained as the result either of a flash of +inspiration or of the recollection of previous "hashes" of his name; but +"Pickles" evidently got home on the mere strength of its initial letter, +and though, as he complained, it is hard lines to be addressed as "Dr. +Pagan" after having been thirty or forty years in orders, the written +word would much more nearly resemble his real name than several of the +other addresses which did find him. "The Head Gamekeeper, the Deanery, +Bristol," was, of course, mysterious. The letter contained a circular +advertising wire netting for pheasants, rabbits, and hares; and when the +Dean replied, pointing out that the only space available on his +premises--an area of 30 ft. by 40 ft.--was too small to rear pheasants +in, he received, a further circular recommending a trial of "our dog +biscuits." Occasionally, also, the local postmen meet with letters so +peculiarly addressed as that for "Mr. ----, Oction her and Countent, +Corn Street, Bristol," and another for "Chowl, near Temple," intended +for "Cholwell, near Temple Cloud." The postmen collect, too, letters +peculiarly addressed to other places. + +There are still a few postmen veterans in the Bristol Post Office who +are toiling on long after having exceeded their "three score years." +Doubtless these aged men excite sympathy as they are seen on their daily +rounds, and the thought presents itself to the public mind that the Post +Office is harsh to make them labour when so far advanced in years. Such +is not the case, however, as the men, unfortunately not being entitled +to pensions, have been allowed to continue to perform their duties long +after pensionable established men would have been retired, either +willingly or compulsorily, under the regulations which now call for a +Civil servant's retirement to be considered his reaching the age of +sixty years. These old worthies are not Post Office short-service men; +but, as their good conduct stripes testify, they have for long years +served their Queen and country. + +J. S., one of these life-long toilers, who worked as an uncovenanted +postman for many years, commenced his career in the navy. When fifteen +years of age (1844) he joined the gunnery ship _Excellent_ at +Portsmouth, Captain (afterwards Admiral) Chade being then in command. +After serving two years, he was transferred to the old _Conway_, then +engaged in putting down the slave trade in East African waters; and +after three years on board that vessel he went to the brig _Helena_, and +was with her in the West Indies for several years. In about 1854 he was +passed to the _Britannia_ for Mediterranean service. While sailing from +Gibraltar to Malta, S. met with a serious accident. Being considered a +smart young man, he was ordered by the captain to assist another "A.B." +to rig the topgallant yard-arm. While thus at work he fell from the +maintopmast cross-trees into the main rigging, again to the main chains, +and then overboard--a drop in all of 120 feet. A boat was lowered +promptly, and he was soon picked up, but he was in an insensible +condition. It was found on examination by the ship's surgeon that his +skull was fractured. He went into hospital on arrival at Malta, and +there he remained six months. Shortly after the accident, the +_Britannia_, which was the Admiral's flagship, was ordered to the Crimea +(1855), and not only did the seaman who took over S.'s gun meet with his +death by the shells from the fortifications at Sebastopol, but the whole +of the gallant tars fighting on the starboard side of the ship were +killed. S. was taken to London on board the _Growler_ (Sir Charles +Wood), the first steamer he had ever seen, and was incapacitated for two +or three years, but fortunately he obtained a pension on having to leave +the navy. He was engaged in private life till 1878, when, at the age of +49 years, he was given Post Office work, on which he was employed for +twenty years, and, indeed, until he again came to grief through an +accident when on duty at Christmas, 1898. On this occasion he was +knocked over by a cart in Victoria Street, which ran into the parcel +handcart S. was wheeling, and which sent him flying into the mud and his +parcels all about in the road. This put an end to his Post Office +career, and the old man, with disabled body from his first accident and +somewhat impaired faculty from the latter, has now sunk back into +seclusion, and it is hoped that he may end his days in peace. Except for +three weeks' illness caused by influenza, he was never away on sick +leave out of his twenty years of Post Office service. Not once was S. +late at work. He was, he says, always out of bed at 3 a.m., and so +punctual was he known to be that the remark was often made when he +entered the office, that "We know what time it is without looking at the +clock." On leaving the Post Office service this year (1899) a small +gratuity was awarded him. + +S. T., although in his 71st year, managed up till quite recently to +perform Post Office work for a few hours daily. From early boyhood up to +his 22nd year, T. was engaged at shoemaking in this city; then he +enlisted and served as gunner and driver in the Royal Horse Artillery +for three years. Having obtained his discharge from the army, he acted +as policeman on the Great Western Railway for a few months. At the time +of the Crimean War, T. again enlisted, this time as a seaman and gunner +in Her Majesty's Navy. He was disabled in action and discharged with a +life pension. For the next twenty-seven years he followed his former +occupation of shoemaking and rounding, working for about twenty years +for one firm in this city. When 53 years of age, he first obtained +employment in the Post Office, working for a few hours daily, and +receiving 10s. per-week. He is a member of the Crimean and Indian +Veterans' Association. + +A Bristol Post Office benefit society was established in March, 1861. It +became the Bristol Letter Carriers' Sick Benefit Society in 1862, and +was carried on under that title up to 1890 when it ceased. + +Early in the year of 1896, the remains of the late Thomas Rutley, one of +the oldest of Bristol postmen, were interred at Greenbank Cemetery. +About one hundred postmen, headed by the Post Office band, were in +attendance to mark their sympathy, and respect to his memory. The Rev. +Moffat Logan conducted the service. Such a mark of respect is not always +accorded to deceased Post Office servants. The writer recollects on a +bright summer day having attended the funeral at Highgate Cemetery of +one of the oldest and most respected superintendents in the Post Office, +London. The good man was so much liked by those who served under him +that he had gained for himself the name of "Honest John," yet there was +only one other official besides the writer to stand by his graveside. + +The postmen have a military band, composed of thirty members of their +own staff. The primary object is to advance the art of music in the Post +Office, and, secondarily, to provide concerts in the open spaces in +Bristol for the benefit of the public. A grand concert is given by the +band every year, which is usually attended by some 3,000 of the +inhabitants, attracted chiefly by the popularity of the Post Office and +by the fame of artistes so eminent as Madame Ella Russell, Madame Fanny +Moody, Mr. Plunkett Greene, and others, who have from time to time been +engaged. + +The "D" Company of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Gloucester Regiment is +composed almost exclusively of members of the Bristol Post Office. For +three years in succession, (1894-5-6), this company won the first prize +in the drill competition and also first prize and challenge vase in the +volley firing competition. The company challenge bowl and first prize, +and the brigadier's cup and third prize in the Western District of +England, were also won by the company during the same period. For many +years the Bristol Post Office has had two out of the nine +representatives of the battalion competing for the Queen's Prize. The +company has also been well represented in all the battalion and county +shooting matches. Of the eight battalion signallers, five are Post +Office men, who have on several occasions held first place in the +Volunteer service annual examinations. + +The postmen of Bristol maintain for the winter months two of the old +veterans who are under the auspices of the Crimean and Indian Mutiny +Veterans' Association. + +Mr. Goodenough Taylor, one of the proprietors of the _Times and Mirror_ +newspaper, has kindly given a Ten Guinea Challenge Cup, to be raced for +by Bristol postmen who use bicycles in connection with their Post Office +business of delivering and collecting letters. The cup has to be won +three years, not necessarily in succession, before it becomes the +postman's sole property. The terms under which the competition for the +cup is held are as follows, viz.:--"Competitors to be postmen of any +age or rank; appointed, unestablished, auxiliary, or sub-postmaster's +assistant, of not less than two years' service, who have never won a +prize in public competition. Competitors to be certified as having in +the course of the preceding twelve months, under official sanction or +direction, ridden 150 miles in the execution of their official duties, +or to and from the office when attending duty. The race to be a handicap +race of two miles, to take place on the Gloucestershire County Ground or +other enclosure during each year. The postmaster, assisted by experts +in the Post Office service, to be the handicapper. The handicap to be +framed on points of age, physical ability, and regard to be had to the +weight or kind of bicycle to be used in competition." Postman Newman, +of Coalpit Heath, was the winner this year (1899). + +The postmen have a library, consisting now of some 700 volumes. It was +started in 1892. The writer made an appeal through the local press for +gifts of books to form the nucleus of a library for the postmen and +telegraph messengers attached to the Bristol Post Office. This appeal +was liberally and promptly responded to by the residents of Bristol and +Clifton. Warmest thanks are due to the newspaper proprietors for their +kindness in inserting paragraphs relating to the subject, as, but for +their powerful co-operation in the matter, the movement could not have +been brought to a successful issue. A well-known literary gentleman at +Clifton gave eighty volumes, Mr. Harold Lewis, B.A., showed his interest +in the movement by the donation of 200 copies; and Mr. J. W. Arrowsmith +has frequently given fifty volumes at a time. The postmen themselves +manage the library, and contribute small sums weekly towards its +maintenance and further development. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +POST LETTER BOXES: POSITION, VIOLATION, PECULIAR USES. + + +The three hundred and fifty pillar and wall letter boxes are placed at +convenient points, regard being had to the wants of the immediate +neighbourhood that each has to serve--to approach by paved crossings, to +contiguity to a public lamp, to being out of the way of pedestrians and +as far removed from mud-splashing as possible. At the same time, the +inspectors endeavour to place the boxes so that they may be an +attraction, rather than an eyesore, to the spot where erected. + +The sign of "The Pillar Box" has been given to a public-house before +which a Post Office box stands. Occasionally the Post Office letter +boxes are greatly misused. Some little time since a woman in Bristol was +savage enough to drop oil of vitriol, nitric acid, and other dangerous +fluids into the boxes. She even poured paraffin into the letter box at a +post office, and dropped an ignited match in after it. A conflagration +was only averted by the fortunate circumstance of the postman clearing +the box just in time to extinguish the commencing fire. The woman's +determination is evidenced from the fact that her hands were severely +burned by the strong acid she used; but, notwithstanding this, she +continued night after night to carry on her dastardly work. She was +found out after much anxious watching, and having, on trial, been found +guilty, she was sentenced by a lenient judge to six months' +imprisonment. She would assign no reason for her incomprehensible +behaviour even when asked by the judge in court. Not infrequently, +mischievous children place lighted matches, rubbish, etc., in the Post +Office letter boxes, and in the letter boxes of private houses and +warehouses. The Post Office officials are always on the alert to +discover the delinquents. It is desirable also that the public, in their +own interests, should call the attention of postmen and the police at +once to any case in which they may observe letter boxes being tampered +with. It may not be generally known that offences of this kind are +punishable by imprisonment under the Post Office Protection Act. + +A remarkable case was that of a servant who was a somnambulist, and who +for some time wrote letters in her sleep, night after night, and took +them to adjacent letter boxes to post. Sometimes she was fully attired, +and at other times only partially so. As a rule, the letters were +properly addressed, but the girl did not always place postage stamps +upon them. + +Occasionally the postmen have to encounter the difficulties arising from +a frost-bound letter box. Such a case occurred with a box situated on +the summit of the Mendip Hills. The letter box and the wall in which the +box is built were found by the postman to be covered with ice, caused by +rain and snow having frozen on them. The door resisted all his efforts +to open it, and he had to leave it for the night. On making another +effort when morning came, it taxed his ingenuity and that of other +interested and willing helpers to get the box open. Hot water was tried, +paraffin was poured into the lock, and it was only after a hammer had +been used and a fire in a movable grate had been applied for a time that +the lid could be opened. + +A letter box erected in a brick pillar in a secluded spot on the East +Harptree road, about a mile distant from any habitation, was, late one +night, damaged to the extent of having its iron door completely smashed +off, apparently either by means of a large stone which lay at its base +when the violation was discovered, or by means of a hammer and jemmy. +Although the adjacent ground, ditches, and hedges were searched, no +trace of the iron door could be found. As three roysterers were known to +have passed the box on the night in question, it was assumed that the +damage was done by them out of pure mischief and not from any desire to +rob Her Majesty's mails. Whether such were the case or not, they had the +unpleasant experience of being locked up over the Sunday on suspicion. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RURAL DISTRICT SUB-POSTMASTERS. RURAL POSTMEN. INCIDENTS. + + +The Bristol postal area is an extensive one, the distance from point to +point being thirty miles, with width ranging from five to twelve miles. +It is bounded on one side by the river Severn, from a point about five +miles below Sharpness to a point close to Portishead; thence the +boundary stretches across country to the Mendip Hills, up to Cheddar +Cliffs; then from a point four miles north-east of Wells to +Newton-St.-Loe, near Bath; across the river Avon, under Lansdown, thence +in a line by Pucklechurch, Iron Acton, and Thornbury across to the +starting-point on the Severn. The large rural area is for the greater +part agricultural in character, but there are collieries and stone +quarries in some few districts. + +At the Bristol town and rural sub-Post Offices there are 554 assistants +of all kinds employed. Many rural sub-postmasters act as postmen; in +the main it is a healthy occupation, and proves a very good antidote to +sedentary employment, although there are hardships to be borne, as the +toil has to be undergone in all weathers--the scorching sun of summer, +the pitiless cold of winter--in rain, hail, and snow. In connection With +the Early Closing Movement, at some of the outer Post Offices business +is suspended at 5.0 on one day in the week--usually Wednesday. + +In the suburban and rural districts there are 105 sub-Post Offices, and +78 of them are letter delivery offices, served by an aggregate number of +226 postmen. Of the 78 districts, 42 have two daily deliveries 28 three, +and 6 four, with about a corresponding number of collections. + +The sorting clerks and telegraphists at head-quarters gain some sort of +acquaintance with sub-postmasters through daily communication by mail +bag and wire; also in the passage of reports and counter-reports; but +occasionally people performing postal work throughout the extensive +Bristol district are brought into closer harmony and touch with each +other by means of social functions, such as "outings" and Bristol +Channel steamer trips, when town and country officials take their +pastime in company, and the sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses of +the Somersetshire portion of the district get acquainted with those of +the Gloucestershire side, and all with the head office officials. By +these means of friendly intercourse and interchange of kindly feeling, +the service is much benefited. As an indication of this exchange of +courtesy, the felicitations exchanged by telegram when the first annual +trip by steamer to Ilfracombe was taken ran thus:-- + +"From Postmaster, Bristol.--Pleasant journey to you. Long may +Sub-Postmasterly friendship continue." + +"From Sub-Postmasters at Ilfracombe.--Telegram received. Thanks for good +wishes. Have just drank your good health. Pleasant trip. Regret your +absence extremely.--Sub-Postmasters." + +The Bristol Post Office has only recently had electric light introduced, +but the squire of East Harptree had long before set the good example of +progress by having the Post Office in his village illuminated by +electricity. In the Bristol area very many villages have their little +counterpart of the huge combination shops in London, where the villager +is enabled to procure everything that his modest income will allow him +to purchase. It is at these village "Whiteleys" that the Post Office is +generally to be found, and a surveying officer may soon become well +versed in the qualities of bacon, cheese, bread, flour, candles, and get +a knowledge of rakes, prongs, and besoms, without much difficulty. In +other instances no business except that of Post Office work is carried +on. + +The picture of the sub-Post Office at Cribbs Causeway, five miles from +Bristol, may give our readers who are "in cities pent" an idea of a +delightful place for the sale of postage stamps and postal orders and +the distribution of letters. This unique Post Office has few houses +anywhere near it, but it serves a large, albeit very sparsely populated, +area. Some of its interest rests in the fact that it was formerly the +half-way inn on the once important highway from Bristol to New Passage, +for the ferry over the Severn into South Wales. Some of our elderly +readers may probably recollect it as the stopping stage of the coaches +which ran prior to the introduction of the railway system. The sub-Post +Office, which stands on high ground, is held by two sisters, who went to +it as a health resort from a farm in the low-lying Severn marsh. They +act as postwomen, and brisk exercise and the early morning dew has +brought such roses to their cheeks as would be envied by their Post +Office sisters whose fate it is to reside in smoke-begrimed regions. + +[Illustration: CRIBBS CAUSEWAY POST OFFICE.] + +Although some of the Bristol district villages are situated at a long +distance from town and remote from main roads, yet only one of the Post +Offices presents the primitive condition of having a thatched roof. None +of the rural postmen now avail themselves on their journeys of the +services of that faithful creature, the donkey; but the last animal so +used was on the road until 1890, when its master, poor Sims, the +Congresbury to Shipham postman, shuffled off this mortal coil. Times +change, and our manners change with them; so also do our tests for gold +coins. At the Wrington Post Office there are brass testing weights, for +sovereigns and half-sovereigns, inscribed "Royal Mint, 1843," such as +have not been observed by the writer at any other Post Office, either in +the Bristol district or in London. A certain sub-postmistress in the +district has for many years been in the habit of keeping her sheets of +reserve postage stamps in a large Family Bible. Not that she is +irreverent--indeed, she is a pious woman,--but, being a lone widow, she +has kept them in that manner for safety, as she imagines that no burglar +would look for them in such a depository. + +[Illustration: MR. EDWARD BIDDLE. + +(_Sub-Postmaster of Rudgeway._) + +_Photographed by Mr. Protheroe, Narrow Wine Street, Bristol, from an oil +painting._] + +A notable man in his day was Edward Biddle, on the Thornbury side of +Bristol. Mr. Biddle was sub-postmaster of Rudgeway for over forty years, +and occupied the post until his death in 1889, at the ripe age of 91 +years, when he was succeeded by his daughter, and she, in turn, was +succeeded by his son, William Biddle, who still holds the appointment. +Prior to becoming sub-postmaster, Mr. Edward Biddle was "Pike" keeper at +Stone, and used to pay L752 per annum for his post. There he had to open +his gate to no fewer than twenty mail coaches daily, on their way +between Bristol and Gloucester. At Rudgeway he carried on the joint +occupation of sub-postmaster and innkeeper, at a tavern where the Post +Office business had been conducted for many years before he succeeded to +it; but the innkeeping business had in course of time to be given up, +under Post Office regulations. Mr. Elstone, of Alveston House, wrote +expressing his satisfaction that the Post Office was to be carried on at +a private house, and not as previously at a "roadside pothouse," which +all the district considered a very improper place. At that time John +Blann and other stage carriers drove their unwieldy waggons, drawn by +four strong cart-horses at a walking pace, along the Gloucester turnpike +road. The waggons were indeed the goods trains of olden times. The +present sub-postmaster, the son of Edward Biddle, who has had for many +years to use "Shanks's" pony in the delivery of letters, was engaged in +olden times in going on horseback down to the Passage to take, in +saddlebags, the mails for South Wales and receive them therefrom. As +late as 1850, letters from Rudgeway for Bristol were impressed with a +stamp thus:-- + + BRISTOL + 4 JA 50. + BY POST. + +Mr. James Tiley, the village blacksmith of Clutton, now an octogenarian, +calls to mind that sixty years ago the letters for Clutton, Temple +Cloud, Stowey, Bishop Sutton and adjacent districts were delivered from +Old Down, a hamlet on the main coach road from Bath to Wells, distant +from Tyburn Turnpike, London, 121 miles. Mr. Tiley has had the luxury of +paying 10d. for a letter brought from London by the above means; and as +it was dear to him at the time, it is dear to him now in another sense +as a reminiscence of the past. Mr. Tiley recalls the sending of letters +of the district by waggoners to Bristol or Bath to save the postage, and +slyly remarks: "So stupid were the waggoners that as often as not they +brought the letters back again, having forgotten to--what Post Office +people now term--'properly dispose of them.'" Also that Joseph Tippett, +a postman of the olden time, was brutally assaulted on Stowey Hill, and +nearly lost his life and his letters. His assailants were discovered +and were transported for life. The Old Down postman was timed to reach +Temple Cloud Bridge at 12.0, and always blew horn or whistle to let the +village schoolmaster know the time of day. During the Bristol riots the +arrival of the mail every morning was eagerly awaited by persons far and +near, anxious to hear the latest news. + +So recently as the year 1867, a postman had to trudge right away from +Bristol to the distant village of Chew Stoke, having to breast the steep +hill of Dundry and pass through Chew Magna on his way. All the letters +and newspapers then delivered at Bishopsworth, Dundry, Chew Magna and +Chew Stoke were carried by this man. Now, with the introduction of the +parcel post and a cheaper letter post, and consequently increased +weight, the morning mail is carried in a mail cart, and that service is +supplemented by two or three other despatches to Chew Magna and Chew +Stoke by train _via_ Pensford. The hamlets of Breach Hill, Moreton and +Herons Green were at that time unserved by the postman officially, and +if delivered privately by him he charged for them at the rate of an +extra penny each. The residents in those outlying districts who did not +get their letters delivered in that way, and who did not call for them +at the Chew Stoke Post Office, usually obtained them--two, three, or +four days old--from the postman on Sundays, who stationed himself at the +church door to oblige such worshippers. Some of the older country +postmen say that in by-gone days the poor people, unable to read +themselves, considered it part of a postman's duty to read their letters +for them, and they looked for sympathy from the postmen in case of +receipt of bad news. The Chew Stoke postman had a walk, in and out, of +over twenty miles, and had to carry whatever load there was for the +route. The pay attached to the post was small. This was in the good (?) +days of not so long ago, but the postman who then had to take the +journey is by no means anxious for a return to them, for now he receives +double the amount of pay then allowed. He was out from five o'clock in +the morning till seven or eight o'clock at night; but now he performs +his eight hours' duty straight off, and has, therefore, more time at +home for his private purposes. + +When, about eight years since, there was a deep fall of snow in this +district, the West Town postman, who is likewise sub-postmaster, very +considerably added to his labours by carrying tea, sugar, medicine, and +even bread to the people on the Mendips, who were snowed up and deserted +by baker, butcher, grocer, and indeed by everyone except the faithful +Queen's messenger. The floods of November, 1894, which proved very +disastrous in the West of England, interfered in no small degree with +Post Office arrangements in the rural districts around Bristol. In some +villages the roads were submerged from three to four feet, and it was +impossible for the public to get to the letter boxes, the postmen and +postwomen being, perhaps, the greatest sufferers. In order to avoid +flooded roads, it was necessary to change routes and make long detours. +Many postmen were compelled to wade through the water waist deep, whilst +others had to be driven through in horse and cart. The inhabitants and +farmers in many places kindly lent their horses and carts for the +purpose, and but for these kindnesses the letters would have been +delayed for many hours. In spite of all difficulties, the letters were +generally delivered without much delay, and only in a few cases had the +letters to be held over for any length of time until the waters had +subsided. + +[Illustration: LETTER BOX AT WINTERBOURNE.] + +A tit made her nest in the bottom of a Post Office letter box at +Winterbourne, near Bristol, laid her eggs, and notwithstanding that +letters were posted in the box and that the box was cleared by the +postman everyday, the bird tenaciously held to her nest and brought up +five young tits, two of which perished in their attempts to get out of +the box by means of the small posting aperture through which their +mother had squeezed so frequently, carrying with her all the materials +for the nest. The three survivors flew off one day when the door of the +box was purposely left open for a time by the obliging postman portrayed +in the picture. + +That all is not gold that glitters has been recently brought home to +three or four of the sub-postmasters in the Bristol district, a +"sharper" having presented coins gilded to represent sovereigns and +half-sovereigns, and obtained Postal Orders in exchange for them. +Through the vigilance of the Bristol police the offender was eventually +taken into custody, and, having been sentenced at the Assizes to six +months' imprisonment, he had plenty of time to reflect on his offences. +A bright, shining new farthing was received at the Bristol head office, +sent inadvertently in a remittance from a sub-office as a +half-sovereign, and mixed up with coins of that value, only to be +detected, however, by the vigilant check clerk. The sub-postmaster who +accepted it in error for a coin of more precious metal, and did not +discover the mistake even in preparing the remittance, had to bear the +loss. + +One sub-postmaster, who has now departed this life, was wont to furnish +his explanations and reports in rhyme, a course which was tolerated on +account of its singularity and of the writer's zeal and known devotion +to his duty. The following is an example:-- + +To the POSTMASTER OF BRISTOL: + + "I willingly answer the question + Respecting the length of the track + From Shirehampton P.O. to Kingsweston + House front door, or lodge at the back; + But respecting the relative merits + Of back door, or door at the front, + As delivery door, I aver it's + A question I cannot but shunt. + To return to the question of distance: + Suppose that the birds of the air, + Sworn in as Post Office assistants, + To Kingsweston would messages bear: + As straight through their skiey dominions + They flew from front door to front door, + The length of the track of their pinions + In yards would be 1224. + When a featherless biped is bearer, + And through the lone woods his path picks, + The feet of this weary wayfarer + Cover yards quite 1466. + Should the wight have a key, there's a second + Way thro' the sunk fence's locked gate, + And then his poor feet must be reckoned + To make yards 1388. + As regards the back door, I pass by it; + The back lodge itself is much less + Than a mile, howsomdever you try it, + By Shirehampton Post Office Express. + I do not pretend to correctness, + To one yard or even a dozen; + No need for extreme circumspectness, + The margin's too ample to cozen. + I'm obliged by your flattering reference, + And when you've another dispute on, + I shall still be, with all proper deference, + Your obedient Servant,--G. NEWTON." + +The turnpike gates in the neighbourhood of Bristol were abolished in +October, 1867, and the consequence was that the proprietors of the +various omnibuses by which day mail bags were conveyed to and from +several of the districts around Bristol applied for, and obtained, a +money payment in lieu of the tolls, the exemption, from which had formed +the sole remuneration for the services performed. + +The Bristol mail carts running to the rural districts, by permission of +the Post Office, carry for the newspaper proprietors bundles of papers, +weighing on an average on ordinary days 40 lbs., and on Saturdays 80 +lbs. The enterprise of the Bristol newspaper proprietors in circulating +by private means the many thousands of the newspapers which they daily +print is evidenced, from the circumstance that they find it necessary to +commit to the agency of the Post Office only about 160 copies for +distribution, and that chiefly in remote rural districts. + +Sub-postmasters in the rural districts of Bristol attain to great ages. +The sub-postmaster of Mangotsfield, who had long since passed +three-score years and ten, had his cross to bear, having at 60 entirely +lost his eyesight. Although blind, and unable to work in consequence, he +quaintly appeared in his apron to the end, and said that having worn it +for so many years he did not feel happy without it. A daughter acted as +his deputy, and mitigated, as far as possible, his hard lot. At his +funeral some hundreds of people, representing various religious and +other bodies, attended to pay their last tribute of respect to him. + +At Bitton, a village midway between Bristol and Bath, there died +Sub-postmaster James Brewer, in the 87th year of his age, and in the +fifty-seventh year of his Post Office service. It was more pleasant to +enter this Post Office and find the old man calmly smoking his +churchwarden pipe before the fire, cheery and chatty, than to have such +a welcome as that afforded at another office by the exhibition on the +Post Office counter of a miniature coffin and artificial wreaths for +graves. Another worthy of local Post Office fame has lately passed away +in the person of Join Warburton, aged 84, who for thirty years was the +sub-postmaster of Henbury, and who for five years was his daughter's +adviser after her succession to the appointment. The sub-postmaster of +the village of High Littleton lost an arm some fifty years ago, but +notwithstanding that affliction he manages with adroitness to sell +postage stamps and issue postal orders to the public. This will not be +considered a very great feat, considering that he has been for years a +crack one-handed shot, and even now, at the age of 70, can bowl over a +pheasant or a rabbit quite as readily as many of our sportsmen who have +the use of both arms. + +Sub-postmistresses of great longevity are also to be found. One dame +(Martha Pike), now in her 93rd year, represented the Department until +quite recently in the charming little village of Wraxall. When nearly +90 years old she had a three hour letter round every morning up hill and +down dale, and she even trudged a mile and a half to fetch a letter and +parcel mail from the railway station. The sub-postmistress of Stoke +Bishop died at the age of 84; she and her father had held the Post +Office in the village for over fifty years. An equally remarkable case +was that of Hannah Vowles, the sub-postmistress of Frenchay, who, after +performing the active duties of that position in the village of Frenchay +for forty-seven years, resigned when within five years of 100 years old. +In her youth she lived for some time in the West Indies; but she gave up +her employment there in order to return home to support her mother, who +was 90 years of age when she died. Mrs. Hannah was succeeded in the +office of sub-postmistress by Miss Kate Vowdes, a relation, who had +already been postwoman in the same district forty-two years! + +[Illustration: HANNAH BREWER. + +(_Postwoman._)] + +Hannah Brewer is one of the Bristol Post Office worthies. Her father was +the sub-postmaster of the village of Bitton alluded to herein. Hannah +commenced to deliver letters in the hamlets and at the farmhouses near +Bitton when a mere child, and continued to do so during all the years +our gracious Sovereign has sat on the throne. Recently, however, she had +to give up the work, as, having attained the advanced age of 72 years +and walked her quarter of a million of miles, she felt that she ought +to take life more easily than hitherto. In distance her round was eleven +miles daily, and the route was a very trying one on account of the steep +hills she had to traverse, and of great exposure to the sun in summer, +and to the wind, frost, and snow in winter. It may be interesting to +record that Hannah Brewer, although she had to serve a district sparsely +populated, was never robbed, stopped, nor molested in any way. She was +the recipient of the first official waterproof clothing issued to +postwomen in England, and in her picture she is represented as wearing +it. She only occasionally made visits even to places so near as Bath or +Bristol, and was, as a rule, a stay at home. + +She was not a great reader of the newspapers, but persons on her round +looked to her as an oracle, and derived information from her as to +passing events. Hannah naively says that, as regards Christmas boxes, +she fared very well in olden times, but they were not so plentiful in +her later years. Hannah, through her devotion to her father when he was +alive, and through her assiduous attention to her duties as a humble +servant of the Crown, had gained the respect of all those who knew her, +both in her native village and on the long round she daily had to +traverse. As she served the Post Office throughout her long life (her +memory carrying her back to the days when the letters reached Bitton by +mail coach and a "single" letter from London cost 10d.), it is +gratifying that in her old age, when unable to continue to do her daily +round, the Lords of the Treasury, under her exceptional circumstances, +granted her half-pay pension, a sum which, with her savings, will serve +to maintain her until the end of her days. The writer has had few more +pleasurable duties than that which he undertook of presenting Hannah, in +her neat and trim cottage, with her first pension warrant. + +At the celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in the village, the +opportunity was taken, in the midst of the festivities, to make a +presentation of an elegant marble clock and purse to Miss Brewer. The +inscription ran: "Presented during Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, +together with a purse of money, by the inhabitants of the postal +district of Bitton, Gloucestershire, to Miss Hannah Brewer, postwoman, +upon her retirement, having served this office from the commencement of +Queen Victoria's reign." + +Even Post Office surveyors are sometimes the subject of little jokes on +the part of their subordinates. An assistant surveyor, when testing a +rural postman's walk, said that if he had arranged the round originally, +he should have taken a shortcut across the fields to a certain little +hamlet so as to serve it before instead of after a more distant place, +when the postman drily said that he should not have done anything of the +kind, as there was a rhine about 18 ft. wide and very deep, which could +not well be got over or through, and, turning to the surveyor, he +remarked: "Evidently you never were a postman." The humour of this +incident lies in the fact that the surveyors have always been drawn from +the elite of the Service. A certain imperious surveyor visited a +sub-office for the purpose of reprimanding the sub-postmaster for some +delinquency, and after soundly rating the individual he addressed, and +refusing to hear a single word in explanation, he, when his harangue +was over, was coolly informed that he had made a slight mistake, as the +circumstance referred to another sub-office altogether. + +On a certain occasion recently, on entering a Post Office the writer +heard proceeding from a back room a voice, recognisable as that of the +sub-postmaster, shouting out a greeting in his (the writer's) Christian +name: "Come in, Robert." Well, the sub-postmaster thought he saw through +the partly-curtained glass in the door a friend of that name, and meant +no disrespect to his surveyor-postmaster. + +On calling at another little Post Office on a Saturday, the aged +sub-postmistress was washing her stone floor--down on her knees in +business-like attitude. Without looking up, her greeting to the writer +was: "Halloa! I thought you had been to Jericho. You have not been to +see me for such a long time!" That salutation was rather embarrassing; +but on getting to the perpendicular the old lady was the confused party, +as she had thought her visitor was a local resident who occasionally +looked in to have a cheery word with her. + +It would seem that postal improvements in the Bristol district have been +carried almost as far as is needful; indeed, in one district, not seven +miles from the city, contemplated improvements whereby letters would be +delivered an hour earlier in the morning and might be posted two hours +later at night, and a day mail in and out be afforded, were declined by +the parish authorities in council and by memorial from the villagers +generally. In this rural hollow the people are very clannish, and rather +than let their postwoman suffer a loss of two shillings a week, which +the change involved, they were content to forego improved postal +facilities, and were not greatly stirred by the "lasinesse of posts" as, +according to history, was King James of old. + +While Bristol is ever expanding and while splendid buildings are being +erected, there are not wanting places within a short distance of the +ancient city where there are signs of decadence, as indicated by houses +unoccupied and cottages in ruins, and by shrinkage in the number of +letters. At Stanton Drew, where some thirty large stones alone remain to +mark a site where there probably stood a splendid Druidical Temple, the +postal arrangements a few years since were not in a satisfactory +condition. Not unlike the story which has recently been going the round +of the newspapers, that a sub-postmaster of an Oxfordshire village fixed +this notice up: "Have gone fishing. Will be back in time to sell +stamps," the sub-postmistress of this Somersetshire hamlet went away for +days without putting up any notice whatever, and left her son to supply +the inhabitants with postage stamps when he got home in the evening from +his work as an agricultural labourer. Still, people did not complain, so +that they may be regarded as accessories to the sub-postmistress's +delinquencies. There was, however, a postal super-session in that +village! + +There is still in the rural service a postman who labours under the +disabilities of having only one arm and of being unable to read or +write. He has not a very extensive delivery, and so his pockets are made +to do duty in the place of the faculty of reading. The left breast +pocket indicates that letters placed in it are for Cliff Farm, those in +the right breast pocket for Rush Hill Farm, several other pockets +serving in like manner. + +From very old official books sent into store on the change of holders of +sub-offices, it is noticeable that the writing of fifty years ago was +much superior to that of the present day, indicating that +sub-postmasters of olden time either took more interest in caligraphy +than their successors, or possibly had more leisure in which to make the +necessary entries than is afforded in the present period of high +pressure. + +'Tis strange that it was so, as at the time the steel pen had not ousted +the quill. Even so short a time as forty years since a new intrant to +the Post Office, hailing from the Emerald Isle, had, like all other +new-comers, to enter his name and address in the Order Book on his first +introduction to St. Martin's-le-Grand. A steel pen was handed to him, +with which he dallied for a time, and when asked why he did not proceed, +said: "Sure, I was waiting for a feather." + +The institution for the care of consumption started in this country, and +known as Nordrach-upon-Mendip, is in the Bristol postal district at one +of its most distant points on the range of the Mendip Hills, at an +altitude of 850 feet above sea level. It has already played an important +part as regards the Bristol Post Office, inasmuch as a consumptive +telegraph clerk has benefited considerably from the new treatment, and +has indeed left the institution as cured. It is not generally known that +until recently there existed a small Convalescent Home on the Mendips, +but "Cosy Corner," founded and maintained by Sir Edward Hill, K.C.B., +stood there as such, and it served a good part as regards a postal +servant. A postman employed at the Bristol railway station as mail +porter, who had suffered from a serious attack of typhoid fever, and who +had been verily at death's door, passed several weeks at this rural +retreat, and derived such benefit from the kind treatment he received +and from the bracing air of the district that he quite recovered from +his ailment and is now in robust health. "Cosy Corner" has now been +affiliated to Nordrach-upon-Mendip. + +The rule of the Service is that coins, postage stamps, and other +articles of value picked up in a sorting office are regarded as treasure +trove and have to be handed over to the authorities for disposal; but a +letter carrier's round can hardly be regarded in the light of a Post +Office, and so a postman of the Thornbury district who at Aust Cliff, +picked up a well-preserved bronze coin with the image and superscription +of Claudius Caesar (A.D. 41-54) did not consider himself called upon to +give it up to the sub-postmaster, but disposed of it for the sum of 15s. +6d. The purchaser presented it to the Leicester Museum. + +Tradition hath it that Miss Hannah More, the celebrated authoress and +philanthropist, when residing (1770) at Wrington, near Bristol, in the +churchyard of which place her remains now repose, made an arrangement +with the postman of the period whereby on passing along the road near +her residence he was to signal to her when any event of importance had +occurred. Her sitting and bedroom windows commanded a view of the walk +near which the postman had to pass, so that she could see him coming, +and she always hurried down to the wicket-gate in readiness to meet him +when he put up his flag. A son of the postman, now alive, remembers well +that his father told him that he had given the signal on the death of +Queen, Caroline. It was outside the postman's function, to wave the red +flag with which Mistress Hannah, had provided him, but Post Office +matters were not carried on so strictly in those days as under the +present regime. The Wrington postman obtained the news about important +passing events from the mail-man who rode through the village on his way +from Bristol to Axbridge. George Vowles, who died twenty-six years ago, +at the ripe age of 88 years, was the mail-man who conveyed to the +villages on his way the news of the battle of Waterloo, brought down +from London by the mail coach, which had been decorated with laurels and +flowers in honour of the great event. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +GENERAL FREE DELIVERY OF LETTERS. + + +No stone has been left unturned in the endeavour to afford a free +delivery of letters at the door of every house in the district; and at +last all houses and cottages, even in the remotest localities, have been +reached, and the woodman, the gamekeeper, and the lone cottager now +receive a daily visit from the postman. In visiting out of the way +places of the kind with a view to arranging a delivery, the surveyor has +to look out for dogs. A certain warren house in this district affords a +typical case. It is far from the ordinary haunts of man, and was without +an official delivery on account of its extreme inaccessibility. The +approach is through a deep gorge, known as Goblin Combe, and the path to +the house is precipitous. The gamekeeper residing there had to send to a +farmhouse a mile and a quarter distant for his letters, which the +obliging farmer had consented to take in for him. The attempts of the +staff to arrange a method of delivery by postmen had long been baffled. +At the time when the writer went to view the place there was a rumour in +the neighbourhood that, owing to serious depredations by poachers, +fierce dogs roamed the enclosed warren; and on passing out on to the +warren from the wood corner, there was observed standing on a wall near +the house what in the distance and misty morn, appeared to be a large +bloodhound, and so the advance had to be made warily. The attendant +rural postman was armed with a riding whip, on which his grip tightened, +for he had already been four times bitten by dogs, as the scars on his +hand testified, and he desired to guard himself against another attack. +At last, as the place was neared, the object of distrust was found to +be--a large goat! Another out-of-the-way place in the same +neighbourhood, also unserved by the postman, was a woodman's house in a +dense wood, which, with its bowling-green, is said once to have been +used by "Bristol bloods" of old time as a safe retreat where they could +indulge in a little business connected with the prize ring and cock +fighting. That the Duke of Norfolk's liberal policy in Her Majesty's +Diamond Jubilee year has proved a boon and a blessing to many residents +in isolated spots is indicated, for instance, by what a poor woman +living in a wild district stated. She had recently to trudge the whole +way from her house to Bristol, a distance of eight miles out and eight +miles back, while a letter which would have obviated her journey had +been lying undelivered for days at a Post Office only two miles off. + +Blaize Castle, which is within four miles of the Head Post Office, was +singularly enough almost the last habitation in the Bristol district +which was granted a free delivery of letters daily, for until 1898 the +postman in his official capacity had never penetrated to that +rock-elevated and remote part of the Blaize Woods where the castle +stands. That reproach to the Bristol district has now been removed, and +the custodians of the castle have obtained their rights as citizens of +the great kingdom in having their letters delivered at the door daily by +the Postmaster-General's representative. It was a difficult matter to +find out all the houses at which the postman did not call, and this +particular castle, which is now only occupied by caretakers, was not +notified by the rural postman, as the occupiers had signified to him +that they did not care for a delivery and were quite satisfied if the +letters were left in the village till called for. The circumstance may +be of interest to Bristolians, from the fact that Blaize Castle is +spoken of by many but is seen by very few. Its flagstaff is visible from +some little distance, but the castle itself can scarcely be discerned +through its wooded surroundings, even from the far-famed Arbutus Walk, +which is separated from it by a deep gorge. The castle is situated on a +lofty plateau in the midst of the large woods. Close to it is a sheer +perpendicular rock, three hundred feet high, known as "The Giant's +leap." The castle is said to have derived its name from St. Blaisius, +the Spanish patron of wool-combers, to whom a chapel was dedicated on a +hill in the grounds where the castle now stands, and where there was +once a Roman encampment. The interest attaching to this castle is +enhanced from a postal point of view by the circumstance that the son of +the lady who owns the property married a daughter of the late +Postmaster-General, the Right Hon. H. C. Raikes. + +Mr. Raikes was one of the hardest working of Postmasters-General. So +diligent indeed was he, that almost nightly, when the House of Commons +was sitting, the right hon. gentleman, after all other Members had gone +home, retired to his official room and went through the papers which had +been sent up from the Post Office for his consideration. So absorbed +would he become in the documents, which he read carefully through from +end to end, so that he might judge from his own standpoint and not from +that of his official advisers, that he would sit well into the small +hours of the morning, whilst that patient and most obliging of +officials, the postmaster of the House, Mr. Pike, kept weary vigil, +waiting to take the despatch-bag to the Post Office in the City before +he went home to his well-earned rest. Mr. Raikes's invariably clear and +even writing betokened that, long past the hour for bed as the time +might be, he never had any idea of doing his work in a hurry. He was +probably known to many of the citizens of Bristol, through his frequent +visits to a mansion on the Westbury side of the Downs. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +LOCAL RETURNED LETTER OFFICE. + + +The Bristol Post Office has its returned letter branch, with which +almost all the towns in the West of England, and South Wales are +affiliated for "dead letter" work. Through its agency over a million +letters and postal packets are returned to senders annually. Book +packets and circulars form 50 per cent. of the total number, and of +these only 75 per cent. can be restored to the persons who posted them. +Over 10,000 letters containing property are recorded in the ledgers, and +they represent a total value in cash, bank-notes, bills, cheques, +postage stamps, etc., of about L36,000 per annum, nearly the whole of +which reaches the hands of the senders. About 400 letters containing +money orders, and 1,700 letters containing value, compulsorily +registered, are returned in the course of the year. Amongst the +curiosities of returned letter office experience may be mentioned the +following. A letter was received thus peculiarly addressed:--"Miss ----, +4, Pleasant View, in that beautiful city which charms even eyes familiar +with the masterpieces of Bramanto and Palladio, and which the genius of +Anstey and of Smollett, of Frances Burney and of Jane Austen has made +classic ground." The pundits in the returned letter office who deal with +derelict letters properly divined that the place so glowingly described +was Bath, and issuing the letter accordingly, it was duly delivered in +the fair city. + +A packet was received simply addressed "Post Office, Bristol, to be +called for." The contents were an army reserve man's discharge papers +and pension application forms. The application bore evidence that it +referred to Lichfield, and the packet was accordingly sent to that +military depot. Two or three days afterwards an old soldier called at +the Bristol office for his letter, and could not possibly understand why +it had been opened in the returned letter branch, and the contents sent +to Lichfield. His fury was unbounded, and he consigned all and sundry to +Hades. His papers were soon obtained for him from Lichfield, and his +gratitude at getting them, was as effusively manifested as his +disappointment had been in not finding the papers awaiting him on first +application. His thanks were conveyed in the following terse +communication:-- + +"Dear Boss,--A thousand pardons, everything comes right to those who +wait. Patience is a virtue. + + "Obt servt, + W. H. ----." + +"Sir," wrote a Bristol citizen on a postcard, "I have lost a ingine off +3 gine oneing to the delay of a post care wich Mr. ---- send of wine ts +plaa to ingury and abould youre turly I ----, 10, ---- lane rielence +Bristol." It was not at first apparent what the writer of the card +actually required, but by degrees it was made out that what he meant +was:--"I have lost an engagement of 3 guineas owing to the delay of a +postcard which Mr. ---- sent, of Wine Street. Please to enquire and +oblige, yours truly, I. ----, 10, ---- Lane, Residence, Bristol." + +Danger lurks in unexpected places, even for Post Office cleaners. +Packages which have remained in the returned letter office for the +prescribed period have to be destroyed from time to time. Sometimes +they contain chemicals. It chanced that at Bristol one of the charwomen, +when pouring out hot water into a large waste bucket, was startled by +the emission from the bucket of a fierce, bright, flame which badly +burned her hand and caused her no small fright. The flame lasted for a +minute. The fumes were overpowering, and unpleasantly pervaded the whole +telegraph gallery above. Upon investigation, it appeared that another +charwoman who had been instructed to "dispose" of a bottle of sodium +amalgam, had carelessly emptied it into the waste bucket with the +startling result narrated. + + * * * * * + +The Post Office is ever progressing, and in course of time there will be +further particulars for a future writer to relate concerning the +"Bristol Royal Mail." + +THE END + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: Discovered publisher's punctuation errors have been +corrected. In addition, the following spelling errors have been +corrected: + +p. 22: 6th instant intead[instead] of on the first of the month. The + +p. 136: in the chair, the Post Office is again roproved[reproved] + +p. 163: about 30,000 letters. Birminghan[Birmingham] comes next in + +p. 229: spoken of the disclipine[discipline] and training telegraph + +p. 283: Office, hailng[hailing] from the Emerald Isle, had, like all + +p. 164: pension or gratuity is given. The apppointment[appointment] + +p. 112: Post Office now was was[delete second 'was'] the centre of + +p. 153: not [been] offered, would most likely have been sent + + * * * * * + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bristol Royal Mail, by R. C. 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