This volume focuses on the development of mail services between ca. 1780 and 1860. It takes as its starting point John Palmers proposal to reform the mail coach system in the 1780s. As part of this volume, the following themes and subjects are covered:
- Mail services prior to the introduction of the penny post, including the rise and fall of the mail coach; correspondence and surveillance during the Napoleonic wars; the emergence of local penny posts; and debates about the franking privileges of Members of Parliament.
- Campaigns for and against the introduction of Rowland Hills scheme for penny postage between 1837 and 1840.
- Cultural responses to, and repercussions of, the introduction of the penny post in 1840.
- The 1844 letter opening scandal.
- The development of mail infrastructure from 1840 onward, including the development of rural post routes and the use of the railways for the conveyance of the mail.
This volume focuses on the development of mail services between ca. 1780 and 1860. It takes as its starting point John Palmers proposal to reform the mail coach system in the 1780s up until the development of mail infrastructure from 1840 onward, including the development of rural post routes and the use of the railways.
Volume 1: Reforming the Mails
General Introduction
Volume I Introduction
Part 1: Mail Coaches: From Novelty to Nostalgia
1.1. Mail Coaches: Development and Early History
1. William Lewins, Palmer and the Mail Coach Era, in Her Majestys Mails
(London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1864), pp. 73-93.
2. Thomas Pennant, Letter to a Member of Parliament on Mail Coaches (London:
Fauldner, 1792).
3. Joseph Moser, The Mail Coach: A Poem, European Magazine and London
Review, 24 (1793), pp. 298-300.
4. George Robinson, Memorial for the Magistrates, Merchants, Ship-Owners, and
Inhabitants of the Burgh of Banff, for themselves, and on behalf of the
Others interested in the Line of Post-Road between Aberdeen and Inverness
(Cullen, c. 1805)
5. Illustration: Mail Coach on the Bath-London run collecting mail from
Postmaster (right in nightcap) without stopping. Aquatint, circa
1840.
Credit: World History Archive/Mary Evans Picture Library.
1.2 Mail Coach Retrospectives
6. William Roberts, Mail Posts, Ancient and Modern, Chambers Edinburgh
Journal, 616 (18 November 1843), pp. 349-50.
7. Extract from Thomas de Quincey, The English Mail Coach, Blackwood's
Edinburgh Magazine 66:408 (October 1849), pp. 585-600.
8. Amelia Edwards, The Phantom Coach, in
Chapter V: Another lodger relates
his own ghost story, Mrs Lirripers Legacy, The Extra Christmas Number of
All the Year Round, 12 (London: Chapman & Hall, 1864), pp. 35-40.
Part 2: The Post Office before Reform
2.1 Franking
9. Pro Bono Publico, On the Abuse of the Privilege of Franking Letters,
enjoyed by Members of Parliament, Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Amusement,
51 (1 March 1781), pp. 240-1.
10. Outwitting the Post Office, Literary Chronicle, 249 (21 Feb 1824), p.
124.
11. E. Walford, A Forgotten Mania, Once A Week, 12:298 (11 March 1865), pp.
316-317
12. Curiosus, Franks and Franking-A Letter to the Editor, Once a Week,
13:315 (8 July 1865), p. 84
2.2 Postage Evasion
13. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, extract from Letters, Conversations and
Recollections of S. T. Coleridge, 2 vols (London: Edward Moxon, 1836), vol.
2, pp. 113-14.
14. Harriet Martineau, The History of England During the Thirty Years' Peace,
2 vols (London: Charles Knight, 1850), vol. 1, chapter 15, pp. 425-427
2.3 Complaint and Improvement
15. E.G.B, Post-Office Receiving Houses, Literary Chronicle, 6:246 (31
January 1824), p.
74.
16. A.A., Post Office Mismanagement, Examiner, 14 December 1828, p.
5.
2.4 Modernising postal architecture
17. Frederick Ebenezer Baines, Lombard Street, in On the Track of the Mail
Coach (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1895), pp. 4-20.
18. Charles Knight, The History and Present State of the Post Office, Penny
Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 3:116 (25
January 1834), pp. 33-38
19. Illustration: New General Post Office, St-Martin's-le-Grand', in Walter
Thornbury, Old and New London: Volume 2 (London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin,
1878), p.
216. Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library.
2.5 William Hazlitts The Letter Bell
20. William Hazlitt, The Letter-Bell, Monthly Magazine, 11:63 (March 1831),
pp. 280-284.
Part 3: Calls for Reform
3.1 Henry Burgesss Plan
21. Henry Burgess, extracts from A Plan for Obtaining a More Speedy
Communication between London and the Distant Parts of the Kingdom (London,
1819), pp. 1-14, 22-28, 32-34, 38-44.
3.2 Robert Wallace in the House of Commons
22. Robert Wallace, extract from speech on the Post Office, 06 August 1833,
Hansards Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Series, Vol. XX (London: Hansard, 1833),
cd. 369, 371,
375.
23. Robert Wallace, extract from speech on the Post Office, 26 June 1834,
Hansards Parliamentary Debates, 3rd Series, Vol. XXIV (London: Hansard,
1834), pp. 855-857, 859-861, 863-865.
3.3 Rowland Hill and Post Office Reform
24. Rowland Hill, extracts from Post Office Reform: its Importance and
Practicability, 3rd edition (London: C. Knight, 1837), pp. 1-2, 4-8, 12-15,
16-30, 32-34, 38-43, 45-47.
Part 4: Debating Universal Penny Postage
25. W. H. Ashurst, extract from Facts and Reasons in Support of Mr Rowland
Hills plan for a universal penny postage, 2nd edition (London: Henry Hooper,
1838), pp. 1-3, 6-7, 30, 32- 34, 58- 59, 66-68, 74-76, 107-110.
26. Extract from 'Postage Duties, House of Lords debate held on 5 August
1839, in Mirror of Parliament (London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and
Longmans; John Murray; J. Richards and Co, 1839), cc, 4667-4668, 4671-4672,
4676, 4678, 4680-4681.
4.1 Penny Postage in the Monthly Reviews
27. Anon., extract from Post-office Reform: its Importance and
Practicability', Quarterly Review, 64 (October 1839), pp. 513-540
28. Anon., Post Office Reform, Edinburgh Review, 70 (January 1840), pp.
545-573.
4.2 Popular Print and Visual Culture
29. Henry Cole., A Report of a scene at Windsor Castle respecting the uniform
Penny Postage. [ A skit.]. (1839)
30. Illustration: A poster petitioning for a uniform penny postage,
1839.
Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library/Bruce Castle Museum.
31. Anon., Only a Postage (A Tale Illustrative of the High Effects of
Postage), in Post Circular, (30 April 1839), p.
60.
32. Anon., General Penny Postage; or, Troubles of Men of Letters, Post
11/195. Postal Archive.
Part 5: Responding to Reform
5.1 Celebrations in Verse and Song
33. James Bruton, The penny post act! Comic song sung by Mr. Buckingham at
the Royal Gardens, Vauxhall. Written by Jas. Bruton. The music composed by J.
Blewitt. James Bruton (London: T.E. Purday, [ 1840])
34. Philodenarius, The Penny Post, Times, 2 April 1840, p.
5.
35. Vialls, The Penny Postage, Odd Fellow, 15 February 1840, p. 3
36. Anon, The Penny Postage, Norwich Mercury, 25 January 1840, p.
3.
37. Illustration: Anon, Hurrah for the Postman the great Roland Hill
(Leith: R.W. Hume). Credit: National Library Scotland
38. Alexander Smart, Lines on the Penny-Post, Addressed to Rowland Hill,
Esq., Scotsman, 25 December 1840, p.
4.
39. G.D., Lines on the Penny Post, Literary Gazette, 27 August 1842, p.
606.
5.2 Harriet Martineau
40. Harriet Martineau, letter to Sir Thomas Wilde, 15 May 1843, in Pearson
Hill, The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago (London: Cassell, 1887), pp. 44-48.
41. Extract from Harriet Martineau, The History of England During the Thirty
Years' Peace, 1816-1846, 2 vols. (London: Charles Knight, 1849-1850), vol. 2
1830-1846, pp. 427-431.
5.3 Roland Hill and the 1843 Select Committee
42. Rowland Hill, evidence given to Report from the Select Committee on
Postage, together with the Minutes of Evidence, Appendix and Index (House of
Commons, 14 August 1843), pp. 9-15.
5.4 The Penny Post in magazines
43. Hall, S.C, The Penny-Post, Sharpes London Magazine, 7, July 1848,
246-7.
5.5 Retrospectives
44. Sir Rowland Hill and His Services, Birmingham Daily Post, 3 March
1864., p.6
45. In Memoriam. Rowland Hill, Originator of Cheap Postage, Punch 77 (20
September 1879), in Pearson Hill, The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago (London:
Cassell, 1887), pp. 38-40.
46. The Jubilee of the Penny Post, Punch, 18 January 1890, in Account of
the Celebration of the Jubilee of the Uniform Inland Penny Postage at the
Venetian Chamber (London: Jubilee Celebration Committee, 1891), pp. 42-3.
47. Frederic Hill, Some Reminiscences, in Account of the Celebration of the
Jubilee of the Uniform Inland Penny Postage at the Venetian Chamber (London:
Jubilee Celebration Committee, 1891), pp. 33-41.
48. Arbroath and the Penny Postage, Arbroath Herald, 3 May 1918, p.
4.
49. Penny Postage, Welsh Gazette, 6 June 1918, p.
4.
50. Extract from Penny Postage, South London Observer, 8 June 1918, p. 2
Part 6: Surveillance and Privacy
6.1 Politics and Postal Espionage
51. Charles James Fox, Mr Sheridans Motion Relative to the Existence of
Seditious Practices in this Country, in The Speeches of the Right Honourable
Charles James Fox, 6 vols (London: Longman, 1815), vol. 5, pp. 58-62.
52. Extraordinary Post-Office Order, Examiner, 870 (3 October 1824), p.
629.
53. When a Man Puts a Letter in the Post, The Evening Sun, 15 June 1844, p.
6.
6.2 The Letter Opening Scandal in the Popular Imagination
54. Illustration: H.G. Hine, The Anti-Graham Wafers, in Marion Harry
Spielmann, The History of Punch (London: Cassell and Company Limited, 1895),
p.
117. Image reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of
Scotland
55. Illustration: John Leech, The Anti-Graham Envelope, in in Marion Harry
Spielmann, The History of Punch (London: Cassell and Company Limited, 1895),
p.
115. Image reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of
Scotland.
56. The Secret Chamber in the General Post Office, St-Martins-Le-Grand,
London Journal and Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and Art, 15 March
1845, pp. 33-34.
57. G.M. Reynolds, extracts from The Mysteries of London (London: George
Vickers, 1846), vol 1, chapters 29, pp. 75-78, 72, pp. 221-224, 83, pp.
248-250.
6.3 Privacy, Gender, and Sexuality
58. Anthony Trollope, extract from
Chapter VI: Shewing How Reconciliation
was made, He Knew He Was Right, Vol 1 (London: Strathan and Co, 1869), pp.
38-44.
59. Letters of John Keats to Fanny Brawne, Saturday Review, 45:1164, (16
February 1878), p. 216-17.
60. Oscar Wilde, On the Sale by Auction of Keats Love Letters, in William
Sharp, ed. Sonnets of this Century (London: Walter Scott, 1886), p. 252
Part 7: Seeing the State at Work: Infrastructures of Reform in Material and
Print Culture
7.1 Postal Process Articles
61. Charles Dickens and William Henry Wills, Valentines Day at the Post
Office, Household Words (30 March 1850), pp. 6-12.
62. Francis Bond Head, extract from Mechanism of the Post Office, Quarterly
Review (June 1850), pp 80-2, 83-88.
63. William John Gordon, A Day at the Post Office, Leisure Hour (Jan 1886),
pp. 31-38.
7.2 The Penny stamp
64. Art. VIII. On the Collection of Postage by Means of Stamps, London and
Westminster Review, 33:2 (March 1840) pp. 491-505.
65. Illustration: Evolution of the Design for the First Adhesive Postage
Stamp. Postal Archive Post 118/1952.
66. Something about Postage Stamps, Leisure Hour, 397 (4 August 1895), pp.
489-492.
67. The Stamp Mania, Chamberss Journal, 492, (6 June 1863), pp.353-356.
68. A Row about a Postage Stamp, Reynolds Miscellany, 39:997 (20 July
1867), p.
79.
7.3 Mulready Wrapper
69. Illustration. 2d Mulready envelope, registration sheet. The Postal
Archive POST 150/009
70. T. Martin Wears, The History of the Mulready Envelope (Bury St. Edmunds:
T. H Nunn, 1886) pp. 17-20, 26-32.
7.4 Post-boxes
71. Documents relating to the introduction of Pillar Boxes on Jersey and
Guernsey, including copy of original minute by Anthony Trollope and
subsequent internal correspondence, Guernsey, 31 November
1851. Post 30/129.
72. Pillar Letter-Boxes in the Metropolis, London Evening Standard, 16
October 1854, p.
3.
73. Illustration: 'The New Post-Office Letter-Box, at the Corner of
Fleet-Street and Farringdon-Street', in 'New Street Letter-Boxes',
Illustrated London News, 24 March 1855, p.
280. Credit: Illustrated London
News Ltd./Mary Evans Picture Library.
74. Robert Black, The Wrong Pillar-Box, Chamberss Journal, 551, (18 July
1874), p. 455-458.
Bibliography
Index
Karin Koehler is a Senior Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at Bangor University. Her research explores the relationship between nineteenth-century literature and connective infrastructure, focusing on Anglophone and Welsh-language material.
Nicola Kirkby held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Royal Holloway, London (2019-2023), investigating nineteenth-century infrastructure and literary culture. Her works include Railway Infrastructure and the Victorian Novel (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press).
Kathleen McIlvenna is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Derby. Her research focuses on histories of work, health and retirement in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.
Ellen Smith is a historian and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bristol. Her work explores communication cultures in colonial South Asia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Harriet M. Thompson is Visiting Research Fellow in nineteenth-century literature and culture in the Department of English, Kings College London. Her research explores the relationship between communications technologies and print culture.
Eleanor Hopkins is a Senior Policy Adviser in Higher Education & Research at the British Academy. She provides strategic oversight of the Academy's Research & Development (R&D), innovation and skills policy.
