77-729: The General Post Office in St. Martin's Le Grand (later known as GPO East ) was the main post office for London between 1829 and 1910, the headquarters of the General Post Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , and England's first purpose-built post office. Originally known as the General Letter Office , the headquarters of the General Post Office (GPO) had been based in
154-477: A statutory corporation . In the mid-1920s, several steel-framed office blocks were built on the site of Smirke's demolished 'GPO East' by the newly-formed St Martin's Le Grand Property Group , and let (for the most part) to banks and manufacturing firms. Damaged during the war, they were subsequently rebuilt and in 1947 two of the blocks (Armour House and Union House) were let to the GPO on a 42-year lease. Subsequently
231-479: A basement storey of granite it was brick-built, but encased on all sides in Portland stone . The building's main façade had a central hexastyle Greek Ionic portico with a pediment , and two tetrastyle porticoes without pediments at each end. Above the main entrance was a large chiming clock (by Vulliamy ) with an external and internal dial, which governed timekeeping within the building. The General Post Office
308-464: A century and a half, during which time it continued to expand into neighbouring properties; however the increased employment of mail coaches towards the end of the 18th century caused difficulties as there was very little space for them to pull up and they were forced to queue in the narrow street. With the post office having this outgrown its premises in Lombard Street a site was sought for
385-558: A further passenger was allowed outside, sitting at the front next to the driver, and eventually a second row of seating was added behind him to allow two further passengers to sit outside. Travel could be uncomfortable as the coaches travelled on poor roads and passengers were obliged to dismount from the carriage when going up steep hills to spare the horses (as Charles Dickens describes at the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities ). The coaches averaged 7 to 8 mph (11–13 km/h) in summer and about 5 mph (8 km/h) in winter but by
462-666: A hundred receiving houses across London, and the Inland Office around 50). The Receiver General and the Accountant General also had their offices on the south side of the Public Hall; the poste restante office for London was also located there. A corridor next to the main entrance on the south side led to a 'grand staircase', which provided access to rooms on the first floor (principally the Board Room and
539-431: A mile more expensive than by private stage coach, but the coach was faster and, in general, less crowded and cleaner. Crowding was a common problem with private stage coaches, which led to their overturning; the limits on numbers of passengers and luggage prevented this occurring on the mail coaches. Travel on the mail coach was nearly always at night; as the roads were less busy the coach could make better speed. The guard
616-439: A monopoly on the supply of coaches, and a virtual monopoly on their upkeep and servicing. The mail coaches continued unchallenged until the 1830s but the development of railways spelt the end for the service. The first rail delivery between Liverpool and Manchester took place on 11 November 1830. By the early 1840s other rail lines had been constructed and many London-based mail coaches were starting to be withdrawn from service;
693-573: A new building opened a quarter of a mile to the south in Queen Victoria Street ; it initially accommodated the Post Office Central Savings Bank . In 1890, it expanded into another building immediately to the north, to which it was linked by a bridge over (and tunnel under) Knightrider Street . In the early 1900s, the savings bank moved out to West Kensington, while the building (which had by then been given
770-522: A new building. An 1815 Act of Parliament authorised commissioners to identify a suitable location, and to pay compensation to the owners of properties on the site. A parcel of land on the east side of St. Martin's Le Grand was chosen; however the clearance and preparation of the densely-occupied site took several years, and it was only in May 1824 that the stones of the new building began to be laid. Smirke's new General Post Office opened on 23 September 1829. It
847-613: A number of Post Office officials. It was, however, destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666; following which the business of the Post Office was carried on from a series of temporary offices in various locations. In 1678, the General Post Office found a more permanent home in a mansion in Lombard Street , belonging to Sir Robert Vyner ; (the Post Office initially rented the property, before finally purchasing it from
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#1732772059823924-479: A premium, the Grand Public Hall was closed and converted into another additional sorting room. Slots were then installed under the portico for members of the public to post their letters. In 1874, a new building, designed by James Williams, was opened on the western side of St. Martin's Le Grand: GPO West. It had originally been designed to house the main administrative offices and senior GPO officials on
1001-403: A pressure and vacuum for sending and receiving), fed by four boilers in the south courtyard. Not long after GPO West opened still more space was needed: in 1882 it expanded to the west, being linked to an adjacent building via bridges across Roman Bath Street; and in 1884 an additional storey was built on the top. In 1892, it was said to be the largest telegraph station in the world. By this time
1078-547: A third block (Empire House) was added; all three remained in Post Office use until the late 1980s. St. Martin%27s Le Grand Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 547697740 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:34:20 GMT Mail coaches A mail coach
1155-541: A time sending and receiving messages; the basement served as a battery room, with space for 40,000 cells . As well as using wire connections, the CTO was linked to 38 different branch offices around central London using a network of pneumatic tubes (inherited from the Electric Telegraph Company and subsequently expanded). Three steam engines in the north courtyard powered the entire system (generating
1232-441: Is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail . In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office -approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. Mail was held in a box at the rear where the only Royal Mail employee, an armed guard, stood. Passengers were taken at a premium fare. There was seating for four passengers inside and more outside with
1309-564: The Central London Railway was opened, with the nearest station to St. Martin's Le Grand being named Post Office . (Subsequently, in 1937, it was renamed St Paul's ). In 1905, King Edward VII laid the foundation stone of a new building on King Edward Street , immediately to the west of GPO North (and designed, as the latter had been, by Henry Tanner ). Opened as the King Edward Building (KEB) in 1910, it
1386-712: The City of London since the first half of the 17th century. For 150 years, it was in Lombard Street , before a new purpose-built headquarters, designed by Robert Smirke , was opened on the eastern side of St. Martin's Le Grand in 1829. As well as functioning as a post office and sorting office , the building contained the main offices and facilities for the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom and other senior administrative officials. While externally attractive, Smirke's General Post Office suffered over
1463-701: The North American Office, which were adjacent to the Inland Letter Office and managed the transport of mail to and from parts of the British Empire. Adjoining the Public Hall on the south side of the building was the Foreign Letter Office, from which letters were sent to a great variety of (non-British) overseas destinations by way of the packet service . Its clerks were provided with overnight accommodation on
1540-480: The parcel post was being introduced 1882, a sorting office was swiftly constructed for it by James Williams at basement level, extending into the Post Office yard; then in 1889 the parcel-post sorting office was relocated to Mount Pleasant . In 1893 an additional storey was added to the top of GPO East. Nevertheless, the 1896 report of the Tweedmouth Committee on Post Office Establishments declared
1617-451: The postmaster would remove the letters for the local area before handing the remaining letters and any additions to the next rider. The riders were frequent targets for robbers, and the system was inefficient. John Palmer , a theatre owner from Bath , believed that the coach service he had previously run for transporting actors and materials between theatres could be used for a countrywide mail delivery service, so in 1782, he suggested to
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#17327720598231694-500: The 'late' window, but only with payment of a surcharge). Charles Dickens described the daily 6 o'clock rush in a descriptive and detailed article on the workings of the Post Office in 1850. The Grand Public Hall divided the building in two: personnel to the south dealt mainly with the London post, while those to the north dealt mainly with the national post. (Up until 1855, two separately-constituted corps of letter-carriers worked from
1771-566: The Central Hall on the ground floor had been converted to serve as the main pneumatic tube room, while the second, third and fourth floors were occupied by the instrument rooms of the electric telegraph systems. In 1896, the headquarters of the GPO's new Telephone section was established in GPO West, in rooms vacated by the senior officials and administrative staff (who had recently moved into their own separate building). Meanwhile, in 1880,
1848-722: The City of London and elsewhere to provide horses for the conveyance of individuals or messages on behalf of the royal court. In 1526 a warrant was issued to the Court of Aldermen requiring a number of horses to be kept on hand if required for the King's Post; they in turn arranged with the innkeeper of the Windmill in Old Jewry to ensure that four horses would be kept available for those wishing to ride post, along with four more to be provided by
1925-566: The Foreign Office (the receiving room, sorters' office and carriers' office). Measuring just 46 ft (14 m) by 24 ft (7.3 m), the London District sorting office was considerably smaller than its Inland counterpart. The London District Office had its own entrance on the east side, by which letter bags were conveyed to and from the waiting mail carts and riding-boys. There was also stabling provided on this side of
2002-756: The GPO's administrative departments (the Secretary's Office, the Accountant General's Office, the Solicitor's Office, etc.). To make way for the new building the old Bull and Mouth Inn was demolished, where at one time the mail coaches had been harnessed to their horses ready to collect the mail from the Post Office across the road. The building had a large courtyard at its centre, entered via covered passageways at either end. The outer arched entrances were topped with sculptural likenesses of two recent Postmasters General: H. C. Raikes (facing St Martin's Le Grand) and Arnold Morley (overlooking King Edward Street); while
2079-407: The GPO's still-expanding administrative staff; but although plans were drawn up these never came to fruition, and the land was eventually sold in 1923. The St Martin's Le Grand area remained a hub for London's postal services well into the second half of the twentieth century. In organisational terms, the General Post Office became The Post Office in 1969, changing from a Government department to
2156-672: The Inland Office had his office at the northernmost end of the building, overlooking the yard. Connected with the Inland department was the Ship Letter Office, which transported mail by sea to certain destinations using privately-owned ships (at a cheaper rate than the Government-owned packet boats, which were overseen by a different office in the other half of the building). Likewise the West India Office and
2233-533: The Inland department's own letter-carriers, while those for the suburbs were sent on the under-floor conveyor to the London District office for delivery. In the evening, the Letter-carriers' Office was used for the sorting of large numbers of newspapers for overnight despatch). On the east side of the Inland Letter Office (with an entrance from Foster Lane) was a large vestibule, where the incoming and outgoing letter bags were received from and despatched to
2310-595: The Post Office in London that they take up the idea. He met resistance from officials who believed that the existing system could not be improved, but eventually the Chancellor of the Exchequer , William Pitt , allowed him to carry out an experimental run between Bristol and London. Under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours. The coach, funded by Palmer, left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later. Impressed by
2387-501: The Postmasters General). Elsewhere in the building accommodation was provided for clerks and other members of staff, who were at that time required to live on site owing to the need to be available when the post arrived, by day or by night. By 1687, the Post Office had expanded to the south and west as far as Sherborne Lane, where an additional entrance was constructed. The General Post Office remained in Lombard Street for
General Post Office, London - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-459: The Public Hall on this side were the rooms for receiving newspapers, inland letters and ship letters posted by members of the public through the slots; beyond these were large halls for the sorting, marking and despatching of items, the largest of which was the Inland Letter Office. The Inland Letter Office, centrally-placed within the northern half of the building, was a sizeable chamber measuring 90 ft (27 m) by 56 ft (17 m). It
2541-404: The Secretary's office). The Secretary of the Post Office, who was the chief administrative officer of the GPO, was also provided with an official residence at the south-west corner of the building. Almost as soon as it had opened, the building was found to be short of space. As early as 1831, a gallery was inserted into the main Inland sorting office to provide extra capacity. In 1836, following
2618-842: The Ship-letter Office above. On the south side of the building, the London District office then expanded into spaces vacated by the Foreign Office; before long the London District sorting office had more than doubled in size. Reforms undertaken in the 1850s, when the Duke of Argyll was Postmaster General, helped ease the overcrowding somewhat: as well as amalgamating the separate corps of letter-carriers (and their separate receiving houses), in 1856 he divided London into ten postal districts , each with its own district office able to receive and distribute its own mail (whereas previously all London's letters had had to pass through St Martin's Le Grand for sorting and redistribution). Nevertheless
2695-528: The Vyner family in 1705). The Post Office in Lombard Street was built around a courtyard, open to the public and accessed from the street via an imposing gateway. Facing the gate across the courtyard was the sorting office, beneath which in the basement was the letter-carriers' office. On the left was the foreign letter office and on the right was the Board-room (which was attached to the official residence of
2772-493: The building for a limited number of horses. The London District office operated in a similar way to the Inland office, but on a more constant basis as letters were received and despatched at regular times all through the day. From St Martin's Le Grand the letters went out in sealed bags to the receiving houses, where letter-carriers would be on hand to deliver them (at this time the London District Office had over
2849-471: The building to be 'incommodious, insanitary and overcrowded'. The following year it was decided 'to reconstruct the building within the present outer walls'. To enable the rebuilding, the Inland and Newspaper sections of the General Post Office were transferred in 1900 to a new building on the Mount Pleasant site, leaving GPO East to focus on the sorting of London and Foreign correspondence. In 1900,
2926-470: The central portico of the Post Office was a Grand Public Hall, forming a public thoroughfare from St Martin's-le-Grand to Foster Lane ; it measured 80 ft (24 m) by 60 ft (18 m) and had aisles on either side separated from the centre by rows of ionic columns. Members of the public could post letters and other items from inside the hall through boxes in the wall, from where they would fall into hoppers and be loaded into trolleys to be taken to
3003-401: The country. Alongside the Inland Letter Office to the west was the Letter-carriers' Office (103 ft (31 m) by 35 ft (11 m)), with elegant iron galleries and spiral staircases. Here, each morning, the letter-carriers would sort their designated letters into different 'walks' before setting off to deliver them. Letters destined for addresses in central London were delivered by
3080-477: The death of Francis Freeling , the Secretary's residence in the south-west corner of the building was given over to office use. Within a decade of the building's opening, rail had replaced road as the principal means of distribution around the country, consigning the mail coach to history. The Inland Office now used horse-drawn mail- vans to convey sacks of letters to the railway termini where they were loaded on to trains or Travelling Post Offices . Following
3157-476: The designation GPO South) became London's first telephone exchange and offices for the GPO's London Telephone Service. In 1895, GPO North was opened immediately to the north of GPO West (and connected to it across Angel Street by a second-floor footbridge), as the GPO continued to expand. Known as Post Office Headquarters (PHQ), it was designed by Henry Tanner to house the Postmaster General and
General Post Office, London - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-549: The driver. The guard's seat could not be shared. This distribution system began in Britain in 1784. In Ireland the same service began in 1789, and in Australia it began in 1828. A mail coach service ran to an exact and demanding schedule. Aside from quick changes of horses the coach only stopped for collection and delivery of mail and never for the comfort of the passengers. To avoid a steep fine turnpike gates had to be open by
3311-696: The equivalent arches on the courtyard side had representations of David Plunket and George Shaw Lefevre (recent First Commissioners of Works ). The Postmaster General had his office on the ground floor, on the King Edward Street side; the Permanent Secretary and his staff were on the first floor. Beneath the courtyard was a large basement designed to hold the Post Office archives. Meanwhile, Robert Smirke's original General Post Office (which, to avoid confusion, had been renamed GPO East) continued to deal with letters and newspapers. When
3388-436: The evening, the coaches were loaded with sacks of mail destined for the provinces . The daily departure of the mail coaches regularly attracted crowds of spectators. At 8pm, Monday-Saturday, all the coaches would set off in different directions from St Martin's Le Grand; each would follow its own set route, progressively dropping off mail bags at every post town on the way to its final destination. Mail for destinations overseas
3465-399: The final service from London (to Norwich) was shut down in 1846. Regional mail coaches continued into the 1850s, but these too were eventually replaced by rail services. The mail coaches were originally designed for a driver, seated outside, and up to four passengers inside. The guard (the only Post Office employee on the coach) travelled on the outside at the rear next to the mail box. Later
3542-607: The general administration of the Inland post and the Foreign post seems to have been carried out either from the houses of their chief officers, or else from one or other of the City's post houses. By 1653, though, a General Letter Office had been established 'at the Old Post House at the lower end of Threadneedle Street , by the Stocks '. This was a substantial building, which provided accommodation as well as office space for
3619-411: The introduction of the uniform penny post in 1840, the number of letters passing through the building increased substantially. To help with the increased volume of post, a new sorting office was built immediately above the old one, 'suspended from a strong arched iron girder roof by iron rods' (a solution which, though ingenious, left the principal room below entirely deprived of natural light). At around
3696-494: The kitchens, while a combination of gas lighting and poor ventilation meant that workers often felt nauseous. From 1868, the GPO experimented with the services of the London Pneumatic Despatch Company , which operated a pneumatic tube from Euston railway station for the delivery of mail, but the experiment was unsuccessful and terminated in 1874. In 1870, with space in the building remaining at
3773-748: The later decades of the 19th century, operating over thousands of miles of eastern Australia. In 1870s Cobb & Co's Royal Mail coaches were operating some 6000 horses per day, and travelling 28,000 miles weekly carrying mail, gold, and general parcels. Some Concord stagecoaches were imported from the United States made in New Hampshire by the Abbot-Downing Company . This design was a 'thorough-brace' or 'jack' style coach characterised by an elegant curved lightweight body suspended on two large leather straps, which helped to isolate
3850-641: The local hackney men (who kept horses for hire). By the mid-17th century, there were separate post houses in London at the start of each of the post roads (which ran from London to different parts of the kingdom), including one in Bishopsgate for the route to Edinburgh, one at Charing Cross for the road to Plymouth and one in Southwark for the Dover road; these were invariably attached to licensed premises (where horses were customarily stabled). At this time
3927-617: The lower two floors, and the Post Office Savings Bank on the upper two floors (leaving the old building to focus on letters and newspapers); but following the nationalisation of the UK's electrical telegraph companies in 1870, the upper floors were given over to telegraphic equipment and the building became known as the Central Telegraph Office (CTO). The instrument rooms employed nearly a thousand people at
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#17327720598234004-482: The mail carts when they were older). The carts and riding-boys would collect mail from, and deliver it to, 'receiving houses' all round London. By 1850, the London District Office was carrying out ten collections and deliveries a day, six days a week, in the central London area (within a 3-mile radius of St Martin's Le Grand) and between three and five collections in the suburbs (within a 12-mile radius). There were no deliveries or collections of any kind on Sundays. Behind
4081-666: The mail coach met the trains and carried the mail to more remote towns and villages. In 1863 contracts were awarded to the coaching company Cobb & Co to transport Royal Mail services within New South Wales and Victoria . These contracts and later others in Queensland continued until 1924 when the last service operated in western Queensland. The lucrative mail contracts helped Cobb & Co grow and become an efficient and vast network of coach services in eastern Australia. Royal Mail coach services reached their peak in
4158-727: The mail coaches. Before leaving the building they were placed in the custody of the Mail-Guards, who were armed and accompanied the bags on the coaches to ensure safe delivery. The Mail-Guards had rooms, including an armoury , in the basement of the building. Other rooms in the northern half of the building included the Dead Letter Office, the Missing Letter Office and the Blind Office (for deciphering illegible addresses). The Superintending President of
4235-455: The mid-19th century, most of the mail coaches in Ireland were eventually out-competed by Charles Bianconi 's country-wide network of open carriages, before this system in turn succumbed to the railways. Australia's first mail coach was established in 1828 and was crucial in connecting the remote settlements being established to the larger centres. The first mail contracts were issued and mail
4312-585: The north, Kilkenny to the south and Athlone to the west as early as 1737 and for a short period from 1740, a Dublin to Belfast stage coach existed. In winter, this last route took three days, with overnight stops at Drogheda and Newry ; in summer, travel time was reduced to two days. In 1789, mail coaches began a scheduled service from Dublin to Belfast. They met the mail boats coming from Portpatrick in Scotland at Donaghadee , in County Down . By
4389-404: The ongoing expansion of the work of the Post Office meant that the building was soon once again occupied well beyond its intended capacity; The Times reported in 1860 that "rooms have been overcrowded, closets turned into offices, extra rooms hung by tie rods to the girders of the ceiling". Work requiring bright light was conducted in poorly illuminated areas, odours spread from the lavatories to
4466-417: The same time a transit system was installed whereby 'two endless chains, worked by a steam-engine, carry, in rapid succession, a series of shelves, each holding four or five men and their letter-bags, which are thus raised to various parts of the building'. The upper room took over the function of the dual-purpose letter-carriers' office / newspaper sorting office, allowing the inland letter office to expand into
4543-414: The same time the Foreign Letter Office was made an adjunct to the Inland Letter Office (both administratively and physically): an arch was inserted in the north wall of the Inland Office beyond which several rooms were knocked together to create a new sorting office for the 'Colonial and Foreign Division' (measuring 30 ft (9.1 m) by 18 ft (5.5 m)), which was linked by way of a mail-hoist to
4620-448: The schedule was met, the latter to alert the post house to the imminent arrival of the coach and warn tollgate keepers to open the gate (mail coaches were exempt from stopping and paying tolls: a fine was payable if the coach was forced to stop). Since the coaches had right of way on the roads the horn was also used to advise other road users of their approach. A twice-weekly stage coach service operated between Dublin and Drogheda to
4697-400: The second floor, so as to be available for duty whenever letters might arrive from overseas, day or night. The Foreign department also maintained its own team of letter-carriers at this time, to deliver mail to addresses in central London. Also in the southern half of the building were the offices of the London District Office or 'Two-penny Post', which occupied three large rooms to the east of
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#17327720598234774-409: The sorting offices beyond. There were also windows and offices where payments could be made. Each day, shortly before 6pm (the deadline for the Inland post), there would always be a last-minute rush of people with letters and newspapers to post; the windows above the slots were then opened to facilitate delivery, but were always closed on the sixth stroke of the clock (after which items could be posted at
4851-411: The time of Queen Victoria the roads had improved enough to allow speeds of up to 10 mph (16 km/h). Fresh horses were supplied every 10 to 15 miles (16–24 km). Stops to collect mail were short and sometimes there would be no stops at all with the guard throwing the mail off the coach and snatching the new deliveries from the postmaster. The cost of travelling by mail coach was about 1 d .
4928-441: The time the mail coach with its right of free passage passed through. The gatekeeper was warned by the sound of the posthorn. Mail coaches were slowly phased out during the 1840s and 1850s, their role eventually replaced by trains as the railway network expanded. The postal delivery service in Britain had existed in the same form for about 150 years – from its introduction in 1635, mounted carriers had ridden between "posts" where
5005-439: The trial run, Pitt authorised the creation of new routes. By the end of 1785 there were services from London to Norwich, Liverpool, Leeds, Dover, Portsmouth, Poole, Exeter, Gloucester, Worcester, Holyhead and Carlisle. A service to Edinburgh was added the next year and Palmer was rewarded by being made Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office. Initially the coach, horses and driver were all supplied by contractors. There
5082-423: The two separate halves of the building: the blue-liveried London District carriers on the one hand, and the red-uniformed General Post carriers on the other.) A tunnel and conveyor system beneath the Grand Public Hall linked the two halves of the building. In 1829, the three 'great divisions' of the General Post Office were: The Inland Office was based in the northern half of the building. Immediately adjacent to
5159-509: The vacated space below. The Money Order Office had been established in 1838, in two small rooms at the north end of the building. In the 1840s it operated from a large room adjoining the Public Hall on the south side near the main entrance; but it soon outgrew these premises and in 1846 the Money Order Office was provided with new premises (designed by Sydney Smirke ) just across the road at No. 1 Aldersgate Street . At around
5236-409: The years from internal shortcomings due to ever-increasing demands on available space. In the later part of the 19th century the GPO expanded into other buildings on St Martin's Le Grand, and further afield. After a new building was opened in nearby King Edward Street , Smirke's General Post Office was demolished in 1912. Before the establishment of the General Post Office, post houses were set up in
5313-419: Was built in the era of the mail coach , with a driveway leading around the back of the building to a courtyard on the north side where the coaches would assemble. Each night, from all around the country, London-bound mail coaches would set off at different times, so as to arrive at St Martin's Le Grand between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning; the mail was then unloaded and sorted, ready for delivery at 8am. Then in
5390-480: Was envisaged as a replacement for Smirke's GPO East, housing the main sorting offices for London (EC district) and the Foreign Section, as well as serving as London's principal public post office. With the opening of the new King Edward Building, the original Smirke building was closed in 1910; two years later it was demolished. The intention had been to construct a new 'GPO East' on the site, to accommodate
5467-411: Was heavily armed with a blunderbuss and two pistols and dressed in the Post Office livery of maroon and gold. The mail coaches were thus well defended against highwaymen , and accounts of robberies often confuse them with private stage coaches, though robberies did occur. To prevent corruption and ensure good performance, the guards were paid handsomely and supplied with a generous pension. The mail
5544-400: Was here that letters for and from the provinces were received, stamped , counted and sorted. The room was a hive of activity at the start of the day, when coaches arrived from around the country laden with letters for London; and at the end of the day, when the letters from London were sorted and stamped before being bagged, and loaded on coaches for delivery to provincial post offices all round
5621-472: Was mostly taken to Falmouth or Dover to be loaded on to packet boats . In between the arrival and departure of the mail coaches, red-painted mail carts would come and go all through the day, collecting and delivering mail within the London postal area . Working alongside the mail carts were riding-boys, who would carry sacks of mail on horseback. (Usually aged between 13 and 16, they would often go on to drive
5698-439: Was strong competition for the contracts as they provided a fixed regular income on top of which the companies could charge fares for the passengers. By the beginning of the 19th century the Post Office had their own fleet of coaches with black and maroon livery. The early coaches were poorly built, but in 1787 the Post Office adopted John Besant's improved and patented design, after which Besant, with his partner John Vidler, enjoyed
5775-507: Was the UK's second purpose-built post office; Dublin's GPO (completed in 1818 to a design by Francis Johnston and still in use) predates it. The new Post Office was 'one of the largest public edifices now existing in the City of London' in 1829. The Post Office was built in the Grecian style with Ionic porticoes along the main (west) front, and was 389 feet (119 m) long and 130 feet (40 m) wide and 64 feet (20 m) high. Above
5852-412: Was their sole charge, meaning that they had to deliver it on foot if a problem arose with the coach and, unlike the driver, they remained with the coach for the whole journey; occasionally guards froze to death from hypothermia in their exposed position outside the coach during the harsh winters (see River Thames frost fairs ). The guard was supplied with a timepiece and a posthorn , the former to ensure
5929-508: Was transported by coach or on horseback from Sydney to the first seven country post offices – Penrith , Parramatta , Liverpool , Windsor , Campbelltown , Newcastle and Bathurst . The Sydney to Melbourne overland packhorse mail service was commenced in 1837. From 1855 the Sydney to Melbourne overland mail coach was supplanted by coastal steamer ship and rail. The rail network became the distributor of mail to larger regional centres there
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