So, I'm thinking about making a character who is involved with the post in some way. After some Googling around I haven't gotten a really clear picture of what the postal service looks like in Regency England. Are Postmasters still innkeepers making an extra buck, or are we in more standardized times? Does London have a different post situation compared to small villages? Are servants still carting around letters? Is Franking still a thing? Can I send people gifts of blank paper? I don't necessarily need these particular questions answered, but I am curious about how our letters are going to go back and forth.
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Sooo, what does the postal service look like?
Sooo, what does the postal service look like?
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I do have a stamp carving kit and ink pads. Deeply considering making a few stamps for my letters. Just a matter of finding relevant examples of stamps that my character would use. Im thinking likely a stamp for the post route nearest to my character. Was there a stamp for London? Or neighborhoods of London? Would consider making rubber post stamps for people if they are willing to trade something of equal value.
Does anyone have good sources about the different kinds of postal marks one would encounter through the London Post? I know there was no standard symbol. But I"m wanting to use some examples so I can make stamps for my letters :) Some of mine will be sent IC as "postage to be paid by recipient." Anyone found any good images of historical letters with marks indicating that?
Here's a pretty comprehensive resource I found about the official mail coaches (although it's worth noting that things weren't really all the way standardised until 1840 or so and there were a lot of random private services):
https://shannondonnelly.com/2010/05/29/the-regency-post-a-pity-weve-lost-letters/
According to What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool:
-Postage was billed by the mile traveled, and paid for by the recipient (fourpence for the first 15 miles, eightpence for 80, etc all the way up to seventeenpence for 700 miles).
-MPs could 'frank' things (mail them for free).
-Enclosures past the first sheet (more papers, items, etc) doubled the postage.
-Mail was transported via coach (an enclosed 4-wheel vehicle that measured 40" from seat cushion to roof and often had springs to suspend the body).
-Mail coaches had an avg speed of 11 mph or so, and 25-50 miles in a day.
-Legally, turnpike keepers had to open the gates when they saw a mail coach coming (or heard the mail coach's warning bugle).
-Innkeepers could lose their license for delaying a mail coach.
-Anyone interfering with a mail coach in transit could suffer a 5 pound fine.
-National mail was carried by General Post Office-employed postmen.
-Within a city and its surrounding area, the "two-penny post" run separately from the General Post Office (a national organization). For these, letters would be left at designated local shops or with its carrier for the price of tuppence.
-Two-penny post was fast: a letter delivered by 10am would be on the noon route. If the carrier waited for a quick response from the recipient, the reply could be back in the original sender's hands by 7pm.
-Mail and newspapers were delivered at taverns/public houses (pubs), which is one reason they became a popular gathering spot.
Yes, there is a fairly standardised post service by this point! Post-boys in red on horseback carry most of the post at this point, although people often pay on delivery to make sure their mail isn't 'lost'. In 1802, a standard price is set that sending mail anywhere in the country costs two pennies. This article has at least a little bit of information:
Later on in the Victorian era, you could send letters within London multiple times a day, but I'd have to look up when all that started.
(Also, if anyone is ever in London when there isn't, you know, a global pandemic, the Postal Museum is extremely fun!