The romance of the British Post Office : its inception and wondrous development . betried, and on the 24th of July, 1784, Mr. AnthonyTodd, the Post Office Secretary, issued the followingnotice, which may be read with interest at the presenttime:— His Majestys Postmasters-General, being inclinedto make an experiment for the more expeditiousconveyance of mails of letters by stage-coaches,machines, etc., have been pleased to offer that a trialshall be made upon the road between London andBristol, to commence at each place on Monday, the2nd of August next. A list of places to whichletters can be s
The romance of the British Post Office : its inception and wondrous development . betried, and on the 24th of July, 1784, Mr. AnthonyTodd, the Post Office Secretary, issued the followingnotice, which may be read with interest at the presenttime:— His Majestys Postmasters-General, being inclinedto make an experiment for the more expeditiousconveyance of mails of letters by stage-coaches,machines, etc., have been pleased to offer that a trialshall be made upon the road between London andBristol, to commence at each place on Monday, the2nd of August next. A list of places to whichletters can be sent by the mail coaches follows, andthe document concludes : All persons are thereforeto take notice, that the letters put into any receiving- THE CONVEYANCE OF THE MAILS. 55 house before six of the evening, or seven at this chiefoffice, will be forwarded by these new conveyances ;all others for the said post towns and their districtsput in afterwards, or given to the bell men, mustremain until the following post at the same hour ofseven. Although thus advertised to commence. ANTHONY TODD, ^Fro7n a Photograph by A. L. Tyler.) running on the 2nd of August, the coaches did notactually start till the 8th of that month, and the jour-ney between London and Bristol was accomplished infifteen hours. Complete success seems at once tohave attended the trial, for, notwithstanding a slightincrease in the rates of postage—an addition of a 56 THE BRITISH POST OFFICE. penny to each charge—the number of letters sentwas very considerably augmented. So greatlyappreciated was the improvement that the munici-palities of many of the largest towns applied forth-with for coaches, which were mostly granted, andstarted at the rate of six miles an hour, which speedwas subsequently increased to ten miles an hour. Meanwhile, Mr. Palmer had been appointed Con-troller-General at the Post Office. He appears tohave performed his duties with great ability, buthis task must have been an arduous one,
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