The romance of the British Post Office : its inception and wondrous development . this branch of thepostal service were eminently successful, and resultedin an annual profit to himself of upwards of i^ 12,000,which he enjoyed for forty-four years, spending itmainly in charity and hospitality to men of learningand genius. At his death, in 1764, the system wasplaced under the control of William Ward, who for asalary of ^300 a-year undertook to hand over theprofits, amounting to ;^20,000 a-year, to the increase of this branch of the postal service was EARLY HISTORY. 21 very rapid, and i
The romance of the British Post Office : its inception and wondrous development . this branch of thepostal service were eminently successful, and resultedin an annual profit to himself of upwards of i^ 12,000,which he enjoyed for forty-four years, spending itmainly in charity and hospitality to men of learningand genius. At his death, in 1764, the system wasplaced under the control of William Ward, who for asalary of ^300 a-year undertook to hand over theprofits, amounting to ;^20,000 a-year, to the increase of this branch of the postal service was EARLY HISTORY. 21 very rapid, and in 1799, when the Bye Letter Officewas abolished, and its functions transferred to theGeneral Post Office, the annual profits amounted to;^200,ooo, so extraordinary was the increase. The most prominent name in early Post Officehistory is undoubtedly that of John Palmer, who in1784 effected what is officially described as one ofthe greatest reforms ever made in the Post Office,and which was in fact the carriage of the mails bycoach. Up to that time, as we are told, the mail-bags. AN EARLY MAIL COACH, had been carried by post-boys on horseback, at anaverage speed, including stoppages, of from three tofour miles an hour. To properly appreciate the stateof things which then existed, it may be well to quotethe account which Palmer gives of the existing systemin the scheme he submitted in 1783 to Mr. Pitt. The Post, he says, at present, instead of being theswiftest, is almost the slowest, conveyance in thecountry ; and though, from the great improvement inour roads, other carriers have proportionately mended 22 THE BRITISH POST OFFICE. their speed, the post is as slow as ever. It is likewisevery unsafe, as the frequent robberies of it testify ;and to avoid a loss of this nature people generally cutbank bills or bills at sight in two, and send the billsby different posts. The mails are generally intrustedto some idle boy, without character, mounted on aworn-out hack, and who, so far fr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1897
