Chapter I: Front Matter

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THE POST OFFICE & ITS STORY

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Fernando Noronha is a little island in the South Atlantic
Ocean, and when a vessel does not call there the letters are
enclosed in a cask, to which a flag is attached; this is
cast into the sea and there left floating until a boat from
the island picks it up. The island is sighted by perhaps
more ships and visited by fewer than any other spot on the
globe.

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THE POST OFFICE
AND ITS STORY

_AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF
THE ACTIVITIES OF A GREAT GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENT_

BY
EDWARD BENNETT

With 31 Illustrations

LONDON
SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LTD.
38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET
1912

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

A great deal has been written about the General Post Office in newspapers and magazines, but the books on the subject are comparatively few. And these volumes are either exhaustive historical treatises, such as Mr. Herbert Joyce's _History of the Post Office_, or more popularly written descriptions of Post Office life and work of the character of Lewin's _His Majesty's Mails_ or J. W. Heyde's _Royal Mail_. Mr. Joyce's work, however, carries us no farther than the eve of penny postage, while the other books were written too long ago to be a guide to the Post Office of to-day. It is within the last twenty years that the Department has made the most rapid strides in the extension of its activities, and it is this period especially which is without an historian.

What I have attempted to do is to tell the story of the Department, briefly in its early beginnings, more fully in its modern developments, and in such a way as to give the reader the impression that the Post Office is alive, that it is in close touch with the needs of the nation, and is in less danger of being strangled with red-tape methods than at any time of its existence.

A book on the Post Office written for the student should contain abundant references to authorities and exhaustive tables of figures and estimates, but in the interest of the general reader I have omitted these aids to reflection. Mark Twain, when he published one of his novels, said he had omitted all descriptions of scenery in the story, but those who liked that sort of thing would find it in the appendix. I have dispensed even with an appendix, and those who really want figures and estimates must be referred to the Postmaster-General's Annual Reports.

Of course I am largely indebted to the volumes I have mentioned and to others for the historical portions of my book. To Sir Rowland Hill's Life, written by his daughter, I owe many of the facts contained in my chapter on “The Penny Post.”

The staff of the General Post Office have during the last twenty-one years conducted a magazine entitled _St. Martin's le Grand_, the volumes of which have been of great assistance to me, as they will be in the future to a more serious historian of the Post Office than I can claim to be. Among the writers to this magazine whose contributions I have found of great use are A. M. Ogilvie, J. A. J. Housden, C. H. Denver, R. C. Tombs, I.S.O., and R. W. Johnston. Mr. Johnston, who had held during a long life several important posts in the Department, took a keen interest in this book in its early stages, but, to my great regret, died before it was completed. Articles by J. G. Hendry and W. C. Waller helped me considerably in my chapter on “The Travelling Post Office.” Mr. E. Wells and Mr. A. Davey gave me their kind help on the subject of “Motor Mails” and “The Parcel Post,” and to my friend Mr. A. W. Edwards I am indebted for most valuable assistance in the writing of my chapters on “The Telegraph.” I have also to thank another friend, Mr. R. W. Hatswell, for advice and help in many directions.

My acknowledgments are due to Messrs Jarrold and Sons of Norwich and Warwick Lane, E.C., for their kind permission to include a schoolboy's essay on the postman in my chapter dealing with that official. The essay is to be found in a book entitled _The Comic Side of School Life_, by H. J. Barker.

The Post Office has many critics, friendly and unfriendly, but it counts its friends in millions, and I have written this book with the belief that a closer knowledge of the Department with which we all have dealings will be acceptable.

EDWARD BENNETT.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. POSTBOYS AND MAIL COACHES 17

II. THE PENNY POST 31

III. LOMBARD STREET AND ST. MARTIN'S LE GRAND 43

IV. KING EDWARD'S BUILDING 56

V. THE TRAVELLING POST OFFICE 69

VI. THE PARCEL POST 83

VII. MOTOR MAILS 98

VIII. THE UNDELIVERED POSTAL PACKET 108

IX. MONEY ORDERS AND POSTAL ORDERS 125

X. THE POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK 137

XI. THE TELEGRAPH 155

XII. THE TELEGRAPH (_continued_) 170

XIII. THE TELEPHONE 181

XIV. ENGINEERS, STORES AND FACTORIES 195

XV. OCEAN MAILS 208

XVI. THE POSTAL UNION 222

XVII. CONCERNING FOREIGN POST OFFICES 231

XVIII. THE POST OFFICES OF THE EMPIRE 246

XIX. THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL AND THE PERMANENT 261
STAFF

XX. THE HEAD POSTMASTER 276

XXI. THE VILLAGE POST OFFICE 289

XXII. THE POSTMAN 304

XXIII. THE POST OFFICE GUIDE 317

XXIV. OLD AGE PENSIONS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES OF 332
THE POST OFFICE

INDEX 350

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HEAVING OVERBOARD THE MAILS _Frontispiece_ PAGE THE MAIL COACHES LEAVING LONDON 20 MAIL COACH AND TRAIN 34 ST. MARTIN'S LE GRAND 48 THE BLIND SECTION 62 THE TRAVELLING POST OFFICE— INTERIOR 70 SUSPENDING THE POUCH 76 POUCH AND NET 76 POUCH TAKEN 76 APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING POUCH 78 APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING POUCH 78 THE PARCEL POST HOSPITAL 94 THE CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICERS AT WORK 96 THE SORTING OFFICE 110 A POSTCARD 114 A POSTCARD 120 A LONDON POSTMAN (OLD STYLE) 126 THE WOODPECKER AND THE TELEGRAPH POST 156 TELEGRAMS ON TELEPHONE WIRES 172 THE TELEPHONE DETECTIVE 182 THREE MINUTES' CONVERSATION BY TELEPHONE 192 UNDERGROUND TELEPHONE WIRES 198 HOW TREASURE WAS BROUGHT TO LONDON 210 ST. KILDA MAIL 219 THE POSTAL UNION MONUMENT 228 A POST OFFICE STONE 255 THE RIVER POSTMAN 258 THE SORTING SCHOOL 280 THE POSTMAN'S BELL 306 A COUNTRY POSTWOMAN 314 A NEST IN A LETTER-BOX 328

THE POST OFFICE
& ITS STORY