Part 2 (1/2)
According to the _Bristol Directory_ for 1811, the ”Bush Tavern” office in Corn Street, conducted by John Townsend, played an important part in the mail coach system of the country. Its announcement ran thus: ”Royal mail coach to London at 4.0 every afternoon; comes in at half-past 11 every morning. 'Loyal Volunteer' to London at 12.0 every day. Royal mail coach to Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Neath, Swansea, and Carmarthen every day on the arrival of the London mail. Royal mail coach through Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Swansea, Carmarthen, to Haverford-west and Milford Haven every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat.u.r.day on the arrival of the London mail. The 'Cambrian,' a light post coach, the same route as the mail, to Swansea every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6 o'clock; returns every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat.u.r.day evenings.
”Royal mail coach to Birmingham through Gloster, Tewkesbury, Worcester and Bromsgrove every evening at 7.0; comes in every morning at 6.0. A post coach to Birmingham every day. Royal mail coach through Bath to Tetbury, Cirencester, and Oxford, every morning at quarter-past 7, comes in at 6.0 every evening. Royal mail coach through Bath, Warminster, and Salisbury to Southampton and Portsmouth at 3.0 every day; comes in at 10.0 in the morning. Coach to Salisbury, Romsey, Southampton, and Gosport every day at 5.0 (Sat.u.r.days excepted), comes in at half-past 10.0 at night. Exeter, _Original_ 'Duke of York' coach, through Bridgwater, Taunton, Wellington, and Cullompton every Tuesday, Thursday.”
In 1813 the London to Bristol mail coach was robbed of the Bankers'
parcel, value 2,000 or upwards. This was made known in the form of a warning to the mail guards who travelled in charge of the Post Office bags. When in 1813-14 the great frost occurred, the Bristol mail coaches were obstructed by the heavy snowdrifts on the roads, and they came in day after day drawn by six horses each when they could struggle into the City.
The literature of the period yields nothing of interest again for some time.
The ”Bristol Guide” in 1815 stated that--”Bristow is the richest city of almost all the cities of this country, receiving merchandize from neighbouring and foreign places with the s.h.i.+ps under sail.” And again, ”Bristow is full of s.h.i.+ps from Ireland, Norway and every part of Europe, which brought hither great commerce and large foreign wealth.” There was no mention of their carrying mails.
The year 1818 is memorable in postal annals as that in which John Palmer died. His decease took place at Brighton, but not before he had lived long enough to see mail coaches splendidly turned out. Palmer, on the conclusion of his connection with the Post Office, was awarded a pension of 3,000 a year, equal to his full salary, which sum he declared did not represent the amount of his salary and emoluments. Further difficulties ensued, and his son, Colonel Palmer, fought his father's battles right manfully in the House, and eventually, in 1813, the Government gave John Palmer a sum of 50,000.
In recognition of Palmer's great invention, the Chamber of Commerce of Glasgow not only made him an honorary member, but voted him fifty guineas for a piece of plate. The fifty guineas was spent on a silver cup, which bore the following inscription:--
TO JOHN PALMER, ESQ., SURVEYOR AND COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF THE POSTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURERS IN THE CITY OF GLASGOW, AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE BENEFITS RESULTING FROM HIS PLAN TO THE TRADE AND COMMERCE OF THIS KINGDOM, 1789.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TO JOHN PALMER, ESQ., SURVEYOR AND COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF THE POST OFFICE THIS PLATE OF THE MAIL COACH IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY HIS OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, JAMES FITTLER.]
CHAPTER III.
1819 ONWARDS.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INTERVENES IN MAIL AFFAIRS. OLD MAIL GUARDS.
A new coach, from ”The Bush Hotel” to Exeter, was put on the road on the 6th of April, 1819, the time allowed for the journey--74-3/4 miles--being fourteen hours--less than 5-1/2 miles an hour. In June, 1820 a new coach started for Manchester, performing the journey in two days, the intervening night being spent at Birmingham. To accomplish the first half of the task, the vehicle left Bristol at half-past 8 in the morning and reached Birmingham--85-1/2 miles--in thirteen hours. An advertis.e.m.e.nt, published in December, 1821, headed ”Speed Increased,”
informed the public that the ”Regulator” coach left London daily at 5 a.m. and arrived at the ”White Hart,” Bristol, at five minutes before 9 at night, the speed being barely seven miles an hour.
No fewer than twenty-two coaches were by this time utilised daily between this city and London. The start of the West Country mail coaches from Piccadilly at this period was an interesting sight. The continued wretched condition of the highways was not conducive to quick travelling; but in about 1825 matters were improved in that respect in our district by Mr. John Loudon MacAdam, who studied and practised road-making. Mr. MacAdam was general surveyor of Bristol turnpike roads, and although he found the trustees' funds only one remove from bankruptcy and their roads almost impa.s.sable, he succeeded so well that the finances flourished, and his highways became an object lesson to the world. Mr. Latimer, the Bristol historian, mentions that although MacAdam was shabbily treated by members of the old unreformed Corporation, and had many opponents, Bristol deserves the credit of being the first to appreciate the value of his labours, which were recognised later by a Parliamentary grant. He left Bristol for London, and died in 1836; but his son became surveyor of the Bristol roads, and continued to hold the appointment till his death in 1857.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WEST COUNTRY MAIL COACHES ABOUT TO LEAVE PICCADILLY WITH ”GO CART,” BRINGING UP LATE MAILS FROM THE G.P.O.]
The _Gentlemen's Magazine_, November, 1827, announced: ”A Steam Coach Company are now making arrangements for stopping places on the line of road, between London, Bath and Bristol, which will occur every six or seven miles, where fresh fuel and water are to be supplied. There are fifteen coaches built.” The Turnpike Trustees, who imposed extraordinary tolls on steam carriages, frustrated this scheme; but the threatened compet.i.tion stirred up the coach proprietors, who increased the speed of their vehicles from the jog-trot of six or seven miles an hour, although not to such an extent as desired by the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, which in this year made a suggestion to the Post Office for bringing the London mail to the city in twelve hours. The Postmaster-General was also memorialised to accelerate the arrival of the West mail, so as to effect its delivery before the departure of the London mail,--a convenience of no little moment to the West India trade of the port, since it was thought that it would save one day in the conduct of business with the metropolis. At a general meeting in January, 1828, it was announced that the president had a conference on the subject with the leading officer of the Post Office Department, with the result that the latter proposed alterations which were carried out, and were held to be proofs of the Postmaster-General's disposition to consult the accommodation of the Bristol public. The former proposal was not adopted at the time, for at the Accession of his late Majesty King William IV. (1830) the London mail coach took 13 hours 37 minutes on its journey _via_ Reading. It departed at 8 p.m., reached Bath 8.11 a.m., and arrived in Bristol at 9.37 a.m., leaving again at 5.50 p.m. for the G.P.O. The Bristol and Brighton coach (138 miles) was bound to a speed of 10.4 miles per hour.
In January, 1830, there were further Post Office matters on the agenda of the Chamber of Commerce, for it was resolved--”That this meeting recommends to the Board the inst.i.tuting an enquiry into the exact distance between the Post Office of London and Bristol, with a view to ascertain whether the rate of postage at present demanded is correct.”
The enquiry was prosecuted with vigour, for at the January annual meeting in the following year reference was made to the Turnpike Commissioners for the several districts on the line of road between London and Bristol having supplied a statement of the precise extent of ground over which the mail coach travelled, comprised in their respective trusts. In several instances measurements were expressly made. In the result it appeared that the route exceeded in distance 120 miles, and the Post Office Department was therefore ent.i.tled legally to obtain the rate of 10d. per letter as the amount fixed by the provisions of the Act of Parliament. It was thought by taking the route from Chippenham through Marshfield instead of Bath the distance would be considerably shorter, and consequently bring about a reduced rate of postage. It was reported in the next year (January, 1832) that the requisition for changing the route had been pursued, and the president held a conference with Sir F. Freeling on the subject; but though every due consideration was promised, the alteration had not yet been acceded to. There was the significant addition that the application would nevertheless be renewed. A new royal mail direct from Bristol to Liverpool was established in 1831, leaving the ”White Lion,” Broad Street, Bristol, at 5.0 p.m., reaching Liverpool at twenty minutes past 12 a.m. The new service was notified to Mr. Samuel Harford, the President of the Commerce Chamber, by Sir Francis Freeling, in the following terms:--
”G.P.O., _27th August, 1831_.
”SIR,--Having brought under consideration the memorial from the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Bristol, and from the bankers, merchants, and other inhabitants of Liverpool, transmitted in your letter of the 2nd May last, I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that His Grace the Postmaster General (Duke of Richmond) has consented to try the experiment of a mail coach between those towns, through Chepstow, Hereford, and Monmouth, and I flatter myself that it may commence about the middle of next month.
”I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, F. FREELING, Secretary.
”Samuel Harford, Esq.”
In the next year the Chamber learnt with satisfaction that the direct Liverpool mail through Chepstow, Monmouth, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Chester, which was started as an experiment, had been continued, to the decided advantage of the public, particularly to all connected with the line of country through which it pa.s.sed. As compared with the former route, the saving of time was equal to one day; the rate of postage was likewise reduced. The starting and arriving were at the most convenient hours the distance and circ.u.mstances, with reference to the pa.s.sage of the two rivers, Severn and Medway, would permit. The coach had to run over the flat parts of the ground at a great pace, to make up for time lost at the hills. The contract time was 9 miles 2 furlongs in the hour.