Part 4 (1/2)
There is little history obtainable of the postmasters until the time of Mr. John Gardiner, of whom it is related that, born October 15th, 1777, he held the office of postmaster of Bristol from 1825 till his death in 1832. It is believed that he obtained his appointment in a great measure through friends.h.i.+p with Mr. Francis Freeling. Mr. Gardiner had to bear the brunt of the Bristol Riots (1831), in so far as they affected the Post Office administration of the city. In order to save the mails and belongings which were portable, such as the books, post dating stamps, etc., he set off with them in a coach and four for Bath Post Office. He got safely through the mob and reached Bath, where the Bristol Post Office business was carried on until the riots had been quelled. Mr.
Gardiner, in addition to being postmaster, was also an exporter of woollen and Manchester goods, chiefly to the West Indies until the slave trade was abolished. He then traded with Newfoundland. He was High Sheriff of the city in the year 1820, residing at that time in Berkeley Square. Later, however, he was enabled to live quietly at the Old Manor House, Easton-in-Gordano. He was buried at St. Peter's Church, Bristol.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. THOMAS TODD WALTON.
_Postmaster of Bristol, 1832-1842._]
Mr. Anthony Todd, the Secretary to the Post Office, 1762-65 and 1768-98, seems to have been attracted to Todd Walton, of Cheshunt, Herts, either by relations.h.i.+p or from his name, and took him in hand. Born in 1772, Mr. Todd Walton entered the Post Office in 1786 (fourteen years old). He had the long spell of service of forty-six years in the foreign Post Office and ten years as postmaster of Bristol. He was five times selected for foreign missions, which compelled his residence in Holland, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal during the most disturbed state of those countries. Mr. Walton is described as having been a fine old English gentleman, one of the olden time, who wore hair powder, blue coat with gilt b.u.t.tons, and shoes and gaiters; one who used to express his meaning distinctly, and mean what he said too. This description is borne out by his appearance in his portrait. He used to visit the Bristol Post Office after his retirement, especially to have a morning gla.s.s of water from the old well on the premises. He died in July, 1857, at his residence, King's Parade, Clifton, in his eighty-fifth year, and was buried in the adjacent church of St. John's. On his tombstone is this inscription: ”Here rests the body of Thomas Todd Walton, late of Cheshunt, Herts, and of the foreign post, London, Esquire. A quarter of a century an inhabitant of this parish, and for some years head postmaster of the Bristol district. Deceased 13th July, 1857. Aged 85. Also of Catherine Elizabeth, his wife, elder daughter of Thomas Todd, of Durham, Esquire.
She died April 11th, 1860, aged 77 years.”
On Mr. Walton's retirement, in 1842, in view of his services, Lord Viscount Lowther, the Postmaster-General of the day, conferred the appointment of postmaster of Bristol on his son, Thomas Todd Walton, who had been employed as chief clerk in the Bristol Post Office for ten years. Mr. Todd Walton, it seems, was properly initiated into the mysteries of the Post Office art by his father, who decreed that he should commence at the bottom of the ladder and work his way up thence, so that young Todd Walton was in his day to be found at mail-bag opening, letter sorting and other routine work of the kind, which will account for the thorough knowledge of his business which he is said to have possessed when called upon to take the reins of office handed over to him by his popular parent.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. THOMAS TODD WALTON (JUNIOR).
_Postmaster of Bristol, 1842-1871._]
In connection with the recent selection of the port of Bristol as a mail station, alluded to in later pages, it may be mentioned that Mrs. Todd Walton well remembers how, when the _Great Western_ steams.h.i.+p, which carried the American mails between Bristol and New York for several years, was first due (1838) to reach this port, her husband organised his small staff for a night encounter with the pressure of work which the heavy mail would inevitably occasion, and obtained auxiliary aid.
The little staff was at ”attention” for two or three days, and when the news came by means of the runner from Pill that the s.h.i.+p was coming up the Avon, Mr. Walton turned out at 2 a.m., rallied his little band, and went manfully to the work, which lasted for many hours before the letters were fully sorted and sent off to their respective destinations or delivered through the streets and lanes of the old city. In the autumn of 1841 the _Great Western_ happened to arrive on the same day that a large s.h.i.+p mail from Australia by the _Ruby_ was received, and the whole staff available--then only ten men for all duties--had to work night and day continuously to get off the letters by the mails to other towns. As many as 20,000 letters and newspapers were brought by these two vessels on that occasion. It is recorded that every available s.p.a.ce in the premises was filled with letters piled as high as they could be got to stand, and great was the joy of the sorters when the flood of letters subsided.
Mr. Todd Walton had many other night reminders of the mail services besides those respecting the arrival of direct mails from America, as the rattling of the horses' hoofs, the clang of the pole-chains and the tw.a.n.g of the mail guard's horn as the coaches dashed past his house on their way to the pa.s.sages must have frequently reminded him of his responsibilities as ”mail master” of Bristol. He would have blessed Bristol's very able General Manager of the Tramways Company had he been to the fore in those days to procure the benefit of freedom from the noise of traffic by the use of wood paving in our princ.i.p.al thoroughfares.
Mr. Todd Walton had the interests of the staff of the Post Office at heart, and, as an exemplification of his sympathy with them, it may be mentioned that when a promising officer in the heyday of youth met with an accident which eventually necessitated the amputation of his right leg, Mr. Walton did not allow the misfortune to stand in the way of the young man's continuing in remunerative employment in the Post Office, but found for him a suitable sedentary duty which he performed for fourteen years.
Mr. Todd Walton the second counted amongst his contemporaries and personal friends those Post Office literary stars, Anthony Trollope and Edmund Yates.
Mr. Walton retired from the Post Office in 1871. His death occurred at the Clifton Down Hotel on the morning of Christmas day, 1885. He was in the act of dressing to attend the early morning service at All Saints'
Church, when he fell into a fit of apoplexy, from which he did not rally. The _Times and Mirror_ of January 2nd, 1886, gives the following memoir of him:--”The death of this estimable gentleman calls for more particular notice than the necessarily brief one given in last Sat.u.r.day's impression; for although Mr. Walton had for some time past ceased to be a citizen of Bristol, he continued to feel an interest in the old city and its surroundings, and was remembered by many Bristolians as one who had obtained, as he deserved, their affectionate esteem. Succeeding his father--a gentleman of the 'old school'--as postmaster of Bristol, Mr. Todd Walton, through the long series of years in which he occupied that public position, evinced unwearied industry, keen intelligence, and singular courtesy in discharging the multifarious duties connected with it, and when on his retirement (carrying with him into private life the respect of his fellow-citizens) he was called upon to fulfil the duties of High Sheriff of Bristol, those duties were discharged by him for two years successively in a manner distinguished by great public spirit and generous hospitality. He was a man of considerable culture and taste, an extensive reader, and a reader who, happily, remembered what he had read. He possessed also a sense of humour and a ready wit which made him an agreeable and intelligent companion; whilst to those who enjoyed his friends.h.i.+p he was ever a friend, courteous and kind. Blessed with abundant means, he helped without ostentation the poor and needy, many of whom in our own city will share in the general regret his loss has occasioned.”
In the centre of the church garden at All Saints', Clifton, stands a cross, which Mrs. Walton erected in 1888 to the memory of her husband.
It was designed by Mr. J. L. Pearson, R.A. It is of granite, and stands on three steps. In the centre of the shaft is a figure of the Good Shepherd, and at the top are four sculptures, beautifully executed, of the Annunciation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension.
Over these rises a crocketed finial, and the whole is surmounted by a cross. At the base are inscribed the words: ”In loving memory of Thomas Todd Walton, sometime churchwarden of the Church of All Saints, and a most generous benefactor to that church.”
By the death of Edward Chadwick Sampson, the next postmaster, which occurred at Clevedon, December 7th, 1895, the Post Office lost one of its most gentlemanly and genial pensioners.
For many years postmaster of Bristol, Mr. Sampson was well known throughout the city, and held in high esteem by all with whom he was brought into contact. He had a long service in the postal department, dating, as it did, from 1837 to the last day of 1891. In 1837 he began his connection with the Bristol Post Office. He went to Manchester as chief clerk in 1865, but was away only six years, and returned in 1871 to a.s.sume the postmasters.h.i.+p of his native city. It is interesting, as showing the enormous increase in the postal traffic, to recall the fact that when Mr. Sampson joined the Corn Street office in 1837 the premises were only twenty feet square, there were only fifteen clerks and postmen all told, and no one was allowed to have his letters from the boxes whilst a mail was being sorted.
For his wide experience, his ability, and high integrity his work was greatly valued by leading officials in the postal service; whilst his sincerity and kindliness of disposition endeared him to employes of every grade over whom he had control.
As the postman came to Mr. Sampson's door one morning, it was seen that the man was too ill to discharge his duties. Mr. Sampson thereupon begged the man to come into his house and rest, and he himself, with the aid of his son, delivered every one of the letters at its destination, afterwards seeing the poor man safely home. That kind act was indicative of Mr. Sampson's general consideration for those over whom he ruled.
[Ill.u.s.tration: EDWARD CHADDOCK SAMPSON.
_Postmaster of Bristol, 1871-1891._
_From a photograph by Mr. Abel Lewis, Bristol._]
On the resignation of Mr. Sampson, it was generally felt that he should not be allowed to retire into private life without taking with him tangible evidence of the goodwill and respect of those with whom he had been a.s.sociated. This feeling found expression in a gratifying manner, and the services he had rendered the commercial community during his postmasters.h.i.+p were gracefully recognised by the Chamber of Commerce presenting him with an address illuminated and engrossed on vellum.