CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
| DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIL SERVICES. RALPH ALLEN. 1532-1764. | [5] |
| Chapter II. | |
| MAIL COACH ERA. JOHN PALMER. 1770-1818. | [17] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| 1818 ONWARDS. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. OLD MAIL GUARDS. | [35] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| VICTORIAN ERA, 1837-1899. MAIL TRANSPORT BY RAILWAY. TRAVELLING POST OFFICES. | [49] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| BRISTOL POSTMASTERS. 1678-1899. | [68] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| NOTABLE POST OFFICE SERVANTS OF BRISTOL ORIGIN. | [82] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| POST OFFICE BUILDINGS. | [89] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| THE LOCAL POST OFFICE IN EARLY DAYS. SIR ROWLAND HILL. RECENT PROGRESS. | [121] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| BRISTOL AS A MAIL PORT. | [141] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| POSTAL SERVICE. STAFF: ITS COMPOSITION, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES. VOLUME OF WORK. | [160] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| CHRISTMAS AND ST. VALENTINE SEASONS. | [175] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| PUBLIC OFFICE: ITS BUSINESS. THE SAVINGS BANK. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS. | [186] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| TELEGRAPHS. TELEPHONES. EXPRESS DELIVERY. | [198] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| TELEGRAPH MESSENGERS. | [222] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| LETTER DELIVERY SYSTEM. POSTMEN: THEIR DUTIES AND RECREATIONS. | [234] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| POST LETTER BOXES: POSITION, VIOLATION, PECULIAR USES. | [253] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| RURAL DISTRICT SUB-POSTMASTERS. RURAL POSTMEN. INCIDENTS. | [257] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| GENERAL FREE DELIVERY OF LETTERS. | [287] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| RETURNED LETTER OFFICE. | [292] |
ILLUSTRATIONS.
| THE POSTMASTER'S OFFICE, BRISTOL | [Page 0] |
| RALPH ALLEN OF CROSS POST FAME | [6] |
| HIS RESIDENCE AT PRIOR PARK, BATH | [9] |
| HIS TOWN HOUSE IN BATH | [13] |
| HIS TOMB AT CLAVERTON | [16] |
| JOHN PALMER, INTRODUCER OF MAIL COACHES | [18] |
| OLD ENGLISH "FLYING" MAIL COACH | [21] |
| MAIL COACH PLATE DEDICATED TO PALMER | [34] |
| THE WEST COUNTRY MAIL COACHES ABOUT TO LEAVE PICCADILLY | [36] |
| THE LAST OF THE MAIL GUARDS | [44] |
| ARRIVAL OF THE BATH AND BRISTOL MAIL COACH AT ROADSIDE INN | [48] |
| START OF MAIL COACHES FROM BUSH INN, BRISTOL | [52] |
| THE OLD PASSAGE, AUST | [56] |
| JOHN GARDINER | [71] |
| THOMAS TODD WALTON, SENIOR | [72] |
| THOMAS TODD WALTON, JUNIOR | [74] |
| EDWARD CHADDOCK SAMPSON | [79] |
| SIR FRANCIS FREELING, BART | [83] |
| THE BRISTOL HEAD POST OFFICE IN 1899 | [117] |
| THE "GREAT WESTERN" | [152] |
| R.M.S. "MONTEREY" | [159] |
| THE PUBLIC HALL OF THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE | [186] |
| THE TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT ROOM, BRISTOL | [204] |
| CRIBBS CAUSEWAY POST OFFICE | [261] |
| MR. EDWARD BIDDLE | [263] |
| LETTER BOX AT WINTERBOURNE | [269] |
| HANNAH BREWER, THE BITTON POSTWOMAN | [276] |
PREFACE.
In these days when books on every conceivable subject are written in their thousands annually; when monthly journals are produced by scores, and daily newspapers in hundreds, to supply the public with a record of the world's doings; and when readers are found for them all, it may not be thought unfitting that each large mail centre in the United Kingdom which contributes by its postal and telegraph organisation to the dissemination of much of this literature, should in its turn have some record of its own doings. This present compilation has, therefore, been undertaken with that object in view, as regards the Bristol Post Office, and in the hope that the facts, figures, and incidents contained in it relating to past doings and present days and present ways may prove of interest to the inhabitants of the County and City, and its surrounding districts, and in an unpretentious way
commence, or add to, local Post Office history, and demonstrate that though Bristol is not, unfortunately, the leading provincial seaport, as of yore, she has not lagged one step behind her competitors in respect of postal progress.