570 POST-OFFICE [HISTORY. Number of Letters ; Gross and Xett Income, 1838-1857. Estimated C^ef nf Postage Year ending No. of Chargeable Gross Income. OSt OI Manage- Xett Revenue. charged on Govern Letters. ment.
Jan. 5, 1838
2,339,737
687,313
1,652,424
38,528
1839
2,346,278
686,768
1,659,509
45,156
1840
75,908,000
2,390,763
756,999
1,633,764
44,277
1841
168,768,344
1,359,466
858,677
500,789
90,761
1842
196,500,191
1,499,418
938,168
561, -J49
113,255 i
1843
208,434,451
1,578,145
977,504
600,641
122,161
IS 4 -*
220,450,306
1,620,867
980,650
640,217
116,503
,, 1845
242,091,684
1,705,067
985,110
719,957
109,232
1846
271,410,789
1,887,576 1,125,594
761,982
101,190
1847
29^,586,762
1,963,857 1,138,745
825,112
100,354
1848
322,146,243
2,181,016
1,196,520
984,496
121,290
1849
328,830,184
2,143,679
1,403,250
740,429
115,902
1850
337,399,199
2,165,349
1,324,562
840,787
106,923
,, 1851
347,069,071
2,264,684
1,460,785
803,898
109,523
1852
360,647,187
2,422,168 1,304,163
1,118,004
167,129
1853
379,501,499
2,434,326 1,343,907
1,090,419
124,977
1854
410,817,489
2,574,407 1,400,679
1,173,727
134,112
Dec. 31, 1854
443,649,301
2,701,862
1,506,556
1,195,306
185,236
1855
456,216,176
2,716,420
1,651,364
1,065,056
173,560
1856
478,393,803
2,867,954 i 1,660,229
1,207,725
154,229
1857
504,421.000
3,035,713
1,720,815
1,314,898
135,517
Briefly, within a period of eighteen years under the penny rate the
number of letters became more than sixfold what it was under the
exorbitant rates of 1838. When the change was first made the
increase of letters was in the ratio of 122 25 per cent, during the
year. The second year showed an increase on the first of about
16 per cent. During the next fifteen years the average increase
was at the rate of about 6 per cent, per annum. Although this
enormous increase of business, coupled with the increasing pre
ponderance of railway mail conveyance (invaluable, but costly),
carried up the post-office expenditure from 757,000 to 1,720,800,
yet the nett revenue of 1857 was within 320,000 of the nett re
venue of 1839. During the year 1857 the number of newspapers
delivered in the United Kingdom was about 71,000,000, and that
of book-packets (the cheap carriage of which is one of the most
serviceable and praiseworthy of modern postal improvements) about
6,000,000.
During the succeeding quarter of a century, 1858-84, the achieve
ments of the period 1835-57 have been eminently surpassed. The
postmasters - general of the new epoch have been assisted and
seconded by a series of public servants, not a few of whom added
to the conspicuous energies of Sir R. Hill more of those not less
estimable qualities suavity of manner, tact in dealing with large
bodies of inferiors, reverence for the good doings of past times
than had fallen to his lot. Salient amongst such stand the names
of Sir John Tilley, Mr Frank Ives Scudamore, and Mr Stevenson
Blackwood. Among the postmasters - general the Earl of Elgin
(1859), Lord Stanley of Alderley (1860), Lord Harrington (Decem
ber 1868), Lord John Manners (February 1874), and the forty-fourth
postmaster-general Henry Fawcett 1 (April 1880 to November 1884)
hold eminent place.
This period includes (1) the establishment of postal savings
banks (1861), in which Mr Gladstone, as chancellor of the ex-
1 The Right Hon. Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), under whose excep
tionally vigorous, able, and statesmanlike administration many improve
ments of the postal system were introduced, was born at Salisbury in
1833. He was educated at King s College, London, and Trinity Hall,
Cambridge, and after graduating in 1856 as seventh wrangler began his
studies for the English bar. A weakness in the eyes had occasionally
interrupted his studies before the great calamity which befell him while
out shooting in September 1858, when a gun accident totally deprived
him of sight. The exceptional interest of his career lies in its com
plete fulfilment of his resolution that he would not allow the calamity
"to interfere with his discharge of duty or the enjoyment of life."
Even as regards physical exercise his resolution was practically ful
filled, for he continued to engage in riding, fishing, skating, swimming,
and rowing with as keen enjoyment as before. As regards the chief
interests of his life the result of the accident was probably beneficial
rather than otherwise. Returning to Cambridge, he devoted himself
to the systematic study of political economy, and in 1863 he was chosen
professor of that subject. In 1867 he was married to Millicent,
daughter of Mr Newson Garrett of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, who assisted
him in the preparation of several of his works on political economy,
and also wrote independently on the same subject. The best known
of Mr Fawcett s treatises is his Manual of Political Economy (1863).
In this science he followed substantially the old lines, but a certain
freshness attaches to his views from his deep practical interest in the
welfare of the working-classes. After several attempts to enter parlia
ment, he was in 1 865 chosen for Brighton, which he represented till
1874. Shortly after losing his seat for that borough he was returned
for Hackney. On the accession of Mr Gladstone to office in 1880 he
was made postmaster-general, and a member of the privy council. He
died from pleurisy, after a few days illness, 7th November 1884.
chequer, had a very large share, and (2) the transfer to the state
of the telegraphic service (1870). The origin and growth of each
of these pregnant improvements is narrated in a separate section
of this article. Scarcely less important than these are (3) the
introduction of postal cards (October 1870) and (4) the establish
ment (August 1883) of a parcel post. The last-named measure
will probably, in its results, prove to be a public boon of almost
unexampled magnitude. At its outset it checks railway abuses,
both of overcharge and of excessive delays, which had grown to be
enormous evils. Minor but most valuable ameliorations of the
postal service begin with the abolition of the half-ounce limit (1877),
and include the provision of new and excellent post-office buildings,
great improvement of the system of registration, extensive accel
erations of mails in various parts of the empire, increased postal
deliveries, and, not least in importance, a most just amelioration
(greatly needed) of the position of sub -postmasters, of clerks, of
sorters, and of letter-carriers. Certain minor improvements cannot
be more briefly or better epitomized than in the words of a writer
in the Standard newspaper of 10th January 1879.
"The half-ounce weights chanced to be just above the weight of
a letter written on full-sized post paper, and, when that was the
maximum weight allowed, the margin was so fine that a little
thicker paper than usual, or slightly larger envelope, sufficed to
turn the scale, and all but strictly business correspondents were
continually landing those whom they favoured with their com
munications in the annoyance of a surcharge for deficient prepay
ment of postage. By the extension to an ounce all that worry and
annoyance has been swept away, and no inconsiderable benefit has
been conferred besides on people whose missives are of necessity
somewhat more ponderous than ordinary. Quite recently the ] lost-
office has introduced another great improvement, which the public,
not having yet had time to appreciate, do not utilize to the extent
it deserves, that is, the system of ensuring, which is little less than
absolute security for money and articles of value sent through the
post by means of registration. The fee for a registered letter,
which was at one time as much as half a crown, and has within
easy recollection been as high as a shilling, was reduced early in
1878 from 4d. to 2d., with the result that something like 6,500^000
of registered letters were sent in 1878, as compared with 4,316,000
in the previous year, and with 1,300,000 twenty years ago. This
number would be largely increased if all the official registered
packets were included. Not only has the fee been reduced to what
may be considered the lowest possible point, but letters are registered
by rural postmen on their rounds, and registration envelopes have
been issued by the department to facilitate registration by the
public. The envelopes have been devised with care, and seem well
suited for the purpose, being strong as well as cheap. They are
sold at prices varying from 2|d. to 3d. each (which includes the
registration fee), and are in five useful sizes, from small note size
to a large cover suitable for bankers and merchants. But the re
duction in the charge and the sale of envelopes are not the only
improvements which have been made in the registration system,
for the post-office now undertakes to make good, up to 2, the
value of any registered letter which it loses, simply stipulating, in
the case of money, that one of its own envelopes shall be used. It
is on every account most desirable that money and articles of value
should not be loosely committed to the post, and with the facilities
for transmitting letters securely which are now offered, people who
choose to run the risk of loss deserve very little sympathy if the
chance goes against them. As regards international communica
tion it is enough to merely mention the beneficent results of the
postal union, under which the postage to most places on the Conti
nent and abroad has been reduced to the uniform rate of 2^d. for a
letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight ; while to a second
category of more distant places under foreign dominion the charge
for the letter of half an ounce is 6d."
Table VI. gives the estimate of the number of letters (only)
ivhich passed in both directions between the United Kingdom and
? oreign countries and colonies in 1864.
West Indies, Pacific, and
Brazils 1,727,000
Belgium 924,000
Italy 827,000
Spain 617,000
Holland 600,000
France 6,771,000
Canada, British North
America, and United
States 4,865,000
Prussia, Hamburg, and
Bremen 4,403,000
East Indies, China, &c. ..3,632,000
Australia 2,915,000 Total 27,281,000
There were also about 21,500,000 books, papers, and patterns.
Meanwhile the estimated number of chargeable letters delivered Latest
within the United Kingdom during the year had grown from statist!
504,421,000, at which it stood in 1857, to upwards of 700,000,000 (1885, 1
n 1867, and to 1,057,732,000 in 1877. In the year 1884 the
lumber was reported 2 as 1,322,086,900 (exclusive of 153,586,100
)ost-cards). The growth of other departments of the postal service
s fully in proportion to that of the letters of inland delivery, as
nay be seen by the following tables (VII., VIII., IX.).
2 Thirtieth Report of the Postmaster -General, 1884, p. 1 ; cp. Slatis-
