The Peoples Post

Monday 5th December sees the launch of an exciting new series on BBC Radio 4. The Peoples Post is a 15 part series exploring the history of the postal service through the people that use and work for it. The series begins in the 16th century in the reign of Henry VIII and explores some of the key moments in the nearly 500 years since then. Each weekday there will be a new 15 minute episode touching on a different part of this fascinating and evolving story.

London Chief Office - Artwork for a poster by Grace Golden on the subject of postal facilities, 1948. (POST 109/198)

The first five episodes, during the first week, will look at the early history of the postal service. It will cover the days of the postal service as an instrument of state and consider the expansion of the system, first under Charles I and then later in the 18th century with the post being used increasingly to assist trade. The final episode in week one will look at a postal system that was becoming ripe for improvement and this episode will link to week two where we see the postal service undergoing its most important change, postal reform.

'The Country Letter Carrier' - Oil Painting by J P Hall, 1859 (OB1997.8)

Week two opens with the story of the Penny Black and how postal reform changed the world. Throughout the week the massive expansion of the Royal Mail will be explored and the effect it had on the lives of people. From the expansion into the parcels posts in the 1880s through the development of social post and the part the post office played in the community, to the industrial unrest in the 1890s with the first postal workers’ strike.

The first 'First Day Cover' in the world, showing a Penny Black used on 6 May 1840, the first day of validity. (Phillips Collection Vol IV/3, POST 141/04)

The final week looks at some of the innovations and changes that were to impact on the industry. The rise of new technologies such as the telegraphs and later developments such as the introduction by Royal Mail of the postcode, and the way that system evolved to form a part of everyone’s life. This week will also consider the post office in the First World War, the impact of the loss of male workers and the employment of women, and also the massive new role of delivering mail to a world at war and managing censorship.

Norwich addresses need postal codes, GPO poster from 1961 (POST 110/4323)

The series is supported throughout by the BPMA. With each episode there will be new content loaded onto the website, Flickr and this blog, exploring some of the issues in more detail. Links to these will be provided via Facebook, Twitter and Google+ - and you can live tweet the show on the hashtag #PeoplesPost. Much of the research for the series has also been drawn from the Royal Mail Archive, which is managed by the BPMA. Images and details from the BPMA’s rich collections will illustrate each episode.

The BPMA were involved with the series from the very beginning and a number of members of BPMA staff were involved in developing the links with the series producers and the BBC. Most particularly the BPMA would like to thank Peter Sutton for his role of researcher, helping to find the links within the collection, and Jenny Karlsson and Alison Bean for helping to build the links and develop the online content.

- Chris Taft, Curator

Masters of the Post – Video

Economic journalist and researcher Duncan Campbell Smith discusses how he researched his book Masters of the Post – the Authorized History of the Royal Mail at The British Postal Museum & Archive.

Masters of the Post is the first complete history of the Royal Mail up to the present day. It presents the whole story of Britain’s postal service — how it was built, how it led the world for two hundred years and how it has struggled to survive in the face of mounting odds since the arrival of the internet.

Purchase your copy from our online shop.

350 Years of the Postmark

Today Royal Mail has released a generic sheet to mark 350 years of the postmark. The sheet offers a fascinating visual record for postmark and postal heritage enthusiasts. Alongside the stamps are different postmarks that illustrate, in date order, the development of the postmark.

350 Years of the Postmark Generic Sheet

Henry Bishop, who was Postmaster General from 25 June 1660 until 6 April 1663, is credited with introducing the postmark. Postmarks are believed to have come into use in late April 1661. Bishop later explained the reasons for the postmark’s introduction as follows:

A stamp is invented that is putt upon every letter shewing the day of the month that every letter comes to the office, so that no Letter Carryer may dare detayne a letter from post to post; which before was usual

“Bishop marks”, as these original postmarks were titled, are known to have been used in England, Ireland, Scotland, the North American colonies (including New York, Philadelphia, Quebec and Nova Scotia) and India during the 17th and 18th Century. There were a number of different types, but the best known were round in shape with a horizontal line at the diameter. The first Bishop marks showed the first two letters of a month in the upper half and the days of the moth in the lower half.

Our collections include an example of the Bishop mark which appears on the “Pomery Letter”, a lettersheet addressed to Arthur Pomeroy Esq, Kildare Street, Dublin which is handstamped with three postmarks including a large Dublin Bishop mark and a postmark that reads CLONARD.

Pomery Letter, c. 1747-1797 (OB1996.404/2)

Close-up of the Dublin Bishop mark on Pomery Letter, c. 1747-1797 (OB1996.404/2)

The letter is believed to have been sent between 1747 and 1797; this date was determined by the type of Bishop mark on the sheet, which shows the month above the day.

Other notable postmarks featured on the generic sheet are marks from the Dockwra penny post and the original Pearson Hill stamp cancelling machine, a War Bonds machine slogan, and a postmark from the final day of the Travelling Post Office.

The generic sheet can be purchased from the Royal Mail website. For an in-depth look at postal markings see our website.

The BPMA at Autumn Stampex

Stalls at Stampex, 2010

As many of you will be aware this year’s Autumn Stampex will be held at Islington Business Design Centre from 14–17 September. The Friends of the BPMA will be manning Stand 20 throughout the event, where there will information about the BPMA, new postcard packs and a selection of our other products for sale, and this year’s stand will look better than ever – decorated with a range of memorable images from our collection.

Autumn Crocus from the Flower Photographs issue, 20 January 1987

At the present time were undertaking a review of our activities and services. It is important to us to work with philatelists, philatelic traders and postal history enthusiasts to ensure we develop our services in line with what you want, and to enable us to keep caring for these collections for generations to come – and we need your help! We know Stampex is a date which will be in many of our followers’ diaries and we’d like to meet as many of you as can we while we’re there this September.

Join us for a drink at Stampex and tell us what you think!
11.30am – 1.30pm, Thursday 15 September
Executive Centre, Ground floor – full details on the Friends Stand.

Whether you’d like to find out more about what’s in our philatelic vault, how you can see it, or our other services – or simply wish to tell us what you like about us, or what we could do better, then we’d love to speak to you – please drop by for a drink and say hello!

A Timeless Classic: The Evolution of Machin's Icon by Douglas N, Muir

Win a signed copy of A Timeless Classic: The Evolution of Machin’s Icon by The BPMA’s Philatelic Curator Douglas N. Muir At Autumn Stampex

If you can’t make it for a drink, then we’d still love to meet you – staff from the BPMA will be at Stampex across the 4 day event so please do come and find us. Any visitors to our Friends’ stand also have the opportunity to win a copy of one of our most popular books, A Timeless Classic: The Evolution of Machin’s Icon, signed by the author! Just drop a business card in the pot to enter the prize draw.

What does the BPMA have about…India?

Today is International Archive Day. As part of the celebrations of this event our Archivists will be highlighting some of our records relating to overseas postal services on Twitter as part of #AskArchivists Day.

Staff load mail into large cargo nets at the platform of Calais Station (POST 118/419).

Among the holdings of the BPMA are various records relating to postal services to India in the nineteenth century. In the 1820s Thomas Waghorn established an overland route between Alexandria and Suez. This resulted in a significant reduction in the time taken for mail to travel between England and India. Mails which had previously taken up to three months to reach India now arrived in just 35 days.

Detail of letter showing 'Carried by Waghorn' cachet, c. 1850 (POST 118/1017)

There was also a special India Mail Service for diplomatic mail between the countries. This involved specially appointed Post Office staff of higher grades accompanying the mail from London to Marseilles where responsibility was transferred to the P&O purser of a ship bound for India. These staff were known as India Mail Officers. They carried out three trips a year, and were expected to be on stand by for a further three.

Prior to the independence of India in 1947, the British Post Office also played a role in the operation of postal services within India. Mail services in the country were opened to the public in 1774 by Warren Hastings, the Governor General of British India. In 1850 a report was commissioned into the working of the Post Office in India. This report introduced uniform postage rates for letters based on weight, mirroring developments in England. In also recommended a Manual of Instructions to be issued to postmasters to encourage uniformity of practice. The reforms had mixed results with old practices continuing in many areas.

Poster promoting airmail routes to India, c. 1938 (POST 110/1167)

More information on the Postal History of India can be found
on our website: http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/india.
We will also be highlighting details of our international collections on Twitter today – follow us on @postalheritage.

Cruchley’s Postal District Map, 1859

Each month we present an object from the Morten Collection on this blog. The Morten Collection is a nationally important postal history collection currently held at Bruce Castle, Tottenham.

As part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project, Pistols, Packets and Postmen, the BPMA, Bruce Castle Museum and the Communication Workers Union (the owner of the Collection) are working together to widen access to and develop educational resources for the Morten Collection.

This month, Bruce Robertson, a retired town planner from East London, who has been a volunteer working on the postal history collections at Bruce Castle Museum, chooses his favourite object:

Cruchley's Postal District Map, 1859

“As a town planner interested in postal history, one of the postal maps was always going to be my favourite object.

Cruchley’s Postal District Map of 1859 was produced when Queen Victoria was on the throne. Rowland Hill’s postal reform, postage stamps, the Penny Black and universal Penny Postage – and District Post Offices – were all part of everyday life. The use of ‘the post’ had grown so much, and there used to be three or four deliveries a day. To aid the sorting of the mail, London had been divided into postal districts – the start of the post-code system we use today”.

‘Postal People’ at Bruce Castle Museum, Tottenham

The exhibition space at Bruce Castle

by Adrian Steel, Director

Last week I visited Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham, North London, to see their ‘Postal People’ exhibition which runs until the end of the year.

Bruce Castle has been a museum since 1906, but is strongly connected with postal reformer Rowland Hill whose family ran a progressive school for boys there during the Victorian period.

Greetings telegram artwork

‘Postal People’ is the result of a partnership project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and BPMA, and supported by Bruce Castle Museum, BPMA and the Communication Workers Union, who own the Morten Collection of postal history material kept at Bruce Castle. This project, called ‘Pistols, Packets and Postmen’, saw the cataloguing and proper preservation of postal history material stored at Bruce Castle, with educational events provided for all and volunteer participation helping the project along.

Stamps and postal history on display

Bruce Castle is a very interesting place to visit and a superb facility for the people of Tottenham and beyond. ‘Postal People’ is in a light and airy room on the first floor and provides interesting commentary from ten people who have looked through the postal history material held at Bruce Castle and chosen their favourite objects.

Postal People can also be found online.

Morten Collection Object of the Month: May 2010 – Stamps from Weimar Germany

Each month, for ten months, we’ll be presenting an object from the Morten Collection on this blog. The Morten Collection is a nationally important postal history collection currently held at Bruce Castle, Tottenham.

As part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project, Pistols, Packets and Postmen, the BPMA, Bruce Castle Museum and the Communication Workers Union (the owner of the Collection) are working together to widen access to and develop educational resources for the Morten Collection.

If you have any comments on the objects or the Collection we’d be grateful to hear them. At the end of the ten months we hope we’ll have given you an overview of the Collection, highlighting individual items but also emphasising the diverse nature of the material. For further information on the Morten Collection, please see our blog of 16th December 2009.

by Bettina Trabant, Postal Heritage Officer, Bruce Castle Museum

The Weimar Republic is the period in German history between the end of WWI and the coming to power of Hitler in 1933. Weimar society was characterised by great political instability, violence and strikes. There were eight elections in its short 15 year life span, and over 16 different political parties, including five different liberal parties, standing for parliament.

Inflation was extremely high due to an increase in money since the start of WWI and reparation payments agreed with the Allies (as part of the Treaty of Versailles) after the war ended. By 1923 the German Mark was practically worthless due to new credits that were taken out in order to continue making reparations payments and to provide social security benefits for striking workers. Compounding the problem was that due to the strike Germany had no goods to trade with.

In 1922, 1000 Marks was the highest bank note, but by 1923 the highest bank note was One Billion Marks. People would be paid daily and go shopping daily as money became worthless the next day. The crisis ended in November 1923 when Germany underwent currency reform and introduced the Rentenmark.

In our collection at Bruce Castle we have an example of how the German Post Office dealt with the inflation crisis. A window printed envelope from the Portugisisches Handeskontor in Hamburg from 1923 contains five 400 Mark stamps on the front, overprinted to valued them at 800,000 Marks, and twenty 100 Mark stamps on the reverse, overprinted to value them at 100,000 Marks.

Envelope from Weimar Germany with five 400 Mark stamps on the front overprinted to valued them at 800,000 Marks

Envelope from Weimar Germany with twenty 100 Mark stamps on the reverse, overprinted to value them at 100,000 Marks

Overprinting to change the value of stamps is not unique to Weimar Germany, it has happened in many other parts of the world, including some British colonies.

Fe:MAIL, Suffragettes and the Post

From pepper in the letters to postcard propaganda, the history of suffragettes has more sticky situations than a book of stamps.

US stamp commemorating Votes for Women

The new foyer display at The Women’s Library, Fe:MAIL, Suffragettes and the Post, explores how suffragettes saw the Post Office as both a means of mass communication and a symbol of the oppressive male Government; as friend and simultaneously foe.

During the campaign to win women the vote, militant and moderate suffragettes alike used and attacked the postal system to increase the momentum of their campaign and to ensure frequent media coverage. And with over 32,500 pillar boxes in place by 1900, the scope for direct action was almost without limits.

Militant Tactics

A letter damaged by suffragette action

Members of the WSPU, including the Pankhursts, smashed post office windows, poured acid in pillar boxes, set fire to post boxes and put pepper in letters addressed to anti-suffrage MPs.

The suffragettes Daisy Solomon and Elspeth McClellan even posted themselves to Prime Minister Asquith, with demands for the vote written across them like human letters.

Fe:MAIL, Suffragettes and the Post includes a fascinating selection of postcards, stamps and audio accounts from those who took part in some of the most daring postal dramas as well as the world’s first suffrage stamp, the prison diary of a suffragette charged with smashing post office windows, newspaper cuttings and the world’s earliest known suffrage postcard.

Fe:MAIL, Suffragettes and the Post is at The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT until October. For further details please see the Women’s Library website.

Fe:MAIL Event: Suffrage Postal Campaigns
Tuesday 11 May, 7pm (60 minutes)
£8/£6 concessions

Norman Watson, postal historian and co-curator of Fe:MAIL, Suffragettes and the Post, explores one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of the post: how the suffrage movement exploited the mail service. Using postcards, letters and photographs he examines the insightful and sometimes curious ways in which Edwardian campaigners embraced this new mass communication system.

For further information on this event please see the Women’s Library website.

Britain’s Postal Heritage

Bettina Trabant, Postal Heritage Officer at Bruce Castle Museum, will speak at the BPMA on 8th April. The focus of her talk will be Bruce Castle’s postal history collection, some of which has been highlighted on this blog in recent months.

An embroidered Valentines Day card from Bruce Castle's postal history collection

The BPMA is currently working with Bruce Castle and the Communications Worker’s Union (CWU) to widen access to the Morten Collection, collected by former postal worker W.V. Morten. When Morten died in the 1920’s the Union of Communication Workers (now the CWU) recognised the importance of the collection and purchased it. Since then it has been housed at Bruce Castle, expanding from 8,000 items to more than 30,000.

Highlights of the Bruce Castle Museum Postal History Collection include material related to the TPO (Travelling Post Office), mail coaches, trade union history, stamps, Valentines cards, and Sir Rowland Hill, who at one point lived at Bruce Castle where he was headmaster of a school. The oldest object in the collection is a letter from Normandy sent in 1397.

Bettina Trabant’s talk is free and booking details can be found on our website.