It's easy to take our postal services for granted. Whether you want to send a letter to a friend, a birthday card to a relative or a complaint to your bank manager, you know that the price of a stamp will ensure that your message is sent to its destination. As well as performing its basic duties, the Post Office also fulfills a number of other functions, and you can use your local branch to open a savings account or collect your lottery winnings. The service has come a long way since its foundation in the 17th century, when our forebears found great difficulty in sending word to someone In the next town.

Until the 15th century there was no official postal system, and people who wanted to send letters had to find their own ways of conveying them. If a person was wealthy, they might use one of their servants as a messenger, although it was more usual for people to rely on travelers who were heading in the right direction. As a result, it was hard to guarantee that a message would arrive with any speed, or even reach its destination at all. The famous Paston family, for example, often experienced these problems, and when John Paston sent a letter to his brother Edmond in Calais, he complained: “This day sev'nnight, I sent you a letter by Nicholas Bardesley, a soldier, that you should have had in two days. I am afraid that he deceived me."
While private correspondents had to rely on these unreliable methods, a number of organizations developed their own postal systems. The Church and the Universities, for example, sent regular messengers from place to place, while there is evidence that royal couriers were used as early as King John's reign. These men carried official correspondence in a box or a bag embroidered with the royal arms. Chaucer, who was writing towards the end of the 14th century, was familiar with these functionaries and makes reference in the Hous of Fame to "Currours and eke messangers with boistes".

The first major attempt to reform the royal courier system took place (luring Henry VIII's reign. By 1512, the King's French Secretary, Sir Brian Tuke, was appointed "Master of the Posts" with responsibility for developing a new system for carrying royal letters. Tuke tried to solve the problem by maintaining a series of 'posts', between 10 and 20 miles apart, on the important routes out of London. At each stage a postmaster - who was usually an innkeeper - would take responsibility for either conveying the mail to the next post, or for making sure the royal "Curriers or Thorow-postes" had fresh horses. The second method of delivering letters was, of course, the fastest, and was used by the king to deliver 'Express Letters'.

IMPROVEMENTS
At about the time these improvements were being carried out to the royal mail, the demand for an efficient system of letter carriage was increasing elsewhere. Merchants involved in the rapidly-growing trade with the Low Countries and the Continent needed a reliable communication network. As a result, towards the end of the 16th century, English and foreign merchants set up a postal service, employing their own men to deliver letters. However, this system was created at a time when the Crown was keen to intercept private correspondence and, in 1591, Queen Elizabeth I declared that no messages were to be conveyed between England and other countries unless they were carried by persons named "by our Master of the Posts".
During the following century, the royal authorities tightened their grip on the postal system. In 1632, Charles I appointed Thomas Witherings and William Frizell "Masters for the Posts for Foreign Parts". Although Frizell soon resigned, Witherings began to lay the foundation for a swift, reliable postal network. In fact, he proved so good at his job that, in 1635, the King issued a series of declarations entrusting "his Servant, 7'homas Withrings, Ejquire, to settle a Running Post" between all parts of the United Kingdom. These documents are particularly interesting because they provide us with information on the cost of sending mail. In a broadsheet published in July of that year, we learn that "Money is to be paid at the Compting House of the said Thomas Witbrings [in London], both at the receipt and delivery of the Answers of the said Letters, and nothing to be paid in the Country, as followeth; two pence the single Letter, if under 80. miles; if between 80. and 140. miles, foure pence; if above 140. miles, sixe pence". Messages sent to Scotland cost eightpence, while those bound for Ireland were charged at ninepence.
These early postal charges were levied in a very different way than they are today. While the price of delivery is now calculated by weight, 17th-century writers were charged according to the number of sheets of paper they used. As a result, if the sender wrapped one leaf within another - the equivalent of a modern envelope - he would have to pay a double-rate. 'To avoid this,  most people tried to fit their correspondence onto a single piece of paper, which they would then fold and seal with wax.
Fven though postage could be prepaid, most correspondents left the recipient of a letter to pay for its delivery. In most instances, this had nothing to do with the sender's meanness, hut was rather a method of ensuring that a message was delivered. Couriers, or “post-hoys" had a very poor reputation, and rumors of their drunkenness and irresponsibility were rife. At one point it was claimed that “the gentry doe give much money to the riders, whereby they he very subject to get in liquor, which stopes the mails". Paying the messenger after a letter was delivered was probably the most effective way to ensure it didn't get lost.

ADDRESSES
Early letters were also addressed in a different way to their modern counterparts. While houses are now numbered, and each street has its own postcode, early messengers had to follow more complex instructions. For example, a writer might address his letter to Capt. Grigsons next the white Lyon, by the new Stayers at Wapping". Neither were there such things as “First class" or “Second Class" posts and, if a correspondent wanted his letter to he delivered urgently, he might inscribe it with the words “Haste, Post Haste" or “with speed”. As more and more people began to use the postal system, the service became a valuable source of revenue. In 1653, Oliver Cromwell's government issued the following charter on behalf of Captain John Manley, in return for a payment of £10,000: "To Clement Oxenbridge, and all others concerned in the inland and foreign posts. John Manky, having contracted for and farmed these offices, we authorize him to enter on his duties this night (30.vi.53) to receive and carry all packets, and to receive all profits to his own use. And you are required to permit him to do this without interruption or molestation." Efforts were made to secure Manley's monopoly on the postal services and most competing networks were driven out of business. From this point onwards, the “Office of Postage of Letters Inland and Foreign" was about the only officially-sanctioned carrier of letters 'in all places of England, .Scotland and Ireland and to and from all other places within the Dominions of this Commonwealth", although exceptions were made for private messengers and for country carriers with "Carts, Wagons or Packhorses”. Manley's tenure, and that of his successor John Thurloc, didn't last long. After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, all measures passed by the "tyrant and usurper" Oliver Cromwell were revoked, and a new Act "for erecting and establishing" a Post Office was approved. This piece of legislation   nowadays referred to as the Post Office Charter - made few material changes to the service, although the position of Postmaster General was conferred on Colonel Henry Bishop in return for an annual payment of £21,500.

REFORMS
Although the basic structure of the service remained largely unaltered, Bishop carried out some wide-ranging reforms to the Post Office. Most importantly, he introduced Britain's first postmark - a circle, horizontally divided with the month in the top half and the day in the bottom. These stamps were designed so that "no Letter Carrier may dare to detain a letter from post to post, which before was usual." In addition, Bishop extended the nation's postal system so that there were "many new posts in several new roads and by roads where heretofore no posts had ever been". Unfortunately, the Postmaster-General's success hastened his downfall. In 1663, he was relieved from his position, and the majority of the now-lucrative Post Office profits were granted to the Duke of York, who was later to become King James II. A further share was reserved to Charles II, which he used to fund pensions for his favorites. The Postmaster-General was allowed to keep £5,382 10s for himself, while the Duchess of Cleveland received £4,700 and Lady Green a further £500. In fact, one of the Duchess's descendants, the 5th Duke of Grafton, held the pension as late as 1856, when it was commuted in return for compensation of £91,000.
Despite  the  heavy  financial burdens flow placed upon it, the service provided by the Post Office during the reigns of Charles II and James II continued to improve. Post-masters-General such as Colonel Roger Whitley worked hard to ensure the efficiency of the mails, and were not above sending harsh letters to their subordinates. After one man took 10 hours to travel 15 miles with the post, Whitley told him that his behavior was a 'most abominable shame and a scandal: I tell you, Mr. Sadler, in a few words that if this is not speedily amended . .  you will suffer for it".
Postal routes were also extended across Britain, while further mails were sent to Holland and Flanders. However, one glaring anomaly did remain - the Post Office would not handle letters sent from one London address to another. This was a serious handicap at a time when the capital was a fast-expanding trading centre, and residents and merchants alike were resentful of having to employ private messengers to pass on letters. Fortunately, the problem was solved in 1680 after an advertisement in the Mercurius Civicus proclaimed: "The Undertakers for the Incomparable and Advantageous Design for the Speedy and safe Conveyance of Letters and packquets under a pound weight, to all parts of the Cities of London and Westminster, and the suburbs thereof ... [have] ordered their Messengers to call for all Letters at all Coffee-Houses in the High Roads and Streets following . . . And all persons, who leave their Letters at any of the places aforesaid, may be sure to have them speedily dispatched for ONE PENY". The man behind the "Penny Post" project was a  London  merchant called William Dockwra. His scheme proved to be an immediate success, particularly as letters left at any Penny Post House were sent out "successively every hour of the Day, till Eight of the Clock at Night". Furthermore, to ensure that correspondence was delivered as soon as possible, each letter was stamped with the hour of the day on which it was sent out. This way, people could work out whether the "delays that may happen be really in the Office, or their own Servants (or other) with whom their Letters were left in due time".

PROSECUTED
Unfortunately, Dockwra ignored the sanctions on breaking the Post Office's monopoly. As a result, he was prosecuted by the Duke of York, who gained £100 in damages and forced Dockwra to relinquish his control of the Penny Post. The innovator was devastated, and for many years he petitioned the Duke of York to save him and his "family of 9 children from Ruine" For the best part of the decade his cries went unheeded but, after the accession of King William and Queen Mary in 1689, he received a seven-year pension of £500 "in consideration of his good service in inventing and setting up the business of the Penny Post.

Although the original scheme was abolished, the government soon established its own Penny Post service. It continued to be popular with Londoners, and throughout the next century its revenues increased steadily. In fact, the London District Post (as it became known) was so well-regarded that, in 1727, Daniel Defoe praised it for not charging for "a single Piece of Paper, as in the General Post-Office, but [sending] any Packet under a Pound weight . . . at the same price."
Meanwhile, the other domestic and foreign postal services were undergoing some far-reaching changes. From 1691, the office of Postmaster General was split and its duties fulfilled by two individuals, while in 1711 Parliament passed "An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all Her Majesty's Dominions, and for settling a Weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof, for the service of the War, and other of Her Majesty's Occasions." The Act required the Post Office to pay a weekly sum of £700 to the Treasury and, in order to meet this demand  the Postmaster General raised the price of sending letters. Messages traveling less than 80 miles now cost 3d instead of 2d, while those sent over greater distances were raised from 3d to 4d. Foreign postage rates also rose by a  comparable  amount, although the total fee payable was still calculated by the number of sheets sent, rather than by their weight.
The Act also confirmed the Penny Post's monopoly in London, while deputy postmasters  across  the country were issued with regulations concerning the speed at which they should deliver the mail. These officials were also made to return full accounts of By or Way Letters - messages that were delivered along a route without passing through London. This was important, for it was claimed that "Deputy Post Masters do collect great quantities of Post Letters called By or Way Letters, and by clandestine and private Agreements among themselves, do convey the same by Post . . . without accounting for them or endorsing the same on their Bill, to the great detriment of Her Majesty's revenues". Finally, an order was given that no-one was to "open, detain or delay any Letter . . . except by an express Warrant in Writing under the Hand of One of the principal Secretaries of State for every such Opening, Detaining or Delaying".

EXPANSION
The 1711 Act remained in force, with slight changes, until it was superseded by a new set of regulations in 1837. In the intervening period, however, the Post Office continued to enjoy rapid expansion. The growth of industry in the Midlands and the North demanded the  swift  exchange  of correspondence, while improvements in the education of the working classes increased the number of people who could write letters. Finally, a succession of wars between 1739 and 1815 highlighted the need for a quicker, more effective postal system.
Despite the mail's growing importance during the 18th century, the service was still open to abuse, and there was a great deal of corruption and mismanagement. By-letters and cross-letters (those which went from one main route to another) were carried illegally by post boys, who often failed to place them with the official mail, while much of this correspondence was actually lost or miscarried. In addition, the existing mail routes ensured that many areas of the country didn't have easy access to the postal system. Fortunately, in 1720, the reformer Ralph Allen - who later became  the  model  for Squire Allworthy in Fielding's Tom Jones - was appointed to supervise the system of sending by- and cross-road mail.
Allen threw himself into his task with enthusiasm, and immediately began to stamp out corrupt practices. He insisted that postmasters sent him quarterly returns detailing the amount of business done and, from the 1730s, he also made officials swear an oath that their figures were accurate. In addition, all by- and cross-letters had to be stamped, while postmasters were to keep tallies of all the unstamped mail that came into their hands. As a result of these measures, income from this branch of the service increased dramatically.
Apart from stamping out bad practice, Allen expanded the routes used by the postal service. During his tenure, he established posts from London to Bristol, Bath, Cambridge, Norwich and Yarmouth, and also increased the number of deliveries that were made. By the time Allen died in 1764, by- and cross-letters were a profitable source of revenue and the department was soon incorporated within the Inland section of the Post Office.

GRATUITIES
During the same period, other sectors of Britain's postal services underwent similar reforms. In 1788 and 1797, there were official enquiries into the running of the Post Office, and a number of root-and-branch changes were proposed. Many of the gratuities which seriously drained the institution's income were abolished, while recommendations were made to alter the ways in which newspapers were delivered. By 1788, over 3 million papers were mailed out of London every year, and it was
common for people to escape postal charges by slipping letters inside the journals. In addition, although the Post Office carried these papers, it received no revenue from the stamp-duty imposed on them. As a result, the Report recommended the establishment of a separate newspaper office.
In addition to these changes, the practice of 'franking' letters came under scrutiny. This privilege, whereby some Post Office officials and all Members of Parliament could send correspondence free of charge, was being seriously abused. By 1784, over 3 million of these letters were being sent annually, and it was even reported that one MP was being paid £300 a year to frank the mail belonging to a large firm. As a result, from 1784, laws were introduced to regulate this form of mail, while after 1795 Members of Parliament were restricted to sending ten free letters every day, and receiving only fifteen.
While many reforms were taking place within the postal service, a number of innovations also served to make the organisation more efficient. In 1784, the mail coach was introduced, allowing more letters - and passengers - to be conveyed much faster than by riders on horseback. London's penny post was also improved by the employment of extra letter carriers and increases in the number of deliveries. In fact, the system became so well-run that, at the turn of the 19th century, cities like Dublin, Edinburgh and Manchester all set up their own penny-post schemes.

ONE PENNY
Although these reforms and innovations greatly improved the postal service, it was during the 19th century that the Post Office began to resemble the organisation we know today. Most importantly, from 1840, the whole of Britain was able to take advantage of penny postage, and any letter weighing less than half an ounce could "be sent from any part of the United Kingdom to any other part for one penny, if paid when posted". In addition, to prove that the cost of postage had been prepaid, the adhesive stamp, printed "on small pieces of paper with a glutinous wash at the back", was introduced for the first time. Even today, the famous 'Penny Black' is one of the stamp-collector's most prized specimens.
While the penny post allowed mail to be sent quickly and cheaply, the Post Office soon allowed people to send money at a reasonable cost. In 1840, under the stewardship of Rowland Hill, the money order department lowered its rate of corn-mission, and in that same year the number  of  postal  orders  sent increased by over 300 per cent. Twelve years later, thanks to the suggestion of the novelist Anthony Trollope, who was then working as a Post Office surveyor, the first iron post boxes were erected on the island of Jersey. Shortly afterwards, the new boxes were available all over the United Kingdom, and mail could be sent far more conveniently than ever before. The advent of the railways also had tremendous implications for the postal services and, as trains became faster, so did the speed at which correspondence could he sent. Similarly, the development of steam power for maritime purposes meant that overseas mail would reach its destination more quickly.

PARCEL POST
The Post Office's domain also began to expand during the last half of the 19th century, and the organisation became larger and busier than ever before. In 1861, the Post Office Savings Bank was opened, while in 1870 the newly-nationalised telegraph services were incorporated within the organisation. In addition, the parcel post was started up in 1883, and although the carriage of items such as "gunpowder, lucifer matches, bladders containing liquid, live animals, and grossly offensive matter" was prohibited, people could now send packets that weighed up to seven pounds.
From a genealogical point of view, this period was one of the most important in the history of the postal services. By 1885, nearly 100,000 people were employed by the Post Office, in a variety of occupations. However, if you find that an ancestor worked for the organisation, it's important to learn more about the position in which he or she worked before you begin your research. As the Post Office increased in size during the 19th century, it became one of the country's largest employers. Unusually, it also hired many women at a time when female employment was largely restricted to domestic service, shop-work and governessing. As a result, many of us -and I'm one - will find ancestors that worked for the organisation at one time or another.
The Post Office's best-known employees are its postmen. These individuals, who were called 'letter carriers until the last quarter of the 19th century, were uniformed officials who collected and delivered the mail. However, there were differences among the roles performed by this class of men. Rural letter carriers not only had to travel longer distances than their urban colleagues, but they were paid less and frequently had to carry heavier loads. There were also differences in pay and conditions among employees who worked in the towns. After wages were revised in 1891, there were three grades of postmen in central London, as well as first- and second-class letter carriers in the suburbs and a group of men which comprised the Outer London Grade.

Those of you who have military ancestors may well find that they took up subsequent careers as post-men. In 1891, ex-servicemen were given priority over all other outsiders who wanted to join the Post Office. Six years later, over half the vacancies in the lower grades were specifically reserved for such men.
The late 19th-century scheme of employing military men caused a great deal of resentment among another class of Post Office employees - the auxiliaries. The postal services experienced two  busy periods a day and, as a result, it was unprofitable to hire a full contingent of postmen during the slack times because there wasn't enough for them to do. To help solve the problem, auxiliary postmen were taken on to work the heavy shifts. Before 1897, a fair number of these men went on to take up full-time positions, hut after that date auxiliaries were divided into two classes: part-timers who wanted to supplement their wages and a new class of 'assistant postmen who only worked for about six hours a day.
The bottom rung of the Post Office's social hierarchy was occupied by the messenger boys. These employees joined the service after the telegraph companies were taken over in 1870, and their job was to deliver telegrams. unfortunately, the job was very badly-paid, while a lack of supervision ensured the boys earned a reputation for immorality. In fact, many contemporary accounts report that some of the boys even drifted into prostitution in an attempt to supplement their wages. However, as one official remarked: "whatever dislike they had for it [prostitution] was entirely and easily overborne by the money which was tendered to them by their seducers." Towards the end of the century, the Post Office came in for heavy criticism for its treatment of boy messengers. There were far too many of them for the Office to employ when they reached manhood, and it was alleged that those who left the service were too old to learn another trade. As a result, from 1891, many boys were weeded out when they reached 16 years of age, while from 1892 the Post Office even began to give the messengers a certain amount of military training Indeed, boys were regularly drilled until as late as 1921, when the measure was discontinued for reasons of economy

WHITE-COLLAR
The most desirable positions in the Post Office were the indoor tasks: mail sorting, counter work and -after 1870 - telegraphy. These were regarded as white-collar jobs, and their holders strove to maintain the distinction between themselves and outdoor workers like postmen, no matter how similar their duties may have been. The upper tier of this group was occupied by telegraphists and counter staff. In larger post offices these were generally separate occupations, but in smaller branches it
wasn't uncommon to find individuals responsible for both types of work. The Post Office employed a significant number of women for indoor occupations. While to modern eyes this may seem  like an admirable initiative, the truth was somewhat different. A report of 1871 pointed out that "If we place an equal number of females and males on the same ascending scale of pay, the aggregate pay to the females will always be less than the aggregate pay to the males; that, within a certain range of duty, the work will be better done by the females than the males, because the females will be drawn from a somewhat superior class; and further there will always be fewer females than males on the pension list."
Poorer pay was not the only form of discrimination suffered by female workers. When a woman was hired by the Post Office, she had to agree to resign her position when she married. So it was that the 19th-century post office used women to fill posts such as counter clerks - particularly in the Savings Bank and Money Order Department - as well as telegraphists and mail sorters.
There are a number of excellent books on the subject of the Post Office and its employees. Royal Mail.' the Post Office since 1840 by M.J. Daunton (Athlone Press, 1985) is generally regarded as the best guide to the topic, although you should also try Britain’s Post Office by H. Robinson (Oxford University Press, 1953).

SOURCES
Without doubt, the best source of information about ancestors who were postal workers is the Post Office Archives (now called Post Office Heritage) at Freeling House, Phoenix Place, London EC1A 1BB. There you will find appointment books dating from between 1831 and 1952, as well as an excellent collection of photographs which may feature your ancestor. However, the most useful sources are probably the pension and gratuity records, which will contain a wide range of details, including name, date of birth, pay, past service and reason for leaving the service. You will gain a clearer idea of these documents by consulting the list feature at the end of this article.
The Post Office Heritage Centre is open between 9am and 4.l5pm on Mondays to Fridays, and can be contacted on (0171) 239 5420.