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Marjorie Nicholson was born in 1914. She attended Oxford University in the 1930s and, after graduating, taught before becoming an extra-mural organising tutor with Ruskin College. Whilst on a working trip to Nigeria in 1949 she became convinced that to help develop democratic self governing institutions she had to work full time from within the labour movement. Firstly, she worked as secretary at the Fabian Colonial Bureau. Here she was involved in producing pamphlets and memoranda and editing its monthly journal Venture. The Fabian Society took a special interest in the Colonies, founding its Colonial Bureau in 1940, thanks to the knowledge and enthusiasm of Nicholson and Rita Hinden. They not only provided expert advice to members of both Houses of Parliament, but befriended many young colonials, mainly students, on their first visits to London. Through her work at the Bureau Nicholson met and assisted India's Jawaharlal Nehru and Krishna Menon, Eric Williams from Trinidad, Hugh Springer from Barbados, Siaka Stevens from Sierra Leone, Tom Mboya from Kenya, Lee Kuan Yew from Singapore and Kwame Nkrumah from Ghana, who were to become leaders of the National movements in their own countries. During this period she also stood three times, unsuccessfully, as the Labour candidate for Windsor. From 1955 she worked in the International Department of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), one of the few women working in policy development employed by the trade union movement. After her retirement in 1972, she began writing up the history of the TUC's involvement overseas from her own papers and cuttings collection. The first volume, The TUC overseas: the roots of policy, was published in 1986 and she was still working on a second volume at the time of her death in July 1997. Publications: The TUC overseas: the roots of policy, London (1986).

Nicholson's career was primarily in ornithology, natural conservation and questions of the relationship between development and the environment. These papers relate to his concern with issues of population. Carlos Paton Blacker and Nicholson were both founder members of the Simon Population Trust (founded 1957), but had already been in correspondence on matters relating to population and eugenics. Education at Sedbergh School, Cumbria 1920s; read history at Hertford College, Oxford; Birds In England, 1926, How Birds Live, 1927 1931 (As assistant editor of the Weekend Review) wrote supplement A National Plan For Britain; Created the British Trust for Ornithology, 1932; Songs Of Wild Birds (with gramaphone records). Produced with Ludwig Koch, 1937; helped found the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, 1938; Handbook Of British Birds (helped H F Witherby), 1938-1941; Joined the civil service heading the allocation of tonnage division at the Ministry of War Transport, 1940; In 1945 given a post in the Deputy Prime Minister's office, which led to him chairing the committee for the 1951 Festival of Britain; with Julian Huxley (the then Director General of the United Nations scientific and education organisation Unesco) involved in forming the Scientific International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now the World Conservation Union, 1947-1948; setting up of the Nature Conservancy, 1949; contracted polio whilst leader of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation survey team in Baluchistan, 1952; Director-general of the Nature Conservancy, 1952-1966; Instrumental in setting up the Council For Nature, 1958; helped found the Conservation Corps (the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) and to develop the Wildlife Trusts Movement, 1959; with Peter Scott and others, helped create the World Wildlife Fund, 1961; convenor for conservation of the International Biological Programme, 1963-1974; wroteThe System, 1967; The Environmental Revolution, 1970; initiated what is now the Trust for Urban Ecology, 1977; The Birds of the Western Palearctic, 1977-1994; President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 1980-1985; Trustee of Earthwatch Europe, 1985-1993; created The New Renaissance Group, 1994. Also founder member and chairman of Common Ground International, Head of the world conservation section of the International Biological Programme. Had three sons: Piers, Tom (by first wife Mary Crawford) and David (by second wife Toni).

Private Secretary to Sir F Lugard, High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria, 1900, and subsequently a Political Officer until 1906; served Sokoto Kano Campaign, 1903 (medal and clasp), and minor operations, 1903-1905; attached to Colonial Office, East African Dept, 1906-1908. Colonial Secretary and Registrar-General, Bermuda, 1908-1915; Administrator of St Vincent, 1915-1922; acted as Administrator of St Lucia, March 1917-December 1918; Col Secretary British Guiana, 1922-1925; Colonial Secretary of Cyprus, 1926-1929; represented Cyprus at 1st Colonial Office Conference, 1927; acting Governor of British Guiana and of Cyprus for over 2 years in all; retired, 1929; Secretary R. African Society and Editor of its Journal, 1932-1938; Empire Division, Ministry of Information, March-December 1940; Red Cross Foreign Relations Department, 1941-1943; has exhibited drawings at the N. English Art Club, etc, Chairman, Surrey County Committee, Citizens Advice Bureaux.

The Library accessions register describes the purchase as the contents of Nicholson's shop at 125 Hampstead Road, London NW 1. Originally taken into the Western Manuscripts Department, the collection was given the reference numbers MSS 5881-5908, but in October 1980 it was transferred to the newly-founded Contemporary Medical Archives Centre. The earliest item, a collection of medical and other receipts in Latin and English (130pp, c 1870) was found to be missing, as was a register of poisons sales (3 March 1960 - 15 October 1963). Remaining are prescription books, ledgers, memorandum books, day books, diaries and registers of poison sales, of Nicholson's and of predecessor firms, dating from 1893 to 1960.

A brewery at 77 High Street, Maidenhead was founded in 1840 by William Nicholson whose sons joined him in 1877. Nicholson and Sons Limited was incorporated in 1903. The company acquired Langton's Brewery, Market Street, Maidenhead, in 1906, and Fuller, Story and Company Limited, Bell Brewery, King Street, Maidenhead, in 1922.

They were a wholly owned subsidiary of Courage and Barclay by Nov 1959. The brewery closed in February 1961 and the company entered voluntary liquidation in 1967.

Nicholl received his medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital and held various posts including Hon. Surgeon to Stoke Newington Dispensary, Senior House Surgeon at the Metropolitan Free Hospital, and Consulting Surgeon at the British Asylum for Deaf and Dumb at Clapton. The diaries include mention of his calls on patients and their visits to consult him, as well as his personal appointments, listing his day to day financial accounts at the back of each volume. He lived in South Kensington and his private patients included General Fuller, General Fryer, Lady Raglan, General Sir Thomas Fraser and other titled people.

In 1086 Stanwell Manor was held by William fitz Other and in the time of King Edward it had belonged to Azor. The estate recorded in Domesday Book probably comprises most of the ancient parish except the manor of West Bedfont, which was already separate. In 1796 there were 539 acres copyhold of the manor, nearly all lying east of Stanwellmoor. By 1844 the lord of the manor owned Hammonds farm, Merricks farm (later known as Southern farm), and Park farm (later Stanhope farm), as well as about 84 acres around his house and a few other small areas. The manorial rights, house, and lands were separated in 1933.

William fitz Other, the Domesday tenant, was constable of Windsor castle and his descendants took the name of Windsor. They held Stanwell of Windsor castle for over four centuries, together with lands principally in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. In 1485 Thomas Windsor left a widow, Elizabeth, who held Stanwell with her second husband Sir Robert Lytton. Thomas's son Andrew was summoned to parliament as Lord Windsor from 1529. The story of his loss of Stanwell has often been told: in spite of Windsor's previous favours from the Crown, Henry VIII compelled him in 1542 to surrender Stanwell in exchange for monastic lands in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. Sir Philip Hobby was made chief steward of the manor in 1545. Sir Thomas Paston was granted a 50-year lease during Edward VI's reign, and Edward Fitzgarret in 1588 secured a lease to run for 30 years from the end of Paston's term. In fact Fitzgarret was in possession when he died before 1590. His estate was much embarrassed and after litigation Stanwell passed to his son Garret subject to certain rent-charges to his daughter. In 1603 the freehold was granted to Sir Thomas Knyvett, who became Lord Knyvett in 1607. Knyvett and his wife both died in 1622, leaving their property to be shared between John Cary, the grandson of one of Knyvett's sisters, and Elizabeth Leigh, the granddaughter of another. Elizabeth married Sir Humphrey Tracy, and she and Cary held Stanwell jointly until her death. In 1678 the Knyvett estates were divided between Cary and Sir Francis Leigh, who was apparently Elizabeth's heir. Cary retained Stanwell, which he left to his great-niece Elizabeth Willoughby on condition that she married Lord Guildford; otherwise it was to pass to Lord Falkland. After Elizabeth's marriage to James Bertie she held the manor under a chancery decree until her death in 1715.

It then passed to Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland (d. 1730), who sold it in 1720 to John, Earl of Dunmore (d. 1752). His trustees sold it in 1754 to Sir John Gibbons. It descended in the Gibbons family with the baronetcy until 1933, when the manorial rights were sold to H. Scott Freeman, clerk of Staines urban district council, who still held them in 1956.

Source: 'Stanwell: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 36-41 (available online).

Florence Nightingale was born to a wealthy family in 1820. She entered into cottage visiting and nursing early, and from 1844 to 1855 visited hospitals in London and abroad. Returning from an 1849-1850 tour of Egypt she visited the Kaiserswerth Institute for deaconesses and nurses and trained here as a nurse in 1851. In 1853 she became Superintendent of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London. In 1855 at the invitation of Sidney Herbert she took a party of nurses to the Crimean War, serving at the hospital in Scutari Barracks and also visiting Balaclava. On her return to the United Kingdom she engaged in a campaign for the sanitary reforms that she had instituted in the Crimea to be accepted as general practice. Her campaigning led to the foundation of the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital, London. She was also involved in campaigning for humanitarian aid during the Franco-Prussian War, for improved sanitation in India, and for cottage hospitals in the United Kingdom. She died in 1910.

Florence Nightingale was born Villia Columbia, Florence, in 1820. She lived in Embley Park, Hampshire and was educated by her father. She recorded in 1837, that 'God had called her to His service.' She became interested in the mystics and studied the lives of people such as St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross. She travelled to the religious community at Kaiserwerth-am- Rhein, where she saw the possibility of changing nursing by training suitably motivated women of any class. She published an anonymous account of the community, The Institution of Kaiserwort on the Rhine for the Practical Training of Deaconesses, (1851). On her return to England she continued her interest in nursing, and accepted the post of unpaid superintendant to the Institute for Sick Governesses in Harley Street, London. She became an expert in hospital administration, demanding improvements in facilities, and insisting that Roman Catholics be admitted as patients. She assisted in the cholera epidemic in Soho, in 1851. When the Crimean War broke out in 1854, Sidney Herbert, Secretary of State at War, wrote to Nightingale asking her to take a party of nurses to Scutari, to help the neglected wounded. She took a party of 38 nurses to Scutari to assist at the 4 hospitals, in 1854, where she ensured conditions were improved. She used money from The Timesnewspaper to buy much needed equipment and improve hygiene. She insisted on attending to all the worst cases herself and made a point of visiting all the wards. Appalled by the inadequate feeding arrangements she persuaded Lord Panmure, Secretary of State for War to arrange for Alexis Soyer, Chef at the Reform Cub, to come out and organise the cooking. She proved a formidable administrator and organiser and her role at Scutari was as much that of a 'General Purveyor' as of a medical nurse. She collapsed with Crimean Fever (which she referred to as Typhus) in 1855. On her recovery she returned to Scutari to continue working. When news of her illness reached Britain there were prayers for her recovery and The Times referred to her as 'The Lady of the Lamp'. Many people made gifts to help her in her work, and raised £45,000. She returned to England after the war and set up a reform cabinet and established a highly effective relationship with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She managed to establish a Royal Commission, with Sidney Herbert as chairman, in 1857, and published her report Notes on matters affecting the health, efficency and hospital administration of the British Army, in 1858. She was also made a member of the Statistical Society, in 1858. She became an invalid in 1858, but continued to work for the promotion of sanitary science, the collection of statistics, the design of hospitals, and reform of nursing and midwifery services. She campaigned for a pure water supply in 1861, and stressed the importance of irrigation and sanitary reform in India. She used part of the Nightingale Fund to finance an experimental training scheme for midwives at King's College Hospital. She assisted the Association for Improving Workhouse Infirmaries which eventually resulted in the Metropolitan Poor Law Act (1867). She used the Nightingale Fund to provide a training scheme for nurses based at the Highgate Poor Law Infirmary, and in 1881, for a team of Nightingale Nurses at the St Marylebone Institute, thus laying the foundations for training nurses in the new municipal hospitals after the Local Government Act (1888). She conducted a survey with Florence Lees in 1874, which resulted in the Report of the National Association for Providing Trained Nurses for the Sick Poor. In 1875 the Metropolitan and National Nursing Home was opened in Bloomsbury. She was the recipient of many honours including membership of the German Order of the Cross of Merit, and the French Secours aux Blesses Militaires. She became the first woman to be made a member of the Order of Merit, in 1907. She died in 1910.

The Nightingale School of Nursing (St Thomas's Hospital, London ) amalgamated with Thomas Guy and Lewisham School of Nursing, 1991, to form Nightingale and Guy's College of Nursing and Midwifery. In 1992 it was renamed the Nightingale and Guy's College of Health.

Florence Nightingale, 1820-1910, was born in Florence and educated in nursing by the Protestant Sisters of Mercy at Kaiserwerth on the Rhine. She went to the Crimea in 1854, and made her reputation in the military hospitals there. When she returned to England she devoted a £50,000 testimonial to the foundation of the Nightingale home for the training of nurses. She spent much of the rest of her life writing and lecturing.

On Nov. 9th, 1855 a public meeting was held in Willis's Rooms, King Street, St James to inaugurate a public subscription in gratitude for Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimean War. £44,000 was raised, the Nightingale Fund Council was set up to administer this fund, and on March 13th 1860, A. H. Clough wrote on behalf of the Nightingale Fund Council to the President, Treasurer and Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital about the possibility of founding a training school for nurses at the hospital. This was Florence Nightingale's idea as to how the fund could best be used.

The first fifteen Probationers arrived on July 9th 1860. They were paid a salary of £10 during the one year's course, with board and lodging provided. At the end of the year, if they were approved, they were entered on the Register of Certified Nurses, and employment was found for them. If they stayed in employment for a complete year after their training they could earn gratuities of £3 and £5. Instruction during the course was mainly practical, with the Probationers working in the hospital wards under close supervision. Considerable emphasis was placed on high moral character. From 1867 there were two classes of entry to the school: 1) Ordinary Probationers, who entered on the basis of a small salary and free board, as above and 2) Lady Probationers or Special probationers. These were trained specially for posts as Superintendents and Matrons of other institutions on completion of their training. They paid a sum of £30 for the year's tuition, and board and lodging.

One of the particular features of the Nightingale Training School was that nurses were trained not merely for Saint Thomas' Hospital, but with the clear intention that they be sent out in groups to other institutions to undertake nursing reform. The school had only been open two years when the first group went to Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and subsequent groups went as far as Canada and Australia, as well as to many British hospitals.

A Congregational church was founded in Nightingale Lane in about September 1662, under the ministry of the 'Rev Mr Slaughter'. It continued on the same site until at least the late 18th century.

After the death of Florence Nightingale in August 1910, her executors gathered together her papers and borrowed other letters and papers from many of her correspondents to assist Sir Edward Cook to write her biography. This was published in two volumes in 1913. Shortly afterwards the Matron of Saint Thomas' Hospital, Miss Alicia Lloyd Still, started to collect letters, papers, books, photographs, prints and all manner of objects associated with Florence Nightingale and the early years of the Nightingale School with the intention of forming a museum.

The principal benefactors and donors to the collection included Louis Shore Nightingale, Rosalind Vaughan Nash, and Barbara, Lady Stephen, who were the children of Florence Nightingale's cousin, William Shore Nightingale. Joanna Bonham Carter gave the papers of her father, Henry Bonham Carter, to the Nightingale School. Lord Riddell, whose wife had trained as a nurse at Saint Thomas' Hospital, purchased many letters written by Florence Nightingale, which he gave to the collection. Relatives of Angelique Lucille Pringle, Rachel Williams, Sir John McNeil, Lady Makins, Elizabeth Bosanquet, Helen and Jessie Blower, Mary Cadbury and many others donated valuable collections of documents and books. A room in the Nightingale Home served as a temporary museum. Other prints and photographs were displayed on the walls of Matron's office and in rooms in the Nightingale Home.

During the Second World War Saint Thomas' Hospital was badly damaged by bombing. The Nightingale Home was destroyed by a flying bomb in 1944. Florence Nightingale's Crimean carriage was seriously damaged in an earlier air raid in 1940, but was restored. Fortunately most of the Nightingale Collection was stored in Riddell House, which escaped the bombing. Acquisitions to the Nightingale Collection continued to be received both during and after the War. In 1960 Miss E. M. McInnes, Saint Thomas' Hospital archivist, organised a major exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the Nightingale School.

In 1967 the Board of Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital decided to transfer the archives of the Hospital to the Greater London Record Office. In 1968 the archives of the Nightingale School and most of the documentary and photographic material from the Nightingale Collection were also deposited at the Greater London Record Office. In the early 1980's an appeal was launched to raise money to establish a museum on the lower ground floor of the new Nightingale School building at Saint Thomas' Hospital. The Florence Nightingale Museum was opened by HRH Princess Alexandra on 4 February 1989. Here many personal items formally belonging to Florence Nightingale, clothing, furniture, books, letters, portraits, photographs and Crimean relics have been placed on public display in a museum devoted to her life and the many aspects of her work.

These prints and photographs form part of the Nightingale Collection deposited in the Greater London Record Office by the Nightingale School. They illustrate the life of Florence Nightingale and the work of the school of nursing, which she founded at Saint Thomas' Hospital in 1860. Many of the prints and photographs have been given to the Nightingale School by former 'Nightingales' and other benefactors. The collection is divided between the London Metropolitan Archives and the Florence Nightingale Museum at Saint Thomas' Hospital.

On Nov. 9th, 1855 a public meeting was held in Willis's Rooms, King Street, St James to inaugurate a public subscription in gratitude for Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimean War. £44,000 was raised, a committee was set up to administer this fund, and on March 13th 1860, A. H. Clough wrote on behalf of the Nightingale Fund Council to the President, Treasurer and Governors of Saint Thomas' Hospital about the possibility of founding a training school for nurses at the hospital. This was Florence Nightingale's idea as to how the fund could best be used. She was particularly attracted to Saint Thomas' Hospital because Mrs Wardroper, the Matron, had already initiated a programme of reform in 1855. Mrs Wardroper became the first Superintendant of the Training School, remaining at the hospital until 1887 and it was largely due to her efforts that the school was such a success in the early years.

The first fifteen Probationers arrived on July 9th 1860. They were paid a salary of £10 during the one year's course, with board and lodging provided. At the end of the year, if they were approved, they were entered on the Register of Certified Nurses, and employment was found for them. If they stayed in employment for a complete year after their training they could earn gratuities of £3 and £5. Instruction during the course was mainly practical, with the Probationers working in the hospital wards under close supervision. Considerable emphasis was placed on high moral character. From 1867 there were two classes of entry to the school: 1) Ordinary Probationers, who entered on the basis of a small salary and free board, as above and 2) Lady Probationers or Special probationers. These were trained specially for posts as Superintendents and Matrons of other institutions on completion of their training. They paid a sum of £30 for the year's tuition, and board and lodging.

One of the particular features of the Nightingale Training School was that nurses were trained not merely for Saint Thomas' Hospital, but with the clear intention that they be sent out in groups to other institutions to undertake nursing reform. The school had only been open two years when the first group went to Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and subsequent groups went as far as Canada and Australia, as well as to many British hospitals.

Another important and distinctive feature of the Nightingale system was that the Probationers were provided with board and lodging. When the new hospital opened in Lambeth in 1871, special provision was made for the Nightingale Home. In 1872, a Home Sister was appointed for the first time. She undertook part of the tuition, a Sister Tutor not being appointed until 1913. In 1937 Riddell House was opened as a new Nurses' Home, a present to Saint Thomas' Hospital and the Nightingale Training School by Lady Riddell, as a memorial to Lord Riddell.

Nightingale (formerly known as Nightingale House and The Home for Aged Jews) was the largest Jewish residential and nursing home in Europe in 2001. As a non-profit making charitable organisation (Registered Charity Number 207316) the Home has been funded by a combination of private and state funding. Nightingale has always been run on Orthodox lines but has been supported by all sections of the Jewish community.

Origins: Nightingale had its origins in three charities, the Hand in Hand Asylum for Decayed Tradesmen (founded 1840), the Widows' Home Asylum (founded 1843) and the Jewish Workhouse also known as the Jewish Home (founded 1871). They were established in the old Jewish quarter in London's East End to cater for the needs of the Jewish poor.

The Poor Law system of workhouses did not embrace the social values, religious and dietary needs of poor members of the Jewish community. Respect and care for the elderly has been a core priority in the teachings of Judaism. A major aim of these Charities therefore was to save aged Jews from starvation and exposure on the streets and from the Workhouse and find places for them where their needs were met.

The Hand in Hand Home occupied the following premises: 5 Duke's Place (from 1843), 22 Jewry Street (from 1850), Wellclose Square (from 1854) and 23 Well Street, Hackney (from 1878). The Widow's Home was first based at 22 Mitre Street, then 19 Duke Street (from 1850), 67 Great Prescott Street, Goodmans Fields (from 1857) and later moved next door to the Hand in Hand in 1880.

The Jewish Workhouse was founded in 1871 by a movement led by Solomon Green, the son of Abraham Green one of the founders of the Widow's Home. The first premises were at 123 Wentworth Street. In 1876 the Home moved to 37-9 Stepney Green.

In 1894, these charities amalgamated as The Home for Aged Jews. In 1896 the combined Homes were based at 23 and 25 Well Street, Hackney and 37 and 39 Stepney Green. Two Medical Officers, a Master and two Matrons cared for 105 residents and were managed by a General Committee, House Committee, Finance Committee, Investigating Committee and Ladies' Committee.

In 1907 The Home for Aged Jews moved to 'Ferndale', Nightingale Lane, Wandsworth Common. The premises had been gifted by Sydney James Stern, Lord Wandsworth, an assimilated English Jew in 1904.

Aims: In 1896, the aims were: 'to provide a Home for, maintain and clothe aged, respectable and indigent persons of the Jewish Religion, who shall have attained the age of 60 years, and shall have been resident in England for at least seven years.'

In 2004 the aims have not changed significantly: 'to relieve persons of the Jewish faith who are not less than 60 years of age and are in need, by providing housing and items, services or facilities calculated to reduce the need of such persons, including special care in cases of infirmity'.

Changing roles: In the early 20th century, the work of the Home moved away from direct rescue work and the alleviation of poverty carried out by the former Charities, to a greater emphasis on care and the improvement of the quality of life for its residents.

Developments were made in care despite continued financial difficulties with annual deficits and falling numbers of subscriptions. Funds for the Home were increasingly augmented by valuable sources of income from collections made by Aid Societies such as the Ezra Society, takings from local cinema screenings and fundraising activities such as bazaars. The introduction of Welfare State legislation and pensions contributed greatly to the Home's income and increasing focus on care.

In-house eye care, ear and dental care facilities were introduced by 1924. In 1949 an Occupational Therapy Department was established in line with contemporary thinking on care for the elderly providing a wide range of activities such as basket weaving and needlework. From the 1950s, residents were increasingly encouraged to participate in activities and a regular programme of social events was provided. By the 1960s the Medical Staff consisted of a Matron, deputy Matron, 12 qualified staff and 30 state enrolled Nurses and Orderlies. The mid 1960s saw relaxations in Orthodox religious restrictions with the introduction of visiting hours on Sabbaths and festivals, and the abolition of compulsory wearing kippot (skull caps) and attendance at religious services.

The Community Care Act 1993 had major implications for the Home. Tha Act encouraged potential residents to continue at their own homes for longer. As a result, residents on their admission to the Home were much frailer and dependent requiring greater levels of nursing and paramedical staff. The average age of residents in 2001 was 88 years.

The later half of 20th century saw major building projects with expansion and modernisation of the site. These included: the building of Asher Corren Wing (1957), Gerald Lipton Centre (2001, formerly the Red Brick Extension opened 1976), Birchlands (formerly occupied by the Jewish Home of Rest) (1980), Jessie and Alfred Cope Wing (redeveloped in 1992), David Clore Art and Craft Centre (1986) and Balint Wing (1987).

In 1960s The Home for Aged Jews became Nightingale House (The Home for Aged Jews). Address: 105 Nightingale Lane, Wandsworth LB. From 1997 the Home was renamed as Nightingale.

In 2001 there were 300 residents. Residential and nursing home facilities included a comprehensive leisure service programme, an Art and Craft Centre, special facilities for those residents with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia with a reminiscence centre, multi-sensory room, on-site physiotherapy, pharmacy and dental surgery and occupational therapy services, synagogue, coffee shop, hairdressing salon, landscaped gardens, general shop and kosher food service.

Nightingale's goal in the 21st century was to provide loving care and enable residents to experience a 'wonderful quality of life' - whereby they could 'find a new lease of life and whole host of new activities, hobbies and friends'.

The Indent publication and lecture series (1999) organised by Virginia Nimarkoh, was hosted at Camberwell School of Art. The archive features publications by BANK, Grennan and Sperandio, Inventory, Mute and Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman and was compiled by Virginia Nimarkoh.

Herta Ningo, a German Jew born in Berlin in 1911, arrived in Great Britain shortly after 11 July 1939 (the date she left Hamburg according to her passport). She was the daughter of Max Ningo a businessman who died in 1930, and Meta née Rewald, who, according to the memorial book for Berlin Jews who died during the Holocaust, committed suicide, 15 Jan 1942. The only correspondence between mother and daughter is a Red Cross telegram in which Meta responds on 12 Jan 1941.

Arthur Rewald was the brother of Meta Ningo, Herta's mother. Arthur Rewald married Elsa Salzmann in 1933.

Aubrey Howard Ninnis was commissioned as purser in SS AURORA on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916, he was intended for the shore party but stranded when the AURORA broke adrift. He was on the Aurora Relief Expedition, 1916-1917; he died in New Zealand in 1956.

In 1992 family members of victims of the Bangladesh Liberation War (Bangladesh War of Independence) living in Bangladesh began an unprecedented movement under a campaign called 'Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee' (Committee for Resisting Killers and Collaborators of Bangladesh Liberation War). The Committee has since been renamed the Forum for Secular Bangladesh and Trial of War Criminals of 1971, and is commonly known as the Nirmul Committee. The UK branch of the Nirmul Committee (also known as Bangladesh Anti War Criminal Committee but now known as International Forum for Secular Bangladesh) was also formed in 1992 in solidarity with the campaign in Bangladesh. Its operations were based in the East End of London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Both the Bangledesh and UK Committees were formed to seek justice for the victims of Bangladesh Liberation War and to challenge fundamentalist or extremist groups who were seen to have colluded with the occupying Pakistani military (including the Razakars and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami). In addition, the UK branch of the Nirmul Committee would seek to expose suspected collaborators who were residing in the UK after fleeing Bangladesh and to challenge the rise of religious fundamentalism and extremism in the UK. The UK branch also has a remit to advance the education of the public generally, and of young people of Bengali origin in particular. This includes, but is not limited to, Bengali secular culture, history and traditions.

The club was formed to discuss insurance subjects and promote the professional and social intercourse of the London and district staffs of the Liverpool and London and Globe and Central Insurance companies.

Prior to the introduction of the GPO's mail coach service in 1784, the mail was conveyed by horse riders or mail cart on the longer routes out of London and on foot on some country services. The service was slow and vulnerable to attacks by armed robbers. In 1782 John Palmer of Bath put forward his scheme for conveying the mail by stage coach. Rejected in 1783 by the Postmasters General, a trial was finally approved in June 1784, with the support of William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer. The experiment on the Bristol-Bath-London road in August 1784 was a success and Palmer began to organise further mail coach services in 1785. He was appointed Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office in 1786 and presided over the expansion of the service throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. By 1790 all the most important routes had been covered and many towns had a daily delivery and collection of mail by coach. The full scheme involved 42 mail coach routes.

The mail coach service was almost immediately affected by the arrival of the railways in the 1830s. The GPO quickly took advantage of this new and faster method of transport to replace the mail coaches. The last of the London based coaches ceased in 1846, although this method of conveyance continued for cross post services between some provincial towns until the 1850s. The last coach in the Midlands ran out of Manchester in 1858. Mail coaches lasted longest in those area which railways were slow to reach, such as Cornwall, Mid Wales, the Peak District and far North of Scotland. One of the last mail routes to be used, to Thurso in northern Scotland, ceased after the opening of the Highland Railway in 1874. In some remote parts of Scotland railways were never built and horse drawn carriage continued into the twentieth century, until replaced by motor vehicles.

Post Office experiments with motor transport began in the 1890s. Until the end of the First World War services were provided mainly by private contractors. In 1919 the Post Office introduced its own fleet of motor vehicles.

Rowland Hill is remembered today as a key reformer of the British Postal Service. In 1840, he introduced the Universal Penny Postage which decreed that letters of a given weight should all cost the same to send, regardless of the distance. For example, letters up to ½ ounce cost 1d (14gms/0.5p) to send and postage was prepaid, using the world's first adhesive stamp.

He first advocated his plan in a pamphlet published in 1837 and the system was recommended for adoption by a Committee of the House of Commons the following year and put into effect in 1840. Hill was appointed as adviser to the Treasury to introduce the postal reforms. He strove to create a more efficient postal service that everyone could afford. His reforms ranged from encouraging people to insert letter boxes in their front doors to creating London's first postal districts. The appointment was terminated following a change of government in 1842. He was recalled to the Post Office in 1846 and appointed Secretary to the Postmaster General, and succeeded Colonel Maberly as Secretary to the Post Office in 1854. He retired from Office in 1864 and died in August, 1879.

Sir John Tilley began his career with the Post Office, more specifically the Secretary's Office, in 1829, when he entered that department as a Clerk on 19th February. At that time the Secretary's Office had a very small workforce headed by the then Secretary Sir Francis Freeling. Seven months after Tilley joined that department it transferred to St Martin's le Grand, London.

Tilley had a very successful career with the Post Office and rose quickly through the ranks. By 1838, aged only 26, he had been made a Surveyor, and on 11 October 1848 he was appointed to the post of Assistant Secretary. On 15 March 1864, he succeeded the then Secretary Sir Rowland Hill, the postal reformer, of whom he had always been a staunch supporter. Tilley was made a CB in 1871, and upon his retirement in 1880 the honour of KCB was bestowed upon him.

The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (ie numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 and 40).

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

The duty of the Receiver General's office was the balancing of cash derived from the income and expenditure of the Post Office. The Receiver General was appointed independently and took responsibility for cash from the hands of the Postmaster General. He took receipt of all money paid into the Department, and paid costs directly from these funds.

Sources of income included payments received from the Postmasters, Inland Office, Foreign Office, Letter Receivers, Letter Carriers and charges levied on incoming foreign letters.

Outgoing payments were mainly for wages, allowances, pensions and normal postal service costs. The balance of cash was transferred to the Exchequer.

The class is comprised, for the most part, of Entry Books of Correspondence which contain authorities for acceptance and payment of monies by probate of wills, letters of administration, powers of attorney, bankruptcy, appointment of assignees, incidental payments, packet boat expenses and warrants for payments of annuities etc.

The position of Receiver General tended to overlap with another prominent financial position, that of Accountant General. The Accountant General was appointed by the Postmaster General to keep an account of all revenue in the Post Office. Due to this overlap the posts were finally merged in 1854, and 1854 is the date of the last entry book in this series.

No other record of the Receiver General's functions exists apart from the material in this class.

Over the centuries there have been hundreds of different ways that messages have been carried and sent. By the early 1830s typeprinting of Telegraphs was happening in Europe, and in 1889 an English model of one of these machines was introduced to the Post Office by (Mr) Hughes.

By 1913 the Post Office was looking at ways of improving the speed of its operation and it was not long before the 'Teleprinter' was introduced by Creed. This machine possessed a typewriter keyboard and could be operated to approximately sixty five words a minute. This machine printed the Telegram ready for delivery. This was a great boost to the efficiency of the system. It was adopted by the Post Office and used by its telegraph services.

The Post Office wanted to encourage the use of the Telegraph and in the early days reduced rates and employed more operators in order to reduce delay. They improved the working areas, and introduced motor cycles to speed up delivery. By the 1930s they were introducing beautifully decorated Greeting cards for sending on special occasions. These continued until the late 1960s when the numbers being sent reduced.

In the early 1980s and through to the 1990s there was liaison with British Telecom in order to introduce a 'Telemessage Service'. This was similar to the Greetings Telegram and a variety of designs were produced for various events like 'Weddings', '21st Birthday' and 'New Arrival'.

The first Public Relations officer was appointed on 1 October 1933, although an active 'public relations' function existed at least ten years earlier. This was followed by the formation of the Public Relations Department, which was formally established on 25 April 1934, when other changes in headquarters organisation were made.

The Post Office was the first government ministry to form a separate public relations department. In 1934 the first charter of the Public Relations Department stated that the responsibilities of the department were defined as 'being to promote good relations with the public, and to conduct sales and publicity for the services provided by the Post Office' (POST 108/18). The department was so successful that the Home Office borrowed its controller and some other officers in 1938 to plan publicity for air raid precautions. In 1939 some of its staff were seconded to help in establishing the wartime Ministry of Information.

In September 1939 many of the department's remaining staff were dispersed to assist in other government work, but it was soon realised that public relations work was just as necessary in wartime as in peacetime, and the department's operations were revived.

By the 1950s the Department was organised into three main divisions, press and broadcast, publicity, and publications. Press and broadcast was the oldest division of the three, having been established in 1934. From November 1940 it was headed by a specialist with previous experience as a journalist. The division issued news bulletins, and other bulletins on individual matters which were distributed to newspapers, broadcasters and other interested parties. In addition the divisions officers answered a continual flow of enquiries, mainly by telephone, from journalists. The division also organised occasional press conferences for ministers.

The publicity division's main area of responsibility was to ensure that the Post Office was presented in print, display, and film with the highest possible standard of modern art and technique.

The publications division was responsible for compiling and editing the various Post Office publications. These included the 'Post Office Guide', 'Post offices in the United Kingdom', 'London Post offices and Streets', and 'Postal Addresses'.

During the 1990s the department was renamed as Communication Services and was positioned as part of Royal Mail Group centre. Four directors, reporting to a director of Communication Services, were responsible for: Regional Communications; Communications Consultancy; Creative Services; and Commercial matters.

Communication Services activities and functions were reviewed and redesigned, and changes made to resourcing levels. Under the new structure Communication Services was organised and run more like an external agency with much closer attention paid to costs and to profits. The intention was to expand the range of services offered, to support the Post Office aim of being recognised as the complete distribution company, and to get much closer to the users of its services.

Much of the artwork in the series was commissioned by the Public Relations Department, which was first created in 1934, under the first Post Office Public Relations Officer, Stephen Tallents.

Right from the conception of the department, it assumed responsibility for commissioning designs for posters, which it considered to be a vital part of Post Office publicity, it did this initially in consultation with a 'Poster Advisory Group' but, from 1937, it operated in its own right. The department approached leading artists for the production of posters of two kinds, known respectively as 'Prestige' and 'Selling'. 'Prestige' posters fell into two categories: those specially prepared for distribution to schools and those for display in the public offices of Crown Post Offices and non-public offices in Post Office buildings, they were intended to be more formal in style, eye catching rather than persuasive. 'Selling' posters had a direct 'selling' appeal and were intended to persuade the beholder to use a particular service or buy a particular product.

The Post Office Greetings Telegram Service was introduced in July 1935 as a means of revitalising the telegraph service and the Public Relations Department was involved from the outset, involving itself both in publicising the new service and in commissioning artists to produce designs for the forms themselves. Greetings telegrams were to be associated with special occasions and as such, designs had to be particularly attractive, with an element of luxury, this was encapsulated in the golden envelope designed to accompany the form.

The Public Relations Department underwent several changes in structure throughout the decades following the 1930s, but the production of good publicity literature, both written and visual, continued to be a very important part of its remit. Post Corporation, commissioned artists tended to be less well known and the focus of the posters turned increasingly towards the promotion of special stamp issues and philatelic products.

In the 1990s, the Public Relations Department was renamed as Communication Services and was positioned as part of Royal Mail Group Centre. This signified a change in outlook, with an emphasis on 'hard sell' and the commissioning of advertising agencies to work on individual campaigns for special services and products.

The first ever main line railway opened in 1825 and ran between Stockton and Darlington. In 1827 the use of that railway, and future lines, for carriage of mails was suggested to Secretary Francis Freeling by Thomas Richardson (see POST 11/51). The first conveyance of mail by this method actually occurred on 11 November 1830 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, less than two months after this second main line had opened (see POST 11/52). The Post Office was quick to take advantage of the new form of transport and in July 1837 mails were conveyed by train from Birmingham to Liverpool on the inaugural service of the Grand Junction Railway (see POST 11/57 and 58). In January 1838 the idea of having special mail carriages was experimented with; a horse box suitably fitted up started running between Birmingham and Liverpool on the Grand Junction in 1838. Proving a success, the first official 'travelling post office' set off from London to Preston on 1 October 1838.

In August 1838 an Act to provide for the conveyance of the mails by railways was passed by Parliament. This enabled the Postmaster General to compel railway companies to carry mails by ordinary or special trains, at such hours as the Postmaster General might direct, together with mail guards and other officers of the Post Office. Companies could also be required to provide carriages fitted up for sorting letters en route. In return, railway companies would receive a payment to be fixed, by arbitration if necessary, for any services and accommodation supplied. This Act provided the foundation for all future arrangements for carrying mails by rail.

Between 1838 and 1848 railways expanded rapidly in Britain and mails were quickly diverted to them from the roads. The London and Birmingham Railway, opened in September 1838, was the first important line to be completed in England and marked the end of the 'Golden Age' of coaching. From 1844, the year of 'railway mania', to 1848, 637 separate lines received their charters from Parliament. Mail coach contractors unable to get passengers essential to their operations where the railway ran a parallel route began giving notice to quit (see POST 11/60 and 61). The south western coaches ceased their runs when the Great Western Railway was completed to Bristol in June 1841. The last horse drawn mail from London, to Norwich via Newmarket, was withdrawn in January 1846. By this time the railway network was becoming moderately complete. However, up to the 1870s railway services in the provinces often operated in connection with mail coaches.

By the 1850s the railway posts were generally known as Travelling Post Offices or Sorting Carriages and a number of trains almost wholly devoted to carrying mail were in operation. (See also POST 18). Over the next seventy years railways contributed significantly to the vast improvement in quality, increase of volume and speed of postal communications within Britain. Serious competition was absent until the widespread use of motor vehicles from the second quarter of the twentieth century.

On 18th October 1968 Prime Minister Harold Wilson officially opened Girobank - 'the people's bank', or National Giro as it was first known. Part of a Labour Government initiative to provide banking facilities for those people who did not have bank accounts, it was the first bank in the world to be planned and built from its very beginning as a fully computerised unit. The process was overseen by the then Postmaster General, Tony Benn.

Much optimism surrounded the new company and the promotional booklet enthusiastically claimed that, 'Within one or two years the National Giro Centre will be handling the accounts of some 1,200,000 customers, including many large firms and organisations.' At that time there were 23,000 Post Offices in the UK and Girobank provided free banking and credit transfer facilities at each one for six days a week, thereby creating competition for the high street banks. Due to the fact that only 25% of adults had bank accounts the market was considered very penetrable. However, despite its extensive promotion Girobank secured only 110,000 accounts in its first six months and suffered further losses for the next seven years.

Many reasons were put forward as to why the National Giro had not been as successful as predicted. Competition by joint-stock banks and the development of competitive current accounts by other banks had been cited as plausible causes. However, the real issue appeared to be the miscalculation of the difference between the real and actual demands of the customers. Furthermore, the economic growth of the UK had been sluggish since the Second World War and consequently its rate of absorption of new services was painfully slow.

Girobank did, however, benefit greatly from a partnership with the Mercantile Loan Company Ltd. The partnership meant that Giro customers were eligible to apply for Mercantile credit loans and new applications for a Giro account soared as a result.

When the Conservative Government were voted into power in 1970, the future of Girobank looked distinctly shaky as a review of the activities of Girobank was commissioned. By this point Girobank's cumulative losses had reached over £19.7 million and although Giro was granted a reprieve, there was little doubt that it had been a very close call. On 17th November 1971, Christopher Chataway, the Minister for Posts and Telecommunications, declared that Giro should continue but that it must employ a new approach to its practices.

As part of the new approach many structural reforms were implemented during 1972. These included a review of the Tariff structure which doubled the majority of the existing charges and added a charge for debt transactions and later an overhaul of the Rents Scheme, the introduction of the Giro Gold Card, the streamlining of the business, a reduction of the labour force from 3500 to 3000 and a change in the standard 'same day' service to one of a 'next-day' service. The Giro also took on the Postal Order business and began using its International Services to replace the Post Office's own International Money Order Service.

In 1973 a report prepared by Coopers and Lybrand recommended that Giro should implement a formal business planning procedure and annual business plan. The advice was welcomed and the first business plan issued in 1973.

During 1986 postal operations were organised into three separate businesses - Royal Mail Letters, Royal Mail Parcels and Post Office Counters (in addition to National Girobank which remained a separate business unit). National Girobank became independent as a plc in 1988.

Despite the fact that Girobank had managed to overcome its shaky start and that it had grown rapidly to become Britain's sixth biggest bank, it never really shook off its down-market image and, in 1990 it was sold to the Alliance and Leicester Building Society.

Since the mid-nineteenth century, staff associations and unions have come into existence, acting on behalf of their members primarily on issues of pay and working conditions. In addition, clubs and societies have been formed, providing social and leisure opportunities. By 1890, the British workforce had been organised into workers unions and associations to a far greater degree than it had previously and the Post Office, which had grown in numbers as well as in the variety of its services (and therefore in the variety of occupations falling under its employment), was very much a part of this development. There were over 40 distinct grades of employment in the organisation and each had its own staff association. In 1919 these were amalgamated into the Union of Post Office Workers (UPW), although secessionist groups continued to break away from the UPW, which consequently struggled to remain united (which is perhaps explained by the diverse range of working conditions and pay that its members experienced). From the large-scale public enquiries at the beginning of the century, to the wholesale workers' strike of 1971, to the 1995 amalgamation into the Communications Workers' Union (CWU), staff associations, unions, clubs and societies have been an integral component, as collective organisations, to the history and development of the Post Office and its workforce. See POST 65 (Post Office Staff Associations) for relevant records and a more detailed account of this subject.

The majority of these associations and unions produced some form of literature, many publishing an association or union magazine or periodical. It is a wide range of this kind of material that is present in POST 115, which consists of in excess of 1,000 volumes. The class has been divided into eight Sub-Series, which cover the main types of publications that can be found. These are: Civil Service Associations Journals; Post Office Clerks Associations Journals; Postmen's Associations Journals; Postmasters' Associations Journals; Supervisory Grades Associations Journals; Post Office Engineering Union and Association Journals; Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal; and The Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund. It is important to note that the official Post Office Magazine (entitled 'St Martin's le Grand' until its name changed to 'The Post Office Magazine' in 1934) is not an association, society or club publication and can consequently be found in POST 92.

The largest association in the history of Post Office staff associations is the UPW, which was formed in 1919 from the numerous, disparate and less formal associations that preceded this. In 1920, the UPW launched its official journal called 'The Post, the Organ of the Union of Post Office Workers' (Commonly referred to simply as 'The Post'). The first issue sold almost 90,000 copies and in another early issue, the editorial noted that 'Standing on the threshold of the New Year [1920] we are, as postal workers, confronted with one outstanding fact - amalgamation has occurred' (POST 115/437, p.27; p.32). This periodical is likewise a useful source of information (albeit from a UPW perspective) for subsequent events of importance to the Post Office through the twentieth century. Indeed, Martin Daunton and Alan Clinton (the two most prominent historians of the modern Post Office) have both made heavy use of 'The Post' in their work. Its name changed to 'The Post, the Journal of the Communication Union Workers' in 1980 and continued to be published until 1993. It should also be noted that 'The Post' is distinct from 'The Post of UPW House' which was a UPW newspaper that was filled with similar, but more informal content.

Beyond the 3,700+ issues of 'The Post', there remains over 45 distinct association and union publications that are available to view in POST 115. From 1890, the publications that predate the 1919 amalgamation include: 'The Postman's Gazette', 'The Post (the Organ of the Fawcett Association)', 'The Central London Review and The Postal and Telegraph Record', amongst others. There are journals representing women only such as 'Opportunity, The Organ of the Federation of Women Civil Servants' and many publications that relate to a particular issue of concern such as 'The Whitley Bulletin, The Official Publication of the National Whitley Council for the Civil Service'. Other major publications representing particular grades and types of employment include: 'The Controlling Officers' Journal'; 'The Sub-Postmaster, The Official Organ of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters'; 'The Journal, The Official Journal of the Post Office Engineering Union'; and 'The Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal'.

Other publications range from the specific, such as 'The Rowland Hill Fund Handbook', to the broader ranging, such as the numerous Civil Service newspapers and journals. These ran from 1890 to 1977 (although most stop at 1969, the year the Post Office ceased to be a Government Department) and include titles such as 'Red Tape' and 'The Quill'. Considering the following Civil Service journal should help the prospective reader avoid possible confusion: POST 115/1-38 is 'The Civilian', a Civil Service newspaper that ran from 1894-1928, which changed its name to 'The New Civilian' in 1926. There are a number of publications in this class where a slight name change has occurred. In each instance, the individual catalogue description alerts the reader to this. Additionally, the series description for 'The Civilian/The New Civilian' (immediately preceding POST 115/1 in the catalogue) states that volumes 51-113 are held in the archive. Beneath this, [in square brackets] it states that there are 38 volumes. The volume number in square brackets always refers to the number of bound volumes of material in the archive, the description 'Vols 51-113' above this refers to the original, contemporary volume numbers that this publication was serialised under.

The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (i.e. numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service and overseas mail (Pkt reference files held in POST 29), those concerned with England and Wales (E or Eng reference files held in POST 30), Ireland (Ire or I reference files held in POST 31) and Scotland (Scot or S reference files held in POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 & POST 40).

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series referenced M or Min (held in POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing (DF) system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949.

In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973. Files from this period either have a 'P' reference or an alphanumeric reference to indicate which department created them, i.e. MD (Mails Division).

The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (i.e. numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 and POST 40)

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

Inland mails organisation: the Inland Office and the Circulation Department

A separate domestic postal service originated early in the 17th century when a split developed from the foreign service. By the 1670s the General Letter Office in London comprised an Inland Office, with 43 staff, and a Foreign Office, with only four staff. By the end of the decade they were both housed in Lombard Street, as two distinct services with separate staff, although there was a considerable overlapping of work. By the end of the century the staff of the Inland Office greatly increased and the department brought in two-thirds of the GPO's profits. (The staff of the Foreign Office increased to a lesser extent). The Inland Office was managed by a Comptroller and Accomptant and staffed by cashiers, clerks of the roads, an alphabet man, window men, sorters and letter carriers and receivers. By the middle of the 18th century the Inland Office also had a Deputy Comptroller and the outdoor service accounted for most of the staff.

In the early 19th century three overlapping services existed; the Inland Office, Foreign Office and Twopenny Post Office, each with separate staffs. The Inland Office had general charge of the whole postal system for the British Isles, including the mail coaches to and from London. Its staff consisted of a Superintending President, presidents, vice presidents, clerks of the roads, sorters and letter carriers for London. The Foreign Office dealt with mails going to and coming from foreign countries. There was a separate Ship Letter Office and Dead Letter Office. The Bye and Cross Road Letter Office had been absorbed into the Inland Office by this time, (see below).

In 1829 a new central office opened in St Martin's le Grand, to house the General or Inland Office, Foreign Office and Twopenny Post Office. All had distinct letter carriers and their own receiving houses. Foreign Office letter carriers were abolished in the early 1830s. In 1844 the Twopenny Post Office was renamed the London District Post Office.

In the mid-19th century there occurred a gradual amalgamation of all divisions connected with circulation of mail. On 6 April 1840 the Foreign Office was consolidated with the Inland Office and in July 1849 the Ship Letter staff were placed on the Inland Office establishment. By 1850 the Inland Office and London District Post Office were the two departments directly engaged in mail circulation - collecting, sorting, delivering and charging the letters and newspapers in London and its immediate neighbourhood, and in despatching mail to all quarters. The Inland Office was charged with the despatch of mails from London to the provinces or to foreign parts and with the delivery in London of letters received from the country or from abroad. The London District Office was charged with similar duties in respect of the correspondence carried on within London itself and a district around it of 24 miles in diameter, and, sometimes, with the delivery of letters from the Inland Office. This arrangement and duplication of duties meant there was a wastage of manpower. In 1854 proposals were put forward to unite them under one superintendent and consolidate the Dead Letter Office within them. The establishment of the Circulation Department was authorised by the Postmaster General in October 1854. The Circulation Department was managed by a Controller, assisted by a vice controller, and a number of deputies. Below them was a body of clerks and then the sorters and letter carriers. Arrangements for the operation of the new Circulation Department gradually came into force over the next few years.

By 1870 the Circulation Department comprised various branches including the Surveyor and Controllers Office, the Inland, Newspaper, TPO, Foreign and Registered Letter branches, East Central Office and Lombard Street branch.

Bye and Cross Roads Office

In 1660 there were 6 main post roads - North Road to Edinburgh; West Road to Plymouth; Chester or Holyhead Road, Roads to Bristol, Dover and Norwich. Other places were served by branch posts working out of the main roads. Letters between intermediate towns on the main roads were carried by bye-posts. There were no cross posts connecting places on different main roads; the post had to pass through London which caused much delay. By the end of the 17th century a number of cross posts, which did not pass through London, had been established, beginning with a direct post between Bristol and Exeter. The Act of 1711 legalised the cross posts.

In 1720 Ralph Allen was given the contract to farm the Bye and Cross Road posts. He continued in that role for 44 years, until his death, making many important reforms and improvements in the conveyance of letters. Under Ralph Allen the Bye and Cross Road Letter Office was a completely separate part of the postal service. When he died in 1764 it came under the management of the GPO and the Postmasters General. It was governed by a Comptroller, Philip Allan (Ralph Allan's nephew), appointed in 1764. The Office was transferred from Bath to London and housed separately from the Inland Office as a fourth distinctive branch of the GPO - beside the Inland, Foreign and Penny Post offices. Philip Allan managed the Office until his death in the early 1780s when John Staunton took over. The Bye and Cross Road Letter Office became known as the Bye Letter Office by 1788 and remained a separate department for some time until it became essentially a branch of the Inland Office towards the end of the 18th century. By then its distinctiveness had largely ceased, as the network of routes made the difference between a country letter and a by letter and a cross road letter largely meaningless. The office of Comptroller was also abolished toward the end of the century.

London Penny Post, Twopenny Post and London District Post

In 1680 William Dockwra, a London merchant, set up a London Penny Post. It was stopped by the Duke of York in the Courts for infringement of State monopoly and taken over by the Postmaster General in 1682, administered separately from the 'General Post'. This official penny post was also known as the London District Post. The Act of 1711 legalised the London Penny Post. An Act of 1801 abolished the London Penny Post, after an existence of 120 years, and replaced it by what became known as the Twopenny Post (still relating to London and its environs only). In 1805 the limits of the Twopenny Post were restricted to the General Post delivery and letters crossing these bounds became a Threepenny Post. (In 1839 it became a penny post again). In 1844 the Twopenny Post Office became officially known as the London District Post Office. This was amalgamated with the Inland Office and Dead Letter Office in 1854, to form the Circulation Department.

Dead and Returned Letters

The Dead Letter Office was established in London in 1784 to deal with dead and missent letters, when the addressee could not be found. Similar offices in Edinburgh and Dublin opened shortly after. Each was headed by an Inspector. In 1813 a Returned Letter Office was organised to return undelivered letters to writers and collect the postage due. Prior to 1813 the only letters returned were those supposed to contain money or items important enough to escape destruction. During the 19th century the department for dealing with undelivered and returned letters was variously named the Dead Letter Office, Dead and Returned Letter Office and Returned Letter Office. The latter title became gradually more favoured as it prevented any confusion by the public with dead persons and sounded less gruesome. In 1854 it became a branch of the newly formed Circulation Department. By the early 20th century the work of headquarters offices was devolved to separate Returned Letter Offices set up in major towns in Britain.

Mid-19th century revision of rural posts in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland

Although the French had set up the 'poste rurale' in the 1830s, until the mid-19th century the British Post Office was cautious in setting up deliveries in rural districts, only doing so when more than 100 letters a week were received in the village. A major expansion of rural posts throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland took place during the 1850s, under the auspices of Rowland Hill. Appointed secretary to the Postmaster General in 1846 and sole Secretary in 1854, Hill favoured the extension of deliveries to rural districts partly as a means of boosting the gross revenue. Surveyors were already setting up new postal deliveries where conditions justified. Under the revision plan some 700 new posts were set up by 1850, for delivering over 7,500,000 letters a year. A general revision that was begun in 1851 was pretty well complete by 1858. Many revisions of the 1850s included the introduction or enlargement of the free delivery boundary in rural post districts. By 1859 about 93% of mails were delivered free of charge by letter carriers to the houses of the addressees.

One of the most active and enthusiastic workers for these extensions was Surveyor Anthony Trollope, who wanted deliveries where most people were found in a rural district, not where the most influential people lived, and worked to do away with the rural letter carrier's practice of charging for letters delivered. Trollope surveyed of much of Ireland and all of south western England including the Channel Islands. Reports by Trollope can be found in case files POST 14/35, 40, 209, 213, 217, 218, 220 and 221.

The three series on rural revisions in POST 14 provide a detailed record of those changes, covering the establishment, expansion, alteration, preclusion and cessation of postal services and facilities. They also form a comprehensive guide to the rural posts existing in the mid-19th century, including collections, deliveries, routes, sub-offices, receiving houses, posting boxes, sorting offices, letter carriers, letter receivers, sub postmasters, modes of conveyance, facilities, equipment, salaries and allowances.

Rural posts were organised in rural districts under town post offices classified as 'post towns'. All rural routes were served by the post town and its branch or sub-offices. Each town post office, managed by a deputy postmaster, belonged to a national District. Each District was administered by a District Surveyor who reported to the Secretary. The Secretary reported to the Postmaster General. This administrative structure is reflected in the three series on rural post revision.

There were two types of revision: a 'general' revision of the rural posts under one town; or minor alterations to a rural post, often initiated by a petition from the local inhabitants. Decisions were, in practice, mainly made by the Secretary, who submitted them to the Postmaster General for formal sanction. Proposals were normally only rejected if the volume of letters was insufficient to warrant the resources, the Post Office favoured an alternative reform, a minority of local inhabitants desired the alteration, or a guarantee bond was not provided.

Please contact the Archive for further information.

History of Postal Drafts

With the passing of the National Insurance Act 1911, Approved Societies acting as agents of the Ministry of Health for the paying of National Insurance benefits approached the Post Office for a means of sending small remittances through the post, postal and money orders being unsuitable. An Interdepartmental Committee, including representatives of the Post Office and the National Health Insurance Joint Committee, was appointed by the Treasury in June 1913 to consider the matter and the postal draft was the outcome of the Committee's recommendations. The service was introduced at the end of 1914 with the approval of the Treasury and without specific statutory authority. Very few Approved Societies in fact made use of the system, preferring to pay benefits in person.

During the First World War the use of postal drafts was extended, by Treasury authority, to various Government departments and some quasi-Government departments, including departments established in the United Kingdom by Colonial Governments. The War Office and Admiralty were amongst the first departments granted permission to use the system for the payment of pensions and reserve pay. Postal drafts were a more economical method of sending remittances through the post and Government departments were encouraged to use them in place of money orders.

In 1934 a Postal Draft Committee report recommended extension of the system, by statute, to Friendly Societies, Trades Unions, Local Authorities, Public Utility Corporations, charitable organisations of a permanent character and other similar bodies. Nothing emerged from those recommendations and the majority of non-Governmental applicants were denied access to the system by the Post Office, which cited practical difficulties and lack of statutory authority. No definite policy for granting or refusing permission to utilise the system was ever established.

The system of postal drafts ceased in 1969 with the introduction of Girobank services.

The postal draft system

The postal draft was a form of cheque for small sums drawn on the Postmaster General. It provided for the payment of money which had to be remitted by post. Printed forms of drafts were supplied by the Post Office to issuing authorities - Approved Societies or Government

departments - which entered amounts and transmitted them to payees. Most forms were printed on watermarked paper and further protected by a colour band. The maximum amount payable was printed on the draft. Drafts could be cashed at any Post Office in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic or at a specified post office. For the payment of sums over £10 evidence of identity was normally required from the payee. Paid drafts were returned to the issuing authority by the GPO and the account rendered. Advances to cover estimated payments were sent by issuing authorities to GPO Headquarters.

The first ever main line railway came into operation between Stockton and Darlington in 1825. The first conveyance of mail by railway took place on 11 November 1830, on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, less than two months after the opening of this second main line (see POST 11/52). The Post Office soon realised the potential for major improvements in mail distribution offered by this new form of transport. The first experimental Travelling Post Office, then known as 'the railway post office', ran between Birmingham and Warrington in January 1838 on the Grand Junction Railway. It consisted of a horse box converted into a primitive sorting carriage, coupled to a train. The experiment proved that mail sorting could be carried out efficiently on board trains, saving both time and money. In April 1838 a regular service started on the newly opened London and Birmingham Railway, with purpose built sorting carriages. By the end of the year through services had been established between London and Preston. Thereafter the TPO network grew rapidly, accelerated by introduction of the Penny Post in 1840, proliferation of new rail routes and railway companies in the 1840s, the increased volume of mail in circulation and general economic expansion. Railway mail services quickly swallowed up the role of the mail coaches. Previously, some sorting of mail was done by mail coach staff and postmasters at coaching inns. However, TPOs enabled large quantities of mail to be sorted and processed on the move.

Despite the rapid expansion of TPOs, the department in charge was known as the Mail Coach Office until 1854. The 1850s and 1860s saw further expansion and by 1867 the TPOs had their own Department at GPO Headquarters in London, headed by a Surveyor of Travelling Post Offices. Overall management of railway services resided in the Inspector General of Mails. Control of TPOs remained based in London which was the focal point of much postal traffic. In 1882 the London Postal Service was created. The post of Chief Superintendent, TPO Section, was established one year later. During the 19th century the Post Office developed an intricate and comprehensive network of Day and Night services covering England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Act to Provide for the Conveyance of Mails by Railways, 1838, allowed the Postmaster General to compel railway companies, for reasonable remuneration, to carry mails by ordinary or special trains, at such hours as the Postmaster General might direct, together with mail guards and other officers of the Post Office. Companies could also be required to provide carriages fitted up for sorting letters en route. This Act provided the foundation for all future arrangements with private railway companies and British Rail for carrying mails by rail. The first railway mail services were normally carriages attached to passenger services, which provided accommodation for sorting and / or conveying mails. By the mid-1860s a number of special trains run purely for postal requirements with very little or no passenger accommodation, were in operation as part of mail carrying contracts agreed between railway companies and the Post Office. In 1885 special mails, exclusively for Post Office use, were introduced between London Euston and Aberdeen. Known as the Up Special TPO and Down Special, they constituted a major reorganisation of the West Coast route, greatly accelerated TPO services to Scotland and formed the biggest and busiest of the TPOs.

In the years leading up to World War One there were over 130 TPOs in operation throughout the United Kingdom, ranging from the large and prestigious London based services, such as the North Western TPO and Great Western TPO, to small local links, such as the Grimsby and Lincoln Sorting Tender and Brighton and Hastings Sorting Carriage (see POST 18/11-12). After the First World War, 1914-1918, many TPOs and Sorting Carriages which had ceased operating during conflict were not restored (see POST 18/38 for comparison of 1914 and 1922 service lists). Day TPOs and parcel sorting on TPOs were particularly reduced. The slow economic recovery during the 1920s delayed substantial re-investment in TPO rolling stock until the 1930s. During the Second World War all letter sorting on trains ceased and only a few key bag tenders ran. Parcel sorting and day-time TPOs were radically reduced after the War, mainly because the number and frequency of collections and deliveries had been reduced by concentration of processing services. A phased reinstatement began in 1945, but only about 46 services were restored. In 1948 the railways were nationalised and the British Transport Commission, (replaced by the British Railways Board in 1962), took over the TPO contract with Post Office. There was little change to the system from 1950 until 1968, when the Two-Tier letter service was introduced and TPOs began to carry and sort only First Class mails for next day delivery. The resultant drop in overnight business led to the disappearance of some services during the 1970s, including the Plymouth-Bristol and Crewe-Bangor TPOs. The overall size and shape of the network remained largely unchanged until the mid-1980s. Concentration and mechanisation of letter mail handling in addition to faster British Rail services and greater use of road and air facilities, led to a review of East Coast services in 1985, and in 1988 the first major revision since the Second World War occurred. A new timetable was issued for a system of 37 TPOs, some services were combined, others extended and new ones added including services such as the Manchester-Dover TPO, which by-passed London (see POST 18/68). Further large scale revisions and alterations took place in the 1990s to fit in with Royal Mail policies (see POST 18/66-67). By 1994 there was a limited provision of 24 TPOs. However, these were larger and faster trains, operating only at night and using specialised railway rolling stock.

The Receiver General was an independent appointment, designed to remove all responsibilities for cash from the hands of the Postmaster General. There was, however, another major financial position in the Post Office, the Accountant General, who was appointed by the Postmaster General to keep an account of all revenue. This produced duplication of records. The Receiver General took receipt of all money paid into the Department, and paid costs directly from these funds.

The sources of income are mainly payments received from inland letters; window money (postage due on letters handed in by the public to the clerk behind the window of a post office); postmasters; letter receivers; returned letters; charges levied on incoming foreign letters. Expenditure includes payments for salaries of postmasters, letter carriers, sorters, window men, clerks of the roads and of the inland and foreign offices, inspectors, watchmen and other employees; ship letters; returned letters; accommodation, furnishings and equipment; travelling expenses; allowances and pensions; local taxes; contractors and tradesmen; building, hire, wear and tear of packet ships; captains fees. The balance of cash was transferred to the Exchequer.

The Post Office (London) Railway was opened for traffic in December 1927. The Post Office first showed an interest in using underground railways to transport mail beneath London in 1854 and in 1893 serious consideration was given to running an electric railway in the pneumatic tunnels. By the turn of the twentieth century, traffic congestion in London had reached the point that cross-London journeys by road took so long that an unnecessary number of vehicles had to be used to carry the ever growing volume of mails between sorting offices and main line termini. In 1905, the Metropolitan Pneumatic Despatch Co presented a bill to Parliament for the construction of a pneumatic line connecting the major railway termini and Post Offices. The Bill was rejected as being too ambitious. In September 1909 the Postmaster General appointed a Committee to examine the practicality of the transmission of mails in London by pneumatic tube or electric railway. The Committee reported in February 1911 in favour of an electric railway between Paddington Station (Great Western Railway) and the Eastern District Post Office in Whitechapel Road, a distance of six and a half miles.

The scheme was submitted by the Postmaster General to the Cabinet in 1912 and power to construct the railway was given to the Postmaster General by the Post Office (London) Railway Act, 1913. The Act made provision for compensation for damage and allowed the Post Office a budget of £1,100,000 to construct the line with stations at Paddington, Western District Office, Western Parcel Office, West Central District Office, Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, King Edward Building, Liverpool Street and East District Office. Tenders for the construction of the tunnel were invited on the 26 August 1914. John Mowland and Co. won the tender to construct the tunnels and build eight stations. The work, although interrupted by the war, was completed in 1917. In parallel with the building work, Post Office engineers built a test track on Plumstead Marshes to experiment with the control systems and rolling stock. However, the war caused the testing to be brought to a premature halt. During the war the stations became a home for exhibits from museums. The cessation of the war enabled the Post Office to proceed with their plans, and in 1919 tenders were issued for the supply and installation of the electrical equipment. Prices proved too expensive for the post war budget and the scheme was held in abeyance until 1923 when tenders were reissued.

In May 1927, work was sufficiently advanced for half the system to be handed over for staff training and in December of that year the scheme received Parliamentary approval and the line became fully operational with parcels traffic running between Mount Pleasant and Paddington. Mount Pleasant to Liverpool Street opened for Christmas parcels from 19-24 December and then for a full parcels service from 28 December. Liverpool Street to Eastern District Office opened for parcels on 2 January 1928. Letter traffic began on 13 February with the opening of West Central District Office station, followed by Western District Office on 12 March. The line proved an immense benefit to the Post Office in the first year of operation, however the high mileage gave the Post Office problems as the cars needed a lot of maintenance. In the early 1930s the rolling stock underwent a gradual change as the cars were replaced by three car trains. These trains were replaced by 34 new trains in 1981 in a £1 million development programme.

In a Press Release, issued by the Post Office PR team on 7 November 2002, Royal Mail announced that unless it could find a new backer, that the Post Office underground railway would close in the near future. The working operation finally ceased on 30 May 2003, but the system has in fact been 'mothballed' in the hope that an alternative use can be found for it.

The majority of maps in the collection were produced as part of an administrative exercise on the part of the Post Office to establish the boundaries for free mail deliveries after the increase of mail circulation in the nineteenth century (see particularly 'Town Maps: England and Wales and 'Town Maps: Ireland').

The Irish town maps were created during the period 1830-1860. This was a time of change in the Irish postal system, as it was amalgamated with Britain's postal service in 1831. In 1843 the British government laid down the principle: 'All places the letters for which exceed one hundred per week should be entitled to a receiving office and a free delivery of letters.' The boundary of free delivery for individual areas within Ireland was decided by the Postmaster General in consultation with Augustus Godby, Secretary to the Irish Post Office. A set of maps was created to show the boundaries decided for the various towns which qualified for free delivery.

This exercise coincided with the survey of Ireland carried out by Ordnance Survey Ireland between 1829 and 1842; consequently, the majority of these maps consist of annotated sections of Ordnance Survey maps.

Some of the maps in POST 21 were produced as part of official government enquiries into Post Office administration; for example there are maps produced as part of or as a result of: 2nd Report of Committee on postage, 1838 (POST 21/142, POST 21/152, POST 21/156); 20th Report of Commissioners of Revenue Enquiry, February 1830 (POST 21/153); 21st Report of Commissioners of Revenue Enquiry, March 1830 (POST 21/53, POST 21/56 and POST 21/57); Fifth Report from Select Committee on the roads from Holyhead to London, July 1817(POST 21/217), Report of Commissioners on the Post Office, 1838 (POST 21/761).

The increase of mail coach transportation in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries necessitated the production of good maps showing postal roads, distances between coach stops and places of interest along the way. There are several such maps in POST 21, including: 'Bowles' Road Directory through England and Wales (1796) (POST 21/159), 'Cary's 6 sheet map of England and Wales with part of Scotland' (1830) (POST 21/770) and 'General map of the Roads of England and Wales engraved for Moggs' improved edition of Paterson's Roads' (1829) (POST 21/173).

Several of the maps in the collection were officially commissioned by the Post Office; of particular note are the GPO (General Post Office) Circulation maps of England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland produced by the cartographer, Edward Stanford; these show the routes and manner of transportation of the mail across the countries. Other examples are the various maps produced by John Cary, who was commissioned by the Postmaster General to organise the survey of turnpike roads in Great Britain, a task involving nine thousand miles of survey. The maps resulting from this work were included in his 'New Itinerary,' first published in 1798; the work was dedicated to the Postmasters General and provided the official measures for all mail coach routes and for the postage due on letters, which until 1840 were charged by distance carried.

After the establishment of Uniform Penny Post in 1840, followed a few months later by the introduction of the prepaid postage stamp, the Penny Black, there was a huge increase in the amount of mail sent. In 1839 there were 76 million letters posted in the United Kingdom; in 1840 after the introduction of the Penny Post there were 168 million. The mail service was opened up more to the general public, particularly after the introduction of pillar boxes to mainland Britain in 1855. These developments necessitated the increasing production of post office directories which included maps showing the location of the numerous district post offices and subsidiary sorting houses; there are several 'Kelly's Post Office Directory' maps of London in the collection.

Officials of The Post Office acted as the first newsagents in this country after the establishment of the public postal service. Six postal officials entitled 'Clerks of the Road' were privileged to frank gazettes at 2d, a reduced charge from letter post. Under the terms of the Franking Act 1764, newspapers bearing the signature of a Member of Parliament or sent to a member at any place which he advised were to go free. The Newspaper Office was established at the General Post Office in 1782 by John Palmer, following criticisms relating to the treatment of newspapers. With the coming of the French Revolution, the Clerks in the Foreign Office established a large foreign news agency. The Ship Letter Act of 1815 contained an important provision in favour of newspapers, providing the first enactment that allowed newspapers to go out of the United Kingdom at a cheaper rate than letters.

The act of 1764 also authorised Members of Parliament to frank newspapers. Many extended the provisions of the act by allowing free postage to booksellers and newsagents who rapidly took over a considerable part of the distribution of newspapers from the Clerks of the Road. An Act of 1825 legalised the free transmission of newspapers by post. In 1830 news vendors presented a petition to Parliament protesting against Post Office servants being allowed to compete with private dealers, and on 5 April 1834, The Post Office ceased to have a privileged interest in the franking of newspapers.

An act of 1855 abolished the compulsory payment of stamp duty on newspapers. Newspaper proprietors were allowed the option of printing on paper stamped to denote payment of stamp duty and thereby qualifying for free transmission by post or using unstamped paper and paying normal rates of postage, until 1870.

The Post Office Act of 1870 provided that newspapers fulfilling the conditions specified in the act were, after registration by The Post Office, entitled to transmission within the United Kingdom at a rate of ½d irrespective of weight. In 1897 weight restrictions were introduced. A grant of preferential tariff to the press was declared by a Treasury Committee in 1875, enabling The Post Office to transmit press releases and news messages to newspapers and other news institutions at the press tariff rate. By The Post Office (Newspapers Published in British Possessions) Act of 1913, copies of newspapers printed and published in any British possession or protectorate were admitted to the benefit of the inland newspaper rate. The Canadian Magazine Post introduced in 1907

allowed for the transmission of all newspapers registered at the Inland Newspaper rate and in addition publications issued at intervals of not more than 31 days, subject to certain conditions.

Until the late nineteenth century the carriage of parcels was in the hands of 'carters' or carriers, operating on a local basis. With the improvement of the roads in the eighteenth century and the inception of the railway services in the late 1820s, the volume of parcels conveyed by coach and railway increased. By the 1850s railway companies had cornered the bulk of this business. In 1842 Rowland Hill suggested that a parcel service should be operated by the Post Office. However, the government was content to let this business remain in the private sector, for the time being. By the 1860s the population explosion and dramatic expansion of British commerce and industry gradually forced the Post Office to give some thought to parcel post. A plan for the introduction of a parcels post was suggested in the 1860s by Rowland Hill and Frederick Hill, (Rowlands' brother and Assistant in the Postmaster General's Office).

The establishment of the General Postal Union in 1874, (now known as the Universal Postal Union) led to further discussions. In 1880 the union promulgated a convention for the exchange of postal parcels between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Egypt, Spain, France, Great Britain and Ireland, British India, Italy and Luxembourg. This envisaged the transmission of parcels up to 3 kilograms in weight. A convention was signed at Paris on 3 November 1880, due to come into operation on 1 October 1881. A protocol attached to this convention took note that Great Britain, Ireland and British India were not in a position to sign the convention as they did not have an inland parcels service at that time, and they were accordingly given until 1 April 1882 to bring the convention into effect.

On 11 February 1882, Henry Fawcett, Postmaster General, assisted by Frederick E Baines, Inspector General of mails, and Sir Arthur Blackwood, Secretary to the Post Office, submitted a memorandum analysing the various problems preventing the introduction of an inland Parcel Post service and suggesting ways of overcoming them.

An Act to amend the Post Office Acts with respect to the Conveyance of Parcels (45 and 46 Vict. Ch. 74), was passed by Parliament on 18 August 1882. Twelve of its seventeen sections dealt with matters arising from the negotiations between the Post Office and the railway companies; their remuneration and the services to be rendered by them.

The Inland Parcel Post came into operation on 1 August 1883 and 'letter-carriers' were entitled 'postmen' as a result. From 12 August 1884 the service was known as the Parcels Post. Parcels sent by the Post were limited to 7lbs in weight and the rates of postage ranged from 3d for 1lb to 1s for 7lbs.

In the tenth report of the Commissioners of Post Office Inquiry, January 1838 it was recommended that a uniform fee of 2d should be charged for the registration of letters and that the Post Office should admit liability for their loss up to a maximum of £5. This scheme was to come into force in June 1839. However it was stopped by news of impending reductions in postage rates. A general scheme for the registration of inland letters came into force on 6 January 1841. Registration was applicable to any valuable letter for a prepaid fee of one shilling. There was no compulsion or compensation. By 1854 the fee was payable by stamps and in 1856 letters marked 'registered' and posted in a letter box were charged one shilling.

The principle of 'compulsory registration' was introduced on 1 August 1862 for all letters containing coin and passing through London, at a double registration fee of 18 pence. Compulsory registration was extended throughout the country during 1863. On 1 September 1873 compulsory registration also became applicable to those letters containing jewellery and watches.

The principle of compensation for damage and loss to registered letters was introduced on 1 January 1878 at a sum of two pounds.

The Recorded Delivery Service was introduced in 1961, it provided proof of delivery at a much lower cost than using Registered Post. Recorded Delivery was recommended for sending documents and papers of little or no monetary value, whereas items of value were recommended to be sent by Registered Letter Post.

The Compensation Fee service was introduced in 1972, it was to be used when sending valuable items by parcel post to provide compensation in the event of loss or damage and also to provide a record of posting.

The Special Delivery Service was introduced in the 1980s to provide customers with a service whereby an item could be delivered to a UK address on the next working day; the Datapost service, introduced in 1981 operated in the same area and could guarantee next day delivery to most destinations, providing a record of posting, documented handling en route and moderate compensation in case of loss or damage.

Consequential Loss Insurance was introduced in May 1982, it was designed to insure against the risk of loss-arising from some failure in the postal service-which was over and above the actual value of the article posted; it was provided as an optional extra with the Inland Registered Letter Service.

In the 1990s, a whole range of new services were introduced, including the Swiftair service, which guaranteed next day delivery to international destinations. In addition the Special Delivery/Registered Post portfolios was extended to include: Registered Plus, similar to the Registered Service in that it guaranteed next day delivery, but it offered a higher rate of compensation for damage or loss and the Sameday Delivery service, offering delivery by 6pm on the same day.

Money orders were the first financial service to be supplied by the Post Office, and had their origins in a private business carried on within the department from 1792. A system of 'money letters' was established by six 'Clerks of the Road' with the sanction of the Postmaster General, to give the public the means of safely and economically transmitting small sums of money from any one part of the United Kingdom to any other. The Committee of Revenue Inquiry, which reported on the Post Office in 1829, expressed its disapproval. This profitable system was subsequently taken over by the Postmaster General in 1838, and reductions in poundage, followed by the introduction of the penny post in 1840, led to a rapid increase in traffic from 55,000 orders in 1836 to 1½ million orders in 1841.

The money order system was set up to be confined to areas of the market not covered by commercial banks and geared towards the 'poorer classes' for the transfer of small sums of money. However, most remittances continued to be made by enclosing cash in letters and by the late 1830s attention turned towards a cheap system of registration in order to provide a secure means of delivering cash.

A limited overseas money order service was introduced in 1856 during the Crimean War. This service spread rapidly to many parts of the Empire and, in 1868, the first money order agreement with a foreign country (Switzerland) was signed.

In 1871 a reduction in the poundage rates on inland money orders (under 10s to 1d and under 20s to 2d) led to further considerable increase in the use of such orders. But as the cost of the issue and payment of each order was approximately 3d the money order service was unprofitable as far as the low value orders were concerned, and by 1875 the inland service as a whole was run at a loss. This was despite Rowland Hill's efforts to develop the more profitable traffic in larger sums - the maximum value was increased to £10 in 1862 despite the misgivings of the Treasury which was concerned about creating competition for the banks.

In 1874 George Chetwynd, the Receiver and Accountant General, proposed a cheaper system of postal notes or orders which could be cashed by the bearer on sight, and after meeting concerns voiced by Parliament and an appointed Treasury Committee, the system of postal orders was introduced in 1881. Their usefulness was greatly increased by the permission to make them out for odd amounts by affixing the necessary postage stamps to the face of the order. They proved very popular and by 1885 the Post Office was selling annually over 25 million postal orders. In the twentieth century their use with entries for football pools increased their popularity still further. In 1938 sales reached 350 million per year.

After the outbreak of war in 1914 postal orders were declared legal tender by the government, in an effort to withdraw gold coinage from circulation. The same measure was again taken in 1939, to prevent disruption to coinage circulation by bombing.

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The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (i.e., numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 & POST 40).

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

For further details of how this class relates to the other report and minute classes, see the following section 'Related Material'.

Up until 1830, the Irish mail service did not come under the control of the British Post Office and was overseen by its own Postmaster General. In 1831 it was re-united with Great Britain's Postal service and ceased to have its own Postmaster General. Under this new arrangement an Irish secretary was appointed to supervise Ireland's postal services and reported directly to the Postmaster General in London.

The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (i.e., numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 & POST 40).

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

For further details of how this class relates to the other report and minute classes, see the following section 'Related Material'.

The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (ie numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). The Scottish minute series was started in 1842; previously Scottish subjects had been included in the general minute series (POST 30). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 & POST 40).

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

For further details of how this class relates to the other report and minute classes, see the following section 'Related Material'.