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This series contains records relating to the transportation of mails by road (mail coaches in particular) but also includes material on the early use of railways. Some reference to steam packets is also contained in this series.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to Post Office services in Scotland, although a proportion developed into cases of general interest. 'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed.

The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

Private papers of John Palmer, Surveyor and Comptroller General of Mails 1786-1792. Palmer was responsible for the introduction of the mail coach service. He submitted his plans for the service and changes in franking and postage to William Pitt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Disputes over the service and over his dismissal of his deputy resulted in his suspension and dismissal from duty in 1792. He received a pension but fought for a claim of the percentage and no settlement was agreed until 1813. The papers include a collection of pamphlets and reports concerning a dispute with his deputy and claims for percentage of revenue, surveyor's and deputy surveyor's minutes for matters of the day; letters, reports and memoranda on foreign posts and packet boat services, postal reforms, mail coach services, staff, establishments, revenue, accounts and various city freedoms awarded to John Palmer. Some of the sources are indexed.

This series has nine sub-series. These cover Telegrams (general), Greetings Telegrams, Forces Telegrams, the Telemessage Service, Overseas Radio and Telecommunications Branch, the Rules and Procedures, material used for exhibitions, Press cuttings and History.

This series relates to conveyance of mails within the United Kingdom and Ireland by sea. The majority of records are on the Irish and Scottish packet services, with a few contracts for mail services to the Scilly Isles, Lundy Island and the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands, placed at the end of the series.

This series relates to the conveyance of mails by Underground pneumatic tube in London. It comprises reports and papers produced and used by the committee appointed in 1909 by the Postmaster General to consider the introduction of the underground transmission of mails within London and plans of the proposed route for the railway, showing rail levels and junctions. It also contains a copy of the Post Office (London) Railway act and the patent granted to Hosiah Latimer Clark for the invention of apparatus for conveying post by pneumatic tube, (POST 20/30). Papers relating to the construction, maintenance and expansion of the Post Office (London) Railway are also present including specifications, invitations to tender, conditions of contract, estimate of costs and technical plans relating to the construction of new stations, car depots, subways, additions and alterations to stations, including the fitting and maintenance of electrical equipment. This is also demonstrated through numerous plans held within the collection. As well as the Manager's annual reports, there are also numerous files of miscellaneous correspondence, memoranda and reports from the Post Office to various departments and organisations regarding the Post Office (London) Railway, historical accounts. There are also two photograph albums of railway equipment and work being carried out on it.

Some of the plans show properties purchased by the Post Office following the passage of the Post Office (London) Railway Act in 1913. There is a series of signed plans dated 26 October 1914 showing the depth and route of the Post Office (London) railway below ground with details of tunnels, shield chambers, and shafts. There is also a series of plans marking individual and corporate properties along the proposed route of the Post Office Railway.

This record series comprises memoranda, letters and reports on the establishment and operation of the Foreign and Colonial Parcel Post, and agreements between the Post Office of the United Kingdom, and foreign postal authorities and shipping companies. It also includes papers relating to 1970s and 1980s overseas parcel services.

This series consists of a series of quarterly accounts of salaries and allowances due and payable by incidents to the officers, clerks and tradesmen employed by the General, Twopenny and London District Post Offices (the Twopenny Post was replaced by the London District Post in 1844). Items 6/4-6, covering 1794-1799, also include separate quarterly accounts of tradesmen's bills and incidental warrants paid out of the revenue of the Bye and Cross Road Letter Office. Accounts cover a wide variety of items and are arranged under general subject headings, such as 'pensions', 'packets', 'tradesmen' and 'rents'. Entries include what the bill is for, name of person owed and the amount. The date of the Treasury warrant authorising payment is often included at the end of each quarterly account. Volumes are not indexed. The accounts include bills for:

• Pensions, salaries and allowances to chief and senior officers, clerks, sorters, messengers and servants working in London headquarters departments, including offices of the Secretary and Accountant General, and the Foreign, Inland, Express, Mail Coach, Dead Letter, Ship Letter and Bye Letter offices; packet agents; surveyors; postmasters inspectors of mails, letter receivers and carriers and packet ships; commanders and mates of packet ships, or their widows; letter receivers and carriers in London; and mail guards

• Expenses for mail conveyance by sea, including costs incurred by packet ships operating from Falmouth, Harwich, Dover, Whitehaven, Donaghadee, Weymouth, Milford Haven and Holyhead, and in the West and East Indies, notably hire charges, lighting dues, arms and ammunition stores, wages and victualling for captains, officers and crew whilst at sea, out of employ or while the ship is undergoing repairs; and ship letter mails

• Expenses for inland mail conveyance, notably for payments to mail coach contractors; road, bridge and ferry tolls; supply and upkeep of fire arms, time pieces, mail bags and mail guards uniforms; mail coach maintenance; and railway and steam packet company charges

• Compensation for abolished positions or duties

• Items supplied or work done by tradesmen

• Legal expenses notably relating to investigation, detection, capture, and trail of felons

• Rents, taxes and rates for offices in London

• Stationery printing costs

• Transit postage and tonnage dues to foreign post offices

• Travelling expenses, particularly surveyors'

Item 6/11, covering 1805-1809, is different to the rest of the series. It contains certified accounts of the quarterly salaries and allowances paid by incidents upon which the Civil List deduction, or tax, of six pence in the pound is chargeable. Each account lists the 'salaries' and 'incidents' of individual officers and clerks at the General Post Office headquarters in London, including the Postmaster General, Secretary and other senior officers, and the total duty payable each quarter.

These accounts probably originate from the office of the Receiver General, who was in charge of all moneys received and paid out of the revenue of the Post Office.

This series consists of bound volumes of Tilley's private letters and correspondence to the Postmaster General, the Treasury and various Post Office officials and members of the public during the time in which he was first Assistant Secretary and then later Secretary. In 1854 the Post Office underwent a general revision and the Treasury appointed a Commission of Enquiry upon which Sir Charles Trevelyan, Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr Hoffey sat. Tilley was greatly interested in the work of the Commission and, as a result, much of his private correspondence is from, and to, members of the Commission. A further area in which Tilley had influence of interest was the revision and improvement of the Rural Post System and, as a consequence, the extension of the rural delivery. Again this is reflected in the nature of the correspondence within the volumes.

Furthermore, the correspondence covers a variety of subjects including inland and overseas mail arrangements, Sunday labour disputes, wage disputes, opening of the Post Office Savings Bank, and telegraph business. There is also correspondence relating to his knighthood.

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to Ireland for the period 1841 to 1960. 'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This series comprises accounts of British packet services and overseas posts, including records of agents and postmasters, packet stations, and packet boats. The accounts cover income, expenditure, salaries, allowances and disbursements.

POST 5 comprises a series of quarterly accounts of warrants issued by the Treasury authorising payment, by the Receiver General, of incident bills incurred by the General, Twopenny and London District Post Offices (the Twopenny Post was replaced by the London District Post in 1844).

Accounts cover a wide variety of items and are arranged under general subject headings, such as 'pensions', 'packets', 'tradesmen' and 'rents'. Entries include the date of issue of warrant, what or whom it is for, date payment is due and the amount. Volumes are indexed by person, subject and place. Warrants are mainly for payments of:

· Pensions, salaries and allowances to chief and senior officers, clerks, sorters, messengers and servants working in the London headquarters departments, including offices of the Secretary and Accountant General, and the Foreign, Inland, Express, Mail Coach, Dead Letter and Ship Letter offices; packet agents; surveyors; postmasters; inspectors of mails, letter receivers and carriers and packet ships; commanders and mates of packet ships, or their widows; letter receivers and carriers in London; and mail guards

· Expenses for mail conveyance by sea, including costs incurred by packet ships operating from Falmouth, Harwich, Dover, Whitehaven, Donaghadee, Weymouth, Milford Haven and Holyhead, and in the West and East Indies, notably hire charges, lighting dues, wages and victualling for captains, officers and crew whilst at sea, out of employ or while the ship is undergoing repairs; and ship letter mails

· Expenses for inland mail conveyance, notably for payments to mail coach contractors; road, bridge and ferry tolls; supply and upkeep of fire arms, time pieces, mail bags and mail guards uniforms; mail coach maintenance; and railway and steam packet company charges

· Compensation for abolished offices or duties

· Tradesmen's bills for items supplied or work done

· Legal expenses, notably relating to investigation, detection, capture and trial of felons

· Rents, taxes and rates for offices in London

· stationery printing costs

· Transit postage and tonnage dues to foreign post offices

· Travelling expenses, particularly surveyors'

· Advances or loans (covered by imprest warrants) to employees, particularly seamen.

*There are no indications whether or not POST 5/1-3 include warrants relating to the Twopenny Post Office.

This series consists of Royal Letters Patent to Postmasters General and Receiver Generals giving the sovereign's written authority to perform their duties. The series also contains a letters patent for the office of Court Post. The patents give: name of appointee; dates of appointment; salary and duties. All have their seals missing but the original seal attached.

This class consists of papers spanning the period from pre-regionalisation, when the country was separated into Districts run by District Surveyors, reporting directly to the Postmaster General, up until the early 1990s.

It includes papers on Regional surveying duties and the stretching of resources in the light of an increase in work load due to rapid expansion of the Post Office in the nineteenth century.

In addition it incorporates papers from various Committees including:

-The Decentralisation Committee, appointed to consider devolution of powers in the light of mounting criticism of centralisation of Post Office administration leading to inefficiency and an inability to concentrate on development of policy.

-The Committee of Enquiry on the Post Office (Bridgeman Committee) appointed to consider change in Post Office administration, which had various wide ranging recommendations, including that of the introduction of a Regional system with powers devolved on Regional Directors.

-The Committee on Metropolitan and Regional organisation (Gardiner Committee), appointed to carry through the recommendations of the Bridgeman Report, culminating in the creation of two experimental Regions in Scotland and the North East.

-The Working Party on Regionalisation appointed to assess the progress of Regionalisation and to recommend further innovations if necessary.

It also includes papers from the experimental Regions and various Regional Conferences, as well as papers from the individual Regions. Subjects covered by this material include papers covering the civil disturbances in Northern Ireland and papers relating to the London Postal Service and the inauguration of the London Postal Region. Also included are papers concerning the input of the London and Midlands Regions into the several reviews of efficiency of the Post Office conducted by McKinsey and Company.

There are also papers relating to the split of the Post Office into two separate divisions: Postal and Telecommunications, and how this might best be carried out across the Regional structure.

The papers incorporate a wide range of material, including annual reports, meeting minutes and papers, financial paperwork, organisational diagrams, Regional Board papers, Regional publications, reviews, strategic plans and photographs of Regional representatives.

This series consists of reports, memoranda and accounts relating to the organisation, structure, functions and operations of Post Office factories and the Factories Department.

This series of records comprises the private office papers of Rowland Hill including, Rowland Hill's Post Office Journals, extracts from the volumes of Secretary's minutes to the Postmaster General and some original documentation relating to those minutes, volumes of Rowland Hill's minutes to the Postmaster General, correspondence and general material relating particularly to postal reform and including a copy of all volumes of 'History of Penny Postage' by Sir Rowland Hill, KCB (published by William Clowes & Sons).

This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to all manner of Post Office matters.

'Minuted' papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry. At first, the papers 'minuted' tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance.

This series comprises a wide variety of 18th, 19th and some 20th century account books and schedules relating to Post Office business.

A number of items in this series will be useful to researchers of 19th century family history. POST 9/112-130 contains names of mail conveyance contractors, 1854-1874; POST 9/139 list names of postmasters, 1847- 1848; POST 9/66-76 includes names of postmasters and their date of appointment, 1855-1873; POST 9/146-163 contains names of officers working in the Post Office in London. The volumes do not contain name indexes.

The papers of Thomas Frankland, Postmaster General with Sir Robert Cotton 1691-1708 and with Sir John Evelyn 1708 -1715. Frankland largely increased the revenues of the Post Office and was retained as Postmaster General by Queen Anne after the death of King William. Volume containing various letters and petitions regarding packet services, including foreign packets and freight of goods. The opening of the volume shows the collection to have been sold in 1893, giving a catalogue description from the sale, then another sale and catalogue description from 1895.