Robert Charles Tombs

THE ROADS.—THE COACH.—MR. JOHN PALMER'S MAIL COACH INNOVATIONS, 1660-1818.

In 1660-1661, James Hicks, Clerk to "The Roads" in the Letter Office, petitions the King to be continued in office. He says he sent the first letter from Nantwich to London in 1637, and was sent for in 1640 to be Clerk for that Road (Chester Road). Had settled in 1642 "Postages between BRISTOL and YORK for your late father's service."

In 1661, Henry Bisshopp, farmer of the Post Office, furnished to the Secretary of State "a perfect list" of all officers in the Post Office. According to this list there were eight Clerks of the Roads, viz.:—Two of the Northern Road, two of the Chester Road, two of the Eastern Road, and Two of the Western Road. In 1677, there were, in addition to these Roads, the Bristol Road and the Kent Road. As there was a Post-House at Bristol in 1661, no doubt the city was attached to the Western Road.

There were only six stage-coaches known in 1662. A journey that could not be performed on horseback was rarely undertaken then by those who could not afford their own steeds.

Amongst the State papers in May, 1666, is an account of the time spent in carrying the mails on the chief routes throughout the country. Although the speed fixed by the Government for the postboys was seven miles an hour in the summer months, the actual rate attained on the Bristol, Chester, and York Roads was only four miles, and was half-a-mile less on the Gloucester and Plymouth routes. An appended note stated that a man spent seventeen or eighteen hours in riding from Winchester to Southampton. In December, Lord Arlington complained to the postal authorities that the King's letters from Bristol and other towns were delayed from ten to fourteen hours beyond the proper time, and ordered that the Postmasters should be threatened with dismissal unless they reformed.

In 1667 a London and Oxford Coach was performing the 54 miles between the two cities in two days, halting for the intervening night at Beaconsfield: and in the same year the original Bath Coach was the subject of this proclamation:

"Flying Machine."—"All those desirous of passing from London to Bath, or any other place on their Road, let them repair to the 'Belle Sauvage' on Ludgate Hill, in London, and the 'White Lion' at Bath, at both which places they may be received in a Stage Coach, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which performs the whole journey in Three Days (if God permit) and sets forth at 5 o'clock in the Morning.

"Passengers to pay One Pound Five Shillings each, who are allowed to carry fourteen Pounds Weight—for all above to pay three-halfpence per Pound."

It was only after repeated appeals to the Government that a "Cross Post" was established between Bristol and Exeter for inland letters in 1698, thus substituting a journey of under 80 miles for one of nearly 300, when the letters were carried through London. In this case, however, Bristol letters to and from Ireland were excluded from the scheme, and they still had to pass through the Metropolis.

Even at a later date, when strong representations were made to the Post Office, Ralph Allen, of Bath, who had the control of the Western Mails, refused to allow a direct communication between Bristol and Ireland, but offered if the postage from Dublin to London were paid, to convey the letters to Bristol gratis.

At this period there were quaint public waggons on the Bristol Road, as depicted in the illustration.

The "Pack Horse" at Chippenham, and the "Old Pack Horse," and the "Pack Horse and Talbot," at Turnham Green, were, in 1739, halting places of the numerous Packmen who travelled on the Bristol and Western Road.

By 1742 a stage-coach left London at seven every morning, stayed for dinner at noon in Uxbridge, arrived at High Wycombe by four in the afternoon, and rested there all night, proceeding to Oxford the next day. Men were content to get to York in six days, and to Exeter in a fortnight.

In 1760, in consequence of frequent complaints as to the dilatoriness of the postal service, the authorities in London announced that letters or packets would thenceforth be dispatched from the capital to the chief provincial towns "at any hour without loss of time," at certain specified rates. An express to Bristol was to cost £2 3s. 6d.; to Plymouth, £4 8s. 9d. Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, were not even mentioned.

The mail-coach system had its origin in the West of England, and Bristol and Bath in particular are associated with all the traditions of the initiatory stages, so that the details on record in ancient newspapers of those cities are copious.

Mr. John Weeks, who entered upon "The Bush," Bristol, in 1772, after ineffectually urging the proprietors to quicken their speed, started a one-day coach to Birmingham himself, and carried it on against a bitter opposition, charging the passengers only 10s. 6d. and 8s. 6d. for inside and outside seats respectively, and giving each one of them a dinner and a pint of wine at Gloucester into the bargain. After two years' struggle, his opponents gave in, and one-day journeys to Birmingham became the established rule.

Soon after this period, John Palmer, of Bath, came on the scene. He had learnt from the merchants of Bristol what a boon it would be if they could get their letters conveyed to London in fourteen or fifteen hours, instead of three days. John Palmer was lessee and manager of the Bath and Bristol theatres, and went about beating up actors, actresses, and companies in postchaises, and he thought letters should be carried at the same pace at which it was possible to travel in a chaise. He devised a scheme, and Pitt, the Prime Minister of the day, who warmly approved the idea, decided that the plan should have a trial, and that the first mail-coach should run between London and Bristol. On Saturday, July 31, 1784, an agreement was signed in connection with Palmer's scheme under which, in consideration of payment of 3d. a mile, five inn-holders—one belonging to London, one to Thatcham, one to Marlborough, and two to Bath—undertook to provide the horses, and on Monday, August 2, 1784, the first "mail-coach" started.

The following was the Post Office announcement respecting the service:—"General Post Office, July 24, 1784. His Majesty's Postmaster-General being inclined to make an experiment for the more expeditious conveyance of the mails of letters by stage-coaches, machines, etc., have (sic) been pleased to order that a trial shall be made upon the road between London and Bristol, to commence at each place on Monday, August 2 next, and that the mails should be made up at this office every evening (Sundays excepted) at 7 o'clock, and at Bristol, in return, at 3 in the afternoon (Saturdays excepted), to contain the bags for the following post towns and their districts—viz.: Hounslow—between 9 and 10 at night from London; between 6 and 7 in the morning from Bristol. Maidenhead—between 11 and 12 at night from London; between 4 and 5 in the morning from Bristol. Reading—about 1 in the morning from London; between 2 and 3 in the morning from Bristol. Newbury—about 3 in the morning from London; between 12 and 1 at night from Bristol. Hungerford—between 4 and 5 in the morning from London; about 11 at night from Bristol. Marlborough—about 6 in the morning from London; between 9 and 10 at night from Bristol. Chippenham—between 8 and 9 in the morning from London; about 7 in the evening from Bristol. Bath—between 10 and 11 in the morning from London; between 5 and 6 in the afternoon from Bristol. Bristol—about 12 at noon from London.

"All persons are therefore to take notice that the letters put into any receiving house in London before 6 in the evening, or before 7 at this office, will be forwarded by this new conveyance; all others for the said post-towns and their districts put in afterwards, or given to the bell-men, must remain until the following post, at the same hour of 7 o'clock. [At this period there were Post Office bell-women as well as bell-men. See illustration.]

"Letters also for Colnbrooke, Windsor, Calne, and Ramsbury will be forwarded by this conveyance every day; and for Devizes, Melksham, Trowbridge, and Bradford on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; and for Henley, Nettlebed, Wallingford, Wells, Bridgwater, Taunton, Wellington, Tiverton, Frome, and Warminster, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

"Letters from all the before-mentioned post-towns and their districts will be sorted and delivered as soon as possible after their arrival in London, and are not to wait for the general delivery.

"All carriers, coachmen, higglers, news carriers, and all other persons are liable to a penalty of £5 for every letter which they shall receive, take up, order, dispatch, carry, or deliver illegally; and to £100 for every week that any offender shall continue the practice—one-half to the informer. And that this revenue may not be injured by unlawful collections and conveyances, all persons acting contrary to the law therein will be proceeded against, and punished with the utmost severity.

"By command of the Postmaster-General,

"Anthony Todd, Sec."

The Bath Chronicle versions were as follows, viz.:—"July 29, 1784. On Monday next the experiment for the more expeditious conveyance of the mails will be made on the road from London to Bath and Bristol. Letters are to be put in the London office every evening before 8 o'clock, and to arrive next morning in Bath before 10 o'clock, and in Bristol by 12 o'clock. The letters for London, or for any place between or beyond, to be put into the Bath Post Office every evening before 5 o'clock, and into the Bristol office before 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and they will be delivered in London the next day."

The public were also informed that the mail diligence would commence to run on Monday, August 2, 1784—and that the proprietors had engaged to carry the mail to and from London to Bristol in sixteen hours, starting from the Swan with Two Necks, in Lad Lane, London, at 8 o'clock each night, and arriving at the Three Tuns, Bath, before 10 o'clock the next morning, and at the Rummer Tavern, Bristol, by 12 o'clock. "The mail is to leave Bristol from the Swan Tavern for London every afternoon at 4 o'clock, and to arrive in London before 8 o'clock the next morning."

On August 5, we are told, "the new mail diligence set off for the first time from Bristol on Monday last, at 4 o'clock, and from Bath at 5.20 p.m. From London it set out at 8 o'clock in the evening, and was in Bath by 9 o'clock the next morning.

"The excellent steps taken to carry out this undertaking leave no doubt of its succeeding, to the great advantage and pleasure to the publick. The mail from this city is made up at 5 o'clock." This grand achievement of Palmer's was signalised by the following lines:—

No sooner was success apparent than troubles commenced, as may be gathered from the following paragraph, dated September 9, 1784:—"Bath. We hear that the contractors for carrying the mail to and from this city and London have received the most positive orders to direct their coachmen: on no account whatever to try their speed against other carriages that may be set up in opposition to them, nor to suffer them to discharge firearms in passing through any towns, or on the road, except they are attacked."

"They have generally performed their duty with great care and punctuality, within an hour of the contracted time and perfectly to the satisfaction of the Government and the publick, and this before any opposition was commenced against them, and when it was thought impossible to effect it in sixteen hours instead of fifteen hours. Their steady line of conduct will be their best recommendation to this city, which, much to its honour, has supported them with great spirit. Attempts by other drivers of other coaches, or any other persons whatsoever, to impede the mail diligence on its journey will be certainly attended with the most serious prosecutions to the parties so offending.

"We are desired by the old proprietors of the Bath coaches to insert the following:—

"'Last Sunday evening, as the coachman of the mail diligence was driving furiously down Kennet Hill, between Calne and Marlborough, in order to overtake the two guard coaches, the coach was suddenly thrown against the bank, by which means a lady was much hurt, as was also the driver. The lady was taken out and safely conveyed in one of the guard coaches to Marlborough.'

"We are informed:—The proprietors of the two coaches, with a guard to each, which travel from Bristol to London in fifteen hours have instructed their servants not to fire their arms wantonly, but to be particularly vigilant in case of attack. The proprietors of these coaches are determined to have the passengers and property protected and for the safety of both have ordered their coachmen to keep together to make assurance doubly sure."

September 16, 1784:—"Our mail diligence still continues its course with the same steadiness and punctuality. Yesterday its coachman and guard made their first appearance in Royal livery, and cut a most superior figure. It is certainly very proper that the Government carriages should be thus distinguished; such a mark of His Majesty's approbation does the contractors great honour, and it is with much pleasure we see so great a change in the conveyance of our mail—not only in its speed and safety, but in its present respectable appearance, from an old cart and a ragged boy."

December 16, 1784:—"A writer, under the signature of 'An Enemy to Schemers,' having published in the Gazette several letters against the new mode of conveying the mail, another writer, under the signature of 'Lash,' has in a masterly manner replied to all his arguments in that paper of Monday, and has severely censured the conduct of Mr. Todd of the Post Office."

December 16, 1784:—"Dear Sir,—I have just received some newspapers from a friend in Bath containing an abusive letter against my post plan, and two answers to it under the signature of 'Lash.' I rather think that the latter may be yours, and think myself much obliged to you for the warmth with which you have taken the matter up, but could wish you would take no further notice of it. The letter, if I recollect right, merely contains the refuse of the observations, sent from the Post Office to the Treasury, which have been fully refuted to the board. It might appear these are like doubting the justice of that Court were I to suffer myself to be decoyed or provoked into another. Two years have already been wasted in wrangling, and I am heartily weary of it. Since my return I have the satisfaction to find the public, if possible, still more pleased from the experience they have had of the punctuality as well as the expedition of the post in all possible cases, in every variety of weather our climate gives. And those who express their surprise that the plan is not extended yet to other parts of the kingdom I have taken care to tell the plain truth—that it is entirely Mr. Todd's fault. I could not express my sense of his exceeding ill conduct at the commencement of the trial (so very different from his profession) in a stronger manner than in my memorial to the Treasury; nor could they do me ampler justice than in the resolutions they passed on the occasion and sent to the Post Office. It should not therefore be stated to the public his stopping the Norfolk and Suffolk service by his assertion of the enormous expenses of the new beyond the old system, and his strange declaration that the number of letters sent by the Bath and Bristol post had decreased and in consequence of its improvement are so ill-supported by the statements sent to the Treasury, and the reverse of these charges so fully established in my answers that I believe there is an end of the controversy, and have very little doubt but that I shall shortly receive the Ministers' commands to carry the plan into execution to the other parts of the kingdom. To do this (and I have not the least fear of accomplishing it) will be the most decisive answer to abuse, and more satisfactory to the publick. I rather think, too, from the number of memorials sent in favour of my plan, and the general indignation expressed at the mismanagement of the old post, Mr. Todd will find it prudent to desist from further opposition. Nothing possible can be in better train than the plan is or in the hands of persons more anxious for its success. It would be very imprudent, therefore, to run the least hazard of disturbing it. I beg you'll not imagine I am the least displeased at what you have done. On the contrary, I am really much obliged to you; and be assured I shall never forget the zeal and attention I have experienced from you in the course of this business, and that you will always find me your sincere friend.—John Palmer, Arno's Vale, Bristol, December 2, 1784."

December 16, 1784:—"Our mail carriage has, if possible, added to its reputation from its extraordinary and ready exertions on the bad weather setting in. It arrived here on Saturday an hour only after its time, and this morning was within the limited time. The Salisbury mail, which should have come in on Saturday by eight in the morning did not arrive till Sunday morning."

January 20, 1785:—"The new regulation of our post turns out a peculiar advantage to this city, in that letters can be sent from here in the evening and answered in London next morning's mails, which enables business people to stay here longer."

On February 22, 1785, the Town Council minutes contain the following:—"Mr. May acquainted the members present that the inhabitants of this city, as well as those of other places, having derived great benefit from Mr. Palmer's plan lately adopted for the improvement of the post, was the occasion of his calling them together to consider such measures as might be thought proper for continuance and extension of the said plan.... It was resolved that a memorial be sent to the Right Hon. Wm. Pitt, representing the great benefits received from the plan, and requesting a continuance of the same, together with the extension of the same plan to other parts of the kingdom."

February 17, 1785:—"At a meeting of the Bristol Merchants' Society on Saturday last, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. John Palmer for the advantages received from his postal plan."

February 24, 1785:—"Memorials appear to the Right Hon. Wm. Pitt for the continuance and extension of Palmer's plan from the merchants, tradesmen, shopkeepers in the city of Bristol, Common Council of the city of Bristol, Mayor, Burgesses and Commonality of the city of Bristol, Mayor, Aldermen and Common Councilmen of the city of Bristol."

On March 24, 1785, appeared the following letter:—"London, February 16, 1785. Sir,—Having both of us been engaged upon Committees of the House of Commons, we have been unable to present the paper you transmitted to us respecting Mr. Palmer's plan to Mr. Pitt till within these few days. Mr. Pitt has desired us to acquaint Mr. Mayor and the Corporation that he feels himself very happy to have assisted in giving such an accommodation to the city of Bath as he always hoped that plan would afford, and in which he is confirmed by the manner in which the Corporation have expressed themselves concerning it. Measures are being taken to carry it into execution through other parts of the kingdom, and the plan will be adopted in a few days upon the Norfolk and Suffolk roads.

"A. Moysey and J.J. Pratt.

"To Philip Georges, Esq., Deputy Town Clerk."

May 12, 1785:—"Bath Post Office. A further extension of Mr. Palmer's plan for the more safe and expeditious conveyance of the mails took place on Monday, the 9th inst., when the letters on the cross posts from Frome, Warminster, Haytesbury, Salisbury, Romsey, Southampton, Portsmouth, Gosport, Chichester, and their delivery, together with the Isle of Wight, Jersey and Guernsey, all parts of Hampshire and Dorsetshire, will be forwarded from this office at five o'clock p.m., and every day except Sundays. Letters from the above places will arrive here every morning, Mondays excepted:

"N.B.—All letters must be put in the office before five o'clock p.m."

May 18, 1785:—"We hear that Mr. Palmer's plan for conveying the mails will be adopted from London to Manchester through Leicester and Derby, and to Leeds through Nottingham, at Midsummer."

June 9, 1785:—"Mr. Williams, the public-spirited master of the Three Tuns Inn, and the chief contractor for conveying the mails, had in the morning of this day placed in the front of his house His Majesty's Arms, neatly carved in gilt. In the evening his house was illuminated in a very elegant manner with variegated lamps, the principal figure in which was the letters 'G.R.' immediately over the coat-of-arms. A band of music with horns played several tunes adapted to the day, and a recruiting party drawn up before the doors with drums and fifes playing at intervals had a very pleasing effect."

On June 30, 1785, appeared the following paragraph, which shows how complete was the success of John Palmer's post plan, in spite of all the obstacles placed in his way to obstruct his scheme. We are now informed that the "mail-coaches and diligences have been found to answer so well that they will be generally adopted throughout the kingdom, and conveying of them in carts will be discontinued."

On June 30 appeared a long letter showing how the G.P.O. tried to overthrow Mr. Palmer's scheme. This is signed Thomas Symons, Bristol, and describes the scheme as the most beneficial plan that ever was thought of for a commercial country. He also complains of the misconduct of the Post Office, as letters had been miscarried to Dublin, which caused the merchants of Bristol considerable annoyance, and this mismanagement without hesitation he declares was by design, in order to try and overthrow this most excellent system of John Palmer's post.

Early in 1787, Palmer had to represent to the Contractors that the Mails must be carried by more reliable coaches.

"The Comptroller-General," he wrote to one Contractor, "has to complain not only of the horses employed on the Bristol mail, but as well of their harness and the accoutrements in use, whose defects have several times delayed the Bath and Bristol letters, and have even led to the conveyance being overset, to the imminent peril of the passengers.

"Instructions have been issued by the Comptroller for new sets of harness to be supplied to the several coaches in use on this road, for which accounts will be sent you by the harness-makers. Mr. Palmer stated also that he had under consideration, for the Contractor's use, a new-invented coach."

Soon after this, Palmer's active connection with the Post Office ceased. He died at Brighton in 1818.

What he looked like at the age of 17 and 75 respectively, is shewn in the illustrations, the former taken from a picture attributed to Gainsborough.