Robert Charles Tombs

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL. (RT. HON. A. MORLEY AND THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY) VISIT BRISTOL.—THE POSTMASTER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—THE KING'S NEW POSTAGE STAMPS.—CORONATION OF KING EDWARD VII.—LOYALTY OF POST OFFICE STAFF.—MRS. VARNAM-COGGAN'S CORONATION POEM.

Mr. Arnold Morley, during his term of office as Postmaster-General, visited Bristol, and was presented by the Chamber of Commerce with an address, worded thus:—"The Bristol Incorporated Chamber of Commerce and Shipping. To the Right Honorable Arnold Morley, M.P., Her Majesty's Postmaster General. Sir,—The Council of the Bristol Incorporated Chamber of Commerce and Shipping are glad to embrace the opportunity afforded by your visit to this city of expressing their high appreciation of the services rendered to the state in general and to the commercial community in particular by the energy and enterprise displayed in your administration of the Postal and Telegraphic Departments of the public service. We recognise that in matters such as are ranged under your control there can be no finality, and that however excellent our present Postal and Telegraphic arrangements may appear, your Departments must be quick to discern the arrival of fresh needs such as our rapidly developing civilization must constantly bring. We rejoice in the abundant evidence that you have thoroughly appreciated the absolute necessity for continual advance and adaptation, and that you are labouring with such zeal to keep the complicated machinery of the General Post Office up to date and equal to the immense and ever increasing strain it has to bear, whilst the Council think it only right to acknowledge the marked and unvarying urbanity with which, at all times, you and your officials receive and discuss any suggestions for the improvement of the services, emanating from Chambers of Commerce and other sources. In conclusion, the Council recognise in your person the son of a late highly-esteemed Parliamentary Representative of the city of Bristol, Mr. Samuel Morley, who for many years took an active interest in the proceedings of this Chamber and of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom; and the Council take this occasion to tender you their sincere congratulations on the high position you have attained in the councils and government of this great Empire. We remain, Sir, Your obedient servants, (Sd.) George H. Perrin, President; E. Burrow Hill, Mark Whitwill, Vice-Presidents; H.J. Spear, Secretary. Bristol, 1st Nov., 1894."

The Marquis of Londonderry, when Postmaster-General, was the chief guest at the annual banquet of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, held at the Royal Hotel, Bristol, under the presidency of Mr. T.T. Lindrea, on the 24th April, 1901. Among those present were Earl Waldegrave, Sir Herbert Ashman, J.P., Sir Frederick Wills, M.P., Judge Austin, J.P., Mr. C.E. Hobhouse, M.P., Mr. Lewis Fry, the Lord Mayor (Mr. Colthurst Godwin), the High Sheriff (Mr. E.B. James), etc.

In responding to the toast of "His Majesty's Ministers," Lord Londonderry alluded to the great growth that had taken place in the population, trade, and prosperity of Bristol during the late Queen's reign. Last February, he said, in eighteen days, the amount paid on goods taken out of Bond reached £487,000. Of this sum, no less than £430,000 was paid in the last eight days, and of this £370,000 came from a single firm for withdrawals of tobacco from Bond. This included the enormous single cheque paid by that firm one day for a quarter of a million—the largest single cheque ever known at His Majesty's Customs at Bristol. He also congratulated Bristol on the great development to her trade that must come through the inauguration in February last of the new service to the West Indies. This, he was sure, would do much not only to strengthen the ties that bound this country to the West Indian Colonies, but also to restore to Bristol some measure of that position she had once enjoyed in the trade of the United Kingdom. He was rather glad his good friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not there that night, for if he heard how much was spent in benefiting those who relied on the Post Office, and how little they handed over to the national exchequer, he would not be inclined to meet him when he suggested certain postal reforms, as he intended to do next year. He hoped they would invite him to meet Sir Michael in Bristol, for he might then be inclined to grant him (the speaker) any request he might make. He wanted them to recognise that the Postmaster-General's good intentions, and they were many, were controlled by Parliamentary and statutory exigencies. He had also been asked to improve their rates on foreign letters and parcels, as well as to cheapen the delivery of letters and parcels from abroad; but it was entirely forgotten that he had to reckon with foreign Powers. A Postal Reformer had declared, in a letter, that it was possible to create an ideal Post Office. He wished he could accede to every one of his requests, but he had to consider Parliament; he was not master himself. He thought that if they were to meet the requirements of the public as they were anxious to do, they must proceed in the course in which they were moving at present—with steadiness and sureness, and not promise things which it was impossible to fulfil.

The Ex-Postmaster of the House of Commons, Mr. E.W. Pike, is a Somersetshire man; he was born at Ilchester, and his grandfather was the last Governor of the Gaol of that town. When Mr. Pike was ten years of age, his father received an appointment under the act constituting the new County Court system, and removed to Temple Cloud in the Bristol district. The family afterwards moved to the adjacent village of Clutton, and Mr. Pike went there with the other members.

Mr. Pike remembers that the Post Office at Temple Cloud was held by Mrs. Carter, and after her death John Spear had the office. Mr. Pike's active service in the Post Office terminated on Wednesday, the 14th September, 1903. His experience in the Post Office was unique, and no wonder that he felt proud on retiring, that during a service of nearly 46 years he had given full satisfaction to his superiors in the Post Office, and to have had the approbation of the Members of the House of Commons specially expressed to him by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.J. Balfour.

There was no small stir at the public counter of the Bristol Post Office on the first day of January, 1902, the day of issue of the new 1/2d., 1d., 2½d., and 6d. postage stamps, bearing the medallion portrait of King Edward the VIIth. People were very anxious to become possessed of specimens, and many of the stamps sold were evidently intended to adorn collector's books. The sales on the 1st January, 1902, were:—1/2d., £175; 1d., £500; 2½d., £27 10s.; 6d., £66 9s., and were slightly in excess of the average. The general public demanded the new kind almost without exception, but firms took old stamps to the extent of 10 per cent. of the whole lot supplied.

The Staff of the Bristol Post Office sent an illuminated address to the King for His Majesty's Coronation Day.

Mrs. Pattie E. Varnam-Coggan, a lady who at the time was Postmistress of Chipping Sodbury composed the following hymn in connection with the event.

The staff also made elaborate arrangements to take an active part in the grand procession which had been organized at Bristol to celebrate the Coronation, but, alas, the procession had to be postponed in consequence of the King's sudden illness on the 24th June, and finally was abandoned altogether. The Post Office section, which was to have been honoured with first place in the procession, was designed to give the Bristol public some idea of the working of this most useful branch of the public service. The section was to have been arranged as follows:—Telegraph Messengers' Drum and Fife Band. Company of Telegraph Messengers, with Carbines. Telegraph Messengers' Cycle Corps. Company of Postmen. Mail Carrier Tricycle. Country Mail Cart—present day. Town Mail Van—present day. London to Bristol Royal Mail Coach of 100 years since, with Coachman and Guard in Royal livery of the Period. Guard carrying an ancient Mail Guard's blunderbuss, borrowed from the armoury of Mr. Rawlins, of Syston Court. Post Office Tableau, illustrative of the Collecting, Stamping, and Sorting of Letters, and the Despatch of Mail Bags; also the sending of Telegrams.

The following acknowledgment of the Address was received on the King's recovery:—

The address to His Majesty is here reproduced, and as the sentiments contained in it represent the writer's wishes for King and Queen, it may, perhaps, fittingly close the chapters of "The King's Post."