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AN HISTORICAL SUMMARY

OF THE POST OFFICE IN SCOTLAND,

COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS.

BY T. B. LANG, ESQ.

CONTROLLER, SORTING DEPARTMENT, GENERAL POST OFFICE, EDINBURGH.

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY W. H. LIZARS, ST. JAMES' SQUARE.

1856.




NOTE.


_This Historical Summary, compiled by_ MR. LANG, _was originally
contained in a Letter addressed to the Secretary to the General Post
Office in Scotland, with a view to its being included in the Annual
Report of the Postmaster-General, presented to both Houses of Parliament
at the commencement of the present Session, but it not being considered
necessary to include the whole Summary in the Report, Extracts only were
published in the Appendix. The whole Summary is therefore now printed,
with his Grace's sanction, for private distribution._




AN HISTORICAL SUMMARY

OF THE POST OFFICE IN SCOTLAND.


The earliest records that can be found relating to the conveyance of
Despatches or Letters in Scotland, do not date earlier than the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In these early records, special
messengers for the conveyance of the King's Despatches and
Correspondence are called "_Nuncii_" or "_Cursores_;" but the
information as to their mode of travelling, and regulations for their
guidance, is imperfect and limited. Messengers of this description were
also employed to convey despatches from foreign countries, for which
they received gratuities on their arrival at the Scottish Court. About
the year 1500, the name of Post is found to apply to messengers
travelling with the utmost rapidity then attainable in charge of
despatches.[1] On the 1st of April 1515, the English envoy in Scotland
wrote from Stirling to Henry VIII. of England--"This Friday, when I came
home to dyner, I received your most honorable letters by Post, dated at
your mansion, Greenwich, 26th March."[2] These letters, which appear to
have occupied five or six days in transit from Greenwich to Stirling,
must have been conveyed by one of these special Court Messengers.

It was not long after this period that the municipal corporations and
private persons of consequence also introduced messengers of this
description. For example, in 1590, a Post was established by the
Magistrates of Aberdeen for carrying their despatches to and from
Edinburgh and other places of royal residence. They appointed a person
for conducting these despatches, under the name of the Council Post,
who was dressed in a garment of blue cloth, with the town's armorial
bearings in silver upon the right sleeve.[3]

In 1635 a public Post was first established in Britain, under Government
authority by Charles I.[4] Its main object was to establish regular and
certain communication between London and Edinburgh. The journey was
limited to three days, and the rate of Postage for a single letter was
fixed at 6d. sterling. Mails were despatched between these two cities
usually twice a week, sometimes only once.

About two years after this period, the Post as the medium of
communication, became so insecure, that in 1638 a person in England
wrote to his friend in Scotland--"I hear the Posts are waylaid, and all
letters taken from them, and brought to Secretary Cooke; therefore will
I not, nor do you, send by that way hereafter." The Post at this time
was called the Merchant Post, but it did not prosper.[5]

In 1649, the Commonwealth took the Scottish Posts under its
jurisdiction, and in connection with that measure they appear to have
removed many, if not all the officers. The Posts were then placed upon a
better footing, and the system was still further improved by Cromwell.
In 1654 the Postage from England to Scotland was lowered to 4d.
sterling. In 1656 the revenues of the Post Office in Great Britain and
Ireland were farmed to John Manley, Esq., who was appointed
Postmaster-General, and the rate of Postage in Scotland was fixed at 2d.
for a single letter under 80 miles, for all distances above 80 miles
3d., to England 4d., and to Ireland 6d.[6]

On the 16th December 1661, Charles II. re-appointed Robert Mein "Sole
Keeper of the Letter Office in Edinburgh," an office from which he had
been removed during the Commonwealth.[7]

By grant under the Privy Seal, dated at Whitehall on the 14th September
1662, King Charles II. bestowed upon Patrick Grahame of Inchbrakie the
office of Postmaster-General of Scotland[8]--"officium precipui
magistri cursoris lie Postmaster-Generall et Censoris omnium cursorum
dicti regni Scotie"--for all the days of his life, with power to appoint
Postmasters at the stages necessary for forwarding the King's letters
from place to place. The grant conveyed to Grahame all the rights and
privileges which any Postmaster-General had previously enjoyed in
Scotland, and specially bestowed on him a salary of L500 Scots
yearly.[9]

On the 16th September 1662, the Privy Council of Scotland commissioned
Robert Mein, merchant,[10] and Keeper of the Letter Office, Edinburgh,
to establish posts between Scotland and Ireland, and ordained that
Linlithgow, Kilsyth, Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Dumboag, Ballintrae, and Port
Patrick, should be stages on the route, and granted him the sum of L200
sterling, to build a packet boat to carry the Mail from Port Patrick to
Donaghadee, and further gave him the sole privilege of carrying letters
on this line of road, for which he was allowed to charge for each letter
to Glasgow, 2s. Scots, and from thence to any part within Scotland, 3s.
Scots, and for letters to Ireland, 6s. Scots.[11]

In 1665, by grant under the Privy Seal dated at Edinburgh on the 1st
March, King Charles II. bestowed the office of Postmaster of Haddington
upon William Seton, who was at the time Provost and Postmaster. The
office which had been previously held by Cornelius Ramsay, is described
to be "allswell for the carrieng and convoyeing of all such packetts
from Haddington by Post to Colbrandspath as shall be directed to
them,[12] and for the despatching and carrieng by Post frae Haddingtoune
to Canongait, and carieng and convoyeing of all such packetts as shall
be directed to England to anie of our Privie Counsell of this our
kingdome of Scotland, or to anie of our officers for our affairs and
service." The salary is stated to be L600 Scots yearly.[13]

In 1669 the Privy Council passed an Act for erecting a Foot Post
between Edinburgh and Inverness once a week, and between Edinburgh and
Aberdeen twice a week, "wind and weather serving," and fixed the rate of
Postage for a letter not exceeding one sheet of paper, carried 40 miles
Scots (about 60 English), at 2s. Scots; for a single letter carried 60
miles, 3s. Scots; and for an ounce weight, 7s. 6d. Scots; and for every
single letter carried above 80 miles Scots, within Scotland, 4s. Scots;
for an ounce weight 10s., and so proportionably.[14] The same Act, "for
the more effectual prosecution and performance of the premises,"
discharges "all other Posts established, or pretending to be established
upon the Aberdeen and Inverness roads."[15]

To show the difficulties in the way of rapid communication at this
period, from the condition of the roads in Scotland, it may be stated,
that in 1678 an agreement was made to run a coach between Edinburgh and
Glasgow (a distance of forty-four miles), which was to be drawn by six
horses, and to perform the journey to Glasgow and back in six days. The
undertaking was considered so arduous, that the contractor was to
receive "200 merks a-year for five years, to assist him; but the
speculation turned out so unprofitable that it was soon abandoned."[16]

In 1685, the intelligence of the death of Charles II., who died on 6th
February, was received in Edinburgh at one o'clock in the morning of
the 10th, by an express from London.[17] In 1688 it occupied three
months to convey the tidings of the abdication of James II. of England
and VII. of Scotland to the Orkneys.

The Post Office in Scotland again received the sanction of parliamentary
authority in 1695, although "several public Posts" had already been
established for carrying letters "to and from most parts and places in
this kingdom," for the maintaining of mutual correspondence, and
preventing the many inconveniences that happen by private Posts. And the
"well ordering of these public Posts being a matter of general concern,
and of great advantage, and that the best means for that end will be the
settling and establishing a General Post Office," the Scottish
Parliament "ordains and appoints a General Post Office to be kept within
the city of Edinburgh, from whence all letters and pacquets whatsoever
may be with speed and expedition sent into any part of the kingdom, or
any other of his Majesty's dominions, or into any kingdom or country
beyond seas, by the pacquet that goes sealed to London." It is also
enacted, that a Postmaster-General shall be appointed by letters patent
under the Privy Seal, or that the office of Postmaster-General may be
set in tack by the Lords of Treasury and Exchequer. The rates of Postage
were fixed at 2d. for a single letter to Berwick, or within fifty miles
of Edinburgh; above fifty miles and not exceeding 100 miles, 3d.; and
all single letters to any place in Scotland, above 100 miles, to pay
4d.: common carriers were prohibited from carrying letters, except where
no Post Offices were established, and if convicted, they became liable
"to be imprisoned for six days for ilk fault, and fined in the sum of
six pounds Scots 'toties quoties.'" This Act also authorizes a weekly
Post between Scotland and Ireland, and orders boats to be maintained for
carrying the Mails between Portpatrick and Donaghadee; and a special
provision is made, that Ireland is not to be put to any expense, but
that the Postmaster-General should be allowed the sum expended on the
packet boats in his intromissions with the Treasury. And lastly, the
Postmaster-General is ordered to take care that Posts are established
over all the kingdom at places most convenient.[18]

In 1698, Sir Robert Sinclair of Stevenson, had a grant from King
William of the whole revenue of the Post Office in Scotland, with a
pension of L300 per annum to keep up the Post. The Post Office at this
time appears to have been any thing but a profitable concern, as Sir
Robert, after due deliberation, gave up the grant, thinking it
disadvantageous.[19]

From the 11th November 1704 till Whitsunday 1707, George Main, jeweller
in Edinburgh, accounts in Exchequer for the duties of