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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
103
Postmaster-General
for
Scotland.
Accountant.
Secretary
to
the
Postmaster.
Principal
Clerk.
Second
Clerk.
Clerk's
Assistant.
Apprehender
of
Private
Letter-carriers.
Clerk
to
the
Irish
Correspondents.
Three
Letter-carriers.
The
apprehender
of
private
letter-carriers,
as
the
name
implies,
was
an
officer
whose
duty
it
was
to
take
up
persons
who
infringed
the
Post-office
work
of
carrying
letters
for
money.
The
work
continued
steadily
to
grow,
for
in
1781
we
find
there
were
23
persons
employed,
of
whom
6
were
letter-carriers;
and
in
1791
the
numbers
had
increased
to
31.
In
1828
there
were
82;
in
1840,
when
the
penny
post
was
set
on
foot,
there
were
136;
and
in
1860,
244.
In
1884
the
total
number
of
persons
employed
in
all
branches
of
the
Post-office
service
in
Edinburgh
was
939.
The
Post-office
of
Glasgow,
which
claims
to
be
the
second
city
of
the
kingdom,
shows
a
similar
rapidity
of
growth,
if
not
a
greater;
and
this
growth
may
be
taken
as
an
index
of
the
expansion
of
the
city
itself,
though
the
former
has
to
be
referred
to
three
several
causes--namely,
increase
of
population,
spread
of
education,
and
development
of
trade.
In
1799
the
staff
of
the
Glasgow
Post-office
was
as
follows,
viz.:--
Salary.
Postmaster,
L200
0
0
First
Clerk,
30
0
0
Second
Clerk,
25
0
0
Four
Letter-carriers,
at
10s.
6d.
a-week
each,
109
4
0
A
Stamper
or
Sorter,
at
10s.
6d.
a-week,
27
6
0
So
that
the
whole
expense
for
staff
was
no
more
than
L391,
10s.
per
annum,
and
this
had
been
the
recognised
establishment
for
several
years.
But
it
appears
from
official
records,
that
though
the
postmaster
was
nominally
receiving
L200
a-year,
he
had
in
1796
given
L10
each
to
the
clerks
out
of
his
salary,
and
expended
besides,
on
office-rent,
coal,
and
candles,
L30,
2s.
8d.
Somewhat
similar
deductions
were
made
in
1797
and
1798,
and
thus
the
postmaster's
salary
was
then
less
than
L150
a-year
in
reality.
It
is
worthy
of
note
here
that
letters
were
at
that
time
delivered
in
Glasgow
only
twice
a-day.
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