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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
49
But
Christmas
of
1836
must
bear
the
palm
for
snowstorms
which
have
succeeded
in
deranging
the
mail-service
in
England,
and
it
may
be
well
to
quote
here
some
accounts
of
the
circumstances
written
at
the
time:--
"The
guard
of
the
Glasgow
mail,
which
arrived
on
Sunday
morning,
said
that
the
roads
were
in
the
northern
parts
heavy
with
snow,
and
that
at
one
place
the
mail
was
two
hours
getting
over
four
miles
of
road.
Never
before,
within
recollection,
was
the
London
mail
stopped
for
a
whole
night
at
a
few
miles
from
London;
and
never
before
has
the
intercourse
between
the
southern
shires
of
England
and
the
metropolis
been
interrupted
for
two
whole
days."
"Fourteen
mail-coaches
were
abandoned
on
the
various
roads."
"The
Brighton
mail
(from
London)
reached
Crawley,
but
was
compelled
to
return.
The
Dover
mail
also
returned,
not
being
able
to
proceed
farther
than
Gravesend.
The
Hastings
mail
was
also
obliged
to
return.
The
Brighton
up-mail
of
Sunday
had
travelled
about
eight
miles
from
that
town,
when
it
fell
into
a
drift
of
snow,
from
which
it
was
impossible
to
extricate
it
without
further
assistance.
The
guard
immediately
set
off
to
obtain
all
necessary
aid;
but
when
he
returned,
no
trace
whatever
could
be
found
either
of
the
coach,
coachman,
or
passengers,
three
in
number.
After
much
difficulty
the
coach
was
found,
but
could
not
be
extricated
from
the
hollow
into
which
it
had
got.
The
guard
did
not
reach
town
until
seven
o'clock
on
Tuesday
night,
having
been
obliged
to
travel
with
the
bags
on
horseback,
and
in
many
instances
to
leave
the
main
road
and
proceed
across
fields,
in
order
to
avoid
the
deep
drifts
of
snow."
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