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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
74
From
the
date
of
Allen's
improvement
in
1720
to
the
year
1761,
when
the
postage
of
letters
was
again
disturbed
and
many
other
alterations
made,
little
of
special
importance
was
done
in
the
Post-Office,
and
we
cannot
do
better
than
take
advantage
of
this
quiet
time
to
give
some
account
of
the
internal
arrangements
of
the
establishment,
and
to
notice
certain
minutiæ,
which,
though
trifling
in
themselves,
will
serve
to
give
the
reader
an
insight
into
the
details,
the
way
and
means,
of
this
early
period.[40]
In
the
time
of
George
I.
the
officers
of
the
Post-Office
in
London
consisted
of
two
Postmasters-General,
with
a
secretary
and
a
clerk.
There
were
four
chief
officers
in
the
Inland-office--viz.
a
controller,
a
receiver,
an
accountant,
and
a
solicitor.
The
staff
of
clerks
consisted
of
seven
for
the
different
roads--Chester,
North
West,
Bristol,
Yarmouth,
Kent,
and
Kent
night-road.
Thirteen
clerks
were
engaged
in
other
duties,
and
three
more
clerks
attended
at
the
window
to
answer
inquiries
and
deliver
letters.
The
foreign
office,
which
was
a
separate
department,
included
a
controller
and
an
alphabet
keeper,
with
eight
assistant
clerks.
The
whole
London
establishment,
which
at
the
present
day
numbers
several
thousand
officers
of
different
grades,
was
then,
without
counting
letter-carriers,
worked
with
a
staff
of
thirty-two.
"To
show
the
method,
diligence,
and
exactness
of
our
General
Post-Office,"
says
a
writer
of
the
period,
"and
the
due
despatch
of
the
post
at
each
stage,
take
this
specimen."
And
for
our
purpose
we
cannot
do
better
than
take
Stowe's
advice,
and
insert
here
a
copy
of
a
Post-Office
proclamation
to
postmasters
and
time-bill,
given
in
his
History
of
London:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
