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Mails to Ireland: Difference between revisions
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[[Category:SiteIndex]]
[[Category:Railways]]
A talk given to society by Phil Cook: Thursday 23rd November 2023.
The history of letter mail goes back a long way. The Ancient Egyptians had a courier service for the distribution of official written papyrus documents circa 2,400BC. Later it was probably the Chinese who devised a post house relay system. This was refined and adapted by the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantium's and others, including in America the Aztec and Inca civilizations. The Romans developed the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_publicus Cursus Publicus], the most highly developed postal system of ancient times. The speed at which the despatch riders rode, using a system of staging posts where they changed horses, was not rivalled in Europe until the 19th century.
===Tudor Post===
[[File:Gallows Letter England 21 Aug 1598.jpg|450px|thumb|right|The address leaf of an Elizabethan "gallows letter", sent by the Privy Council from London to Chester for sending to the Council of Ireland. Dated 21st of August, 1598 it arrived three days later bearing seals from the towns it had passed through. The gallows, which indicates urgency, is the two-post and cross-bar variety with a short rope
The Royal Mail can trace its history back to 1516, when King Henry VIII established a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Tuke Master of the Posts]", a position that was renamed "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmaster_General Postmaster General]" in 1710. Taking mail to and from Ireland started in Tudor times and a weekly service by horse riders was established in October 1572 during the reign of Elizabeth I between London, and Liverpool, Via Chester, changing to Holyhead by 1576 to give a shorter sea crossing, although this did mean having to cross the sometimes treacherous Menai Strait. This weekly post was usually sufficient but it later operated on three days a week, with urgent messages carried by civil servants between London and Dublin.
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The committee of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_and_Holyhead_Railway Chester and Holyhead Railway] met on 21-07-1848 to arrange the opening of the its railway across Anglesey. The secretary reported that a letter had been received from the Post Office informing the Chester and Holyhead Railway that the Night Mail from Euston on 31-07-will go by way of the Holyhead Railway. The committee was informed that Llanfair would operate as a temporary station to serve omnibuses between there and Bangor via the Menai Suspension Bridge and getting a grand view of the nearly complete Britannia Tubular Bridge on the way. Mail would also be transported this way by luggage vans.
There are various theories as to who devised the idea of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_Post_Office Travelling Post Office]. One states that a Nathaniel Wordsell of the L&M who devised a system for collecting and delivering mails without the train stopping. His device consisted of a series of prongs on the side of a coach and on pillars at the lineside. Bags were hung on the pillars and large hooks attached to the coach prongs pulled them off. He tried to sell the idea to the Post Office but they rejected it. A Post Office clerk, John Ramsey, came up with a similar idea. Earlier a Frederick Karstadt had suggested a similar system and had even obtained a provisional patent on the idea and had it tested near Winsford. An iron frame covered by a net was attached to the Travelling Post Office carriage. This opened out to receive a bag suspended from the arm of a standard, or gibbet erected at the side of the railway line. At the same time as a bag was delivered into the net another was dropped.
The Uniform Penny Post was introduced on 10 January 1840 whereby a single rate for delivery anywhere in Great Britain and Ireland was pre-paid by the sender. A few months later, to certify that postage had been paid on a letter, the sender could affix the first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black that was available for use from 6 May the same year. As Britain was the first country to issue prepaid postage stamps, British stamps are the only ones that do not bear the name of the country of issue on them.
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Circa 1888 the first rudimentary Dining Cars were provided for First Class passengers only and meals had to be booked before joining the train and passengers had to remain in the same coach for the entire journey. Restaurant Cars where food could be cooked en-route appeared in 1895 and breakfast and lunch were provided on the Up service from Holyhead and tea on the down service from London.
[[File:PickingUpColwyn.jpg|350px|thumb|right|Postcard of the mail picking up at Colwyn Bay.]]
The introduction of the vacuum brake in 1882 (following the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armagh_rail_disaster Armagh rail disaster]) and 8 wheeled bogie carriages in 1893 also helped improve the service. Directly connected with the speedy carriage of mail was the introduction of the first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_trough water troughs] in the world, installed near Colwyn Bay ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochdre,_Conwy Mochdre & Pabo]) in 1859 and these allowed the locomotives to replenish the water supply in their tenders whilst still running at speed, thus allowing the 84 miles from Chester to Holyhead to be run without stopping. The system was invented by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ramsbottom_(engineer) John Ramsbottom], the locomotive superintendent of the LNWR. In 1871 these troughs were moved to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aber_railway_station_(Gwynedd) Aber] and two other sets of troughs were installed west of Prestatyn and south-east of Flint. They remained in use until the demise of regular steam workings in the early 1960’s. There was also a set (one for each line) at Christleton that were unusual in that they were partially inside the tunnels
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