Mails to Ireland: Difference between revisions

Until 1850 the Admiralty was responsible for the safe passage of the mail by sea and they awarded the contract to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Dublin_Steam_Packet_Company City of Dublin Steam Packet Company] (CDSPC) as they had faster vessels and could easily achieve, in good weather, the two round trips each day which the contract demanded. In 1850 the Post Office took over responsibility from the Admiralty and they continued to use this company. This was much to the disappointments of the Chester and Holyhead Railway who had already purchased four vessels in anticipation of automatically getting the contract. Their railway company ships could not achieve the two round trips a day. They did thus not make the profit on the Irish mail sea traffic that it had anticipated and had to be content with what it could make from carrying third class passengers, parcels and livestock. In 1870 there was some disquiet expressed in Parliament that the Royal Mail to Ireland was not being carried under the control of a single operator, but nothing changed. It was not until November 1921 that the contract was awarded to The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_and_North_Western_Railway London and North Western Railway] following the Anglo Irish War of Independence and the partition of Ireland.