class="center c6">CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

APPENDIX

TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

THE HISTORY OF
THE BRITISH POST OFFICE

CHAPTER I

THE POSTAL ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORTED DIRECTLY
BY THE STATE

The history of the British Post Office starts with the beginning of the sixteenth century. Long before this, however, a system of communication had been established both for the personal use of the King and for the conveyance of official letters and documents. These continued to be the principal functions of the royal posts until well on in the seventeenth century.

Before the sixteenth century, postal communications were carried on by royal messengers. These messengers either received stated wages or were paid according to the length of the journeys they made. We find them mentioned as early as the reign of King John under the name of nuncii or cursores; and payments to them form a large item in the Household and Wardrobe accounts of the King as early as these accounts exist.[1] They travelled the whole of the journey themselves and delivered their letters personally to the people to whom they were directed. A somewhat different style of postal service, a precursor of the modern method, was inaugurated by the fourth Edward. During the war with Scotland he found himself in need of a speedier and better system of communication between the seat of war and the seat of government. He accomplished this by placing horses at intervals of twenty miles along the great road between England and Scotland. By so doing his messengers were able to take up fresh horses along the way and his despatches were carried at the rate of a hundred miles a day.[2]

From an early period private letters were conveyed by carriers and travellers both within the kingdom and between it and the Continent. The Paston letters,