The Royal Mail Coaches
Being a short history of their mail and passenger
service, embellished with interesting accounts and handsome prints.
Part 2
It's a man's life in the Guards.
Not wanting to encumber themselves with more waste and unaccountable expenses, the Post-Office hired the coaches from independent contractors on a mileage basis. The P.O. did, however, supply guards of reputable character (mostly) in a uniform of scarlet livery; and paid them half a guinea per week, plus sick pay and a pension. The contractors were also responsible for hiring the coach drivers who, although not postal employees, wore the same scarlet livery as the guards.
In his “Letters on England” written in 1810, American traveller Joshua White gives us his observations. “The mail-coaches are protected by a guard, who rides behind and alone. He has the King’s livery, and is well armed. He has the direction of the coachman as to the hours of departure and stopping, and he is accountable for delays. They seldom occur.”
The mail-coach guards were required to read and write in order to complete the time-sheet--or way bill--and they carried a time-piece set each evening before leaving the General Post-Office. The guards also served as mechanics, and were trained at Besant & Vidler’s yard in Millbank to handle simple breakdowns. By postal regulations, “Guards must have a wrench, cord chain, wheel clips, shackle perch bolt, drift pin, nails, screwdriver, worms and screws, and also a double or long spreading bar.” This handy-dandy repair kit was stowed in the front boot of the coach.
Few guards or coachmen ever married because of the nature of their duties. Bob Pointer, one of the fraternity, explained, “When a man is always going backwards and forwards between two points, what is the use of a wife? A coachman could never be much more than half married. Now, if the law--in the case of coachmen--allowed two wives...he could then have the tea-things set out at both ends.” It is known that some coachmen adopted their own solution and “had a snug establishment at both ends”.
Simon Says...“do this...or else!”
In 1815, the Post Office issued a directive titled Instructions to Guards, which stated that only two passengers were allowed on the outside: one on the box and the other on the seat behind the box. The guard was further cautioned not to quit or desert the Mail, or suffer any loitering or stopping at public houses. The mail bags were to remain sealed, and guards were liable to be dismissed, suspended, or fined if they failed to deliver the letter bags properly. Drunkenness or disobedience of official orders would disqualify any mail-coach guard from serving in that position anywhere in the kingdom.
Further instructions told the guard the proper way to sound the horn to clear the way and warn the keepers of turnpike gates, and to alert the postmasters, and horse-keepers of the approach of the mail. At this time, guards were not allowed to use the key bugle, which was later used to entertain passengers in hopes of getting larger tips.
Thomas Hasker, the Chief Superintendent of Mail from 1792 until 1817, ran a tight ship, but was lenient on guards who committed minor offenses, and allowed them to carry small quantities of personal goods and make arrangements with local newspapers--provided that it didn’t interfere with the coach being run on time. On one occasion though, Hasker had to take stern measures and dismiss one of his guards.
“I am very sorry to order in all the Guards
to witness a dismissal of one old in the Service but so imperious is the duty
that was he my Brother he must be dismissed. Indeed I do not think there is a
Guard who hears this but will say a man who goes into an Alehouse stays to drink
(and at Brentford) at the dusk of the Morning leaving his Mail box unlocked Deserves
to lose his situation. And he is dismissed accordingly. And I am sure I need not
tell you to avoid such misconduct - to read your instructions and mind them. I
am the more Sorry for this as guards - who have been some time in the Service
are fit for no other duty.”
T. Hasker
Even with all the rules and regulations, the job of mail-coach guard could be a pleasant and profitable one. Tips were allowed and after 1815, when mail-coaches carried up to 7 passengers, a full coach meant tips of around 14 shillings a journey (more than the guard’s weekly wages). In 1810, American traveller Joshua White writes: “For every stage of about 90 miles, it is customary to give the driver and guard one shilling each, or something less than this sum if you continue several stages. They never fail to remind passengers of the fees to which they are entitled, and there is scarcely a possibility of evading a payment, which has more the appearance of an unjust exaction than a reasonable due. It is sanctioned by custom, and has nearly the force of law.”
Aside from possible robbery attempts, there were only minor hazards to confront. In the event of a flood, snow, or serious breakdown, the guard was to go forward on horseback with the mail. Passengers were then on their own--because their fares went to the independent contractors.
Pooh to you, with Nobbs on!
Mail-coach guards rarely drew or fired their arms, but on one occasion Moses Nobbs did--and regretted it. The event came about early in his career on the Bristol-Portsmouth mail run when two men jumped out of a hedge and grabbed hold of the lead horses. The coachman shouted, “Look out! We’re going to be robbed!” Nobbs grabbed his blunderbuss, and immediately the two men ran back. He fired into the hedge and later recalled, “I don’t know whether I hit anything, but I do know that the recoil of the blunderbuss nearly knocked me off my seat. I’ve had many hard knocks in my time, but that blunderbuss kicked like a mule.”
Moses Nobbs
Besides a blunderbuss and tools, some guards also brought their sense of humor along for the ride. One guard, by the name of Benson, was a great ventriloquist who enjoyed “putting a joke upon the passengers”. Once he rushed indignantly into an inn shouting that someone had put a pig into his coach boot. A crowd rushed out and gathered around the coach, where they heard the screams of the pig trapped inside the boot. Each one, in turn, gave advice on how to remove the animal. Benson then opened the boot and revealed to the astonished crowd that it contained only parcels.
The Wheels of Commerce
By contracting with “outside” carriers the Post-Office minimized their overhead, and with the advent of quicker mails, it was not long before they were literally rolling in profits. Rudolph Ackerman, in his Microcosm of London, published between 1808 and 1811, gives an example of the profitability of the Royal Mail enterprise at that particular point in their history: “The expenses of this grand establishment are stated to be about two hundred thousand pounds per annum; but the net revenue, clear of all deductions and charges, placed to the credit of the sinking fund for the year 1808, was upwards of one million two hundred thousand pounds.”
Not bad for shuffling packets of paper
to and fro. Postal rates didn’t continually rise like they do today, and the price
of sending mail held steadily for many years. The following is the cost of a single
letter going any distance within Great Britain in 1808.
Up to:
15 miles...4 pence; 30 miles...5 pence; 50 miles...6 pence; 80 miles...7 pence;
120 miles...8 pence; 170 miles...9 pence; 230 miles...10 pence; 300 miles...11
pence; 400 miles...1 shilling; 500 miles...1 shilling and 1 pence.
With great sense of propriety...
The mail-coach organization was built and maintained by a small group of proprietors who operated the principal coaching establishments in London. William Chaplin, Benjamin Horne, Edward Sherman, Robert Nelson and Robert Fagg were the main operators and they, in turn, worked with a great number of smaller contractors and jobmasters all across the country. These contractors were responsible for “horsing the mails” by supplying teams of horses at every stage on the route. Each fresh team of 4 horses for the mail were “ready harnessed” for quick change, which usually took about 3 minutes--more or less. The mail-coach contractors could also make an extra tidy sum by pocketing the fares of passengers and the fees for delivering parcels not included in the mail service.
Although most contractors were honest and above-board, some bought unsuitable horses rather cheap to cut their costs. One coachman lamented, “The proprietors are not very particular what kind of horses are used in the night mails,” after a blind wheeler and offside leader caused his coach to crash. Aside from occasionally using horses that were ready for the “knackers” yard or using the postal teams for their own stages, the contractors closely followed the postal regulations for fear of losing the business.
The London-based proprietors also put their own stage-coaches on the road, which added up to nearly 250 coaches leaving London each day. Of that total, 28 were mail-coaches leaving London each night. At the same time another 28 mail-coaches were travelling in a reverse direction over the same route. William Pyne records, “These posts are made daily...to 320 towns; and also the same additional convenience given to 201 towns in the general posts.” Between the stage and mail-coaches, they covered over 15,000 miles each 24 hours.
The King requests your presence.
In honor of their achievements, the Royal Mail-coaches joined in the celebration of the King’s birthday. Pyne states, “The mail-coaches drive along Pall-Mall before the King’s Palace, and up St. James’s Street; on which day the coaches are newly painted, the horses caparisoned with ribands, and the coachmen and guards appear in their new dresses.” In a few short years, mail service had reached new heights--and speeds--thanks to John Palmer’s plan and the establishment of the Royal Mail-coaches. And so did travel.
In our next installment: Going Postal.