The London Mails
Click on image to visit the
Seabrook Carriage Collection
The Penny Post
The Penny Post routes operated six days a week and it's rates of a penny were lower than those charged by private carriers, with some charging as high as four pence (4d). Most private posts charged for both letters delivered and those collected for onward transmission by the general post. The official Penny Post charged only for letters delivered, a system which allowed for posting boxes to be set up at various points throughout the City. Letters were delivered to any house on the route and in most villages
receiving houses were set up where people in outlying areas
could receive their mail. In 1830, the letter rates for the Penny
Post were 4d for 15 miles, 5d for 20 miles and thence according to a sliding scale to 1s for a limit of 300 miles. A
letter from London to Liverpool cost 11d; to Bristol 10d; to Aberdeen 1s 3d. Letters sent to addresses whithin the same post town were delivered free. In the late 1880's, commercially produced picture postcards became all the rage and the Post Office instituted a half penny fee for their delivery.
