Rates on Mail between Britain and Ireland 1660-1839

Introduction

Mail travelled between Great Britain and Ireland by Post Office packet boat. There were four principal packet routes over the years – between Holyhead and Dublin (from 1635, the "standard" route), Port Patrick and Donaghadee (first mentioned 1662, regularly from about 1720), Milford and Waterford (first mentioned 1654, regularly from 1787), and Liverpool and Dublin (from 1826). Charges depended on which route was followed – the general principle was the inland postage plus an extra charge for sea carriage ("packet postage"), though this might be incorporated into a general rate for mail between London or Edinburgh and Ireland.

For most of this period, the inland postage consisted of separate British and Irish rates to the ports at either end of the sea crossing, according to the rates in force at the time. However, from 1827 the rate was calculated based on the total distance travelled on land in either country (using the British rather than the Irish scale of rates). The packet postage was always considered part of the British postage.

Details of the charges for each route are given separately below. All these packet postage charges ceased upon the introduction of the Uniform Fourpenny Post on 5th December 1839.

Holyhead to Dublin (or Howth) 1660-1839

Before 1801, a rate was quoted between London and Dublin, which implied carriage by this route – there was no separate packet postage. Letters to and/or from country towns in either Britain or Ireland paid the standard British and/or Irish internal postage rates between the town and the capital in addition to the London-Dublin rate. (There seems to have been some confusion regarding letters sent direct to or from Holyhead without passing through London; sometimes the British postage on these was charged at the London rate, sometimes at the rate between the town and Holyhead.)

From 1801, packet postage was quoted, which (until 1827) was added to the British internal postage rate to or from Holyhead, and the Irish internal postage rate to or from Dublin, where relevant. For two short periods in the 1810s the packet landed at Howth instead of Dublin, and then the Irish postage was calculated based on the distance from Howth (which meant 2d extra to Dublin, 1d extra to some other Irish towns).

Menai and Conway Bridge Charges: as a means of defraying the expense of construction of these bridges, an extra 1d (per sheet or ¼oz) was added to letters to or from Ireland that crossed the bridges on their way to or from Holyhead. Since any letter by this packet route crossed the Menai Bridge, the extra penny was essentially an increase in the packet charge, but the extra Conway penny was only applied on letters that actually crossed that bridge. (Just to avoid possible confusion, this was not a toll on all letters that crossed the bridges – internal British mail did not pay any extra fee.)

Port Patrick to Donaghadee 1662-1839

This was the shortest sea crossing between Great Britain and Ireland, but seems to have been little used until about 1720, although a Scottish rate was specified in 1662.

A regular packet charge was introduced by the 1711 Act, to be added to the Scottish rate to Port Patrick and Irish rate to Donaghadee.

Some English mails for destinations in north-east Ireland were sent by this route, even London mails, although no rates were specified until 1765 – after this, until 1801 there were separate English, Scottish, and Irish charges for land carriage!

Milford to Waterford 1787-1839

Although a requirement to maintain a weekly packet between these towns in mentioned in the Ordinance of 1654, the route does not appear to have been regularly used until 1787, and even then was often unavailable due to wars and sea conditions. The 6d packet rate introduced in 1787 is obscure, as the London-Waterford rate via Milford was not to exceed the London-Dublin rate via Holyhead, which was itself only 6d; it may have been meant to apply primarily to letters not passing through London. The 2d packet postage of 1801 was applied in the standard way, although occasionally the packet would land at Dunmore and until 1819 rates would then be calculated from there.

The "Welsh Additional Halfpenny": In 1836 ½d was added to the packet charge to help cover the costs of road improvements near Milford. This Welsh "Additional ½d" differed from the Scottish version in two respects – it was a charge per sheet/¼oz not a flat rate charge, and (as with the Menai and Conway Bridge charges) it only applied to mail between Britain and Ireland, not internal mail within Great Britain. As the route saw only modest use, examples are scarce.

Liverpool to Dublin 1826-1839