England and Wales – Internal Rates 1635-1660
The start of the Post Office as generally understood is dated to a Royal Proclamation of 31st July 1635, which made the Royal Mail available for private letters from the first week of October. The service was soon disrupted by the events of the Civil War, but the Commonwealth service of the 1650s was continued upon the Restoration in 1660.
The precise rate implications of the earlier documents are not always clear, especially since the Posts appear to have been in some disarray in the early 1640s even apart from the Civil War, with competing claims to the right to run them! Published philatelic rate books do not all quote the same set of sources. Seventeenth-century letters in general are scarce, and letters with clear charges from before 1660 that can help to deduce what the practices were are rare.
Under the circumstances, it seemed best to separate out the early rates into their own section, and include all sources referenced in the secondary sources – quoting the details as stated in the original texts, with links to those texts where available. These did not always include a clear statement of multiple charges.
Date | Auth. | Mileage | Single | Other Rates and Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1635 (5 Oct) |
Up to 80 miles | 2d | "if there be two, three, four, or five letters in one packet, or more, then to pay according to the bigness of the said packet after the rate as before" |
|
80-140 miles | 4d | |||
Above 140 miles | 6d | |||
"Upon the Borders of Scotland and in Scotland" | 8d | |||
1637 (6 Jun) |
Unsigned warrant, also Irish Proclamation, also Royal Proclamation 11 Feb 1638 |
Up to 80 miles | 2d | "2d. a single letter, and 4d. a double, and for bigger 6d. the ounce" |
80-140 miles | 4d | "4d. the single and 8d. the double letter, and for bigger 9d. the ounce" | ||
Above 140 miles | 6d | "6d. the single letter, 12d. the double letter, and if bigger 12d. the ounce" | ||
To Scotland | 8d | As before? (not specified) | ||
To Ireland | 9d | "and for letters of Ireland, he or they shall take, according to a Proclamation published by the Lord Deputy and Council there, 9d. the single letter, and if bigger, after two ounces, 6d. the ounce, according as the same are limited in his Majesty's letters patents aforesaid" (Sanford & Salt quote a 2s 6d ounce rate) |
||
1653 (18 Jan) |
Up to 80 miles |
2d |
"and so proportionably for double Letters and Packets, and Packets of printed Books, or [for?] two shillings the pound". Rates appear based on a semi-official merchant service from 1652 |
|
Above 80 miles |
3d |
|||
1654 (2 Sep) |
Up to 80 miles | 2d | Double rates (twice single) were specfically given, then "for treble or greater Packets of Letters proportionably" |
|
Above 80 miles | 3d | |||
To or from Scotland | 4d | |||
To or from Ireland | 6d | |||
1657 (Jun) |
Up to 80 miles | 2d | 4d double, "And so proportionably for every pacquet of letters, and for every pacquet of a greater bulk, 8d. per oz." | |
Above 80 miles | 3d | 6d double, "And so proportionably; and for every pacquet of a greater bulk, 1s. per oz." | ||
To or from Scotland | 4d | 8d double, "And so proportionably; and if a pacquet of a greater bulk, 1s. 6d. per oz." | ||
To or from Ireland | 6d | 1s double, "And so proportionably; and for every pacquet of a greater bulk, 2s. per oz." |