A guide to Regency England for readers of classic literature or historical fiction set in the early 19th century.
England, as it was in the early 1800's, can sometimes be as confusing to a modern reader as travelling to a foreign country. Their clot...
The postal system in Regency England was a complicated web of overlapping services, all charging different prices. Apart from a few private networks set up in cities to transfer letters between local businesses, most letters and parcels were handled and delivered by the Royal Mail, commonly known as the General Post Office.
The government discouraged competition by making it an offence for anyone "sending or delivering letters, other than by the post", except for letters sent with goods by common carrier, or by private hands. The forfeit was a fine of £5, half of which went to the informer as a reward.
Within the General Post Office, the Penny Post section operated in London. There was a country-wide postal system, called the Inland Section, while a third department of the GPO dealt with Foreign mail sent overseas.
The Penny Post
There had been a London penny post in operation since the 1680s, which allowed any letter to be delivered within the confines of the city for one penny. It started out as a private business, but became part of the General Post Office by 1765. In 1794 the London Penny Post was limited to an area ten miles around the main General Post Office building in Lombard Street.
Between 1794 and 1829 London was split into two divisions. One covered the city of London, and the other covered the city of Westminster. Letters were transferred between the two divisions six times a day.
The Lombard Street penny post office served the City Division, which covered the old city of London, the area to the east of Gray's Inn Lane, Southwark, the docks, and the east end of London. This area was the commercial and financial heart of the city.
The Westminster Division covered Mayfair, Marylebone, St. James and the area around Russell Square, to the west of Gray's Inn Lane. The main office for the Westminster division was at Gerrard Street, Soho, located just north of Charring Cross. This area covered the Royal Court, Parliament, and the houses occupied by some of London's wealthiest residents.
Letters sent through the Penny Post were initially charged one penny, for letters weighing up to four ounces. The Penny Post became the Two Penny Post in 1801, to help fund the Napoleonic War.
Some large cities (including Dublin, Edinburgh and Manchester) developed their own system for delivering local post within their boundaries using their versions of the penny post. These systems were often run by local businessmen as a private mail service, separate from the General Post Office.
Sending a letter by the Penny Post
Post boxes didn't appear on London streets until 1853. Before that, you could either take your letter in person to a Receiving House or wait for a passing Letter Carrier as he returned from carrying his deliveries.
In 1802 there were just over one hundred Receiving Houses in the London penny post area, mostly located in shops, clubs, counting houses and coffee houses. You paid the cost of postage as you gave them your letter.
Sometimes a receiving house provided a slot where you could place your letters outside normal opening hours. In these cases the letter would be stamped "postage due" and the person delivering the letter would claim the cost from the recipient. Many advertisements in the newspaper included a request for replies to be "post paid".
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