Taunton Fifth Clause Post - "No.2"

As indicated in the previous post, there are not likely to be any Taunton Fifth Clause Post letters with a boxed "No.1" handstamp because Gore Inn, Bishop's Lydeard was converted to a Penny Post in 1817 (at least by May 1817) which was around when the boxed handstamps were issued.

Receiving House No.2 was at Monksilver.  Fifth Clause Post items from Monksilver are rare and the receiving house handstamp strikes poor.

The following two are both from September 1819 and are both signed "H. Trevelyan".  Harriet Trevelyan was the wife of George Trevelyan, the Archdeacon of Taunton from 1817, whose family seat was Nettlecombe Court, one mile from Monksilver.  The other diagnostic is that the top of the "2" in the handstamp is rounded, whereas the "3" in the Torre "No.3" handstamp is flat, which makes it possible to rule out the more common handstamp.

 

The final diagnostic on the second of the two entires is the postal rate.  The letter did not go in the General Post (ie. it was a "short" letter) from Monksilver to Taunton and was charged 4d.  This happens to be the General Post rate for less than 15 miles, which matches the distance from Monksilver to Taunton ... in the next post I'll show why this may be significant !