A Parcel Post service was introduced in Great Britain on 1st August 1883 following UPU agreement in 1880. The following sheets show some Parcel Post Labels for Wellington ("SOM." to distinguish it from Wellington in Shropshire), starting with one from November 1883 when the service was called the Parcels Post.
Continuing with the alphabetical scheme, the Airgraph below was sent from Langford to the Pioneer Corps, C.M.F. [Central Mediterranean Force] in November 1943.
Moving a bit earlier, the entire below is from Langport to Ilminster and is dated February 1777 - this extends the known usage of the "LANGPORT" handstamp by a year.
A couple of Somerset I"s starting with an "ILCHESTER" single ring cancel from August 1929, ....
... and a couple of registered envelopes from Ilton under Ilminster in 1947 and 1956.
Moving on to a couple of "K"s, here's a registered envelope from Kingsbury Episcopi in February 1940. The "Episcopi" part of the village's name means "of the Bishop" in Latin. It refers to the fact that the village belonged to the Bishop of Bath and Wells and not the nearby abbey at Muchelney.
The registered envelope below is from Kingston St Mary, near Taunton, sent in June 1922. The first part of the village name comes from the kings settlement having belonged to the kings of the West Saxons before being ceded to the Bishop of Winchester as part of the manor of Taunton Deane, with the church's dedication being added in the 20th century.
The Somerset & Dorset Postal History Group are meeting today at Hornsbury Mill, Chard. The agenda includes a display on "Coaching" - below is the earliest item on display, a Royal Messenger's Warrant dated June 1588.
The Warrant is for £5 expenses for a journey from London to Guildford, Lewes, Winchester, Southampton, Dorchester, Ilchester, Bristol, Exeter and Lostwithiel. £5 is equivalent to about £1,700 today. For those of us that cannot read the script, below is a transcript !
One of the key aspects of delivering the mail was the state of the roads. The highways had to be maintained by the parish and were paid for by a Highways Rate. Below are examples of two receipts for the Parish Highway Rate in July 1843.
Up until the introduction of Uniform Penny Postage in April 1840, postage was charged based on mileage, as shown on the item below. However, based on the Population column which shows the population in 1841, this mileage table was produced after postage rates ceased to be based on them.
The Post Office had some difficulty delivering this envelope from Shepton Mallet to Pilton in May 1895 before it was returned to Budd & Spire, Glastonbury with a violet "Undelivered for reason stated" cachet.
Shipham is 8 miles east of Weston-super-Mare and comes under Bristol based on the "SHIPHAM / (Under Bristol)"Parcel Post Label below . However the "SHIPHAM / WESTON-SUPER-MARE" climax rubber handstamp dated 30th April 1898 in manuscript suggests that it came under Weston-super-Mare.
Below is a cover from Shipham in December 1974 where the handstamp is "SHIPHAM / WINSCOMBE SOMERSET", showing it under Winscombe with psot going via Weston-super-Mare.
The registered covers below are from Shuttern, Taunton which had sub-office number 4. The bottom cover has the 75th Anniversary of the UPU set but was sent a day late so was not a FDC. The registered envelope is marked "senders excess" which suggests that the extra postage did not pay for extra insurance.
The entire below was sent from Hinton St George in June 1829 in the Ilminster Fifth Clause Post, with the boxed "No.3" handstamp of Hinton St George.
Some items from Frome (can be quite difficult to search for items from Frome as sites often give you those with "from" as well), starting with an item to Florence in January 1895. The item has a hexagon Tax mark with a "L" below - which may be for a Late Fee.
Finally an Air Mail postcard sent from Bombay to Frome in June 1941 bearing a triangular censor mark.
Black Boy Hill, the upper part of Whiteladies Road, was named after the Black Boy Inn which stood on the hill until 1874. The Inn was named after Charles II. Whiteladies Road was also named after an Inn.
More Bristol, starting with two uses of "REPORTING OFFICE / BRISTOL" oval cancels from 1998 and 1999, with different sizes of "BRISTOL".
Both envelopes below, from Bristol to the USA in March 2018, have "THE GALLERIES BO BRISTOL" self-inking datestamps with reduced form IMP machine cancels.
Carrying on with the Bristol theme, here is a part envelope sent from Gloucestershire to "Chesterfield House, Henley Hill, Bristol" bearing a green "INCORRECTLY ADDRESSED" cachet in January 1968. I think the envelope would have been sorted to Bristol in Gloucestershire and only when it was in Bristol would the address have been determined to be wrong and the green cachet applied.
