Early Mileage Marks - "113 BATH"

In 1784 the Post Office introduced handstamps with the mileage to London on them, to aid post office clerks in determining the postal charges. These handstamps had a limited life as the mileage to London changed as the postal routes altered and after about five years the Post Office stopped issuing them.

By the end of the 18^th century the Postmaster General had instructed John Cary, a map-maker, to prepare a survey of all the principal roads in the country under the supervision of the Superintendent of Mail Coaches. This was used in the issue of the second series of mileage stamps from 1801.

Cat No	Type	Handstamp	Comments	Size (mm)	Colour	Dates	Rarity
SO 64	27	113 BATH	single line, taller “3”	33x6	Black	1784	F
65	26	BATH / 110	figures 6½ mm, round zero	26x16	Black	1784	F
66	26	BATH / 110	figures 6½ mm, oval zero	26x16	Black	1785-86	F
68	26	BATH / 110	figures 5mm high	25x14	Black	1786-87	F
217	27	140 BRIDGE / WATER		42x12	Black	1785-86	F
317	27	115 CASTLE / CAREY		42x13	Black	1784-85	G
339	27	144 CHARD	single line	40x5	Black	1786	F
391	27	135 CREWK / ERN		40x13	Black	1784-85	E
479	26	FROME / 107		38x15	Black	1786-88	E-F
550	27	141 ILMIN / STER		34x13	Black	1787-98	D
668	27	118 SHIPTON / MALLET	issued earlier	45x12	Black	1790-96	E
697	27	136 SOMER / TON		39x12	Black	1786-90	F
760	26	TAUNTON / 143		38x14	Black	1785-87	E-F
911	26	WELLS. / S. 123		24x13	Black	1785-87	E
1054	27	126 YEOVIL	single line	40x6	Black	1789-92	D

As can be seen from the table above, extracted from the Somerset County Catalogue, while the majority of the marks (9) are of the form 'mileage town', the remainder (6) are two line marks of the form 'town / mileage'.

The original mileage to London for Bath, 113, was very soon amended to 110 (by 1801 it had changed again to 109 miles to London).

Despite what it currently says on the Postal Museum website, the 1784 mileage marks were not introduced because the postal rates of 1784 charged based on the total distance that the mail travelled – that did not happen until the introduction of the 1796 rates on 5^th January 1797.  In 1784 postal charges were still based on the postal charge to London plus the postal charge onwards from London as two separate charges.  The postal rate change in January 1797, along with the survey of principal roads by John Cary, may well have been instrumental in causing the Post Office to re-introduce mileage marks in 1801.

The first mark above, “113 BATH” is currently the earliest known usage of an English mileage mark, on 14^th September 1784 (again correcting the information currently on the Postal Museum website).

I have already posted on the "BATH / 110" handstamps here.