Parcel Post Label for Bourton (Dorset) under Bath

Bourton in Dorset was under Bath until 1908.   The Parcel Post Label below is from 1902, paying 3d for a parcel up to 1 lb plus 2d for registration up to £5.

 

Parcel Post Labels from East Twerton, Bath (1896) and North Town, Taunton (1895)

A couple of early-ish Parcel Post Labels (parcel service started August 1883), beginning with one for East Twerton under Bath in September 1896.  The franking of 4½d was the rate for a 1-2lb parcel.

This second one is for North Town, Taunton in July 1895.  The 6d franking was the rate for a 2-3lb parcel.

 

Wellington Parcel Post Labels, including for Egerton Burnett's Special Private Post Office

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.

The next two Parcel Post Labels are from around 1895, ...

... and a final example from the same period.

These next two Parcel Post Labels are for Egerton Burnett's Special Private Post Office, the first used in May 1895.

 

and the second in March 1896.

 

 

Parcels Post (2)

The Post Office had a monopoly on the transport of Letters and it was 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 legal letter below from 1798 was sent by parcel post on a coach, which would perhaps be of dubious legality.

The letter below in 1811 was definitely illegal, being sent part-way by parcel post (saving half the postage cost).  It also refers to another illegality, the writer being "disappointed of a Frank".

Parcels sometimes did not get sent as directed as shown in the letter below from 1816, when a parcel was omitted from the direct coach to Dereham and was sent to Norfolk instead with directions to be taken from there to Dereham.

Items also got omitted from parcels, as shown in the letter below from 1821 when the addressee is requested to send the Copies of Admission by the 'Expedition' if the writer does not pick them up directly (the 'Expedition' was the name of the coach).

Parcels Post (1)

The Post Office did not provice a parcels service until 1883.  Before then parcels went by Coach or, once they were established, by the Railway.

A normal practice was to send a letter by the post to warn the recipient of the parcel, and to make sure that someone collected it, as in the letter below from January 1792.

Parcels  sometimes got lost, as shown in the letter below which is in the same correspondence as the one above..

The letter below from 1799 gives thanks for the "flitch of fine country bacon".

 

... whilst this next letter says that a Basket of Game woule be very acceptable, giving directions of where to send it and asking for a letter to be sent whenever a Basket is sent.

Below is an example of a letter from 1821 warning the recipient of a small Basket containing a Cock Pheasant & Brace of Partridges.

Parcels Post, 1883

One of my interests is in Parcels, which before 1883 went by Coach or Waggon and then later by Railway.  Here is a receipt from "Drewett's Original Waggon & Van Offices", Spur Inn Yard, Borough, London dated 19th April 1843.  At this time the Railways were starting to take the trade from the traditional horse-drawn coaches/waggons (I don't know when 'waggons' became 'wagons').

In 1883 the General Post Office introduced its own Parcel Post service, in response to the UPU agreement in 1880.  Below is a Notice from the GPO in June 1883 warning people who were likely to send parcels.  Note that in the beginning it was referred to as 'Parcels Post' not 'Parcel Post'.

Cheap Parcel Post, 1851

The printed letter shown below, from Taunton to Wiveliscombe in September 1851, offers Reduced Rates of Carriage in competition to the Railways.  Rowland Hill and the Post Office had tried to introduce a Government Parcel Post service in 1840 but had been defeated by the objections and intransigence of the Railways.

Private Parcel Post Label, Wellington, 1896

The Parcel Post Label below, used in March 1896, is for Egerton Burnett's Special Private Post Office.  It was probably printed by the Government printer given that its style is so close to standard Government printed labels.

Bristol Parcels, from 1902 and 1941

Here are a couple of Parcel Post items from Bristol, starting with two parcel tags used by Hudden & Co., a tobacco company, in 1902 to go to Hamburg.  The stamps are cancelled with a "BRISTOL" undated roller cancel.

This second page shows part of a parcel wrapper, sent registered from Bristol to Bude with a franking of 1/7d.  One cannot tell how much of the franking is for the Parcel post and how much for the Registration fee.  The wrapper is franked with six GVI 3d stamps with "JFT / B" perfins.

Wedmore Parcel Post Label, 1904

The Parcel Post Label (PPL) below is for "WEDMORE (WON) / (Under Weston-Super-Mare)", and was for a parcel of 2-3 lb.  The KEVII 5d stamp is cancelled with a Bristol roller cancel.

On the Parcel Post Label, "WON" is the telegraphic code for Wedmore, and the post office came under Weston-super-Mare.  This PPL however was cancelled at Bristol - it seems that the parcel service operated differently from the ordinary mail.

Burnham Parcel Post

Below are two Parcel Post labels for Burnham (later Burnham-on-Sea).  The top one is of the first type of Parcel Post labels issued:  it is headed "PARCELS POST." rather than the later "PARCEL POST.". 

Both parcel post labels have interesting stamps, the top with a 6d on 6d lilac from 1883 and the second a 4½d green & deep bright carmine jubilee from 1887.

Bath Parcel Post - by road

The item below is a piece from a parcel from Bath to Westbury in June 1904, with a "BATH" target cancel, a Parcel Post Label and a framed "COACH / ROAD BORNE" cachet.

In 1852 the Post Office contracted with the railway companies for the transport of mail by rail.  In 1887 the Post Office started running horse-drawn carriages where the cost was less than by rail (the first service was from London to Brighton).  From 1898 motor vans started to be used.

The "COACH / ROAD BORNE" cachet was used to distinguish between those parcels carried by rail (for which a fee was due to the rail companies) and those carried by Post Office coaches.

Registration Receipts, Parcel Post and Express Mail

Post Offices issued receipts to the senders of Registered Letters - here are two examples, from 1854 and 1857, the first on white paper, the second on blue.

Parcels could be registered from June 1891.  Here is a Parcel Post label from Bath in the KEVII period.

There were different levels of  'Express' service, the most common being where the mail was sent in the ordinary post to the nearest Express Delivery Office, and were then sent out by special messenger.  This example from August 1922 was to Huntly's Beach Hotel, Weston-super-Mare - the postcard at the bottom shows the location of the Hotel.

Bits of Bristol

This post strays a bit out of Somerset into Bristol, though this first cover from December 1814 is going to Sidcot in Somerset.  Sidcot was a receiving house on the road to Axbridge, opened in 1805 for the Fifth Clause Post.  The wrapper has a manuscript "1d" on the reverse for the Fifth Clause post from Bristol to Sidcot.

This next piece is part of a parcel, with a large address label for Hellyar & Crinks, and with a Parcel Post label for Victoria Street, Bristol with a handstamp dated November 1897.

Finally, here is a Post Office form used to requisition licenses by the postmaster of Inns Court Green, Bristol in November 1960.  The postmaster is requesting two books of gun licenses and two of TV licenses.

This is the reverse of the form, showing a nice Bristol slogan cancel.

Bristol Parcel Roller Cancel

A parcel roller cancel is known in use at Bristol from 1901 to 1918 and from 1929 to 1930.  The datestamp on this Parcel Post label from Street is unreadable, but based on the KEVII stamp it was probably between 1902 and c.1912.

Bath Parcel Post Labels

Here are a couple of Bath Parcel Post labels, both to Scotland (or North Britain).

Bath Parcel Post

Another Bath item, from a century later than the previous one, this is a Parcel Post tag from 1913, sent from Boots the Chemists.