Postal communications 1820-1830

[Neil Richard]

Hi all. A complete forum virgin. Here is my story. I have been researching my family history of the Ragge and Wragg name, where they all lived in York, Durham and surrounding areas in the late 18 hundreds, and all the way through the 19 hundreds. I am researching for a book I am writing and when I looked on the threads yesterday I saw something about Victorian Mourning attire. My forefathers all worked on the railways and indulged with high society of the day. What I was needing help with is - If these people wanted to invite other members of the "Gentry" to parties and the such like how would they go about it. Was there such a thing as the Royal Mail system or was it done by people on horseback. It would take a very long time to get the invitations out. Will let you know more of this story at a later time. Thankyou for reading this post in anticipation of a reply

[carolchipp]

Not sure of the form for sending such invitations but there was most certainly a postal service at this time. By 1840 (I think) the Penny Post allowed people to send mail anywhere in Britain or Ireland for a standard rate.
Try google for a history of mail services - there's bound to be loads of info.

[Neil Richard]

Thankyou Carolchipp. Am sorry but should have given better date. Looking for earlier then this, around 1820-1830. If that stareted in 1840 still interested in finding out for said dates. The inaugural run of George Stephensons Locomotion 1 for the opening of the Darlington to Stockton line took place on 27th September 1825 and was a massive event. A big banquet took place in the Stockton Town Hall and was attended by very high dignitaries of the day. How did George Stephenson, or his staff, get out those invitations? Really need to know this information and have not come across anything on the web about the post of that day. I will try Google though and see what it comes up with.

[carolchipp]

Mail coaches operated til the trains took over in the 1830s, so perhaps try that for a search term. Somewhere, I have a mass of notes on Victorian social etiquette including sending invites, etc. I'll try to find them and see if there's anything would be of use to you.

[rocala]

Hi Neil

There was a well established postal system in the period you are interested in. The Royal Mail was established in 1517. The only alternative was private couriers or employees running errands. I would imagine that this would be far too costly for a large event.

Bob

[Kerrywood]

This thread was previously running on the Introduce Yourself forum. It has now been moved to General Family History Queries.

[Keith Goodway]

I have a Royal Mail map of England and Wales dated 5 July 1823. It shows the roads taken by various types of delivery: London Mail Coaches, Cross Road Coaches, Daily Horse Posts, Horse Posts not daily, Rides and Foot Messengers. York seems to have been a major centre and there are 11 such routes radiating from it. It also gives the scale of postage - up to 15 miles, 4d., 15 to 20 miles 5d. and so on up to 230-300 miles 12d, with 1d extra for every 100 miles beyond 300.

If it is of interest, I could try photographing it and sending the York area to you (the whole map is 22 by 26 inches and is so detailed that it would not be legible).

[Ed Bradford]

A history of the mail service in England can be found by googling for Royal Mail History. ............Ed

[Peter Goodey]

...or even Wikipedia...

[Neil Richard]

Sincere thanks for this help. Much appreciated. Sorry the reply has been so long but I have been on my travelling holiday with nearly 1,700 miles driven. This includes a week in my home town of York. Many memories and lots of Firsts. Went to York Cemetery and found graves for 2 of my ancestors. George Alma and Charles Nightingale. It meant so much to me to see their final resting places. Unfortunately did not go to the West Cemetery in Darlington to find my "older ancestors" who are Matthew Henry Wragg and Charles Matthew Ragg. I found it interesting that it was Matthew Henry who changed the family name from Ragg. Wonder why he did that. He died 1904 and was buried in plot 9d (I think I remember that plot number from somewhere) From my Family Tree I have found that Charles Matthew was a shoemaker before leaving that job circa 1815 to work with George Stephenson. I see further back there was another shoemaker and a labourer. The furthest back in my tree is Enoch Ragg who is buried in East Harlsey although I have no idea of plot number. He was born around 1700 and died specifically on 25/06/1757. I have no idea how to get records as far back as 1700. Maybe someone else will know.