"General Post Office, 29th July, 1826. Sir,—The passengers who travelled with the Portsmouth and Bristol mail on the 26th instant, having complained that the coachman who drove on that day from Bristol to Warminster was drunk and unfit to drive I have to desire you will explain the reason why you neglected to report to me so great and so disgraceful an irregularity, and also how it happened that you did not know the coachman's name when the passengers asked you for it. I am, sir, yours, etc.,

C. JOHNSON.—Mr. Folwell, Mail Guard, Bristol."

The explanation is not forthcoming.

In 1830, many of the public coaches started from Portsmouth and passed through Portsea and Landport, but—

"In olden time two days were spent 'Twixt Portsmouth and the Monument; When flying Diligences plied, When men in Roundabouts would ride And, at the surly driver's will, Get out and climb each tedious hill. But since the rapid Freeling's age, How much improved the English stage, Now in eight hours with ease, the post Reaches from Newgate Street our coast."

In the years 1837 and 1838 the Portsmouth mail coach was despatched at 7.5 p.m., from Bristol Post Office—then located at the corner of Exchange Avenue. The posting of letters without fee was allowed up to 6.35 p.m., and, with fee, paid and unpaid letters alike up to 6.50 p.m. The coach started from the White Lion coach office, Broad Street, at 6.45 p.m., so as to be in readiness at the Post Office to take up the mails at the appointed time. The arrival of the mail at Portsmouth from Bristol was at 6.45 a.m. These times are an improvement upon the service in operation in 1836. At that time the coach left Bristol at 5.30 p.m., with a posting up to 5.0 p.m. without fee, and with fees paid, up to 5.15 p.m. On the inward journey the Coach did not arrive until 8.9 a.m.

It will be appropriate here to enumerate certain interesting incidents connected with the carrying on of the Mail Coach system.

On Saturday, Jan. 5, 1805, the London Mail of Friday se'nnight, had not arrived at Swansea where it was due early in the morning, till eleven o'clock that night, having been detained seventeen hours at the New Passage, in consequence of such large shoals of ice floating down the Severn as to render it unsafe for the mail boat to cross until Friday morning.

Thursday se'nnight, an inquest was held at Swansea on the body of John Paul, driver of the mail coach between that place and Caermarthen which on Sunday was overturned about two miles from Swansea, while proceeding with great rapidity down a hill, it being supposed the coachman's hands were so benumbed with cold that he could not restrain the horses' speed, the consequence of which was that he was so much bruised as to occasion his death on Wednesday night. The guard was slightly hurt, but the passengers escaped uninjured. Verdict, accidental death.

Very few details exist of that exceptional season, in 1806, when Nevill, a guard on the Bristol mail, was frozen to death; but the records of the great snowstorm that began on the Christmas night of 1836 are more copious.

A valuable reminiscence of that night—Dec. 27, 1836—is Pollard's graphic picture of the Devonport mail snowed up at Amesbury. Six horses could not move it, and Guard F. Feecham was in parlous plight. Pollard's companion picture of the Liverpool mail in the snow near St. Alban's on the same night is equally interesting. Guard James Burdett fared little better than his comrade on the Devonport mail:

"An accident occurred to the Worcester mail Coach on Friday evening, March 27, 1829, opposite the Bull and Mouth Office, in Piccadilly, which, we are sorry to say, has proved fatal to Turner, the coachman. Just as Turner had taken hold of the reins, and while he was wrapping a large coat over his knees, the leaders started, and, turning sharply to the right, dashed one of the fore-wheels against a post. The shock was so violent that the coachman was flung from his seat. He fell on his back, and his neck came violently against the curb-stone. Not a moment was lost in securing the assistance of a surgeon, by whom he was bled. The poor man was shortly removed to St. George's Hospital, where he died at about eight o'clock on Saturday evening. He left a wife and three infant children in a state of destitution, without even the means of buying a coffin."

As a "Caution to Mail Coachmen," the following notice was issued on June 20, 1829:—"On Friday, Thomas Moor, the driver of the London mail from Bristol to Calne and back, appeared before the Magistrates at Brislington to answer an information laid against him by Mr. Bull, the Inspector of Mail Coaches, by order of the G.P.O. for giving up the reins to an outside passenger, and permitting him to drive the mail, on May 29 last, from Keynsham to Bath, against the remonstrances of the guard. The magistrates convicted Moor in the mitigated penalty of L5 and 11s. costs. Mr. Bull presented the Bath Hospital with the amount of the fine."

On September 8th, 1837, a coachman named Burnett was killed at Speenhamland, on the Bath Road. He was driving one of the New Company's London and Bristol stages, and alighted at the "Hare and Hounds," very foolishly leaving the horses unattended, with reins on their backs. He had been a coachman for 20 years, but experience had not been sufficient to prevent him thus breaking one of the first rules of the profession. He had no sooner entered the Inn than the rival Old Company's coach came down the road. Whether the other coachman gave the horses a touch with his whip as he passed, or if they started of their own accord, is not known, but they did start, and Burnett, rushing out to stop them, was thrown down and trampled on, so that he died.

There departed this life at Bristol, in November, 1904, a somewhat notable individual in the person of Richard Griffiths, who was born at Westminster, in the year 1811, and entered the service of the Post Office as a Mail Guard on the 17th November, 1834. At the commencement of his service he was employed as Guard to the London and Norwich, via Newmarket Mail Coach, upon which duty he remained until the coach ceased running on the 5th January, 1846, when he was transferred to the London and Dover Railway, and acted as Mail Train Guard thereon. When a Travelling Post Office was established in 1860 on the Dover line of railway, and the necessity for a Guard to the Mail bags thus removed, Griffiths was ordered to the South Wales Railway, where he remained as Mail Train Guard until superannuated on the 25th August, 1870. He lived at Eastville, in Bristol, under the care at last of Mrs. Barrett, a kind old dame, who made him very comfortable, and on his demise, after being on pension for 34 years, he bequeathed his old battered Mail Coach horn to her (see illustration). It is probable that the horn was used on the last Norwich Coach out of London. The maker's name on it is "J.A. Turner, 19 Poultry."

On November 9, 1822, attention was drawn to the "Musical Coachman" thus:—"The blowing of the horn by the coachman and guards of our mail-coaches has usually been considered a sort of nuisance: now, by the persevering labours of these ingenious gentlemen, converted into an instrument of public gratification. Most of the guards of the stage-coaches now make their entrance and exit to the tune of some old national ballad, which, though it may not, perhaps, be played at present in such exact time and tune as would satisfy the leader of the opera band, is yet pleasant in comparison to the unmeaning and discordant strains which formerly issued from the same quarter."



April, 1832:—"The Tipsy Member" finds mention thus: "An M.P. applied to the Post Office to know why some of his franks had been charged; The answer was, 'We supposed, sir, they were not your writing; the 'hand' is not 'the same.' 'Why, not precisely; but the truth is I happened to be a little tipsy when I wrote them.' 'Then, sir, you will be so good in future as to write 'drunk' when you make 'free.'"

In this book are depicted an old State Coach, the Mail Coach, the primitive Railway Train, and a Railway Engine of the latest pattern, all indicative of progress in locomotion. To complete the series, and for the purpose of historical record, subjoined is a picture of the first Motor vehicle used (1904-1905) in Bristol for the rapid transport of His Majesty's Mails by road. No doubt, in process of time, this handy little 5-horse power car, built to a Bristol Post Office design, to carry loads of 3-1/2 cwt., and constructed by the Avon Motor Company, Keynsham, near Bristol, will have numerous fellow cars darting about in the roads and crowded thoroughfares of Bristol for the collection of letters and parcels in conjunction with larger cars of higher horse power to do the heavy station traffic and country road work.

Still, little "Mercury" will have the credit of being the pioneer car in the Bristol Post Office Service. During its trials the car did really useful service, and did not once break down.



CHAPTER VIII.

THE BUSH TAVERN, BRISTOL'S FAMOUS COACHING INN, AND JOHN WEEKS, ITS WORTHY BONIFACE, 1775-1819.—THE WHITE LION COACHING HOUSE, BRISTOL. ISAAC NIBLETT.—THE WHITE HART, BATH.

It appears that John Weeks was landlord of the Bush Tavern, Bristol, from 1775 to 1801, and continued to be a coach proprietor until 1806. In the Eastern cloister of Bristol Cathedral there is a mural tablet erected to his memory, with a well-executed medallion portrait of him in profile, with inscription as shown in the illustration.

Verger Sproule, of old time, who was born in the first year of the nineteenth century, once told Mr. Morgan, present senior lay clerk, that he well remembered John Weeks, and that the portrait on the tablet was an excellent likeness of him.

In "Mornings at Matlock," by Robey Skelton Mackenzie, D.C.L., author of "Titian: an Art Novel" (London, Henry Colburn, publisher, 1850), a book which contains a collection of twenty-six short stories supposed to have been told by people stopping at Matlock, there is an interesting story relating to what was known as the Bush Guinea. Briefly told, Dr. Mackenzie's Bush Guinea story runs thus:—"It was the delight of this Boniface (John Weeks) on every Christmas Day, to cover the great table with a glorious load of roast beef and plum pudding, flanked most plenteously with double home-brewed of such mighty strength and glorious flavour that we might well have called it malt wine rather than malt liquor. At this table on that day every one who pleased was welcome to sit down and feast. Many to whom a good dinner was an object did so; and no nobler sight was there in Bristol, amidst all its wealth and hospitality, than that of honest John Weeks at the head of his table, lustily carving and pressing his guests to 'Eat, drink, and be merry.' Nor did his generosity content itself with this.



"It was the custom of the house and of the day, when the repast was ended, that each person should go to honest John Weeks in the bar and there receive his cordial wishes for many happy returns of the genial season. They received something more, for according to their several necessities a small gift of money was pressed upon each. To one man a crown; to another, half-a-guinea; to a third, as more needing it a guinea. On the whole some twenty or thirty guineas were thus disbursed.

"On one particular year it had been noticed during the months of November and December, that a middle-aged man, whom no frequenter of the Bush Inn appeared to know, and who appeared to know no one, used to visit about noon every day, and calling for a sixpenny glass of brandy and water, sit over it until he had carefully gone through the perusal of the London paper of the previous evening. On Christmas Eve, honest John Weeks, anxious that the decayed gentleman should have one meal at least in the 'Bush,' delicately hinted that on the following day he kept open table. Punctually at one o'clock, being the appointed hour, he appeared at the Bush in his usual seedy attire. John Weeks called his head waiter, a sagacious, well-powdered, steady man, to whom he confidently entrusted the donation which he had set aside for the decayed gentleman. The decayed gentleman quietly put it in his pocket, from which he drew a card. The inscription on the card was simply 'Thomas Coutts, 59, Strand.' Amongst the heirlooms which she most particularly prized, the late Duchess of St. Albans, widow of Thomas Coutts, used to show a coin richly mounted in a gorgeous bracelet, which coin bore the name of 'The Bush Guinea.'"

Numerous as the passengers were by the many coaches starting from the Bush Inn, yet evidently John Weeks was in the habit of finding enough food for them to eat, and the wherewithal to fortify themselves with, ere they set out on their long coach journeys. The Bill of Fare for the guests at that hostelry during the festive season of 1790 shows that our ancestors had an excellent conception of Christmas cheer. For variety and quantity it could not easily be surpassed, and in these "degenerate" days could not even be equalled. But let it speak for itself.

CHRISTMAS, 1790.

One Turtle, weight 47 lb.; 68 Pots Turtle; British Turtle Giblet Soup; Gravy Soup; Pea Soup; Soup and Bouille; Mutton Broth; Barley Broth; 4 Turbots; 7 Cod; 2 Brills; 2 Pipers; 12 Dories; 2 Haddocks; 14 Rock Fish; 18 Carp; 16 Perch; 2 Salmon; 12 Plaice; 164 Herrings; Sprats; Soles; 22 Eels; Salt Fish. Doe VENISON: 10 Haunches, 10 Necks, 10 Breasts, 10 Shoulders; 37 Hares; 14 Pheasants; Grouse; 32 Partridges; 94 Wild Ducks; Wild Geese; 32 Teal; 27 Wigeon; 6 Bald Cootes; 1 Sea Pheasant; 3 Mews; 4 Moor Hens; 2 Water Dabs; 2 Curlews; Bittern; 61 Wood Cocks; 49 Snipes; 7 Wild Turkies; 8 Golden Plovers; 5 Quist; 2 Land Rails; 13 Galenas; 4 Pea Hens; 26 Pigeons; 121 Larks; 26 Stares; 108 Small Birds; 44 Turkies; 8 Capons; 9 Ducks; 5 Geese; 63 Chicken; 4 Ducklings; 18 Rabbits; 3 Pork Griskins; 11 Veal Burrs; 1 Roasting Pig; Oysters, Stewed and Scolloped; Eggs; Hogs Puddings; Ragood Feet and Ears; Scotch Collops; Veal Cutlets; Harricoad Mutton; Maintenon Chops; Pork Chops; Mutton Chops; Rump Steaks; Joint Steaks; Sausages; Hambro' Sausages; Tripe; Cow Heel; Notlings; 3 House Lambs. VEAL: 5 Legs, 2 Loins, 1 Breast, 4 Calves' Heads. BEEF: 5 Rumps, 1 Sirloin, 5 Ribs, 1 Pinbone, Duch Beef, Hambro' Beef. MUTTON: 16 Haunches, 8 Necks, 8 Legs, 11 Loins, 6 Saddles, 6 Chines, 5 Shoulders. PORK: 4 Loins, 2 Legs, 2 Chines, 2 Spare-Ribs, 1 Porker. COLD: Boar's-Head; Baron Beef, 3 c. 1 qr.; 6 Hams; 4 Tongues; 6 Chicken; Hogs Feet and Ears; 7 Collars Brawn; 2 Rounds Beef; Collard Veal and Mutton; Collard Eels and Pig's Head; Rein Deers' Tongues; Dutch Tongues; Harts Tongues; Bologna Tongues; Parague Pie; French Pies; Pigeon Pies; Venison Pasty; Sulks; 470 Minced Pies; 13 Tarts; 218 Jellies; 800 Craw Fish; Pickled Salmon; Sturgeon; Pickled Oysters; Potted Partridges; Crabs; 24 Lobsters; 52 Barrels Pyfleet and Colchester Oysters; Milford and Tenby Oysters; Pines.

So far as can be ascertained, Matthew Stretch kept the tavern from 1801 to 1805, and James Anderson in 1805 and 1806. Mr. John Townsend was "mine host" from 1807 until 1826. Unfortunately, none of his descendants possess a portrait of him. Mr. Charles Townsend, of St. Mary's, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, has in his possession the original lease, in which the Bush Tavern in Corn Street was transferred, on the 18th December, 1806, from Mr. John Weeks, wine merchant, on the one part, to Mr. John Townsend on the other part, at a yearly rental of L395 of lawful money of the United Kingdom—the term to be for fourteen years. The stables and coach houses "of him, the said John Weeks," situated in Wine Street, were included in the transfer. Out of the rental the yearly sum of L20 had to be paid by the owner, John Weeks, to the parish of St. Ewen, for that part of the coffee house which stood in the said parish.

As showing how John Weeks safeguarded his monopoly of coach-running to and from the Bush Tavern, there was this stipulation in the lease:—"The said John Townsend shall and will from time to time and at all times during the continuance of this demise take in and receive at the said Tavern, hereby demised, all and every Stage Coach or Public Carriage which shall belong to the said John Weeks at any time during this term, under the penalty of Two thousand Pounds, and that he, the said John Townsend, shall not nor will at any time during the said Term, if the said John Weeks shall so long run carriages of the aforesaid description, take in at the said Tavern or Coffee Room any Public Stage Coach or by way of evasion any Public Carriage whatsoever used as a public stage belonging to any person or persons whomsoever without the consent and approbation of the said John Weeks &c. in writing for that purpose first had and obtained under the penalty of two thousand pounds to be paid for any default in the observance and performance of the covenants herein before contained in that behalf."

According to Paterson's "Roads," John Weeks in 1794 occupied a homestead called "The Rodney," at Filton Hay, 4 miles from Bristol on the Bristol to Tewkesbury Road.

The following advertisement from a very old newspaper will be interesting as indicative that in addition to the John Weeks, of Bush Inn fame, Bristol, there was at the Portsmouth end of the Mail Coach route another worthy of the same name, likewise engaged in the carrying trade, but by sea instead of land:—"John Weeks, Master of the Duke of Gloster Sloop, takes this method to thank his friends and the public for their past favours in the Southampton and Portsmouth passage trade, and hopes for a continuance of the same, as they may depend on his care, and the time of sailing more regular than for many years past. He sails from Southampton every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and returns every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, wind and weather permitting."

In the Bristol Journal of Saturday, July 28, 1804, "James Anderson (who kept the Lamb Inn, Broadmead, eleven years), begged to inform his old friends and the public in general that he has taken the Bush Inn, Tavern, and Coffee-house, facing the Exchange, Bristol," where he hoped, by constant attention, reasonable charges, &c., to render everything agreeable and convenient to those who might kindly give a preference to his house. There had evidently been some friction at the Bush under the late management, for Mr. Anderson also intimated that "those gentlemen who withdrew from the Bush Coffee-room (upon Huntley's leaving it) are solicited to use it, gratis, until Christmas next."

In an advertisement following the above, John Weeks solicited support to his new tenant at the Bush, and added—"In the case of large dinners, or other public occasions, John Weeks will assist Mr. Anderson to give satisfaction."

On the site of the 'Bush,' the head offices of the late West of England and South Wales District Bank were erected. The directors of the Bristol and West of England Bank purchased the premises on December 31st, 1880. Lloyd's Bank now stands on the site.

The White Lion, Bristol, was one of the most famous coaching houses in England, east, west, north, or south. It stood in Broad Street, a thoroughfare which belied its name as regards breadth, and could only be considered broad by comparison with the even narrower Small Street, which ran parallel with it. Yet at one time there were as many coaches passing in and out of Broad Street as any street in Bristol, or even in London!

That the White Lion had attained a venerable age may be judged from the fact that it is mentioned in a list of old Bristol inns and taverns, published in 1606. On May 10, 1610, the Duke of Brunswick visited Bristol, and took up his quarters at this house. In 1621 the Earl of Essex, and in more modern times, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, lodged there. The father of Sir Thomas Lawrence was host of the White Lion before he removed to the Bear Inn, Devizes. In 1684, it appears to have been the occasional hostelry of a Duke of Beaufort, for in that year, during Monmouth's rebellion, His Grace of Badminton was in Bristol, where he commanded several regiments of militia against the insurgents; and on that occasion "the backward stables of the White Lion, in Brode Street, were set on fire, and therein were burnt to death two of the Duke of Beaufort's best saddle horses. It was supposed to have been done by the malice and envy of the fanaticks, of whom a great many were sent prisoners from Bristol to Gloucester, and there secured till the rebellion was over."

In Matthew's "New History or Complete Guide to Bristol" for the year 1793, there are the following entries respecting this erstwhile great coaching establishment:—

WHITE LION, BROAD STREET.—Thomas Luce proprietor. To London: A coach in two days sets out on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at seven o'clock in the morning.

WHITE HART INN, BROAD STREET.—(The White Hart adjoined the White Lion, and was a distinct hostelry so far back as 1606.) George Poston. To London: A coach in one day every morning at four o'clock. To Birmingham: A coach every morning (Sundays excepted) at four o'clock, also a mail coach every evening at seven o'clock. To Gloucester: A coach every morning at eight o'clock. To Exeter: A coach every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at six. To Bath: A coach every morning at nine o'clock and four in the afternoon.

The Bristol Mirror made announcements touching the White Lion thus:—"March 10, 1804. Wonderful cheap travelling. Fare inside 10s. 6d., outside 8s. The public are respectfully informed that coaches set out every Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday morning from the White Lion and White Hart, John Turner, Landlord, and arrive at Birmingham the same evening. Performed by Weeks, Poston & Co.

"November 8, 1823. J. Niblett, White Lion, Broad Street, announces change of Royal Mail coach route to London and back. The Emerald Post coach would run via Bath, Devizes, Marlborough, and Maidenhead. L1 18s. inside, 16s. outside.

"April 12, 1832: New Royal Mail coach to Bath daily at 7 a.m. Leaves York House, Bath, on return at 5 p.m. Arrives at White Lion, Bristol, at 6.30 p.m.

"April 21, 1832. Royal Mail to Liverpool every day at 5 p.m. from White Lion, Broad Street; arrive twelve noon the following day by way of Chepstow, Monmouth, Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Gloucester. Return journey Liverpool 5 p.m. Arrive White Lion 12 noon next day.

Mr. Isaac Niblett, who became proprietor of the White Lion Inn in 1823, in which year Thomas Luce gave up the place, was a well-known individual in the coaching world when the mail coach system was at its zenith. He worked 600 coach and post horses—a number only exceeded by the great London coach proprietor Chaplin, with his 1,300, and Horne and Sherman with their 700. Of the twenty-two daily coaches between Bristol and London the greater proportion made the White Lion their headquarters. Amongst other coaches with which Isaac Niblett was especially associated were the "Red Rover" and the "Exquisite." The "Red Rover" ran from Bristol to Brighton through Bath, over Salisbury Plain, on to Southampton and Chichester, and covered the distance of 140 miles in fourteen hours. The "Exquisite" used to run from Birmingham to Cheltenham, thence on through Bristol to Exeter. In the Bristol Directory and Gazette of 1859, Mr. Niblett's innkeepership is alluded to thus:—"Isaac Niblett, White Lion and British Coffee House, family commercial and posting house; hearse and mourning coach proprietor." The White Hart, family and commercial hotel, Broad Street, was at that time kept by one Charles Smith.

Mr. Isaac Niblett, like John Weeks, of Bush Inn fame, had a country place near Bristol. He owned, and stayed from time to time at the Conigre House, Fylton. Mr. Niblett was for some time the owner of the old Bush Inn stables in Dolphin Street, according to evidence given in a recent trial before the Judge of Assize at Bristol. That site, as well as the Conigre Farm, Fylton, is, it is believed, still in the possession of his lineal descendants.

The Grand Hotel, one of the largest in the West of England, and most central in the city of Bristol, now stands on the sites of both the White Lion and the White Hart Hotels. Erected in 1869, it was known as the new White Lion until 1874, when its name was changed to that of the Grand Hotel. The accompanying illustration of the White Lion and the White Hart Inns, taken from a lithograph engraving of about 1880 by the well-known Bristol firm of lithographers, Messrs. Lavars, must have been copied from a picture produced subsequent to the old coaching days, and, judging from the costumes of the pedestrians depicted, the period was probably about 1860, or a few years before the demolition of the old inns. The figure of a white hart appears in the picture over the entrance door of that hostelry but the statue of a white lion, which for very many years stood over the entrance gateway to the inn of that name, and which is recollected by many persons still living, was for some reason or other omitted from the engraving.



The White Lion appears to have been the leading Inn in the town in 1824, for on May 12 in that year the Mayor, Corporation, and leading citizens dined there on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the Bristol Council House. Samuel Taylor Coleridge delivered lectures in the large room of the Inn in 1800. It was the "blue" house, and in later times the coach which most frequently entered its narrow archway was driven by his Grace the sixth Duke of Beaufort, who put up at the inn on his visits to Bristol, as he had, it is said, a great respect for Isaac Niblett's sterling qualities and fine sporting instincts.

What an evolution in pleasure and commercial traffic has come about in the last three-quarters of a century! When the White Lion in Broad Street and the Bush Tavern in Corn Street were in their prime as Coaching Inns, a four-in-hand Coach in Bristol's narrow streets and on the neighbouring country roads was so often in evidence as scarcely to induce the pedestrian even to turn his head round to look at one in passing. Now such a patrician vehicle in Bristol's midst is brought down to an unit, and it is left to Mr. Stanley White, son of Sir George White, Bart., with his well-appointed Coach and his team of bright chestnuts, to link old Bristol with the traditions of past Coaching days. Strange that Mr. Stanley White should have blended in his one person the love of a coachman for a team with the will and nerve to render him one of Bristol's boldest and most expert drivers of the road machine of the latest kind, to wit: the Motor Car.



At a function in Bath in 1902, described in these pages, Colonel Palmer, a descendant of John Palmer, presented a small curiosity to the Corporation. Readers of Pickwick will remember that, when Mr. Pickwick was proceeding to Bath, Sam Weller discovered inside the coach the name of "Moses Pickwick," and wanted to fight the guard for what he considered an outrage on his master. Among John Palmer's papers was an old contract for the Bristol and Bath Mail Service, and one of the parties bore the name of Pickwick, and was the landlord of the White Hart Hotel at Bath. It was that contract which Colonel Palmer presented to the Corporation, as a memorial both of his grandfather and of Dickens.



CHAPTER IX.

TOLL GATES AND GATE-KEEPERS.

As this book is devoted in great measure to the mail services of old time—which had to be carried on entirely by horse and rider or driver—allusion may fittingly be made to the toll gate system, which played its part in connection with mail vehicular transport.

Toll bars originated, it seems, so far back as the year 1267. They were at first placed on the outskirts of cities and market towns, and afterwards extended to the country generally. The tolls for coaches and postchaises on a long journey were rather heavy, as the toll bars were put up at no great distances from each other. In the year 1766, Turnpike Trusts, taking advantage of Sabbatarian feeling, charged double rates on Sundays, but experienced travellers sometimes journeyed on that day, and submitted to the double impost, to gain the advantage of avoiding highwaymen, who did not carry on their avocation on Sunday, but gave themselves up to riot, conviviality, or repose.



Coaches which carried H. Majesty's mails were exempted by Act of Parliament from paying tolls. The exemption of mail coaches from paying tolls, a relief provided by the Act of 25th George III., was really a continuation of the old policy, by which the postboys of an earlier age, riding on horseback, and carrying the mails on the pommel of the saddle, had always been exempt from toll, and the light mail carts of a later age were always exempted.

It was no great matter, one way or the other, with the Turnpike Trusts, Mr. C.G. Harper tells us in "The Mail and Stage Coach," for the posts were then few and far between, and the revenue almost nil; but the advent of numerous mail coaches, running constantly and carrying passengers, and yet contributing nothing to the maintenance of the roads, soon became a very real grievance to those Trusts situated on the route of the mails. In 1816 the various Turnpike Trusts approached Parliament for a redress of these disabilities.

Mail coaches continued, however, to go free until the end of the system, although from 1798 they had to pay toll in Ireland. In Scotland in 1813 an Act was passed repealing the exemption in that part of the kingdom. Pack horses were superseded by huge wagons on the busiest roads early in the eighteenth century. Over 5,000 Turnpike Acts for the improvement of local roads were passed during the years 1700 and 1770. At the latter part of this period, narrow wheels were penalised more heavily than broad wheels.

Lewis Levy was a prominent man in the days of Turnpike Trusts, as he was a farmer of Metropolitan turnpike tolls to the tune of half a million pounds a year!

The history of toll bars is not wanting in romance: "Blow up for the gate," would say the coachman to the guard, when drawing near to a "pike" in the darkness of night. Lustily might guard blow, but it did not always have the desired effect. "Gate, gate!" would shout coachman and guard. Down would get guard and tootle-tootle impatiently. And out would shuffle in his loose slippers the "pike" keeper in a dazed condition from fatigue produced by frequent disturbances. As he opens the gate he is soundly rated by coachman and guard, and enjoined to leave the gate open for the next mail down, or he would have to pay a fine of 40s. to the Postmaster General, that being the penalty for not preserving an unobstructed way for H. Majesty's mails.



In the Bristol district toll bars were plentiful, and attempts were made to erect ornate little houses which should be pleasing to the eyes of travellers. That such attempts were not always unsuccessful, the picturesque toll-gate houses depicted in these pages will demonstrate.

In 1804, Sarah Rennison, widow of Thomas Rennison, advertised that she lately had the ladies' and gentlemen's cold baths, near Stokes Croft Turnpike, effectually cleaned. "These baths are supplied with water from a clear and ever-flowing spring, uncontaminated by anything whatever, as it flows from a clear and limpid stream from its source to the pipes in the baths."

This turnpike, named the Stokes Croft Gate, stood on the turnpike way designated Horfield Road. The gate was erected across the lane leading from the said road to Rennison's Baths.

Very soon after "Sarah's" announcement, this landmark of the old city was doomed to disappear, and the gate was removed from the top of the Croft to a site some four or five hundred yards further up the road, near to the present railway arch.

An advertisement from the Bristol Journal, Saturday, July 14th, 1804, ran as follows:—"To be sold, the materials of the old Turnpike House at the top of Stoke's Croft. The purchaser to be at the expense of pulling down and carrying the same away. Also of pitching the site of the house by the 20th of August next. For further particulars apply to Messrs. John and Jere Osborne."



The tolls for the year ended the 29th September, 1823, realised the sum of L1,800. The notice respecting the letting of the tolls for the succeeding year, based on such takings, was signed by Osborne and Ward on the 14th of October, 1823:

The following is a toll gate announcement, issued on July 13, 1826:—

"Notice is hereby given that the Tolls arising at the Toll Gates hereinafter particularly mentioned will be severally Let by Auction, to the best Bidders at the White Hart Inn, Brislington, on Wednesday, the 16th day of August next, between the hours of Eleven o'clock in the forenoon and One o'clock in the afternoon, in the manner directed by the Acts passed in the third and fourth years of the reign of his Majesty King George the Fourth, 'for regulating Turnpike Roads'; which Tolls produced last year the several Sums, and will be Let in the several Parcels or Lots following—viz.:—

"Lot I.—The Tolls arising from the Arno's Vale Gate, on the Brislington Road. L2,405.

"Lot II.—The Tolls arising at the Knowle Gate, on the Whitchurch Road. L660.

"Lot III.—The Tolls arising at the Saltford Gate, on the Brislington Road. L2,355.

"Lot IV.—The Tolls arising at the Whitchurch Gate, on the Whitchurch Road. L670.

"And will be put up at those Sums respectively.

"Whoever happens to be the best Bidder must, at the same time, pay one Month in advance (if required) of the Rent at which such Tolls may be respectively Let, and give security, with sufficient sureties to the satisfaction of the Trustees of the said Turnpike Roads, for payment of the rest of the money monthly.

"OSBORNE and WARD, "Clerks to the Trustees of the said Turnpike Roads.

"Bristol, 13th July, 1826."

A turnpike ticket of 1840 was worded thus:—

Bristol Roads. LAWFORD's GATE. July 8, 1840

s. d. Waggon Cart 1 Coach, Chaise, &c. Gig Horses 2 9 Cattle Sheep, Pigs Asses

Clears Gates on the other side



The other Bristol "Gates" were known as Clifton, Redland, White Ladies, Horfield, St. Michael's Hill, Cutler's Mills, Gallows Acre, Barrow's Lane, Stapleton Bridge, Pack Horse Lane, Fire-Engine Lane, George's Lane, West Street, Cherry Garden, Fire-Engine, Blackbirds, one full toll in each case.

Thomas Brooks was the last toll-keeper at St. Michael's Hill, Bristol. He held the office until it was abolished in 1867. In the following year he was appointed sub-postmaster of Cotham, and removed from the old Toll House to a house nearer the city. The Toll House stood at the corner of Hampton Road and Cotham Hill, where the fountain is now.

Benjamin Gray, the last keeper of the "Stop Gate" which stood near the Royal Oak Inn at Horfield, held the office for 30 years. The gate was to stop travellers entering the city by way of Ashley Down Road, and thus escape paying the tolls at the Zetland Road end of Gloucester Road. There is a family connection between the Gray and the Brooks families, and the daughter of Benjamin now resides with Samuel Brooks, the old sexton of Horfield Church. A model of the Horfield Stop Gate may be seen at Robin Hood's Retreat near Berkeley Road, Bristol.

The last barrier on the great London to Bristol Road was removed when the bridge crossing the Thames at Maidenhead was freed from toll at midnight, on November 30th, 1903. There was a remarkable demonstration on the occasion. Five hundred people waded through the flooded streets to see the toll-gate removed from the bridge which was erected so far back as in 1772.

Precisely at twelve by the toll-house clock Corporation employes proceeded to remove the gate, amid loud cheering. Many of the crowd closed in, and finally seizing the huge gate, carried it to the top of Maidenhead Bridge and threw it into the river.



CHAPTER X.

DARING ROBBERIES OF THE BRISTOL MAIL BY HIGHWAYMEN, 1726-1781.—BILL NASH, MAIL COACH ROBBER, CONVICT AND RICH COLONIST, 1832.—BURGLARIES AT POST OFFICES IN LONDON AND BRISTOL, 1881-1901.

The mail services between Bristol and the Southern Counties came into great prominence in 1903. The Postmaster-General was appealed to on the subject, and the phantom of the old Bristol and Portsmouth mail coach was conjured up to form a comparison detrimental to present-day arrangements. The discussion recalls somewhat vividly the mail coach traditions of the pre-railway period, and certainly the community of to-day has, at all events, fallen on better times as regards security of the mails, if not better night mail services. In the General Post Office letter in Lombard Street, 26th April, 1720, this note appears:—"The Bristol Mail was again robbed yesterday, in the same place as on Friday, by one highwayman."

Mist's Journal of Apl. 30, 1720, states:—"Last week the Oxford Stage Coach was robbed between Uxbridge and London, by the same highwaymen as is supposed who robbed the Bristol Mail, one of them having a scar on his forehead."

"A man lately taken up near Maidenhead Thicket, and charged with robbing the Cirencester Stage Coach, has been examined by a Justice of the Peace, who has committed him to Reading Gaol. He is said to be a butcher's son of Thame, in Oxfordshire."

The following particulars relate to a Bristol mail coach robbery in 1721. They were taken from a pamphlet written by Wilson, who was one of the highwaymen therein alluded to, and saved his neck by informing. Wilson was a person of education, but some of his statements were questionable. The pamphlet was full of moral reflections upon the evils of bad company, gambling, &c.; it ran through several editions, so it was no doubt popular. It will be interesting as indicating the difficulties attending the Bristol mail services of the period, and that death was the penalty for robbing his Majesty's mails. It runs thus in the heading:—

"A full and impartial account of all the robberies committed by John Hawkins, George Sympson (lately executed for robbing the Bristol mails), and their companions. Written by Ralph Wilson, late one of their confederates. London: Printed for J. Poole at the Lockes Head in Paternoster Row. Price 6d."

The following is an abbreviation of the contents so far as they relate to the Bristol mails:—

John Hawkins was the son of poor but honest parents. His father was a farmer, and lived at Staines, Middlesex. Had a slender education. At 14 he waited on a gentleman, then was a tapster's boy at the Red Lion, at Brentford; got into service again, was butler to Sir Dennis Daltry; took to gambling; was suspected of being a confederate in robbing his master's house of plate; was dismissed. At the age of 24 took to highway robbery; stopped a coach on Hounslow Heath, and eased the passengers of about L11; with others committed several robberies on Bagshot and Hounslow Heaths; was arrested for attempting to rescue Captain Lennard, one of his accomplices, but was discharged.

Wilson, the writer of the pamphlet, was a Yorkshireman; became clerk to a Chancery barrister; met Hawkins at a gambling-house; they became "great cronies." Wilson joins Hawkins's gang; they commit several highway robberies. Feb. 1, 1721, Wilson goes to Yorkshire; Hawkins impeached several of his companions, and one of them (Wright) was hanged. Hawkins, Wilson, and others robbed one morning the Cirencester, the Worcester, the Gloster, the Oxford, and the Bristol stage coaches; the next morning the Ipswich and Colchester coaches; a third morning, perhaps the Portsmouth. The Bury coach was "our constant customer."

Sympson, who was born at Putney, and had no education, had by this time joined the gang. The robberies were continued. In April (1722) they went back to their old design of robbing the mail coaches. They first proposed to rob the Harwich mail, but gave up that design because that mail was "as uncertain as the wind." They then decided to rob the Bristol mail. Wilson said he objected to this plan, but he joined in it. They set out Sunday, April 15th. "The next morning being Monday, we took the mail, and again on Wednesday morning. The meaning of taking it twice was to get the halves of some bank bills, the first halves whereof we took out of the mail on Monday morning." On Monday, April 23rd, Wilson learnt at the Moorgate Coffee House that there was a great request for the robbers of the Bristol mail. He therefore contemplated taking a passage to Newcastle, but before he could do so he was arrested, and carried to the General Post Office, where he was examined by the Postmaster-General. He was again examined by the Postmaster-General (Carteret) the next morning, but he denied all knowledge of the robbery. While under examination, a messenger came from Hawkins, who was in prison at the Gate House, "to let the Post-house know that he had impeached me." One of the officers of the Post Office then showed Wilson an unsigned letter, which he recognised as being in Sympson's handwriting, confessing his share in the robbery, and offering to secure his two companions. Wilson then decided to confess. Hawkins and Sympson were tried, found guilty, and executed 21st May, 1722.

In connection with this Bristol mail robbery, the following are interesting particulars from the calendar of Treasury papers:—"Memorial of William Saunderson, clerk, to Sir Robert Walpole. Says he was author of an expedient to prevent the Bristol and other mails from being robbed. The scheme seems to have been to write with red ink on the foreside of all bank notes the name of the post town where they were posted, the day of the month, and also the addition of these words, viz.:—'From Bristol to London,' &c. These services (presumably Saunderson's) have been attended with great expense and loss of time, and no mail robberies have since been committed. Asks for compensation. Referred 11th April, 1728, to postmasters to report. May 23, 1728.—Affidavit of W. Saunderson, receiver, of Holford, West Somerset (probably the same person), that he sent a letter subscribed A.Z. to the Postmaster-General offering an expedient to prevent the robbing of the Bristol and other mails, and of the subsequent negotiations with the Post Office; has never received any reward. Mr. Carteret claimed the contrivance of the scheme wholly to himself. May 29th.—Postmaster-General's report of 17th April read: 'My Lords satisfied with the report.' Saunderson had no pretence to any reward. Scheme entirely formed at Post Office without assistance of Saunderson or anybody else. Saunderson called in, informed that my Lords adhere to Postmaster-General's report, and nothing more will be ordered therein."

Stealing a letter or robbing the mail was a capital offence long after Hawkins and Sympson expiated their offences on the scaffold. Thus a notice from the General Post Office on the 24th July, 1767, issued in the London Evening Post, dated "From Tuesday, July 28th, to Thursday, July 30th, 1767," recited that—"Notice is hereby given that by an Act passed the last Session of Parliament, 'For amending certain Laws relating to the revenue of the Post Office, and for granting rates of postage for the conveyance of letters and packets between Great Britain and the Isle of Man, and within that Island,' it is enacted—That from and after the first day of November, 1767, if any person employed or afterwards to be employed in the Post Office shall 'secrete, embezzle, or destroy any letters, &c.,' 'every such offender, being thereof convicted, shall be deemed guilty of felony and shall suffer death as a felon, without benefit of clergy.' Also if any person or persons whatsoever shall rob any mail or mails, in which letters are sent or conveyed by post, although it shall not prove to be highway robbery or robbery committed in a dwelling-house, yet such offender or offenders shall be 'deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death as a felon, without benefit of clergy.'" In 1781 there was another robbery of the Bristol mail. The occurrence was set forth in detail in the following notice, which was issued on January 29th in that year:—

"General Post Office, Jan. 29, 1781.

"The Postboy bringing the Bristol Mail this morning from Maidenhead was stop't between two and three o'clock by a single Highwayman with a crape over his face, between the 11th and 12th milestones, near the Cranford Bridge, who presented a pistol to him, and after making him alight, drove away the Horse and Cart, which were found about 7 o'clock this morning in a meadow field near Farmer Lott's at Twyford, when it appears that the greatest part of the letters were taken out of the Bath and Bristol Bags, and that the following bags were entirely taken away:—Pewsey, Ramsbury, Bradford, Henley, Cirencester, Gloucester, Ross, Presteign, Fairford, Aberystwith, Carmarthen, Pembroke, Calne, Trowbridge, Wallingford, Reading, Stroud, Ledbury, Hereford, Northleach, Lechlade, Lampeter, Tenby, Abergavenny, Newbury, Melksham, Maidenhead, Wantage, Wotton-under-Edge, Tewkesbury, Leominster, Cheltenham, Hay, Cardigan, Haverfordwest.

"The person who committed this robbery is supposed to have had an accomplice, as two persons passed the Postboy on Cranford Bridge on Horseback, prior to the Robbery, one of whom he thinks was the robber; but it being so extremely dark, he is not able to give any description of their persons.

"Whoever shall apprehend and convict, or cause to be apprehended and convicted, the person who committed this Robbery, will be entitled to a reward of Two Hundred Pounds, over and above the Reward given by Act of Parliament for apprehending Highwaymen; or if any person, whether an Accomplice in the Robbery or knoweth thereof, shall make Discovery whereby the Person who committed the same may be apprehended and brought to Justice, such Discoverer will upon conviction of the party be entitled to the Same Reward of Two Hundred Pounds, and will also receive his Majesty's most gracious Pardon.

"By Command of the Postmaster-General,

"ANTH. TODD, Sec."

The robbery, which was graphically described by Mr. G. Hendy, of St. Martin's-le-Grand, in the 1901 Christmas Number of "The Road," does not appear to have been a very daring one as regards the act itself, but it was so as to its consequences. There was no mail coach—no driver in scarlet—no mail guard—no passengers, but only a ramshackle iron mail cart—a "postboy" as driver and carrying no arms. What a contrast is this old mail cart with a single horse, carrying the mails for all the places enumerated in the Notice, to the splendidly appointed four-horse mail coaches of a period thirty years later on, or to the present time, when on the Great Western Railway one whole train is used to carry only a moiety of the King's mail to Bristol and the West! No wonder that the postboy fell an easy victim to the highwaymen, who bound him and threw him into an out-of-the-way field. The desperadoes proved to be two brothers, young men of the name of Weston.

The Westons, after the robbery, went up and down the country on the North road very rapidly, in order to get rid of the L10,000 to L15,000 worth of bank notes and bills which they plundered from the mails. The Bow Street runners were on their track from the first, and the chase continued from London to Carlisle and back. The vagabonds were not, however, captured, and the notice was exhibited all over the country, with the addition of the description of the men wanted by the thief-catchers.

In 1782, the brothers were tried for another offence and acquitted, but they were arrested at once for the robbery of the Bristol mail and committed to Newgate. On trial they were found guilty, and paid the penalty of death by hanging at Tyburn, on the 3rd September, 1782. In later years the death penalty for robbing mails was abolished, and at least one old sinner who robbed the Bristol mail eventually did remarkably well through having committed that dire offence against the laws, and by having been transported to the Antipodes at his country's expense.

Particulars of his career have been furnished by Mr. R.C. Newick, of Cloudshill, St. George, Bristol, by means of the following extract from a work published in 1853, "Adventures in Australia, '52-'53," by the Rev. Berkeley Jones, M.A., late curate of Belgrave Chapel (Bentley, London, 1853):—"If you turn into any of the auction rooms in Sydney the day after the gold escort comes in you may see and, if you can, buy, pretty yellow-looking lumps from about the size of a pin's head to a horse bean, or, if you prefer it, a flat piece about the size of a small dessert plate. One of the greatest buyers is an old pardoned convict of the name of 'William,' or, as he is there more commonly called, 'Bill' Nash, who robbed the Bristol mail, of which he was the guard. His wife followed him—as some say, with the booty—and set up a fine shop in Pitt Street in the haberdashery line. Under the old system he was assigned to her as a servant. Her own husband her domestic! What a burlesque on transportation as a punishment! He is very unpopular with the old hands, as he returned to England and offered an intentional affront to Queen Victoria when driving in the Park, by drawing his horses across the road as her equipage was driving by. He cut a great dash in the Regent's Park, and was known as the 'flash returned convict.' We stood by him at Messrs. Cohen's auction room when the gold fraud (planting on the gold buyers nuggets made in Birmingham) was discussed. He addressed us, and we cannot add that he prepossessed us much in his favour. He looks what he is and has been. In a little cupboard-looking shop in King Street he may be seen in shirt sleeves spreading a tray full of sovereigns in the shop front and heaping up bank-notes as a border to them, inviting anyone to sell their gold to him. We believe he is now among the wealthiest men of New South Wales."

By the year 1830 the terror inspired by highwaymen had no doubt diminished, but the coach proprietors thought it prudent to guard themselves against loss, and so they put increased charges on the articles of value they had to carry. On the 1st September, 1830, a coaching notice of about 1,000 words, based on an Act of Parliament, was put forth by Moses Pickwick and Company from the White Hart, Bath. A copy of this notice on a large screen was exhibited recently at the Dickens celebration at Bath. The notice, in legal or other jargon, announced the increased rate of charge for commission by mail or stage coach of articles of value. Put into plain form, the increased rates of charge were as follows, viz.:—Additional charge for parcel or package over L10 in value.—For every pound, or for the value of every pound, contained in such parcel or package over and above the ordinary rate of carriage, not exceeding 100 miles, 1d.; 100 to 150 miles, 1-1/2d.; 150 to 200 miles, 2d.; 200 to 250 miles, 2-1/2d.; exceeding 250 miles, 3d.



Few people now bear in mind the great robbery of registered letters from the Hatton Garden Branch Post Office, London, in November, 1881, which was effected with skill and daring, and yet with simplicity as to method. At 5.0 p.m. on the eventful day the members of the staff were busily engaged, when, lo! the gas suddenly went out, and the office, which was full of people at the time, was left in darkness. The lady supervisor obtained matches, went to the basement and there found that the gas had been turned off at the meter. When the gas had been turned on again and lighted, it was discovered that the registered letter bag, which had already been made up and was awaiting the call of the collecting postman, was missing. The bag contained 40 registered letters, and their value was estimated at from L80,000 to L100,000. In the many years which have elapsed since the great robbery no clue to the perpetrators of the daring deed has been discovered. No further attempts at such robberies took place for some time, but in the year 1888 several daring burglaries took place at post offices in London. The Smithfield Branch Post Office was the first broken into, the thieves staying in the office from Saturday night to Sunday night. During that interval they removed the safe from under the counter, placed it in the Chief Officer's enclosure, broke it open and rifled the contents. Cash and stamps to the value of about L180 were stolen. In the autumn of the same year the Aldgate B.O. was burgled—a Saturday night being chosen for the exploit. The manner in which the burglary was effected leaves little doubt that the depredation was committed by the same gang of thieves. The safe was broken open, but in this case it was left under the counter, where it stood, and was there rifled of its contents. The interior of the office, including a part of the counter under which the safe stood, was fully visible from the outside, the woodwork in front of the office having been kept low for the purpose, and it was marvellous that the thieves were not detected, as a poor woman had just been murdered by "Jack the Ripper" within 200 yards, and the road in front of the post office was thronged with excited people. The thieves in this case got off with cash and stamps to the value of L328.

Later in the same year, the South Kensington Branch Post Office was entered by burglars under precisely similar circumstances. The thieves only obtained the small sum of L6, as, being disturbed, they decamped in haste, leaving behind them their tools and certain articles of clothing. They had removed the safe, weighing 1-1/2 cwt., from the public office without being observed, although it was taken from a spot immediately in front of a large window, through which police and passers-by could command full view of the office. The Westbourne Grove and Peckham Branch Post Offices were also burglariously entered in the same year. Although the burglars were not discovered in connection with these post office robberies, and none more daring of their kind have occurred since, they probably were imprisoned for some other misdemeanour. Was it—it may well be asked—this same gang of burglars released from durance vile who committed the post office robbery which in 1901 took place at Westbury-on-Trym, a suburb of Bristol, three miles distant from the city? For daring it might well have been they, as the following account will demonstrate.

The post office, be it said, was in the middle of the village and within 200 yards of the Gloucestershire Constabulary Depot, and actually within sight of it. It was during the early hours of the morning of the 18th October that the burglary took place. Not far from the post office building operations were being carried on, and from the houses in course of erection the thieves obtained a ladder and a wheelbarrow. Making their way to the side of the premises, one member of the gang, by means of the borrowed ladder effected an entrance through the fanlight over the postmen's room door, and marks of damp stockinged feet revealed the fact that they crept through a sliding window into the post office counter room, where the safe was located. The street door was then opened to their confederates, and the safe, weighing nearly 2 cwt., was carried to the barrow outside. The thieves retired to a partially completed dwelling for the purpose of examining the contents of the safe. They broke open the carpenter's locker, and many tools were subsequently found on the floor. These evidently had not assisted the gang to any great extent, as they found it necessary to use a heavy pickaxe. The noise they made seems to have aroused the inmates of the neighbouring houses, and it is said that one resident struck a light and actually saw them at work, but he concluded that they were merely doing something in connection with the extensive drainage alterations which had been in progress for many months. This light apparently disturbed the thieves, for they departed with their burden and the pickaxe and retraced their steps. Close to the Parish Institute they managed, in spite of the darkness, to discover a gap in the hedge, and having forced the wheelbarrow through this, they left unmistakable traces of the route taken across the adjoining field.



Having wheeled the safe some 300 or 400 yards, and some 50 yards beyond the cottages in Canford Lane, they again brought the pickaxe into requisition, and some hours later a workman discovered the safe, with one end broken into dozens of pieces, lying near the hedge. He at once gave information to the police. It was afterwards found that, although the thieves had removed the paper money from the safe, they had thrown the postal orders, money order forms, stamps, licenses, etc., into a neighbouring field, where they were found strewn about in great disorder. The safe contained postal orders stamps, postcards, and cash of the total value of L315. Cash to the value of L25 was the extent of the thieves' booty, and they left behind them three L5 notes, half a sovereign, and two sixpences, which were found on the grass. As all the articles were dry, it was apparent that the robbery took place after 2 a.m., up to which time there had been rain. The officials at the office had begun their morning's work quite unconscious of what had happened, when Police Sergeant Greenslade appeared with the handle of the safe. The fact of the officials not having been disturbed may be accounted for by the circumstance that blasting operations had been carried on at night in the immediate neighbourhood for some twelve months before. The sub-postmistress and her family, it appeared, did not retire to rest until very near midnight, and it is supposed that they were in their first heavy sleep, but it is a mystery why the dog, a sharp fox terrier, remained quiet.

The safe was kept in a prominent position in the shop—two people slept just over it—and the exterior of the shop was well lighted at night by a large public lamp. Sleeping in the house were several females and males, one of the latter being an ex-Sergeant-Major of Dragoons, 6 feet 2 inches in height and of great bodily strength. Next door lived a baker whose workman is about early in the morning, so it may be inferred that the burglars had no small amount of nerve. Within a week another robbery took place at a mansion within a mile of the post office. This occurred in the evening. Whether or not this second burglary was the work of the same gang which carried off the post office safe, there is similar evidence of most carefully laid plans and of intimate acquaintance with the house and the habits of its occupants.

Ere the excitement of these two burglaries had passed off as a nine days' wonder, another robbery equally bold in character took place, and this time in the very centre of the city of Bristol, and in its most frequented thoroughfare. A jeweller's shop window was rifled at 6.0 a.m., at a time when the police were being relieved. The thieves got off with about L2,000 worth of rings, etc. These three burglaries in conjunction seem to indicate the work of one gang of professional burglars hailing probably from the Metropolis.

A little time later, a post office safe in the West End of London was rifled, the burglars discarding old methods of violence in breaking it open, and using a jet of oxyhydrogen flame to burn away a portion of the safe door!



CHAPTER XI.

MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL MAILS.—FROM COACH TO RAIL—THE WESTERN RAILROAD.—POST OFFICE ARBITRATION CASE.

When the construction of the Great Western Railway was in contemplation, the prospect of the Londoner being able to pay a morning visit to Bristol, in even four or five hours, was hailed with satisfaction, as will be gathered from the following article from The Sun newspaper of March 26th, 1832:—

"RAILWAY FROM LONDON TO BRISTOL.—We understand that two civil engineers of eminence, Henry H. Price and Wm. Brunton, Esqrs., are busily occupied (under the auspices of some leading interests) in making the necessary surveys for the above important work. We hail with satisfaction the prospect of seeing the metropolis, ere long, thus closely approximated to the Bristol Channel and Western Seas, when four or five hours will enable us to pay a morning visit to Bristol. Nothing can tend more to increase and consolidate the power of the empire than to give the greatest possible facility of intercourse between its distant points. When the London and Bristol railway shall be completed, it will be very possible, in connexion with the Irish steam-boats from the latter port, for cattle and other Irish produce to be conveyed to the London market within 32 hours from the time of shipment at Cork, Waterford, &c., and thus, at a cheap rate, will the London market be thrown immediately open to the Irish agriculturist; at the same time the London consumers will be benefited in proportion to the greater extent of country thrown open whence they may derive their supplies. Liverpool, we understand, imports above 7,000 head of live stock per week; much of which is conveyed to Manchester by the railway, and we may surely hope for a similar result to the metropolis, when the direct communication is opened with Ireland by similar means. In a political point of view, the importance of the great work in question is too obvious to require a moment's comment. We need only state, that in case of emergency, four to five hours will be sufficient to convey any quantity of men or stores from our depots or arsenals near London to Bristol, whence they will be ready to embark for any point where they may be required, and we at once prove that railways, judiciously constructed across the country, may be made, not only the means of economy to the Government (smaller establishments being necessary), but that they tend more than anything else to concentrate and consolidate the strength of an empire, and are an additional guarantee against war and foreign aggression."



In these days of special trains, composed exclusively of Post Office carriages, such for instance as the night mail on the Great Western Railway, leaving Paddington at 9.5 p.m., consisting of eight coaches with engine (usually the "Alexandra" or "Duke of York"), and measuring 400 feet in length, which runs the whole journey from London to Penzance in the space of 9 hours 40 minutes, stopping at Bristol and a few other first-class stations en route, it may be interesting to recall the earliest period of the conveyance of mails by railway. Light is thrown thereon in the following correspondence relating to the then conveyance of the mails to Manchester and Liverpool, partly by the recently-constructed railway, and partly by road:—"Liverpool, 4th July, 1837. Dear Sir, We reached this place precisely at half-past twelve—exactly an hour behind our time—the loss arose out of various little contretemps, which a little practice will set right. This is the first time in Europe so long a journey was performed in so short a time, and if, some very few years ago, it had been said a letter could be answered by return of post from London, the idea would have been treated as chimerical, and yet at eight last evening was I in London, and this letter will reach there to-morrow morning, the proceeding of these operations occupying a period of 34-1/2 hours only, out of which a rest of three hours is to be taken, thus performing a distance of 412 miles in 31-1/2 hours.

"Our mail coach was before its time full 15 minutes, notwithstanding at one place we could not find horses, except posters; and at another when posters were found there was no coachman; luckily there was one on the mail, looking out for a place, with which we suited him. To-night, doubtless, all will go right (some dispute among the amiable contractors, I believe to be the cause). I need hardly observe that I have adopted proper measures. I have the honour to be, Dear Sir, Yours very faithfully, (Signed) Geo. Louis. To Lt.-Col. Maberley, &c., &c., &c."



"Manchester, 4th July, 1837. Sir, I have much pleasure in stating that the London Bag arrived here this day by railway at half-past twelve p.m. The Bag to London was despatched as usual this morning by the mail coach, but concluding that a return by the railway is intended both this day and to-morrow (although the arrangements generally do not commence until the 6th) I make a despatch with such letters as are in the office at half-past two p.m., and propose doing the same to-morrow. I am, Sir, Your most obedient, humble Servant, (Sig.) G.F. Karstadt. To Lt.-Col. Maberley."

"4th July, 1837. Manchester. G. Karstadt, Esq. For the Postmaster-General. I enclose a letter from Mr. Louis with this report from Mr. Karstadt as to the first working of the railroad. I am sorry to say that it appears from the time bills an hour was lost upon the railroad coming up. (Signed) J.V.L.M. (Lt.-Col. Maberly). 5th July, 1837. Read, Lichfield (Lord Lichfield)." The coaches running all the way through at this period were timed to leave London at 8 p.m., and arrive at Liverpool and Manchester at 2.30 p.m. On the up journey the coaches left Manchester and Liverpool at 11.30 a.m., and reached London at 6.30 a.m.

The conveyance of the mail partly by road and partly by rail came into operation on the Western road from 1838 to 1841 as section by section of the Great Western Railway became completed. Thus, in 1840, mails which had come by road between Maidenhead and Bath were brought into Bristol by trains composed of very primitive engines, tenders and coaches, as depicted in the illustrations taken from engravings of the period.

Mr. J.W. Arrowsmith, the world-wide known Bristol Publisher, recently reprinted Arrowsmith's Railway Guide of 1854, the year of its first issue. It is interesting to note from the re-publication that the shortest time in which Mails and passengers were conveyed between London and Plymouth was 7 hours, 25 minutes, and between Plymouth and London 7 hours, 35 minutes. What a change a half-century has brought about! The pace of the trains has been vastly increased, and even goods trains accomplish the journey from London to Bristol in three hours. There is no such thing as finality in speed, as the Great Western Railway Company has been trying a French engine, with a view to beat all previous records. One of these engines was tried in France with the equivalent of fifteen loaded coaches behind it. It was brought to a dead stop on a steep incline, and when started again it gathered speed, so that before the summit was reached it was travelling at its normal speed—74.6 miles an hour.

This new engine, "La France," recently accomplished a brilliant feat. She was started from Exeter with a load of twelve of the largest corridor-bogies, one being a "diner," the whole weight behind her tender, including passengers, staff, luggage, and stores, being nearly 330 tons. "La France" ran the 75-1/2 miles to Temple Meads Station, Bristol, in 72-1/2 minutes, start to stop, thus averaging 62.5 miles an hour, although she had to face a 20-mile climb at the start, the last 27 miles of this stretch being at 1 in 115. She went on from Bristol to London, 118-1/2 miles, with the same heavy load, in exactly 118 minutes. Her time from Bath to Paddington, 107 miles, was 104 minutes; from Swindon, 77-1/4 miles, 72 minutes; from Reading, 36 miles, 33 minutes.

A good performance in long distance railway running was established by the Great Western Railway Company in connection with the visit in 1903 of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Cornwall. Their Royal Highnesses left Paddington in a special division of the Cornishman at 10.40 a.m., the train being timed to do the non-stop run to North Road, Plymouth, a distance of 245 miles, in four hours and a half. This time was, however, reduced to the extent of 36-1/4 min., the train steaming into North Road at 33-3/4 minutes past 2 o'clock. The train covered during the first hour's run 67-3/4 miles, the average speed for the whole journey to Plymouth being 1.049 miles per minute. The journey was performed in about half the time occupied in 1854.



The up train, which runs from Bristol to London in exactly two hours, via Badminton, is matched by a down train in the same time by the easier but slightly longer main line (via Bath), giving a start-to-stop speed of 59-1/8 miles an hour, with a dead slow through Bath Station. But to Bath, where a coach is slipped, the inclusive speed is 60 miles an hour, as the distance is 107 miles (all but 10 chains), and the time from Paddington, 1 hr. 47 min. This is by the 10.50 a.m. "Cornishman," and is said to be the first Great Western train ever booked at a mile a minute, and the first train on any London Railway even "scheduled" at that speed.

In connection with the Mail Services between the Metropolis and Bristol, the "Gate of the West," it may be appropriate here to mention the recent arbitration case between the Great Western Railway Company and H.M. Postmaster-General in regard to remuneration for conveyance of Mails.

The Company, dissatisfied with the payment of L115,000 a year under their contract of 1885, subsequently raised by small additions, from time to time, to L126,000 a year, brought their case before the Railway Commissioners, who awarded L135,855 a year from the 1st July, 1902. This amount covered the provision of a new postal train in each direction between London and Penzance. It was Sir Frederick Peel who delivered the judgment of the Court.



CHAPTER XII.

PRIMITIVE POST OFFICE.—FIFTH CLAUSE POSTS.—MAIL CART IN A RHINE.—EFFECT OF GALES ON POST AND TELEGRAPH SERVICE.

The Bristol Postal District, stretching from the Severn banks beyond Oldbury-on-Severn to a point near Bath, and thence straight across to the Bristol Channel again, consists of ground within the City and County of Bristol, and the Counties of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire. The border of Wiltshire is touched near Dyrham and Badminton, and the district is separated from Monmouthshire by the estuary of the River Severn.



Post Offices showing signs of great antiquity are scarcely in existence now, for at the present day the wide district thus described in the preceding paragraph contains within its boundaries only one post office established under the primitive but comfortable and picturesque thatched roof. This is the Horton Post Office. The picture of this post office is from an excellent photograph taken by Miss Begbie, a daughter of the Rector of Horton. The village lies at the foot of the Cotswolds, and near this spot, in quiet retreat, William Tyndale translated the New Testament. The Duke of Beaufort's hounds meet from time to time in the Horton Post Office yard. This rustic place was originally the village ale house, yclept "The Horse Shoe." It is now devoted to the more useful purpose of the sale of stamps and the posting and distribution of letters, under the able and energetic superintendence of Mrs. Slade.

Such Postal Sub-Districts as Horton, far remote from their principal centre, were classified under Parliamentary legislation. Thus the fifth Clause posts of early in the 19th Century took their name from the Act 41, Geo. 3, Ch. 7, Clause 5, under which they were established. Special post marks were in use for such posts. In the case of the Bristol district there was only one 5th Clause post, namely, at Thornbury, which was established in 1825, and under its regulations one penny was charged for the delivery of each letter at Thornbury. The post was a horse post from and to Bristol, and the Contractor delivered and collected bags at Almondsbury and Fylton, which were both "penny posts." The main object of the fifth Clause post was to join up small towns with the larger post towns and so it was that Thornbury became thus linked on to Bristol. On the other hand, Bristol had 63 penny posts, including Almondsbury and Fylton, which were denoted by numbers 1 to 63, Clifton being No. 1.

Of the 52 "Fifth Clause Posts" existing in 1839 Bristol had only the one which joined Bristol and Thornbury.

Owing to there being no settled port of departure or arrival for vessels employed for conveyance of Foreign Mails, the letters were frequently despatched by privately-owned ships. They were then impressed with a post-mark "Ship Letter," with the name of the town included.

The Penny Post letters were such as had been posted in any one of the 63 Bristol Penny Post Sub-District Offices for delivery in the district of posting, or in any of the 62 other Offices. Thus a letter posted in Fylton for delivery in Fylton would be charged one penny upon being handed in at that Post Office, and another penny would be obtained on delivery to the addressee.

A letter posted at the Penny Post Office of Almondsbury for delivery in the Penny Post District of Fylton would be charged a penny upon being handed in at the Almondsbury Office and another penny would be charged to the addressee on delivery. Thornbury being a 5th Clause Post would have letters posted in its special "Open" box, delivered in the Thornbury Postal area for the one penny, that charged on delivery.

A letter posted in the "Open" box at Thornbury (5th Clause Post) for Bristol would likewise travel from Poster to addressee for the 1d. delivery charge in Bristol, as bags would be exchanged between the two places.

A single letter, i.e., a letter without an enclosure, coming from Reading for Thornbury, would be charged a general post rate of 8d. to Bristol, plus 1d. for delivery, which would be the same in the cases of letters from Reading for Fylton or Almondsbury; but if a letter were posted at Thornbury for Reading, there would be no charge from Thornbury to Bristol, so that the addressee would only be called upon to pay the general post rate of 8d., whereas, the postage on a letter from Fylton or Almondsbury would be 8d., plus a penny charged for collection.



The mail services in the rural districts are not free from danger. The pitcher may have been carried to the fountain year after year without mishap, but it not infrequently becomes broken at last. In like manner the contractor for the Portishead, Clevedon, and Yatton mail cart service, after having driven over this route with immunity from accident for forty years, yet came to grief in the last week of his connection with His Majesty's mails, January, 1902. The contractor's time table was arranged thus:—Portishead, leave 9.15 p.m.; Clevedon, arrive 10.5 p.m., leave 10.50 p.m.; Yatton, arrive 11.28 p.m.; attend to apparatus and up mail 12.17 a.m., down mail 12.42 a.m.; Yatton, leave 1.5 a.m.; Clevedon, arrive 1.48 a.m., depart 4.15 a.m.; Portishead, arrive 5.5 a.m.

The contractor, Mr. Dawes, now in the 66th year of his age, having performed a part of his outward journey on the 19th September, 1902, left Clevedon for Yatton quite sober as ever, and in his usual health. Then comes the mystery. He did not reach Yatton in due course, and the railway signalman intimated the failure to Bristol, from which office the postmaster of Clevedon was advised, who at early dawn started out a scout on a bicycle to search for the missing mailman and mail bags. The scout discovered no signs of man or mails between Clevedon and the Yatton apparatus station, and going back over the same ground, he eventually met an individual who had seen an aged man with a whip in his hand wandering on the road. This he knew to be his man, and he discovered Dawes walking aimlessly along the road at about 7 a.m. His explanations were not coherent. The horse had ran away with him, and flung him off the cart into a ditch; he had tumbled off the cart, and walked into a ditch; he had tried to knock people up to assist him in trying to find what had become of the missing mails! In the meantime, a farm labourer going out on to the Kingston Seymour moors to milk the cows discovered the mail cart turned over on to its side, and thus embedded in a rhine on the roadside. The horse also was in the rhine, up to his back, partly in mud and partly in water. The milkman immediately started off to Clevedon to give the alarm, and his employer, who was accompanying him on his journey to the milking ground, took prompt steps, in conjunction with moor men, to drag horse and vehicle out of the mud and mire. Fortunately, the mailbags were uninjured, and the postmaster of Clevedon, who had set out on a search, had them conveyed back to his office. Dazed contractor Dawes, the muddy mail cart, and horse coated with mud from head to hoofs, were got back into the town at about 11 a.m. It would seem that the contractor fell asleep and tumbled from his box into the road, and that his horse wandered on, grazing from side to side of the road, till eventually in the dark of night horse and cart fell into the rhine. On coming to himself, the contractor, after trying in vain to arouse the inhabitants of roadside houses, wandered about all night, or it may be laid down somewhere to await morning light. The animal was injured to such an extent that it had to be destroyed.

During the fierce gale which, with unparalleled severity, raged in the Bristol Channel on the night of Thursday, the 10th September, 1903, a vessel was driven ashore on the Gore Sands. Soon after daybreak a call was made for the Burnham Lifeboat, but, in consequence of the heavy seas, the crew was unable to launch her. The coxswain, therefore, telegraphed for the Watchet Lifeboat to proceed to the rescue. Every endeavour was made by the Postal Telegraph authorities to expeditiously transmit the message, but the elements which had operated against the vessel, had likewise played havoc with the telegraph wires, with the result that the telegram sustained such delay in transmission as to retard the launching of the Lifeboat. Fortunately, no serious consequences followed.

As regards mail communication, the night journey by road from Bristol to Bath and Chippenham could not be made, owing to the roads being blocked by fallen trees.

The gale was far reaching in its effects, and carried away parts of Weston-super-Mare Pier, landed boats on promenade, blew down walls, chimneys, and laid low hundreds of trees, was especially "a howler," and disastrous as regards interference with telegraphic communication. Wires were blown down in all directions, and Bristol suffered greatly. On the 11th, at 11.0 a.m., there was no wire whatever available to South Wales, and telegrams had to be sent by train. There was no wire available to Scotland or to the north beyond Birmingham, or to Cork and Jersey. Several local lines were down, such as Wedmore, Hambrook, Yatton, Portishead, Wickwar, etc. Delay of 50 minutes occurred to Birmingham, which office transmitted all work for the north. The delay to London was 40 minutes. Trunk telephone communication was impossible. Every wire was interrupted, and remained so all day. In the evening there was still no wire which could be used to Scotland, Cork, or Channel Islands. Cardiff was reached at 3.0 p.m., on one wire.



CHAPTER XIII.

BRISTOL REJUVENATED.—VISIT OF PRINCE OF WALES IN CONNECTION WITH THE NEW BRISTOL DOCK.—BRISTOL AND JAMAICAN MAIL SERVICE.—AMERICAN MAILS.—BRISTOL SHIP LETTER MAILS.—THE REDLAND POST OFFICE.—THE MEDICAL OFFICER.—BRISTOL TELEGRAPHISTS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.—LORD STANLEY.—MR. J. PAUL BUSH.

Bristol "lethargic" was for years the general idea of the place. Bristol "awakening" followed, and it is now realised that Bristol has fully awakened to her vast potentialities. The eyes of the populace of Great Britain, and, it may be, of many of the dwellers in the King's dominions beyond the seas, were in March, 1902, cast in the direction of the ancient city of Bristol, erstwhile the second port in importance in the British Isles. This national looking to what Bristolians proudly call the "metropolis of Western England" was occasioned by the visit of the Prince of Wales, with H.R.H. the Princess, to turn the first sod in connection with the great works then about to be undertaken for the extension of the docks at Avonmouth, so as to render them capable of accommodating and berthing steamers of a magnitude greater than any yet built—a work then expected to be completed in four or five years. The function was a notable one, and the occasion may be briefly summed up as "a grand day for Bristol." Two millions are being spent on the dock, which will have a water space of thirty acres, with room for further extension. The lock will be 875 feet long and 100 feet wide. There will be 5,000 feet of quay space, with abundant railway sidings and other appointments of a first-class port.



In Feb., 1902, Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G., the chief of the Elder Dempster steamship line, set out from Avonmouth in the "Port Antonio" for Jamaica, with the object of promoting further developments between Bristol and the West Indies by means of the Imperial Direct West India mail service. The occasion of his departure was unusually interesting, as it took place on the first anniversary of the sailing of the first boat of the direct service carrying H. Majesty's mails to the Island of Jamaica from Avonmouth. The picture portrays the mails being embarked on the "Antonio's" sister ship, the "Port Royal," which arrived at Avonmouth on the day before the royal visit, and was inspected by Their Royal Highnesses, who were much interested in her banana cargo. The "Port Kingston," a steamer of larger size and splendid construction, has now been added to the Jamaican fleet, and she makes the passage from Kingston to Bristol in ten-and-a-half days. By a coincidence, when Bristol was "feasting" on the 5th March, 1902—the Red Letter Day—and its senior Burgess, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the other Members of Parliament for the city were felicitating with a goodly array of Bristol Fathers over the great event likely to be fraught with untold benefit to the historic port from which Sebastian Cabot set forth years and years ago to seek and find the continent of America, the feast of "St. Martin's" was being held at the Criterion, in London, and the Post Office K.C.B.'s, Sir George Murray, Sir Spencer Walpole, and Sir William Preece, under the courtly presidency of Sir Robert Hunter, were eloquently descanting to a large assemblage of Post Office literati on the usefulness of the Post Office Service magazine—St. Martin's le Grand.