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Auction: 17020 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 865

Autographs
John Palmer
(1807) (16 July) A.L.S. from Gower Street to a Mr Smith giving details of arrangements for forwarding mail between Post Offices, a petition to parliament and detailed news of actors to assist casting. It seems that Smith may have been employed to scout for the Bath theatres. With transcript. Photo

John Palmer of Bath (1742 – 1818) was a theatre owner and instigator of the British system of mail coaches that was the beginning of the great British post office reforms with the introduction of an efficient mail coach delivery service in Great Britain during the late 18th century. He was Mayor of Bath on two occasions and Comptroller General of the Post Office, and later served as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bath between 1801 and 1807.

Because Palmer made much use of stagecoach services between cities in the course of his business, and noted that it seemed far more efficient than the system of mail delivery then in operation, so that he could travel from Bath to London in a single day while the mail took three days. It occurred to him that this coach service could be developed into a national mail delivery service, so in 1782 he suggested to the Post Office in London that they take up the idea. He met resistance from officials who believed that the existing system could not be improved, but eventually the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Pitt, allowed him to carry out an experimental run between Bristol and London. Under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours. The coach, funded by Palmer, left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later.

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Sold for
£180