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ABSTRACT
Over the nineteenth century, the global expansion of British trade and settlement were underwritten by a massive expansion of correspondence and communication networks. But while there are detailed studies of how the domestic Post Office developed in this era, how mail was carried between these colonial and international locations has not been fully investigated. This omission is striking because, as this article explains, the development of overseas mail services diverged significantly from the patterns of reform, cost-efficiency, and rationalisation described in histories of the domestic Post Office. Rather, the overseas mail grew through a set of unprecedented partnerships between the state and steamship companies that resulted in a surprisingly uneven postal network, which served an expanding collection of international and colonial ports but under highly variable conditions and costs. This article brings together postal records, Parliamentary debates, and the histories of steamship companies to explain how the overseas mail system developed between 1837 and 1880 as the power of private actors waxed and waned. It not only explains how a central utility of empire functioned but also provides insight on the operation of a key set of public-private partnerships in the nineteenth-century British world.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Sarah Pearsall, Atlantic Families; Eve Tavor Bannet, Empire of Letters.
2 Yrjo Kaukiainen, “Shrinking the World," 1–28; James Belich, Replenishing the Earth; Gary Bryan Magee and Andrew S. Thompson, Empire and Globalisation; Catherine Golden, Posting It.
3 Howard Robinson, The British Post Office; C. R. Perry, The Victorian Post Office, 64; Duncan. Campbell-Smith, Masters of the Post.
4 Golden, Posting It; Bannet, Empire of Letters; Clare Brant, Eighteenth-Century Letters and British Culture.
5 John M. Maber, North Star to Southern Cross, xii; Howard Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 188–89.
6 "France," Hertslet's Commercial Treaties," 36-96; "Portugal," Hertslet's Commercial Treaties: A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Conventions, and Reciprocal Regulations, at Present Subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers 7 (1850): 894–943.
7 The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC) was a private shipping company founded in 1839, and despite its name, not part of the Post Office. Throughot this paper “Royal Mail” refers to the shipping company, and “Post Office” to the official state body.
8 Francis Edwin Hyde, Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840-1973; Robert E. Forrester, British Mail Steamers to South America, 1851-1965; Freda Harcourt, Flagships of Imperialism; Maber, North Star to Southern Cross.
9 Freda Harcourt, “British Mail Contracts in the Age of Steam,” ; Harcourt, Flagships of Imperialism; Crosbie Smith, Coal, Steam and Ships; Frank Broeze, “Distance Tamed."
10 Campbell-Smith, Masters of the Post, 157–59; Robinson, The British Post Office, 159–72; Perry, The Victorian Post Office, 203–27; Joseph Clarence Hemmeon, The History of the British Post Office, 109–34.
11 Perry, The Victorian Post Office, 203–27; Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 234.
12 John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson, “The Imperialism of Free Trade,” 1–15, https://doi.org/10.2307/2591017; P. J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins, “Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Expansion Overseas II,” 1–26, https://doi.org/10.2307/2596293; Philip J. Stern, The Company-State; Steven Press, Rogue Empires”; Andrew Phillips, Outsourcing Empire.
13 Bannet, Empire of Letters, 4–5, 13.
14 Golden, Posting It, 46-7, 68-70.
15 Robinson, The British Post Office, 267.
16 Golden, Posting It, 2–12; Campbell-Smith, Masters of the Post, 149.
17 Robinson, The British Post Office, 354–58; Perry, The Victorian Post Office, 3.
18 Bannet, Empire of Letters; Pearsall, Atlantic Families.
19 Arthur H. Norway, History of the Post-Office Packet Service between the Years 1793–1815, 70–76.
20 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 35.
21 Robinson, 35-38,43-46, 48–56.
22 Norway, History of the Post-Office Packet Service, 57–59, 224; Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 79.
23 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 308–14.
24 Norway, History of the Post-Office Packet Service, 73–75.
25 John William Ponsonby, Coms. to inquire into Management of Post Office: Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Reports, Appendices, 1836, No. 49-51, 47.
26 Hemmeon, The History of the British Post Office, 111–13; Robinson, The British Post Office, 161.
27 "France," Hertslet's Commercial Treaties: A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Conventions, and Reciprocal Regulations, at Present Subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers 5 (1840): 36-96.
28 Robinson, 93.
29 "Portugal," Hertslet's Commercial Treaties: A Complete Collection of the Treaties and Conventions, and Reciprocal Regulations, at Present Subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers 7 (1850): 894-94.
30 Robinson, The British Post Office, 163–64.
31 Robinson, 270.
32 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 115.
33 Ponsonby, John William (chair), Coms. to inquire into Management of Post Office: Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Reports, 1836, No.49-51.
34 A Bill for transferring to the Commissioners of the Admiralty all Contracts, Bonds and other Securities, 1837 (HC Bill 27.)
35 Norway, History of the Post-Office Packet Service; Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 112.
36 Crosbie Smith, “We Never Make Mistakes,” 84–85.
37 POST 51 Post Office: Overseas Mails: Contracts (1722-1936) [finding aid], The Postal Museum. Francis Freeling, Steam Vessels Employed by the Government, 1831, Commons, No. 270.
38 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 122.
39 Grant, Charles (chair), Report from the Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India, 3 June 1834, Commons, no.478, vol. 14, 1834, 15.
40 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 158.
41 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts, 1853, No.1660, 1-2.
42 History of the Cunard Steamship Company (England: Cunard Steamship Company, 1886), 6; Post Office: Overseas Mails: Contracts (1722–1936), PSOT 51/12, Postal Museum.
43 A Link of Empire, or 70 Years of British Shipping. Note: this paper maintains the conventional reference to the Royal Mail Steamship Company as the Royal Mail; but this was a private company distinct from the Post Office.
44 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts. Report, Appendices, 1853, Cmnd.1660.
45 “James MacQueen Commercial Legacy Details”; Freda Harcourt, “Cunard, Sir Samuel, First Baronet”; David Lambert, “MacQueen, James (1778-1870).”
46 Harcourt, “Cunard, Sir Samuel, First Baronet”; Hyde, Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840–1973, 4–6.
47 Stanley Lane-Poole and Robert T Stearn, “Chesney, Francis Rawdon (1789–1872),”.
48 Elizabeth Baigent, “MacQueen, James (1778–1870),”.
49 Alan G Jamieson, “Anderson, Arthur (1792- 1868),”.
50 Freda Harcourt, “Waghorn, Thomas (1800–1850).”
51 P&O Eastern Mail Service, c.1885, Post Office: Overseas Mails: Contracts (1722–1936), POST 51/49, The Postal Museum.
52 Smith, “‘We Never Make Mistakes’,” 84.
53 Hyde, Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840-1973, 2–4.
54 James MacQueen, A General Plan for Mail.
55 Grant, Charles (chair), Report from the Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India, 20.
56 MacQueen, A General Plan for Mail Communication by Steam between Great Britain and the Eastern and Western Parts of the World.
57 Grant, Charles (chair), Report from the Select Committee on Steam Navigation to India, 3 June 1834, Commons, no.478, vol. 14, 1834, 19–20.
58 MacQueen, A General Plan for Mail Communication by Steam between Great Britain and the Eastern and Western Parts of the World, 64.
59 Thomas Waghorn, Particulars of an Overland Journey from London to Bombay, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008610938; Harcourt, “Waghorn, Thomas (1800–1850).”
60 Searight, Steaming East, 58–60; Francis Rawdon Chesney, Reports on the Navigation of the Euphrates.
61 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 148–49.
62 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts, 1853, No.1660, 23–25.
63 Harcourt, “Waghorn, Thomas (1800–1850).”
64 Dunlop, Alexander Murray (chair), Select Committee to inquire into Contracts by Government with Steam Packet Companies for Conveyance of Mails by Sea, and for Telegraphic Communications First Report, Commons, no. 328, vol. 14, 1860, 8-9.
65 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts, 1852–1853, No.1660, 20.
66 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts, 1853, No.1660, 32.
67 Smith, “‘We Never Make Mistakes,’” 86.
68 "Documents relating to Steam Navigation in the Pacific,” 1836, BT 2/1, National Archives, Kew.
69 “Foreign and Colonial Mail-Packet Service,” Chambers Edinburgh Journal, Sept 1851, British Library Newspapers.
70 Jocelyn, Robert (chair), Select Committee on Steam Communications with India, China, Australia and New Zealand Second Report, Commons, no.605, vol. 21, 1851, 6-7.
71 History of the Cunard Steamship Company, 12.
72 For example, prospectus for the Eastern Steam Navigation in CO 201/469, National Archives, Kew.
73 See for example discussion in Australia. Direct Packet Service Between UK and Sydney, POST 29/51, The Postal Museum, London.
74 Smith, Coal, Steam and Ships, 12–14.
75 Hyde, Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840-1973, 6, 42–43.
76 Harcourt, Flagships of Imperialism, 11.
77 MacQueen, A General Plan for Mail Communication, 47–54.
78 "Documents relating to Steam Navigation in the Pacific,” 1836, BT 2/1, National Archives, Kew.
79 Harcourt, Flagships of Imperialism, 15; Hyde, Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840-1973, 50–51.
80 1853 report, 3.
81 “Government Contracts” The Westminster & Foreign Quarterly Review, 1 Jan 1860, British Library Newspapers.
82 Packet committed moved for, 806.
83 Broeze, “Distance Tamed: Steam Navigation to Australia and New Zealand from Its Beginning to the Outbreak of the Great War.”
84 Maber, North Star to Southern Cross, xii.
85 26 Sept 1848, from C.D. Hayes to Treasury POST 29/51, The Postal Museum, London.
86 Harcourt, “Waghorn, Thomas (1800- 1850),” 123–25.
87 "STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA." Daily News, June 28, 1849. British Library Newspapers. “Association for Promoting Seam Communication with Australia,” CO 201/469, National Archives, Kew. “Steam to Australia and the Atlantic Races,” The Examiner, July 1850, British Library Newspapers, "STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA." Morning Chronicle [1801], June 16, 1849. British Library Newpapers.
88 "STEAM TO AUSTRALIA." Daily News, December 21, 1849. British Library Newspapers. See Daily News from Dec 1849 – February 1850 for continuing discussion.
89 "STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA." Morning Chronicle [1801], June 16, 1849. British Library Newspapers. "STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA." Daily News, December 27, 1849. British Library Newspapers.
90 Harcourt, Flagships of Imperialism, 69.
91 “Postage from Van Diemen’s Land” The Times, 30 Jan 1847, British Library Newspapers.
92 Jocelyn, Robert (chair), Select Committee on Steam Communications with India, China, Australia and New Zealand First Report, Commons, no.372, vol.21, 1851, 12.
93 Harcourt, “Waghorn, Thomas (1800- 1850),” 130–31. “Free Trade in Letters,” The Saturday Review, April 3 1858.
94 Cobden, Richard (chair), Select Committee to inquire into Contracts by Government with Steam Packet Companies for Conveyance of Mails by Sea, and for Telegraphic Communications, First Report, Commons, No. 180, Vol. 6, 1859, Appendix.
95 “Government Contracts,” The Westminster & Foreign Quarterly Review, 1 Jan 1860. British Library Newspapers.
96 H. C. G. Matthew, “Disraeli, Gladstone, and the Politics of Mid-Victorian Budgets,” 615–43.
97 Eugenio F. Biagini, Liberty, Retrenchment and Reform.
98 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts. Report, Appendices, 1853, Cmnd.1660. Gladstone, William, Packet Contracts, 7 July 1859, Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser, vol 154, cc 790-855.
99 “Packet Contracts,” Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 9 Jun 1860, British Library Newspapers.
100 Overseas Mail Contracts, POST 51/92, The Postal Museum, London.
101 Dunlop, Alexander Murray (chair), Select Committee to inquire into Contracts by Government with Steam Packet Companies for Conveyance of Mails by Sea, and for Telegraphic Communications First Report, Commons, no. 328, vol. 14, 1860, 15.
102 Bill to Transfer to Postmaster General Securities entered into with Admiralty in relation to Packet Service, 1860, no.38, vol. 5, 121.
103 Communication with Australia, Panama, Suez, and Cape Routes, Parliamentary Debates (3rd ser.) (1863) cols.1012-1019.
104 Copies of [North American] contracts between the Admiralty and steam navigation companies, POST 51/16, The Postal Museum, London.
105 Harcourt, Flagships of Imperialism.
106 Copies of correspondence between the Treasury and Postmaster General, 1860, POST 51/92, The Postal Museum, London.
107 Communication with Australia, Panama, Suez, and Cape Routes, Parliamentary Debates (3rd ser.) (1863) cols.1012-1019.
108 “Eastern Postal Contracts,” The Saturday Review, 24 August 1867, British Library Newspapers.
109 Gladstone, William, Packet Contracts, 7 July 1859, Parliamentary Debates, Commons, 3rd ser, vol 154, cc 790-855.
110 Communication with Australia, Panama, Suez, and Cape Routes, Parliamentary Debates (3rd ser.) (1863) cols.1012-1019.
111 Ibid.
112 “The New Postal Contracts,” The Saturday Review, 14 Dec 1867, British Library Newspapers.
113 Robinson, Carrying British Mails Overseas, 250.
114 Robinson, 258–59.
115 “GB Overseas Rates.”
116 Matthew Birchall, “History, Sovereignty, Capital,” 141–57, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022820000133; Eric Richards, Britannia’s Children; Jeremy Adelman, Frontier Development; Belich, Replenishing the Earth; Ian Phimister, “Foreign Devils, Finance and Informal Empire,” 737–59.
117 Robinson, The British Post Office, 163–72.
118 Charles John Canning, Committee on Packet Contracts, 1853, No.1660, 1.
119 “Free Trade in Letters,” Saturday Review, 3 April 1858, British Library Newspapers.
120 "Steam Navigation," Bristol Mercury, 9 January 1836, British Library Newspapers. “Steam Between England and the Levant,” The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, October 1842, British Library Newspapers. "Documents relating to Steam Navigation in the Pacific," 1836, BT 2/1, National Archives, Kew.