Declared Accounts: Post Office

Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 25, 1711. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1952.

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'Declared Accounts: Post Office', in Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 25, 1711, (London, 1952) pp. cdxviii-cdxxvi. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-treasury-books/vol25/cdxviii-cdxxvi [accessed 13 April 2024]

Post Office

DECLARED ACCOUNTS: POST OFFICE.
PIPE OFFICE: ROLL 2783 [E351/2783]. AUDIT OFFICE, BUNDLE 1958, ROLL 43 [A.O.1/1958/43].
STEPHEN LILLY, Receiver General of the General Letter Office and Penny Post Office.
26 March 1710 to 25 March 1711.
Charge. £ s. d.
Arrears: remaining in the Accomptant's hands upon the last preceding Accompt Nil
depending upon several persons for the balance of their Accompts at Ladyday 1685 2,125 6 0
depending upon divers Postmasters and others belonging to the General Letter Office for ditto at Ladyday 1710 68,199 15 9
depending on several persons belonging to the Penny Post Office for the same 2,161 1 3½
depending upon several persons in arrear at the same time 671 14 1
depending upon Thomas Denning, carpenter, for work done by him 1,100 0 0
total arrears: £74,257 17 1½
£ s. d. £ s. d.
Receipts: revenue and profits of the General Post Office 25 March 1710 to 25 March 1711:
in the Foreign Office:
the produce of letters brought in by the Mails (by months) 19,538 0 11
money received for letters from and to Portugal 6,609 15 7
money received of Capt. Grey for the freight of passangers on the packet boats between Holland and Harwich 1,009 15 3
money received of John Six of Amsterdam under his contract with the Lords Burgomasters and Regents there for the freight of goods and passengers on the packet boats 1,200 0 0
money received of Zachary Rogers of Falmouth for the freight of passengers between Lisbon and Falmouth 794 0 9
total for the Foreign Office 29,151 12 6
in the Inland Office:
money received for letters taken in at the windows (by months) 2,275 10 1
money received of the letter receivers (ditto) 927 11 10
the Lettercarriers' charge, being unpaid letters sent up from the Stages in the Country (ditto) 54,544 5 11
the Postmaster's charge for letters sent from London into the Country (ditto) 59,963 14 4
money due by contracts with the several farmers:
£ s. d.
Edward Hall of Rye, co. Sussex, for all letters to and from Hastings and Battell, co. Sussex, and Crambrooke, Biddendon, Tenterden, Appledore, Hurst Greene, Lyd, New Romney, Hyth and Folkstone, co. Kent, with places adjacent 150 0 0
Matthew Staughton and John Smith of Wellingborow, co. Northampton, for letters between London and Sheffield, co. York, Chesterfield, co. Derby, and several other places 1,570 0 0
William Rawson and Sarah Wainwright, co. York, for letters between London and Ferrybridge and Tadcaster, etc., and also settle, Kirkby Lonsdale, etc. 1,470 0 0
Thomas Atwood of St. Neots for letters between London and St. Neots, co. Huntingdon, Biggleswade, co Bedford, etc. 240 0 0
John George of Thetford for letters between London and Thetford, Wassingham [Walsingham], etc. 400 0 0
Joseph Quash of Exeter for letters between London and townsin Somerset, Gloucester, Worcester, Oxford, Hereford, Devon, Shropshire and South Wales 700 0 0
Samuel Johnson of Walden for letters between London and Havering, Lambourne, Haybridge and other places in Hertford, Essex, Sussex and Cambridge 400 0 0
John Brett of Tunbridge for letters between London and places in Kent and Sussex 330 0 0
John Barnes of Chichester for letters between London and Chichester, Arundell, Petworth and other places in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire 1,550 0 0
Richard Bigg of Winslow, co. Bucks. for letters between London and Edgeworth [Edgeware], Stanmore, Watford, etc. 1,180 0 0
7,990 0 0
way letters taken in at one stage and delivered at another, farmed to divers Postmaster:
£ s. d.
John Stuckley of Plymouth 230 0 0
Mark Hayman of Dartmouth 20 0 0
James Buckley of Totness 10 0 0
Joseph Quash of Exeter 100 0 0
Ann Woolfrey of Blanford 3 0 0
Charles Coven of Dorchester 6 0 0
John Gayton of Portsmouth 7 0 0
Robert Rodham of Barwick 4 0 0
John Bell of Newcastle 30 0 0
William Waterman of Sarum 4 0 0
Nicholas Payton of Durham 10 0 0
John Wilson of Darlington 5 0 0
Elizabeth Harker of Northalerton 9 0 0
Barbara Thwayts of Great Abridge [Greta Bridge] 2 0 0
Richard Cowland of Borrowbridge 5 0 0
Catherine Dawson of York 40 0 0
Robert Pattinson of Beverley 4 0 0
Mary Mould of Hull 50 0 0
John Herring of Newark 5 0 0
Hannah Petty of Gainsbrough 24 0 0
Thomas Ward of Boston 10 0 0
John Sharp of Grantham 5 0 0
John Richton of Spalding 10 0 0
Edward Tinkerson of Peterborough 1 0 0
John Exton of Lynn 20 0 0
Jonathan Bens of Halston 10 0 0
624 0 0
money due from Isaac Manley, manager of the Letter Office in Dublin, for letters sent from Dublin to Chester 605 6 7
ditto for letters sent from Holyhead 23 1 6
money received of John Six of Amsterdam for Ship-letters to Holland 6 19 1
money received for By- or Wayletters in the Chester Road by Mr. Reynolds 454 12 1
money received of letter-carriers for letters short-taxed taken in by them 1 6 10
money received of several persons for the port of Express-letters 171 5 6
money received of John Stuckley of Plymouth for the West India letters and of Joseph Quash of Exeter and of Henry Pine of Bristoll 86 19 0
total for the Inland Office 127,674 12 9
in the North British Office:
Midsummer quarter 1710 872 6 5
Michaelmas quarter 1710 886 12 9
Xmas quarter 1710 787 12 7
Ladyday quarter 1711 1,399 9 3
total for the North British Office 3,946 1 0
in the Irish Office:
half year to Michaelmas 1710 6,481 12 8
ditto to Ladyday 1711 5,770 19 6
total for the Irish Office 12,252 12 2
total Receipts for the General Letter Office £173,024 18 5
revenue of the Penny Post Office:
the produce of 959,487 letters taken in by the Officers of the Penny Post Office at 1d. per letter 3,997 17 3
the produce of the second 1d. for 100, 147 letters taken in by letter receivers in London and directed and delivered to persons in the Country 417 5 7
the produce of letters taken in by the Six Penny Port Office, being 56,074 letters at 1d. a letter 233 12 10
total for the growing Duty of the Penny Post 4,648 15 8
money overpaid on the Accompt of the Penny Post 13 17 6
£ s. d.
overpays remaining due at Ladyday 1711:
Charles Blight of Launceston 1 11 5
Joseph Warkman of Ashburton 9 16 0
Edward Downes of Hartford Bridge 38 10 8
John Reeves of Petersfield 26 6 5
John Beauchamp of Stanes 28 11 7
Grace Carr of Belford 7 10 11
John Johnson of Dumfries 0 6 11
Ann Pybus of Thirsk 0 6 1
William Wimberley of Postwitham 4 4 2
John Sympson of Bourn 17 17 4
Richard Harrison of Caxton 12 4 8
Sarah Clifford of Maidenhead 5 12 11
Edward Lock of Hounslow 13 0 11
Richard Wellington of Hay 4 13 4
Margaret Griffith of Lanimdiffry [Llandovery] 3 15 9
John Elliot of Hubberstone 3 8 7
Samuel Coats of Pickadilly 45 1 6
Maurice Owen of Holyhead 36 16 10
Margarite Bulkley of Beaumaris 20 14 2
John Draper of Conway 21 2 9
Thomas Longbottom of Barnet 2 3 10
John Mercer of Oldstreet 15 0 0
Edward Hall of Rye 7 18 2
Mary Gardner of Southwark 11 5 0
Samuel Johnson of Walden 18 13 0
Mounsieur Richards of Paris 2,633 18 9
2,990 11 8
total charge and receipts as above:
arrears 74,257 17 1½
receipts of the General Letter Office 173,024 18 5
receipts of the Penny Post Office 4,648 15 8
overpayment in the Penny Post Office 13 17 6
overpays 2,990 11 8
254,936 0 4½
Discharge.
Money due to Postmasters and others for the Balances of their Accompts 2,956 19 9
abatements, viz.:
country letters brought from foreign parts and from the Deputy Postmasters in England, being first charged at the General Post Office in London and sent as directed to persons in the country, whereby the Growing Duties of those parts are increased and likewise charged on the Deputy Postmasters, viz., in the Foreign Office 3,217l. 15s. 4d. and in the Inland Office 8,083l. 17s. 4d. 11,301 12 8
her Majesty's and Members of Parliament their letters, brought and delivered free 16,664 4 7
letters charged on several Postmasters and Letter-carriers, returned because the addressees could not be found 1,888 16 11
foreign letters enclosing Bills of Exchange, etc., exempted by Act of Parliament; overtaxed letters, errors and abatements 507 7 3
letters sent into the General Post Office by persons who farmed the same at yearly rents and so doubly charged 5,735 3 4
36,097 4 9
salaries: including Sir Thomas Frankland, kt., and John Evelyn, Postmasters General, 2,000l.; Edward Harley, Auditor, 260l.; George Searle, Accomptant, 300l.; Stephen Lilly, Receiver General, 300l.; William Frankland, Comptroller of the Inland Office, 200l.; Benjamin Waterhouse, Secretary, 200l.; Richard Swift, Solicitor, 200l.; Ashburnham Frowd, Comptroller of the Foreign Office, 150l.; sundry postmasters detailed at length 8,474l. 16s. 6d. 16,721 19 2
annuities and pensions:
the Dukes of Grafton and Northumberland as assigns to the late Duchess of Cleveland for half a year's pension due to her at Ladyday 1710 2,350l., and for their pension for a year to Xmas 1710 4,700l. 7,050 0 0
John, Duke of Marlborough, for his pension under the Act 5 Anne [6 Anne] c.7] 5,000 0 0
the Duke of Leeds by patent 3 Wm. & M. 3,500 0 0
Laurence, Earl of Rochester, by patent 4 Jan. 1686 4,000 0 0
the Duke of Schonburg by patents 22 Dec. 8 Wm. III and 6 May 2 Anne 5,000 0 0
the Duke of Queensberry by patent 22 May 1707 3,000 0 0
the Earl of Seafeild by patent 23 Dec. 7 Anne 3,000 0 0
the Earl of Marr by patents 5 July 8 Anne 3,000 0 0
the Earl of Pembroke by patent 20 Oct. 8 Anne 3,000 0 0
Guy Palmes by patent 4 Aug. 1702 (1½ years) 1,500 0 0
William, Lord Cowper, late Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, from Xmas 1709 to 23 Sept. 1710 2,997 5 0
Simon, Lord Harcourt, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Great Britain, by patent 20 Nov. 9 Anne, from 18 Oct. to 25 Dec. 1710 745 4 0
Lieut. Gen. Webb by patent 29 March 1710 1,000 0 0
Col. John Hill by patent 17 June 9 Anne (¾ year) 750 0 0
the Duke of Argyll by patent 23 Jan. 1710–11 (¼ year) 750 0 0
Mrs. Maud Johnson by privy seal 15 March 1696 300 0 0
Rebecca Chadwick, late widow of Dr. Titus Oates, by patent 30 July 1698 300 0 0
William Brocket by Royal Warrant 12 April 1707 400 0 0
Charles Osborne by patent 3 Nov. 3 Anne 200 0 0
the Professors of the University of Edinburgh by privy seal 22 Sept. 1708 210 0 0
the Professors of the University of Glasgow by ditto 210 0 0
45,912 9 0
Court Post: Henry Andrews for carrying Royal letters, etc., between the Court or Palace of Residence and the First Post Stage by patent 23 July 4 Anne 365 0 0
charges of Expresses: to several Postmasters, Midsummer quarter 1710 265l. 19s. 11d., Michaelmas quarter 1710 477l. 5s. 1d., Xmas quarter 1710 261l. 5s. (besides 2l. 10s. 5d. error in casting), Ladyday quarter 1711 503l. 1s. 3d 1,507 6 8
charges of the packet boats:
Capt. Richard Gray on the Harwich packet boats (wear and tear of the Marlborough, wages for the Eagle, Dispatch, Dolphin, Prince and Marlborough, victualling of the same and of poor seamen and soldiers, Robert Haselfoot, chirurgeon, for curing sick and wounded seamen, sundry expenses, Capt. Gray's salary, hire of a fishing boat) 6,989 16 7
Zachary Rogers on the Lisbon packet boats (hire, wear and tear of the Expedition, Allyance, Queen and others, wages, victualling, expenses, Thomas Code, surgeon, for curing sick and wounded seamen, Zachariah Rogers for his own salary) 13,502 2 8
Edmund Dummer for hire of the West India packet boats and for the Lisbon service, 13,051l. 13s. 0d.; Edward Popley and others for repairing the Expedition, etc., 2,021l. 13s.; Thomas and John Loving and Thomas Barnard for repairing the Godolphin, 1,512l. 10s.; and Mr. John Brown of Lisbon for salvage of stores, 30l. 9s. 9d. 16,616 5 9
John Mackey, agent at Dover for the Flanders packet boats, for his salary, 150l.; and as Director of the said packet boats 130l. and for his expenses in Flanders 135l.; for the hire of four packet boats for the Flanders correspondence, 2,000l.; for the charge of several Expresses from Spain, 73l. 5s. 8d., and for boat hire for Col. Panton and Maj. Lee who came over with news, 35l.; for transporting several poor soldiers from Dover to Ostend and from Ostend to Dover, etc., 129l. 1s. 0d., and for the charges of Humphrey Hall's transportation to France, 6l. 12s., and for several packets between the Lord High Treasurer and the Duke of Marlborough, 36l. 0s. 8d. 2,694 19 4
John Traverse for the redemption of an Irish packet boat taken by the French 189 6 6
Mr. Warren on accompt of three quarters of the produce of letters from the continent of America by the American packet boats 188 12 6
40,181 3 4
sundry incident charges detailed (candles, leathern bags, stationery, brasses and stamps, tradesmen's bills for work and materials, New Year's gifts, extraordinary duty payments, parish dues of St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Abchurch, rent of the Post Office, etc., including rewards for bringing news of King Charles's victory over the Duke of Anjou in Spain and of the surrendering the garrison of Aix) 4,393 10 5
allowances of various natures:
John Six of Amsterdam for his moiety of frank letters conveyed from Hamborough [Hamburg] and the Northern Crowns and Italy 1,085 15 0
William Brown, agent at Lisbon, for the remittance of money 129 4 11
John Duarta de Costa for the exchange of 2,224l. 10s. 6d. at 10 per cent. by a treaty between the Postmaster General of England in behalf of the Postmaster of Portugal 222 8 3
paid the Collectors of the Land Tax on the salaries of Clerks and others not exceeding 60l. per an. for 1709 and 1710 358 0 0
paid Thomas Reynall of Chester for his salary in collecting By-letters 246 17 2
allowance on Mr. Warberton's Accompt 2 17 9
2,045 3 1
charges of the Irish Office: allowed Isaac Manley, Deputy Postmaster General in Dublin, for sundary abatements:
salaries (not detailed) 3,202 11 0
State and Members of Parliament letters delivered frank 4,262 13 6
country letters sent to Dublin and not paid there, being sent forward to several Postmasters in Ireland 2,254 14 2
insolvent letters, etc 457 13 3
stationery and incident expenses 636 10 11
expresses 15 7 10
exchange of money 763 2 9
11,592 13 5
charges of the Inland Office of North Britain, not detailed 3,582 10 2
money paid into the Exchequer at several times, detailed 12,037 9 3
(total for salaries, pensions, expresses, packet boats, incident charges, etc., 138,339l. 4s. 6d.)
charges of the Penny Post Office:
salaries and wages (Nathaniel Castleton, Comptroller; his clerk; Accomptants; sorters and subsorters; messengers) 1,992 14 0
rent of the Penny Post Office (the Chief Office, the Westminster Office, the Temple Office, the St. Paul's Office, the Southwark Office, the Hermitage Office and the Exchanging House) 117 10 0
sundry disbursements, detailed 817 17 7
2,928 1 7
total payments and allowances £180,321 10 7
and so remains 74,614l. 9s. 9½d.
against which depending in super:
arrears due at Ladyday 1685, detailed 2,125 6 0
upon several Postmasters, detailed at length 69,100 9 8
arrears of the Penny Post 2,438 8 0½
arrearsdue from several other persons 950 6 1
74,614 9 9½
and so this Accompt of the Revenue of the General and Penny Post Office is even and Quit.
Memorandum. In pursuance of the Act 20 Car. 2 [19 & 20 Car. II, c. 7] the several Receivers and Postmasters abovementioned are chargeable with damages at 12 per cent. for the respective sums received by them and remaining in their hands and here noted that the same may be charged on them by the Court of Exchequer.
Declared 8 May 1714.
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