Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/262

250 Portugal House.—See "The Royal."

Post Offices.—Charles I. must be credited with founding the present Post Office system, as in 1635 he commanded that a running post or two should be settled "to run night and day between London and Edinburgh, to go thither and come back again in six days, and to take with them all such letters as shall be directed to any post town in or near that road." Other "running posts" were arranged to Exeter and Plymouth, and to Chester and Holyhead, &c., and gradually all the principal places in the country were linked on to the main routes by direct and cross posts. It has often been quoted as a token of the insignificance of Birmingham that letters used to be addressed "Birmingham, near Walsall;" but possibly the necessity of some writer having to send here by a cross-country route, via Walsall, will explain the matter. That our town was not one of the last to be provided with mails is proved by Robert Girdler, a resident of Edgbaston Street in 1652, being appointed the Government postmaster. Where the earlier post offices were situated is uncertain, but one was opened in New Street Oct. 11, 1783, and it is generally believed to have been the same that existed for so many years at the corner of Bennett's Hill. As late as 1820 there was no Bennett's Hill, for at that time the site opposite the Theatre was occupied (on the side nearest to Temple Street) by a rick-yard, with accommodation for the mailcoaches and stabling for horses. Next to this yard was the residence of Mr. Gottwaltz, the postmaster, the entrance doorway being at first the only accommodation allowed to the public, and if more than four persons attended at one time the others had to stand in the street. When Bennett's Hill was laid out, the post office was slightly altered. So as to give a covered approach on that side to the letterbox and window, the mailcoaches being provided and horsed by the hotelkeepers to whom the conveyance of the mails was entrusted, the mail-guards, or mail-postmen, remaining Government officials. The next office was opened Oct. 10, 1842, on premises very nearly opposite, and which at one period formed part of the new Royal Hotel. The site is now covered by the Colonnade, the present convenient, but not beautiful, Central Post Office, in Paradise Street, being opened Sep. 28, 1873. There are 65 town receiving offices (52 of which are Money Order Offices and Savings' Banks and 13 Telegraph Stations), and 103 pillar and wall letter-boxes. Of sub-offices in the surrounding districts there are 64, of which more than half are Money Order Offices or Telegraph Offices. For the conduct of the Central Office, Mr. S. Walliker, the postmaster, has a staff numbering nearly 300, of whom about 250 are letter carriers and sorters. The Central Postal Telegraph Office, in Cannon Street, is open day and night, and the Central Post Office, in Paradise Street, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Sunday the latter office is open only from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m, but letters are dispatched by the night mails as on other days The Head Parcels Post Office is in Hill Street, on the basement floor of the Central Post Office, from which there are four collections and deliveries daily.

Postal Notes.—In 1748 letters were conveyed from here by post on six days a week instead of three as previously. To help pay the extra expense it was enacted that any person sending letters by private hands should be liable to a fine of £5 for every letter.—In 1772 a letter sent by "express" post was charged at the rate of 3d. per mile, with a 6d. fee for each stage and 2s. 6d. for the sending off".— Mails for the Continent were made up fortnightly, and once a month for North America—In 1780, when James Watt was at Truro and Boulton at Birmingham, it took thirteen days for the one to write to and get an answer from the other, and on one occasion a