From a Small Group of King’s Messengers to a National Network

As a resident of Brighton and Hove, it is likely that you will have heard about, or had some personal experience of, the current problems facing the city’s postal system. Complaints about delayed and lost mail have been well documented by the local press, along with the very real and measurable impact these issues have on both individuals and businesses.

The role of the Royal Mail within the UK is, undeniably, important. The way this national institution operates, conducts itself and adapts to societal and technological changes matters and, perhaps, it always has; right back to when Henry VIII demanded a safe and secure network of messengers to carry post from his royal court across England. Henry’s rather ‘select’ royal postal service was opened up to the public by Charles I in 1635, he set in place an operating system whereby the recipient, not the sender of the mail, paid for the service. Under Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth, an Act was passed “to s[e]ttle the Postage of England and appoint one officer styled the Postmaster General”. It was not until 1660, under the reign of Charles II, that the General Post Office (GPO) was officially launched. This was followed in 1661 by the introduction of a postmark which was designed to prevent delays in mail delivery by showing the date a letter entered the postal system.

Traces of this new national scheme can be found in Brighton as far back as 1675 and then, from an announcement in the London Gazette dated 24th May 1686, we know that “…the post goes every Monday night from London to… Lewes, Brighton, Shor[e]ham…and returns from the said places every Tuesday”.

A tantalising glimpse into the early postal service can be seen in a letter posted in Southwark, London on the 5th December 1747 and sent to Stephen Dudding in Brighton, the sender wrote: “…and give thanks for the fish you sent me but had it been fresh fish it would have been spoiled for I did not receive the letter nor fish w[h]ile fryday last”. The letter and the fish had taken four days.

Even in these formative years there was an obvious desire for a more efficient service. A step towards this was, perhaps, the appointment of Brighton’s first postmaster, the proprietor of the Old Ship, John Hicks, who ran the post from 1769 to 1777 from his inn. This sounds a strange arrangement, but during the early 1800s it was perfectly normal for inns to double as post offices or receiving houses.

The earliest actual post office in Brighton was at the bottom of Middle-Street. In 1779, it moved to what was considered better accommodation in the library of Miss E Widgett, south of the Steine, immediately east of the York Hotel.

The post office was at the north east corner of Prince’s Place in 1807 when the first liveried horse-drawn mail coaches were put on the road between London and Brighton. These coaches made scheduled journeys along designated routes and were a significant advancement for the postal service, improving speed and reliability, but they also introduced a new challenge – highwaymen!.

Despite punishments ranging in severity from death to long prison sentences and transportation, robbing the mail in the early part of the 19th century was a frequent occurrence and the coach drivers invariably went armed with blunderbusses, pistols etc. An advertisement in the Brighton Herald, dated 1st February 1811, for a mailman between Brighton and Chichester, stated that special provision would be made for “a brace of pistols, at the expense of the Government”.

The process of adapting to more modern ways was something Brighton knew about; the evolution from a fishing village to fashionable seaside resort had created a town-wide understanding of the need to embrace change. The post office demonstrated its acceptance of shifting ideas and increasing demand for its services by moving to bigger/better locations around the town. In 1822 it moved from Prince’s Place to 67 East Street; in 1827 these premises were closed and a new office opened at 149 North Street; four years later in 1831, there was another move this time to 22 New Road. And they were able to offer an altogether faster and more efficient service from Saturday evening 24th October 1847, when the first mail bag was despatched from Brighton to London by rail.

Brighton was, of course, not the only place to see changes around this time. Nationally the postal service underwent revolutionary reforms during the 1800s. The most significant of these came in 1840 with the introduction of Rowland Hill’s uniform method of pre-payment postage: the Penny Black stamp. This was the world’s first adhesive stamp and allowed letters of up to ½ ounce (14 grams) to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, between any two places in the UK and Ireland irrespective of distance. 

This new, affordable and easy-to-use system opened the postal service to everyone. For the first time sending a letter was something everyone could do; and they did in huge numbers. The dramatic increase in demand, coupled with Brighton’s continuing expansion (town population 40,000 at this point) led to the opening of Brighton’s Head Post Office in Ship Street on the 26th March 1849.

Another really noticeable change for Brighton’s postal service was the appearance in April 1858 of the ‘pillar’ post box, the first four were placed in Western Road (corner of Montpellier Road), at the Old Steine (corner of Marine Parade) at the corner of Marine Square and in Sussex Square.

By the end of the 19th century, Brighton’s thriving local operation was supported by a network of branch and sub-post offices. In 1926 a sorting office was opened in North Street on the site of the Regent Iron Foundry. Later, Brighton was chosen to test some of the first letter sorting machines – Transormas – which were installed in the North Street sorting office in September 1935 and used until 1967 when Brighton received its postcode designation. And, adding to the list of pioneering beginnings, Britain’s first electronic stamp vending machines was unveiled in Ship Street on the 5th August 1986. The Royal Mail has consistently embraced new technologies and Brighton seems to have been at the forefront of many of these innovations. The long history of Brighton’s postal service is interwoven with the story of the growth of the town and it’s need to adapt to changes in population, workload, and society’s needs. Of course, none of this helps with the problems being experienced now but, hopefully, this article has given readers something to do while waiting for the postman to arrive!