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The Continental Connection 1423-1815

2 December 2004

Barrie Jay FRPSL

We are waiting for the long-promised invasion.
So are the fishes.
Winston Churchill, 21 October 1940

This display covers a period of almost 400 years and many of the letters were chosen because they illustrate the routes and the rates of the time. Others were collected because their contents tell a story and it is relevant that we were, for a considerable part of these four hundred years, at war with France. The majority of the letters in the display passed between Britain and Continental Europe; a few come from further afield, and these more far-flung letters are connected, to a greater or lesser extent, with the struggle between the two countries: Britain and France.

The display starts at a time when postal services were in their infancy and develops the story into the early nineteenth century when letter writing had become more frequent. It is not surprising, therefore, that over half the frames are taken up with the relatively short period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, when writing letters had become a relatively common event, rather than the more esoteric communications between the intelligentsia, more usual in earlier times.
In this guide I have attempted to highlight a few of the more interesting or important covers on display.

Frame 1 - 15th century

The two letters in this frame, from London to Venice dated 1423 (illustrated) and 1458 respectively, were probably carried privately as there is no good evidence that the Merchant Strangers' Post started prior to the early part of the sixteenth century. These are particularly early cross-channel letters.

The document from the Hundred Years' War emphasises the conflict between England and France that occurred intermittently in the four centuries covered by this display.

Frames 2 to 4 - Merchant Strangers' and Adventurers' Posts

The Merchant Strangers Post started in London probably in the last decade of the fifteenth century and continued for about a century, being eventually replaced by the Merchant Adventurers' Post and by the official Foreign Post. The appearance of the extensive Corsini correspondence in the 1980s altered our understanding of the overseas post during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Letters carried by the Strangers' Post to and from the Continent were passed to and from the Thurn & Taxis Post, opened to the public in 1519 and, where relevant, to the French Post opened a little earlier. Most of the covers in these frames show manuscript charges to be paid on delivery or other postal endorsements; a few were chosen because of their content.

The Merchant Adventurers' Post, the post of the English merchants, was established in the 1580s. The letters identified as being from this post received charges in pence (e.g. 4 d), in contrast to the charges of the Strangers' Post which were in groats (e.g. G 2½d).

In frame 2 the 1579 cover from Paris to London makes mention of a carrier: '...I have received your last letter by this carrier, a new postboy named Jacques le Paincteur...'. Also in this frame are two ship letters from Hamburg.

The letter in frame 3 dated 1587 (illustrated, right) from Dieppe to London is one of the more scarce letters with a 4d charge of the Merchant Adventurers, and in frame 4 is one of 1597 with an 8d charge of the same post.

Before the establishment of a foreign post open to the public in 1632, some private letters were carried by the service organised by Mathew de Quester, the Postmaster General for foreign parts. The two letters of 1616 and 1626 in frame 4 were probably carried in this way.

The last cover in frame 4 was from a British mercenary serving with the forces of the United Provinces during the Eighty Years' War (the revolt of the Dutch Protestant provinces from the Spanish Empire).

Frames 5 & 6 - The Early Foreign Post

In 1632 William Frizell and Thomas Witherings were appointed as successors to de Quester and the first cover in frame 5 (illustrated, left) is one of the three recorded covers of 1632 carried by Frizell and Witherings and with a 4d charge.

The 1636 letter in frame 5, from Seville to Antwerp had to travel via England because during the Thirty Years' War letters could not pass from Spain through France to the Spanish Netherlands.

A few letters are known from James Heath to his brother written during the Civil War and smuggled into England. Each of these has a charge mark, assumed to be a private charge.

In frame 6 are two rare letters describing episodes during the Second Dutch War, largely the result of rivalries - both colonial and commercial - between England and Holland. The first gives an account of the 1665 action in Bergen harbour while the second mentions the 1667 Dutch attack in the Medway

Frame 7 - The Bishop Mark

The Bishop mark was first used in April 1661, at first on inland letters addressed to London. Some time early in 1663 they were also struck on inland letters sent from London. It would appear that the Foreign Office did not use the Bishop mark until early in 1663, the earliest so far recorded being in this frame and having received a Bishop mark of 23 February (illustrated, right).

For a few years in the 1660s the Foreign Office used charge marks comprising 'd' or 's' [pence or shillings] and a number. Two interesting covers of 1665 from Livorno to London were charged respectively 9d [via Venice] and 1s [via Lyons], the two charges for different routes mentioned in the 1660 Act.

Also in this frame are three covers with the circular FRANCHES handstamp used to hide the English charge from postmasters abroad!

Frame 8 - War of the Grand Alliance

This war, between a number of allies, including England, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire, was against France and was largely the result of a power struggle between Bourbon (French) and Habsburg (Spanish) monarchies. The first letter was written at a time when King William was more concerned with Ireland than with France. It mentions a petition from a surgeon requesting his pay, and how this should be from the Surgeon General.

Two letters (one illustrated, left) describe the Siege of Namur, written a few weeks before the town fell to the English. There is also an interesting letter of 1697 from the Duke of Marlborough's secretary to one of our Ambassadors in Brussels who was also Deputy Paymaster to the Army. This mentions how letters are distributed to the Army, carried from the Ambassador to the forces by a named courier.

Frames 9 & 10 - The Foreign Post 1690-1714

In frame 9 there is a letter of 1695 with a rather blurred circular FRANCHES handstamp which was meant to obliterate the inland charge; it was actually applied in error on this cover to the manuscript 'fferbridg'.

The last sheet in frame 9 shows three covers from St Malo to London, one apparently uncharged, one charged [the usual] 6d and the third charged 8d. It is possible that this third cover was routed through the Low Countries because we were at war with France (War of the Spanish Succession) at that time.

In frame 10 a letter of 1699 from Messina to London was probably carried overland by the Thurn & Taxis post to Amsterdam, where a forwarding agent put it into the post to London.

A letter of 1702, from Amsterdam to Brussels, travelled via London, probably because the French had occupied Brussels and were not accepting letters from the United Provinces.

Frame 11 - War of the Spanish Succession

In 1701 Louis XIV of France attempted to change the balance of power in Europe by putting his grandson on the Spanish throne. Britain, Austria, some German states, Holland, Denmark and Portugal were at war with France, Spain, Bavaria and Coliogne. An interesting letter of October 1702 describes the damage done by marauding English and Dutch troops who landed near Cadiz, while one of September 1704 recounts the death of the writer's horse in battle.

In a rather pathetic letter of March 1709, the writer asking his brother for 10 crowns so that he can buy a horse.

Frames 12 - The Foreign Post 1710-1739

A letter of 1710, written during the War of the Spanish Succession, from London to Brussels was carried privately to Rotterdam where a forwarding agent then sent it to Brussels.

Two letters of 1722 (illustrated, right) and 1731 received the small 'P' in circle, used by the Foreign Office on letters from Italy, Spain or Portugal that travelled via Paris.

Two letters of 1727: one mentions the Spanish siege of Gibraltar, the other asking the price of a couple of Bordeaux wines (the vineyards still exist).

The final two sheets show letters of the 1730s (one illustrated, left) with four different 'scrambled number' handstamps, used by the Foreign Office to cancel manuscript charge marks, thus hiding them from overseas postmasters (successors to the FRANCHES handstamps introduced in the 1670s).

Frames 13 to 16 - War of the Austrian Succession

This was started because Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor and head of the House of Habsburg, died without leaving a son. His daughter, Maria Theresa, succeeded him to the Habsburg dominions but could not become the Holy Roman Emperor. This is a strong section of the display largely because I was cajoled by the late Martin Willcocks 30 years ago into buying a correspondence from Lieutenant Philip Browne to his brother written between August 1742 and April 1745. Besides providing an interesting commentary on the war, seven of the letters received the scarce AB handstamp [Armée Britannique] of the Thurn & Taxis post.

The first letter in these frames, written before the start of war, is from the GPO and explains how letters were carried to our Army.

Of particular interest are the two letters written just after the Battles of Dettingen (June 1743 - illustrated, right) and Fontenoy (April 1745). The latter, in particular, is especially poignant as the British forces had just been defeated by the French.

In frame 16 is an interesting document mentioning payment to Mr Sutton, Postmaster to the Army. It is usually stated that Henry Darlot was the first Postmaster to the Army in 1799; this document indicates that Sutton predated him by 50 years.

The last three sheets contain letters from French prisoners of war; these are very early examples of PoW mail.

Frame 17 - Seven Years' War

France, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Saxony formed a coalition against Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Prussia was supported by Britain. The letter of December 1759 describes in some detail the problems of moving and accounting for stores and ammunition while in the field.

In May 1762 two regiments and a detachment were sent to help Portugal in its fight with Spain. A number of British officers were seconded to the Portuguese army and one, Lt Col Henry St John, wrote a letter dated August 1762 to a colleague. Letters from this campaign are rare.

Two letters of July and September 1762, from London to Marseille, were smuggled or carried privately to Gand and then put into the post for France.

There are four letters from London to a French prisoner of war, three while he was at Portsmouth on a hulk, the fourth when he had been moved to Winchester, presumably on parole. There is also a letter from another French prisoner at Chippenham writing to one, presumably on parole, at the Pelican Inn, Bristol.

Frames 18 to 22 - The Foreign Post: 1745-1791

The first letter in frame 18 is a fascinating one, both for its content and its postal endorsement. It was written on the evening of the Young Pretender's retreat from Derby and gives a short but graphic description of the event. It was apparently charged as an express letter. [This is an internal letter but included here not only for its interest but also because the Second Jacobite Rebellion was the cause of the withdrawal of much of the British Army from the continent before the end of the War of the Austrian Succession.]

In frame 20, in addition to three letters relating to the War of American Independence, there is a sheet of covers with the D'A/B handstamp, in green and in blue, used in Brussels on mail from England to France. Between June 1779 and March 1783 the direct post between England and France ceased because of France's treaty with the United States, but mail was allowed to continue routed through Brussels.

The cover of April 1787 in frame 21 received three different Bishop marks - Foreign Office, General Post and Scottish - as well as a manuscript 'S' possibly indicating the Swiss route from Rome to Scotland (illustrated, right).

In frame 22 is a pornographic letter to Sir William Hamilton. The last letter in this frame is an early registered letter from Manchester to Livorno.

Frames 23 to 27 - Civilian Mail during the French Revolutionary Wars

The covers in these frames demonstrate the routes of letters between Britain and mainland Europe during the Revolutionary Wars, February 1793 to March 1802 (although packet services between Britain and France restarted in December 1801). Few letters have their routes marked on them; the British and continental ports in use at any particular time were determined largely from a study of Post Office Records.

In addition to the large number of letters between Britain and the rest of Europe, an appreciable number passed between Britain and France, particularly commercial letters and letters to and from prisoners of war (PoWs). These two groups of letter were usually handled differently.

In times of peace most letters to and from mainland Europe travelled by Post Office packet boat; a number travelled by private ship. At the outbreak of war in 1793 the Dover-Calais packet ceased and the boats were transferred to Harwich to complement the Harwich-Hellevoetsluis route. When Hellevoetsluis was overrun by the French in January 1795 the packets were transferred to Yarmouth and until 1802 the Yarmouth packets sailed to Cuxhaven, Tonningen, Heligoland or Helder Point. When hostilities ceased the packets returned to Dover and Harwich.

In frame 23 there is an interesting cover of March 1793 from Marseille to London which was intercepted in Paris and returned to sender. A cover dated May 1793 from St Petersburg to Guernsey was handled by three forwarding agents (illustrated, left), while a few sheets further on there is a cover of August 1799 from London to Switzerland with the French army handstamp of the 3rd Division, Army of the Rhine.

A letter of August 1794 in frame 24 was written by a civilian prisoner from Fontainebleau to Kent. This appears to have been smuggled out of France, through Switzerland to Hamburg. The war prevented mail from the Netherlands passing through France to Spain and the letter of May 1795 was carried privately to London and then forwarded to Spain by Falmouth packet.

During this period letters between England and France were usually carried on neutral vessels or smuggled. In frame 25 a letter of May 1796 from Nimes to Ross has received a manuscript 'Dover Ship', presumably having been carried by a neutral vessel from Calais. Also in this frame is a cover of September 1797 from Xeres to Edinburgh which received the large 'P' in circle, applied in London to letters from Portugal and only used for a year or so.

Smuggled letters are less common in this period than they are during the Napoleonic Wars. In frame 27 is a letter of October 1799 from London to Paris which was smuggled into occupied Holland before being put into the post to Paris. A letter of April 1800 to London received the boxed 'Lisbon', believed to have been applied in London to a very few letters of this date from the Portuguese capital.

Frame 28 - Mail during the 1802-03 Peace

The first cover in this frame, from Dublin to Bordeaux, was received during the period of peace but, presumably because of the resumption of hostilities, was not answered until August 1814! This cover was also charged the 4d rate to France, a scarce rate only in use between April 1801 and June 1802.

Between 1802 and 1806 a scarce red HAMBURGH/date handstamp is occasionally seen, usually very poorly struck. In this frame are two good examples of this scarce handstamp on letters of June 1802 and February 1803. [Several other examples of this stamp are to be found in frames 33 to 35.] Also in this frame mention must be made of the two examples of the experimental Foreign Office date stamp only in use during January and February 1803, and a good strike of the rare T.P/1803 transfer stamp (used on letters transferred from the Foreign Branch to the Twopenny Post).

Frames 29 & 30 - Military Mail during the French Revolutionary Wars

Between 1794 and 1796 Corsica was occupied by the British Army and in frame 29 is a letter dated February 1795 to the Apothecary General in Corsica.

In 1799 Henry Darlot was seconded from the Foreign Branch of the GPO to become Postmaster to the Army during the Helder Expedition. He used two types of handstamp on letters: a scarce circular ARMY BAG on unpaid letters (illustrated, right) and a rare red oval POST PAID ARMY BAG on paid letters. An example of each is in frame 30. A letter of November 1800 gives an eye-witness account of the fire that destroyed the Queen Charlotte, while also in this frame is a letter of August 1801 written by Sir Arthur Wellesley from Seringapatam.

Frames 31 & 32 - The Last Invasion of Britain

The three attempts of the French to invade the British mainland, at Bantry Bay, Fishguard and Killala Bay, are illustrated here. In frame 32 there are several examples of the scarce handstamps of the Armée d'Angleterre (one illustrated, left), the French Army waiting to invade Britain. Also in this frame is a letter from a French prisoner of war captured in the Killala Bay Expedition.

Frames 33 to 39 - Civilian Mail during the Napoleonic Wars

Soon after the start of the Napoleonic Wars agreement was reached between Thurn & Taxis and France to process mail between GB and France through the Thurn & Taxis office in Hamburg. This allowed mail to be carried between the two warring countries until November 1806 when Napoleon issued a decree forbidding all communications with Britain [Dècret de Berlin - see frame 35]. In addition to this 'official' route, mail also travelled between the two countries by private vessel (usually neutral) or by smugglers.

At the start of the war the Dover-Calais and the Harwich-Hellevoetsluis packets ceased to run and the Harwich packets sailed to various continental ports at different times: Gottenburg, Tonningen, Husum, Cuxhaven and Heligoland. As with mail during the Revolutionary Wars, few letters have their routes marked on them; the British and continental ports in use at any particular time were determined largely from a study of Post Office Records.

Prisoner of war [PoW] mail during this period is shown in frames 48 to 51, but a few examples of the very scarce mail from civilian PoWs [the détenus] is displayed in these frames. The first group of these from Dr Thomas Grey, dated May and July 1803 and April 1804, are in frame 33. Also in this frame are letters to France and Belgium, via Hamburg and carried by the Thurn & Taxis/France arrangement; these received the RN.4 and R.4. handstamps, the latter in two sizes.

In frame 34 is a letter from London dated 11 September 1804 smuggled to Holland and then put into the post to Cognac. Another letter from a détenu, the Dowager Duchess of Newcastle dated January 1805, is also in this frame.

Two further letters from London smuggled to Holland are in frame 35, one to Barcelona and the other to Riga (illustrated, right). These are followed by another letter from London smuggled into France and put into the post in Rouen. Also in frame 35 is an original copy of the Décret de Berlin.

A letter of June 1808 in frame 36, from a détenu, mentions a couple of ways of sending letters to him.

Two letters of December 1808 and September 1809 in frame 37, smuggled to France, mention the problems faced by merchants concerning the nationality of ships they used to carry goods from France. Also in this frame is a letter of September 1810 from Corunna to London which received the rare Guernsey ship letter handstamp.

In frame 38 there are two letters of December 1809 and February 1810 which received the very scarce Southwould ship letter and the scarce Yarmouth ship letter handstamps. Two letters of 1810 from London to Cognac were smuggled into France and posted in Guincamp and Ostende respectively. A letter of November 1812 from St Petersburg to London was carried by Government Courier; it mentions the defeat of Napoleon in Russia.

The final frame in this section, frame 39, has a letter of February 1813 carried from Paris to London by the famous beauty, Madame Recamier. Two letters of February and March 1814, from London to Bordeaux, were carried by Falmouth packet to Pasajes in northern Spain, then by army post to Bordeaux where they were put into the Bordeaux Petite Poste.

Frame 40 - Civilian Mail during the 100 Day War

Letters during this period between Britain and the Continent, and particularly between Britain and France, are not common. Most travelled by private ship and several of these were carried at one third the packet rate (Post Paid Withdrawn Ship Letters); included in the display are such letters to France from Prussia, Holland and Danzig via London. The last letter in this frame, from Germany to Spain via England, received the rare 'Holland paid' handstamp.

Frames 41 & 42 - Seamen and Soldiers Letters

The 1795 Seamen and Soldiers Act granted non-commissioned officers, seamen and soldiers the concession to send letters for one penny, the penny to be prepaid. Letters to these seamen and soldiers were also only charged one penny, the penny to be paid on delivery of the letter. Many people misunderstood this latter part of the Act and most letters to seamen and soldiers were prepaid, contrary to the Act. This was clarified in the 1806 Act wherein all letters from and to seamen and soldiers had to be prepaid.

The first sheet of covers in frame 41 contains one from a seaman correctly prepaid one penny and two covers to seamen, one correctly unpaid (to be paid on receipt) and one incorrectly prepaid one penny - the last is more commonly found because of confusion produced by the wording of the 1795 Act. In this frame there is a letter to a soldier in Ceylon and two letters between Scotland and Guernsey which are an abuse of the privilege, being in each case written to a Hector Currie soldier, but in fact written to and from Lieut Col MacLean.

Frame 42 contains several rare soldiers' letters: a letter from a soldier in the Peninsular War (September 1810) and another from a soldier on the Island of Anholt [in the Kattegat], a rare address for a soldier's letter (illustrated, left). Another in this frame is a soldier's letter of November 1813 from France to Passage [sic] which was sent in error to Lisbon where it received the scarce PENNY*PD handstamp; it then travelled by packet to Falmouth where it was then missent to Birmingham! The final letter in this frame is from a soldier in Ghent during the 100 Day War, a few weeks prior to Waterloo.

Frames 43 & 44 - Military Mail during the Napoleonic Wars

A letter from the ill-fated expedition to Hanover, dated 1 January 1805 [error for 1806], is one of only two known from this campaign. There is a fascinating letter dated February 1806 describing the capture of Cape Town and also the first (?) use of Major Shrapnel's shells. A long letter of September 1807 describes the fall of Copenhagen. Two letters of February and March 1809 describe the capture of Martinique. The last letter in frame 43 is from the Walcheren Expedition (November 1809).

Frame 44 starts with a letter describing the capture of Guadeloupe (February 1810) and this is followed by two covers from the little-known Austrio-Britannic Campaign in Italy (1814). Also in this frame is a letter from Wellington to the Austrian General Baron Vincent written a few days after the Battle of Waterloo.

Frames 45 & 46 - Military Mail during the Peninsular War

Most of these letters have something of interest in their contents. One of December 1808 mentions the retreat of the English Army under Sir John Moore, while another of February 1810 suggests, incorrectly as it turned out, the imminent fall of Cadiz to the French. The last letter in frame 45 was written during the siege of Badajos (1811).

Frame 46 starts with a letter dated May 1811 written soon after the Battle of Albuera and gives an unhappy account of what befell the writer's Regiment. The letter dated May 1812 describes the siege and capture of Badajos and the plundering of the town by the English soldiers, while that of July 1812 gives a short account of the British Army chase of the French forces after the Battle of Salamanca.

Frame 47 - War of 1812

The War of 1812 was in large part due to the British Navy seizing American ships and sailors during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The first cover is about an American ship taken as a prize at the start of the Revolutionary Wars, while the following letter was carried by an American ship intercepted and examined by the British Navy (1806).

A letter of July 1812 from Virginia to Scotland was carried by the cartel Friends. One method of getting letters across the Atlantic was by smuggling them from America to the West Indies, as in the letter of October 1813, while another was using a ship sailing under flag of truce, August 1814. The letter of December 1813 is particularly interesting. It was carried by a ship sailing from Le Havre to Philadelphia which was captured by the British. The letter went to the Transport Office in London for censorship and was eventually released for onward transmission. When the letter arrived in Boston it was examined by the Marshall's Office and received a blurred strike of the very rare Examined censor stamp (only one other poor example known) (illustrated, left). The final letter in the frame, dated 1841, was from a pensioner claiming prize money for the capture of an American schooner during the 1812 War.

Frames 48 to 51 - Prisoner of War Mail

Frame 48 contains British prisoner of war letters and gives examples of the several ways of getting letters back to England. The first letter, of 1793, was probably carried by a neutral vessel to London while the second, of 1795, probably travelled by cartel vessel.

The two letters of 1805 and 1806 from the prison at Verdun were put into the French post and carried to Paris, probably to be examined in the Cabinet Noir. They then went to Hamburg for passage to England by the Cuxhaven-Harwich packet. The letter of 1811 was smuggled into England and then put into the post at Newton Abbot. The letter of 1812 was carried by private ship to England while that of 1813 from the same writer travelled by cartel vessel (illustrated, right), as did the following 1813 letter.

The last letter in this frame is intriguing; it travelled from the Transport Office in London to the Minister of War in Paris without any postal instructions or handstamps (other than the Transport Office stamp), possibly being carried by an intermediary.

The French PoW frames open with an original copy of the 1798 Cartel. There are two 1798 covers which received the rare Porchester Castle censor handstamp in black (illustrated, left) and in red (only two or three other copies known).

Most of the letters to and from French PoWs were carried by cartel vessels. The two letters of 1807 in frame 50 from Rochefort to Launceston are interesting in having received different official handstamps in Morlaix, the usual French cartel port. It is most unusual to find letters stamped in this way.

In frame 51 there are two letters from a French PoW in Wincanton which received the manuscript C.P, the significance of which is not known (one illustrated, right). Two letters, of 1809 and c1810 received the manuscript 'Not Paid'; strange because other letters have no indication of being paid. Then, finally, there is a letter from Dartmoor Prison dated July 1815 from a French soldier captured at Waterloo.

Frame 52 - The Aftermath of War

The final frame of the display contains a letter of July 1815 from a British officer in our occupying army in Paris and several letters relating to the Waterloo Subscription (one illustrated). The final sheet contains two letters of 1818 and 1820 to a British soldier in St Helena, one carried by Post Office packet at the soldier's letter rate, the other at considerably higher cost as a ship letter as there was no packet service to the East Indies between 1819 and 1823 (and therefore no soldier's rate to this area).

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