Early Letter Receivers of London

Covers and postal matters before 1840.
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mikeg
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:49 pm

Early Letter Receivers of London

Post by mikeg »

Hi
Can anyone help me trace a London Letter Receiver from 1741?
The letter I obtained is addressed to Stockwell (John Angell Esq. Stockroell in 1275 Surrey) and has a 'Dockwra" Westminster 'Payd' Handstamp and a receivers signature of 'Banister' on the back. The small card which came with the letter stated that the Receiver was based in Brentford.

Question is how did they know this?

The writer of the letter did not include his address nor is there any clue within the text where the letter originated . I have checked Feldman's 'Letter Receivers of London' also R M Willcocks British County Catalogue for London but both publications only cover the early receivers who used handstamps.
Can anyone advise me if there is a publication or reference which covers the Letter receivers who did not use handstamps?.

Also of interest the 'Dockwra' mark, (which is not complete), is as type 335a for the General Office (as shown in Willcocks covering 1741) but the MO with a W on top, on the letter,confirms it to be a Westminster / Monday handstamp, and this is not shown in use at Westminster in Willcocks.
Can anyone throw any light on this please?

Of interest is the address 'Stockroell in 1275'. Why the spelling? (the writer refers to Stockwell in the letter) and 1275?
(The recipient John Angell is an interesting character who I am still researching).
Any help would be much appreciated.
regards
Mikeg
Winston W
Posts: 113
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 6:00 pm
Location: East Anglia

Re: Early Letter Receivers of London

Post by Winston W »

Mike G

To answer your first question.

If you look up the LPHG Notebook 74-75 of December 1985 that you can access as a member here:-
http://www.gbps.org.uk/information/down ... 201985.pdf
you will see that in Alf Kirk's article "The Manuscript Receivers' Marks", he states that Bannister [his spelling] was at Brentford in 1743.

Your other questions I will leave to others (outside of my knowledge).

Regards, Winston W
mikeg
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:49 pm

Re: Early Letter Receivers of London

Post by mikeg »

Thanks Winston. This confirms that my incomplete 'Dockwra' stamp is from the Westminster office also this ties in with the date of the letter. Your reply is very much appreciated.
Regards
Mikeg
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