Express Delivery on Sunday Rates 1899-1980

1909 - 1d postage + 9d Sunday express fee for all offices in Western district

While there were regular Sunday deliveries in the provinces until 1921, and express letters were sent out from offices where there were deliveries of ordinary letters, this was not the case in London where most Post Offices were closed on Sundays. In 1899 arrangements were made to deliver Service II express letters on Sunday in London by direct messenger from the London Chief Office of St-Martin's-le-Grand. They had to be specifically endorsed for Sunday delivery and at least half the fees prepaid.

The charges were the normal Service I mileage rates, calculated as the distance from the Chief Office to the approximate centre of the postal district in which the address lay, and so were generally high.

In 1921, Sunday deliveries generally were withdrawn, and an extended version of Sunday Express Delivery was introduced. It applied only to (and from) a small number of cities – Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Sheffield, with Cork, Leicester, Nottingham and Southampton added later (although some combinations involving Irish Free State offices were not possible). The basis of the fees remained the same for London, although for the other towns there was a flat fee of 1s in addition to the mileage charge. In 1935 the service was revised on the basis of a flat fee for all destinations. It was scrapped along with Express Delivery itself from 28th July 1980.

(1) London fees by district

In the tables below, the areas are grouped by main district, with the name of the sub-district and the district number allocated in 1917. In the early years some offices were listed grouped under Battersea, Norwood or Paddington, but in the first two cases these were later grouped under the district letter.

In a few cases the names used changed, or delivery offices were added after 1899 due to opening of a new office or transfer of an existing one (in which case the relevant date, as accurately as available, will be shown in bold).

The 1919 rate increase was due to the doubling of the mileage fee from 3d to 6d. The 1921 rates are usually the same as the 1919 ones, but there were revisions to the nominal mileages for a few offices.

East Central District

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
E.C. 1-4		3d	6d	6d

Eastern District

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
E.1	Head District	6d	1s	1s
E.2	Bethnal Green	6d	1s	1s
E.3	Bow	1s	2s	2s
E.4	Chingford	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s 6d
E.5	Clapton	1s	2s	2s
E.6	East Ham (Nov 1912)	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
E.7	Forest Gate	1s 6d	3s	3s
E.8	Hackney	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
E.9	Homerton	1s	2s	2s
E.10	Leyton	1s 6d	3s	3s
E.11	Leytonstone	1s 6d	3s	3s
E.12	Manor Park	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
	North Woolwich	1s 9d	---	---
E.13	Plaistow	1s 6d	3s	3s
E.14	Poplar	1s	2s	2s
E.15	Stratford	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
	Victoria Docks	1s 3d	---	---
E.16	Victoria Docks and North Woolwich	---	3s 6d	3s 6d
E.17	Walthamstow	1s 6d	3s	3s
E.18	Woodford and South Woodford	2s	4s	4s

Northern District

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
N.1	Head District	6d	1s	1s
N.9	Edmonton, Lower	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s
N.18	Edmonton, Upper	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
N.3	Finchley, Church End	2s	4s	4s
N.2	Finchley, East	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
N.12	Finchley, North	2s	4s	4s
N.4	Finsbury Park	1s	2s	2s
N.5	Highbury	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
N.6	Highgate	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
N.7	Holloway	1s	2s	2s
N.8	Hornsey	1s 6d	3s	3s
N.10	Muswell Hill (c.5 Feb 1906)	1s 6d	3s	3s
N.11	New Southgate	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
N.13	Palmer’s Green	2s	4s	4s
N.14	Southgate	2s	4s	4s
N.15	South Tottenham	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
N.16	Stoke Newington	1s	2s	2s
N.17	Tottenham	1s 6d	3s	3s
N.19	Upper Holloway	1s	2s	2s
N.20	Whetstone	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s 6d
N.21	Winchmore Hill	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s 6d
N.22	Wood Green	1s 6d	3s	3s

North Western District

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
N.W.1	Head District	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
N.W.2	Cricklewood (1 Sep 1906)	1s 6d	3s	3s
N.W.11	Golder's Green	---	---	3s 6d
N.W.3	Hampstead	1s	2s	2s
N.W.4	Hendon	2s	4s	4s
N.W.5	Kentish Town	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
N.W.6	Kilburn	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
N.W.7	Mill Hill	2s 6d	5s	5s
N.W.8	St John’s Wood	1s	2s	2s
N.W.9	The Hyde	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s 6d
N.W.10	Willesden	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d

South Eastern District

On 1st June 1913, Woolwich together with two of its sub-offices, Abbey Wood and Charlton, and Eltham with its town sub-offices, were transferred to the South Eastern district of London – having previously been treated as part of Kent. (The remaining Woolwich sub-offices and their town sub-offices were put under Dartford.)

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
S.E.1	Head District	6d	1s	1s
S.E.2	Abbey Wood (1 Jun 1913)	2s 6d	5s	5s
S.E.20	Anerley [Norwood]	2s	4s	4s
S.E.3	Blackheath	1s 6d	3s	3s 6d
S.E.4	Brockley	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.E.5	Camberwell	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
S.E.6	Catford (or Catford Bridge)	1s 6d	3s	3s
S.E.7	Charlton (1 Jun 1913)	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
S.E.8	Deptford	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.E.21	Dulwich [Norwood]	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.E.22	East Dulwich [Norwood]	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.E.9	Eltham (1 Jun 1913)	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s 6d
S.E.23	Forest Hill [Norwood]	1s 6d	3s	3s
S.E.10	Greenwich	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.E.24	Herne Hill [Norwood]	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.E.11	Kennington	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
S.E.12	Lee	1s 6d	3s	3s 6d
S.E.13	Lewisham	1s 3d	2s 6d	3s
S.E.14	New Cross	1s	2s	2s
S.E.19	Norwood [Norwood]	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
S.E.15	Peckham	1s	2s	2s
S.E.16	Rotherhithe	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
S.E.25	South Norwood [Norwood]	2s	4s	4s 6d
S.E.26	Sydenham [Norwood]	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
S.E.17	Walworth	6d	1s	1s
S.E.27	West Norwood [Norwood]	1s 6d	3s	3s
S.E.18	Woolwich (1 Jun 1913)	2s	4s	4s

South Western District

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
S.W.1	Head District	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
S.W.12	Balham [Battersea]	1s 6d	3s	3s
S.W.13	Barnes [Battersea]	2s	4s	4s
S.W.11	Battersea [Battersea]	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.W.2	Brixton	1s	2s	2s
S.W.3	Chelsea	1s	2s	2s
S.W.4	Clapham	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.W.5	Earl’s Court	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.W.6	Fulham	1s 6d	3s	3s
S.W.14	Mortlake [Battersea]	2s	4s	4s 6d
S.W.15	Putney [Battersea]	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
S.W.7	South Kensington	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.W.8	South Lambeth	9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
S.W.9	Stockwell	1s	2s	2s
S.W.16	Streatham [Battersea]	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
S.W.17	Tooting [Battersea]	1s 9d	3s 6d	3s 6d
S.W.18	Wandsworth [Battersea]	1s 6d	3s	3s
S.W.10	West Brompton	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
S.W.20	West Wimbledon	---	---	4s 6d
S.W.19	Wimbledon [Battersea]	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s

Western District (W.1) and Paddington (W.2 to W.14)

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
W.1		9d	1s 6d	1s 6d
W.2	Paddington Head District	1s	2s	2s
W.3	Acton	2s	4s	4s
W.4	Chiswick	2s	4s	4s
W.5	Ealing	2s 3d	4s 6d	4s 6d
W.6	Hammersmith	1s 6d	3s	3s
W.7	Hanwell	2s 9d	5s 6d	5s 6d
W.8	Kensington	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
W.9	Maida Hill	1s	2s	2s
W.10	North Kensington	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
W.11	Notting Hill	1s 3d	2s 6d	2s 6d
W.12	Shepherd’s Bush	1s 6d	3s	3s
W.13	West Ealing (or Ealing Dean)	2s 6d	5s	5s
W.14	West Kensington	1s 6d	3s	3s

West Central District

1917 no.	Sub District	1899 (12 Feb)	1919 (1 Jul)	1921 (1 Aug)
W.C.1-2		6d	1s	1s

(2) Provincial fees and later uniform fees

Date	Fee	Date	Fee	Date	Fee
1921 (1 Aug)	1s + 6d per mile	1935 (1 Jan)	1s 6d	1956 (1 Jan)	3s
1965 (17 May)	9s	1971 (15 Feb)	50p	1974 (24 Jun)	£1.00
1975 (29 Sep)	£1.50	1980 (27 May)	Last day

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