Printed Materials, Patterns and Samples to 1839

Introduction

This section covers a number of concessionary rates for non-letter mail that were authorised by various Acts.

Examples of these items are not often seen, but form an interesting area for collecting! In the early days of the posts it was common for postal officials to have a sideline in supplying subscribers with newspapers and Parliamentary Proceedings, sent by post under the franking privilege, a perquisite that was officially authorised by Act of Parliament from 1764.

Newspapers

Specific newspaper rates for the public first appeared in 1784 on the creation of the independent Irish Post Office, and applied only to newspapers sent between Great Britain and Ireland (but not within either island), an odd situation that lasted until 1825 when free carriage of newspapers stamped (with a revenue stamp) for the current newspaper duty was allowed. This latter posting option continued well after 1840.

Newspapers sent free by the General Post (either franked or under the revenue stamp) were still liable to local post charges as given below. The franking privilege for newspapers ceased in 1834.

Parliamentary Proceedings

These were initially treated in the same way as newspapers. However, the franking privilege for Parliamentary Proceedings was never withdrawn until the introduction of Uniform Penny Postage in 1840, and in practice "Par.Pro." packets were normally sent out under frank.

As far as public charges go, since the text of the 1825 and 1836 Acts quoted above only makes reference to newspapers, it appears that the situation in 1805 (including the 1d GB-Ireland rate) technically continued until 1837, when the confusing mess of old postal Acts were repealed and replaced with a consolidated set of Acts. These latter did not include a public inland or ship letter Par.Pro. rate, nor a special local post rate for franked proceedings.

Patterns and Samples

A concessionary rate for letters containing "Patterns of Cloth, Silk, Stuff, and small Samples of other Sorts of Goods, and other Things" was first introduced in 1753. A single sheet letter or cover with the word "Patterns" on the outside could have any number of samples enclosed or attached and still pass for no more than the double rate for the distance sent, as long as the whole did not weigh more than 1oz. The separate Irish Post Office Acts from 1784 introduced the additional requirements that the wrapper had to be open at the sides, and contain no writing not directly related to what was being sent.

In 1795 a rate for such unsealed wrappers with no unrelated writing was introduced for Great Britain, alongside the original sealed wrapper rate – such wrappers could pass for no more than single rate. The rules relating to Ireland were never changed (by either the Irish or UK Parliaments) until the 1837 consolidated Postage Act which followed the GB method and made no distinction as to place. Before this, pattern post sent between Great Britain and Ireland could presumably have been charged British and Irish postage in different ways, although it should be noted early pattern post items are very rare.

The situation can be summarised as below:

[*]Before the passing of the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793, if an Act did not specify a date for the changes it made to come into effect, the official commencement date was the start of the session of Parliament in which it passed (in this case January 1753). Other provisions of this Act specified dates on which they were to commence, but not the two postal clauses. However, in practice (as opposed to legal fiction) the new rates could only take effect once the Act had received the Royal Assent and become law, which in this case was on 15th May 1753.