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Revenue from the
Adoption of his Plan for the Conveyance of the Mails, and in full Satisfaction for the Services performed by the said John Palmer; And do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same, That the Sum of Fifty thousand Pounds shall be issued and paid, out of the said Consolidated Fund of Great Britain, to the said John Palmer Esquire, without any Fee or other Deduction whatsoever, in full Satisfaction and Discharge for the Services performed by the said John Palmer, in the Accommodation so afforded to the Public, and the Benefit derived to the Post Office Revenue as aforesaid; and which said Sum of Fifty thousand Pounds the said John Palmer accepts in full Satisfaction of such Services; Provided always that nothing herein contained shall affect the Payment of a certain Pension or annual Allowance of Three thousand Pounds heretofore made to the said John Palmer out of the Revenues of the Post Office, by virtue of an Order of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, bearing Date the Twenty eighth Day of June One thousand seven hundred and ninety three.
77:. Palmer worked as his father's London agent, frequently travelling between London and Bath, and after his father decided to retire in 1776 the patent was transferred to him. He continued to manage the theatre until 1785. The two theatres shared one acting company, so Palmer had to move his actors, stagehands and props quickly between Bristol and Bath, he set up a coach service which provided safe, quick and efficient transport for his actors and materials. Later, when Palmer became involved in the Post Office, he believed that the coach service he had previously run between theatres could be utilised for a countrywide mail delivery service.
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Post Office on 11 October 1786, but there was some delay in paying him his share of the very substantial increase in revenue (which had risen from £51,000 in 1784 to £73,000 in 1787). He was eventually granted a payment of arrears after a commission of inquiry investigated in 1789, but not the full sum that he claimed.
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own fleet of coaches with black and scarlet livery. The early coaches were poorly built, but in 1787 the Post Office adopted John Besant's improved and patented design, after which Besant, with his partner John Vidler, enjoyed a monopoly on the supply of coaches, and a virtual monopoly on their upkeep and servicing.
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WHEREAS the
Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled have resolved that a Sum not exceeding Fifty thousand Pounds be granted to John Palmer Esquire, out of the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain, in Consideration of the Accommodation afforded to the Public, and the Benefit derived to the
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Initially the coach, horses and driver were all supplied by contractors. There was strong competition for the contracts because they provided a fixed regular income in addition to which the companies could charge fares for the passengers. By the beginning of the 19th century the Post Office had their
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The postal delivery service in
Britain had existed in the same form for about 150 years—from its introduction in 1635, mounted carriers had ridden between "posts" where the postmaster would remove the letters for the local area before handing the remaining letters and any additions to the next rider.
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Because Palmer made much use of stagecoach services between cities in the course of his business, and noted that it seemed far more efficient than the system of mail delivery then in operation, so that he could travel from Bath to London in a single day while the mail took three days. It occurred to
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in 1796 and again in 1809, and sitting as Member of
Parliament (MP) for the city from 1801 to 1808. Such was his influence with the Common Council of Bath (which in those days had the exclusive right to vote for the city's MPs) that he was able to stand down from Parliament in 1808 in the knowledge
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After a series of controversies, he was effectively dismissed in 1792, but the following year Pitt granted him a government pension of £3,000 a year. However, Palmer continued to press his claim for the much greater sum to which he believed he was entitled, and eventually in 1813 (long after Pitt's
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spelt the end for the mail coach service. The first rail delivery between
Liverpool and Manchester took place on 11 November 1830. By the early 1840s many London-based mail coaches were starting to be withdrawn from service; the final service from London (to Norwich) was shut down in 1846. Regional
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Part of Palmer's argument for the changes had been that such an improvement in the service would justify an increase in postal charges, and he had been promised two-and-a-half per cent of any increase in the revenue as well as control of the new service. He was appointed
Comptroller General of the
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that was the beginning of the great
British post office reforms with the introduction of an efficient mail coach delivery service in Great Britain during the late 18th century. He was Mayor of Bath on two occasions and Comptroller General of the
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for it in 1768 which gave him an effective monopoly on playhouses in the city and the right to use the title "Theatre Royal", the first theatre outside London to acquire it. Palmer's second theatre in
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An Act for granting the Sum of Fifty thousand Pounds to John Palmer
Esquire, in consideration of the Public Services performed by the said John Palmer, in the Improvement of the Post Office Revenue.
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was added the next year, and Palmer was rewarded by being made
Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office. By 1797 there were forty-two routes.
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The institution of mail coaches permanently revolutionised the
British postal service, and Palmer was widely honoured for it, being presented with the
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in London that they take up the idea. He met resistance from officials who believed that the existing system could not be improved, but eventually the
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Impressed by the trial run, Pitt authorised the creation of new routes. Within the month the service had been extended from London to
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him that this coach service could be developed into a national mail delivery service, so in 1782 he suggested to the
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Palmer was the eldest son of a prosperous Bath brewer and theatre owner who inherited his father's
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mail coaches continued into the 1850s, but these too were eventually replaced by rail services.
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A print showing a mail coach decorated in the black and scarlet Post Office livery near
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Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
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304:— Grant of John Palmer, Esquire (Post Office Services) Act 1813 (
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566: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
296:. c. 157), was passed to grant him the additional sum of £50,000.
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36:(1742 – 16 August 1818) was a theatre owner and instigator of the
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93:, Suffolk in 1827. The guard can be seen standing at the rear.
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Grant of John Palmer, Esquire (Post Office Services) Act 1813
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Grant of John Palmer, Esquire (Post Office Services) Act 1813
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The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland
508:. Bishops Stortford Tourist Information. Archived from
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As Comptroller General, Palmer was subordinate to the
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317:. In Bath he was particularly cherished, becoming
73:was granted the same status in 1778, becoming the
604:Mail coaches- British Postal Museum and Archive
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49:, and later served as Member of Parliament for
445:. Vol. 43. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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582:. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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537:(London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
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473:The British Postal Museum & Archive
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703:Postal system of the United Kingdom
599:The History of the Postal Services
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284:death) an act of Parliament, the
618:Parliament of the United Kingdom
579:Dictionary of National Biography
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442:Dictionary of National Biography
432:"Palmer, John (1742-1818)"
230:Parliament of the United Kingdom
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550:Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
333:in 1818, and was buried in the
326:would be elected in his place.
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205:United Kingdom legislation
63:Old Orchard Street Theatre
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637:Member of Parliament for
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384:Lowndes, William (1982).
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631:Sir Richard Pepper Arden
574:Palmer, John (1742–1818)
466:"The Mail Coach Service"
51:the constituency of Bath
427:Aitken, George Atherton
354:"History of Parliament"
53:between 1801 and 1807.
594:The Bath Postal Museum
475:. 2005. Archived from
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173:Post Office employment
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75:Theatre Royal, Bristol
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392:. Redcliffe. p.
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25:John Palmer at age 75
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16:English theatre owner
67:royal letters patent
504:Paul Ailey (2004).
609:Bath Past: Theatre
187:Postmaster General
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653:Succeeded by
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531:T. H. B. Oldfield
482:on 2 January 2011
368:"History of Bath"
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65:, and obtained a
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437:Lee, Sidney
329:He died at
104:Post Office
47:Post Office
30:John Palmer
672:Categories
544:References
238:Long title
201:Later life
151:Gloucester
139:Portsmouth
127:Manchester
123:Nottingham
40:system of
337:at Bath.
308:. c. 157)
306:53 Geo. 3
294:53 Geo. 3
253:53 Geo. 3
167:Edinburgh
155:Worcester
91:Newmarket
429:(1895).
331:Brighton
255:. c. 157
248:Citation
163:Carlisle
159:Holyhead
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516:21 July
486:21 July
439:(ed.).
324:Charles
119:Norwich
71:Bristol
57:Theatre
38:British
645:With:
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147:Exeter
480:(PDF)
469:(PDF)
435:. In
371:(PDF)
341:Notes
319:mayor
260:Dates
143:Poole
135:Dover
131:Leeds
639:Bath
518:2008
488:2008
398:ISBN
192:The
161:and
34:Bath
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