These letters graciously have been shared with the Victorian Web by Eunice and Ron Shanahan; they have been taken from their website. The letters give an insight into the daily lives and concerns of 'ordinary' people without whom history would not exist. The letters are a wonderful example of how much history may be gleaned from such sources.
This letter from the past was written more than 200 years ago and has a really clear large triple circle datestamp of the type that was in use from 1791 until 1794, when the London Post was re-organised. In the outer circle, it has ' PAID' and the year in two figures, (in this case 92), the month AP with decorative diamonds in the next circle, and the day 19 in a small centre circle. The postage cost of the letter is shown by the manuscript marking in red ink "P/4" . Horsham is 38 miles from London, and the rate in force from 1784 for a distance under 150 miles was 4d.
Last modified 11 December 2002