Paris to London, 1792

Eunice Shanahan

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 is the first of two letters written in 1792 from Paris to London, both addressed to Sir Richard Heron, Baronet, of Grosvenor Square.

Paris letter

 This letter is dated February 6, and it has five postal markings
  1. in red P. PAYE PARIS, which indicated that the only postage due would be the inland postage from the first port in England to London. When it reached London it received:
  2. the Foreign Office Bishop mark for February 9. This type of Bishop mark was in use in both the Inland and the Foreign Office which are identifiable by the position of the month and day. The Foreign Office always had the month above the day. The letter was re-addressed to Brighton, so it was transferred to the Inland Office, where it received
  3. an Evening Duty double-circle datestamp for FE 10 92 and
  4. the postal charge of 10d which was crossed out, and
  5. a manuscript '4' charge mark added. The postage of 10d was paid to cover the cost from Paris to London, but as it had to be re-directed, the cost of London to Brighton (58 miles) had to be collected from Sir Richard Heron.

The letter carries a note 'Recd 11th Febry at Brighton, so it only took the extra day.
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Last modified 3 December 2002