‘ Mr Broadhurst in London to Charles Upton, Derby, 1800 ’
by
Eunice Shanahan
This is another letter to Charles Upton Esqre who was a solicitor in Derby. The filing note on the outside is “ C. Broadhurst Esqre No date,”. The letter has two postmarks, one a London double circle evening duty in black, not clearly stamped, but is DE at the top, 30 in the centre circle, the date, and the year in 3 figures at the bottom 800, with a dot before the 8 and a letter A at the left, the identifying letter of the actual hand stamp. This type of evening duty stamp was in use from 1800 to 1822 and had the code letters from A to C . The postal charge, in force during 1801-1805 was 9d to cover a distance of between 120-170 miles, and was written in manuscript. Derby was 126 miles from London.
The letter has no address, and is written by a very angry man, who has not hesitated to state his opinion. Sir, The tone of this letter is quite different from the one written to Mr Upton by Mr Hart in 1802, and this just shows that the life of a country town solicitor could be very varied.
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Reference Great Britain Post Roads Post Towns and Postal Rates 1635-1839, Alan W. Robertson.
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