Post by REL1948 on May 12, 2023 21:12:01 GMT
A November 7th 1798 entire (4 connected pages) written from Inverary, Scotland and addressed to Edinburgh solicitor, John Campbell WS (Writer to the Signet) with his office in St. James Square, Edinburgh. The post road distance between Inverary and Edinburgh was over 100 difficult miles at that time, reflecting the charge of one shilling for this service. There is also a Bishop Mark showing the date of receipt as November 10.
Bishop Marks
Henry Bishop, Postmaster General from 1660 to 1663, introduced the world's first known postmark in London on 19 April 1661. The ‘Bishop Mark’ was designed to show the date on which a letter was received by the post to further ensure the senders that their delivery would not be delayed. These were the world's first hand-struck postage stamps.
Bishop announced: "A stamp is invented that is putt upon every letter shewing the day of the moneth that every letter comes to the office, so that no Letter Carryer may dare detayne a letter from post to post"… which until that time occurred frequently.
The Marks were first used in Bishop’s main offices in London but later introduced in Dublin, Edinburgh and New York City. The original London Bishop Mark, first used on 19 April 1661 consisted of a small circle, bisected horizontally with a two letter abbreviation for the month in the upper half and the day of the month in the lower half. Similar marks were later used in Scotland, Ireland, and the North American colonies.
The hill was lorded over for generations by Heriot’s Hospital. They would battle anyone who challenged their ownership. When one of their feudal holders, an Edinburgh lawyer named Walter Ferguson announced plans to develop a site on Moultrie’s Hill, the trustees of Heriot’s Hospital took him to the Court of Session. Heriot’s lost: Ferguson won.
In 1773 Ferguson* commissioned James Craig* (the young architect/planner who previously laid out ‘New Town’) to put a plan together to develop the site. The new square, according to the plan was ‘dry and healthy and commands pleasing and extensive views’, it was a mere ‘8 minutes from the Parliament House, the High Church and the Exchange… 6 minutes from the markets and not 3 minutes from agreeable airing in the country.’ Most important of all, perhaps, being outside the city boundary ‘it is free of all the Taxes, imposts and burdens to which the inhabitants within the Liberties of the City of Edinburgh are subjects; and of the land tax’.
By 1780 the first houses in St James Square (possibly named after James Stuart, the ‘king over the water’) were open for business. The new square quickly attracted a decent, if not wealthy, group of renters. Some became noteworthy, others were seen as dangerous Jacobites. Among this diverse group of renters was Robert Burns who lodged in the square on one of his jaunts to Edinburgh in his search for fame and fortune.
The square’s role as one of Edinburgh’s fashionable high spots didn’t last. The later and much posher New Town proved a powerful draw to Edinburgh’s elites. By the mid-19th century, they headed west, leaving St James Square and its surrounding streets to slide slowly down the social ladder.
*The partnership between Craig and Ferguson reminded me of the Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson and made me laugh.
Rob
Bishop Marks
Henry Bishop, Postmaster General from 1660 to 1663, introduced the world's first known postmark in London on 19 April 1661. The ‘Bishop Mark’ was designed to show the date on which a letter was received by the post to further ensure the senders that their delivery would not be delayed. These were the world's first hand-struck postage stamps.
Bishop announced: "A stamp is invented that is putt upon every letter shewing the day of the moneth that every letter comes to the office, so that no Letter Carryer may dare detayne a letter from post to post"… which until that time occurred frequently.
The Marks were first used in Bishop’s main offices in London but later introduced in Dublin, Edinburgh and New York City. The original London Bishop Mark, first used on 19 April 1661 consisted of a small circle, bisected horizontally with a two letter abbreviation for the month in the upper half and the day of the month in the lower half. Similar marks were later used in Scotland, Ireland, and the North American colonies.
St. James Square
Known for decades as Moultrie’s Hill, it was one of the places in Edinburgh where they used to hang vicious criminals. It held a strategic location in the late 16th century war between the supporters of Mary Stuart and those of her son James VI. The hill was lorded over for generations by Heriot’s Hospital. They would battle anyone who challenged their ownership. When one of their feudal holders, an Edinburgh lawyer named Walter Ferguson announced plans to develop a site on Moultrie’s Hill, the trustees of Heriot’s Hospital took him to the Court of Session. Heriot’s lost: Ferguson won.
In 1773 Ferguson* commissioned James Craig* (the young architect/planner who previously laid out ‘New Town’) to put a plan together to develop the site. The new square, according to the plan was ‘dry and healthy and commands pleasing and extensive views’, it was a mere ‘8 minutes from the Parliament House, the High Church and the Exchange… 6 minutes from the markets and not 3 minutes from agreeable airing in the country.’ Most important of all, perhaps, being outside the city boundary ‘it is free of all the Taxes, imposts and burdens to which the inhabitants within the Liberties of the City of Edinburgh are subjects; and of the land tax’.
By 1780 the first houses in St James Square (possibly named after James Stuart, the ‘king over the water’) were open for business. The new square quickly attracted a decent, if not wealthy, group of renters. Some became noteworthy, others were seen as dangerous Jacobites. Among this diverse group of renters was Robert Burns who lodged in the square on one of his jaunts to Edinburgh in his search for fame and fortune.
The square’s role as one of Edinburgh’s fashionable high spots didn’t last. The later and much posher New Town proved a powerful draw to Edinburgh’s elites. By the mid-19th century, they headed west, leaving St James Square and its surrounding streets to slide slowly down the social ladder.
*The partnership between Craig and Ferguson reminded me of the Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson and made me laugh.
Rob
