Bengal Postage Rates of 1830: Date
of Introduction
Abhishek Bhuwalka
Figure 1: Front of cover. The
addressee is Nathan Mayer
Rothschild, the famous financier,
head of the London ‘branch’ of the
Rothschild family, and perhaps the
richest man in the world at that
time.
Figure 2: Rear of cover. Noting
inside by the addressee on receipt
shows that the letter was written
on 26 January 1830 by the Calcutta
merchants, Macintyre & Co. (whose
handsome cursive initials are
stamped on the wax seal)
Figures 1 and 2 present the front and rear of an apparently simple wrapper (no contents) from
Calcutta to London via the Cape of Good Hope. The front has, in addition, a red rectangular
INDIA LETTER / PORTSMOUTH handstamp (Robertson In. 3). The rear has a CALCUTTA /
G.P.O. / SHIP LETTER (Giles SD9) handstamp of 29? January as well as a London datestamp
of 29 May. And importantly the numerals ‘2/14’ noted in ink.
The Postage
As expounded by Smith and Johnson, the fraction ‘2/14’ indicates that this is an ‘After Packet’
letter sent from Calcutta to Kedgeree after the specified ship had left Calcutta but had not
yet been put to sea. It could still be put on board as she passed the mouth of the Hooghly
river. The ‘2’ denotes a weight of between one and two tolas and ‘14’ means 14 annas
postage. The latter can be bifurcated as ship postage of four annas and inland postage of 10
annas from Calcutta to Kedgeree for a two tola letter.
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The reader should note that, many a time, manuscript notations in the form of ‘2/X’ refer to
double-weight letters and not After Packet ones. Knowing the then existing ship and inland
rates will help distinguish them. When those rates are such that a letter could equally be
either a double-weight or an After Packet, one needs to check the ship’s sailing dates from
published records like Lloyd’s Lists and contemporary newspapers.
Revised 1830 Rates
Until their revision in 1830, inland rates in Bengal were considered to be much too high;
furthermore, they had hardly changed over two decades, the last move having taken place
on 1 May 1808. In addition, many including Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General,
considered the postal system to be in an “unsatisfactory state” with letters travelling slowly
and the natives not getting adequate attention at many of the subordinate offices. As a
result, multiple private dawks existed across the Presidency, especially for the purpose of
carrying native letters. Hence, over the previous couple of years, plans had been afoot to
bring about a rationalisation in rates apart from other changes in regulations.
The Bengal Public Proceedings of 3 November 1829 show that J. E. Elliott, Post Master
General of Bengal, was a sceptic of lower rates. In a letter dated 21 October 1829 addressed
to H. T. Prinsep, Secretary to Government, General Department, he accepted that while
existing rates were high in some cases, he did not consider it to be true in general. He thought
that like-to-like comparisons of rates with England were not proper and that reduction in
them would not lead to any increase in post office revenue either by increasing the volume
of correspondence or by drawing business away from the private dawks. Nevertheless, under
pressure from various quarters, he proposed a decrease in rates. The new proposed rates
especially impacted long-distance letters as they were about one thirds lower under 500
miles and only about one-half at 1,000 miles.
Calcutta to Kedgeree had been 5 annas single since 1808. Under the new proposals, it was
reduced to 2 annas.
Introduction of 1830 Rate Reduction
Giles (1960, pg. 137-153) reproduces as Appendix P the new Post Office Regulations
published under the hand of Elliott and dated 1 January 1830; however, it does not contain
any table of postage rates. It has been generally assumed by later postal historians that the
revised rates were effective from that date till they changed again in April 1832. The
endorsement and datestamps on this letter imply that this assumption is incorrect; the
effective date was later than 1 January.
So why were the old rates still being used in late January? The reason for the delay is simple.
Elliott submitted the detailed regulations asked for only on 14 December and these were
approved, as an experiment, by the Governor General on 29 December. In the months before
and as late as November, the authorities had intended that new rates be effective from 1
January; however, the late approval meant that there was not enough time to do so. In his
letter of 21 October, the Post Master General had said,
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I apprehend some little delay will still be unavoidable before it (“it” refers to
new rates and regulations) can be carried into execution, as it will be first
necessary to have fresh tables of rates prepared, printed and circulated to
every station under this office as also to have new weights struck and
similarly transmitted to the several Post offices.
Coming back to the January 1830 letter (Figures 1 and 2), by paying the old rates in late
January 1830, it confirms that the new rates were not effective from the 1st January. If the
rates were indeed effective from then, a noting of ‘2/7’ would have been made, where seven
comprised ship postage of three annas and inland postage of four annas for a two tola letter.
Effective Date
What was the relevant date then? Two little-known but meticulous researchers of the Indian
post office, Grover (1959, pg. 98) and Bhatnagar (2005, pg. 109), state that new rates were
effective from 1 February 1830. This seems to be right. Giles (1960, pg. 153) reproduces a post
office notification from 11 April 1832 which refers to the reduction two years earlier and
states that they were brought into effect vide a notification published in the Government
Gazette dated 29 January 1830. No change could have happened before the latter date and
further, this must have been the notification containing the table of postage rates.
The experiment with the reduction proved to be a failure. A comparison of post office
revenues in the period February 15 to August 15 1830 vs. that of 1829 showed them reducing
from Rs. 347,744-15-10 to Rs. 228,026-12-8 or by more than one-thirds (Grover 1959, pg. 102-
103). The fall was almost in proportion to the reduction in rates and no increase in
correspondence was observed. It was not until the implementation of the Post Office Act of
1854 that one saw such a sharp reduction in postage rates that it led to the theorised
explosion mail volumes.
The Ship and its Sailing
Barretto Junior (with a double ‘r’ as usually mentioned in contemporary records) was a teak
ship of 522 tons built at Calcutta
in 1818 and re-rigged as a barque
in 1846. It was very likely built
and owned by the Barretto
family who were established
wealthy merchants of
Portuguese descent at Calcutta.
Junior probably refers to Joseph
Barretto, Junior who joined his
father’s firm, Joseph Barretto
and Co., in 1806.
Barretto Junior was a ship Figure 3: Probably the only existing image of Barretto Junior. From a drawing
generally available for charter. by Owen Stanley from his sketchbook, Departure of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror
Initially she was active on the for the North Pole, 1845. Source: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138504211/view
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India-Great Britain route carrying goods and passengers. At the time she carried this letter
under the command of Captain A. Shannon, she was considered one of the swiftest ships
having completed her last voyage out and home in eight months and thirteen days and her
latest outward journey to Calcutta in 104 days (Government Gazette, 1830, pg. 3). Her later
claim-to-fame was that she was one of the ships used in the 1845 Sir John Franklin expedition
to discover the Northwest passage in the Canadian Artic.
Tracing the movements of Barretto, Indian newspapers and gazettes that I have access to do
not give her exact sailing dates. However, the London newspaper, The Star, of 29 May
reports the arrival of the ship at Portsmouth on 28 May where this letter was offloaded; it
also mentions that it had left Bengal (not clear whether this refers to Calcutta or Sand Heads
at the mouth of the Hooghly) on 1 February, Madras on 19 February, and St. Helena on 19
April; a journey time of 116 days. In addition, the Lloyd’s List of 1 June shows the ship at
Gravesend, a river-port on the south bank of the Thames and main dock for ships to and from
London.
Acknowledgements
Max Smith for acting as a sounding board, clarifying my doubts, and drawing my attention
to the Bengal Proceedings of 1829.
References
Bhatnagar, Bhagwat Sahai. 2015. A Comprehensive History of the Indian Post through the
Ages. Vol. 5. 10 vols. New Delhi: Rima Publishing House.
Edgar, Lea. 2015. “The Barretto Junior: A Biography of Franklin’s Supply Ship.” BC Shipping
News. 5 no. 3 (April): 18-19.
Giles, D[erek]. Hammond. 1960. The Handstruck Postage Stamps of India. Bombay: E.
Franklin DeSouza for The Philatelic Society of India.
Government Gazette. Madras. XXIX no. 1477 (28 January 1830): 3
Grover, Basant Lal. 1959. The Development of the Postal System in Northern India under the
East India Company (1757-1858). Unpublished thesis submitted to the Punjab University
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Smith, Max, and Robert Johnson. 2007. Express Mail, After Packets, and Late Fees in India
Before 1870. Wheathampstead, Herts, UK: Stuart Rossiter Trust.
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