The King's Post Part 6

Thomas Cole.

The Time of working each Stage is to be reckoned from the Coach's Arrival, and as any Time lost, is to be recovered in the course of the Stage, it is the Coachman's Duty to be as expeditious as possible, and to report the Horse-keepers if they are not always ready when the Coach arrives, and active in getting it off. The Guard is to give his best a.s.sistance in changing, whenever his Official Duties do not prevent it.

November, 1832.----250.

By Command of the Postmasters-General, CHARLES JOHNSON, Surveyor and Superintendent.

In 1826, a coachman on this road was accused of imperilling his pa.s.sengers through having imbibed too freely, and the Mail Guard was called on in the following letter to report on the matter:--

"General Post Office, 29th July, 1826. Sir,--The pa.s.sengers who travelled with the Portsmouth and Bristol mail on the 26th instant, having complained that the coachman who drove on that day from Bristol to Warminster was drunk and unfit to drive I have to desire you will explain the reason why you neglected to report to me so great and so disgraceful an irregularity, and also how it happened that you did not know the coachman's name when the pa.s.sengers asked you for it. I am, sir, yours, etc.,

C. JOHNSON.--Mr. Folwell, Mail Guard, Bristol."

The explanation is not forthcoming.

In 1830, many of the public coaches started from Portsmouth and pa.s.sed through Portsea and Landport, but--

"In olden time two days were spent 'Twixt Portsmouth and the Monument; When flying Diligences plied, When men in Roundabouts would ride And, at the surly driver's will, Get out and climb each tedious hill.

But since the rapid Freeling's age, How much improved the English stage, Now in eight hours with ease, the post Reaches from Newgate Street our coast."

In the years 1837 and 1838 the Portsmouth mail coach was despatched at 7.5 p.m., from Bristol Post Office--then located at the corner of Exchange Avenue. The posting of letters without fee was allowed up to 6.35 p.m., and, with fee, paid and unpaid letters alike up to 6.50 p.m.

The coach started from the White Lion coach office, Broad Street, at 6.45 p.m., so as to be in readiness at the Post Office to take up the mails at the appointed time. The arrival of the mail at Portsmouth from Bristol was at 6.45 a.m. These times are an improvement upon the service in operation in 1836. At that time the coach left Bristol at 5.30 p.m., with a posting up to 5.0 p.m. without fee, and with fees paid, up to 5.15 p.m. On the inward journey the Coach did not arrive until 8.9 a.m.

It will be appropriate here to enumerate certain interesting incidents connected with the carrying on of the Mail Coach system.

On Sat.u.r.day, Jan. 5, 1805, the London Mail of Friday se'nnight, had not arrived at Swansea where it was due early in the morning, till eleven o'clock that night, having been detained seventeen hours at the New Pa.s.sage, in consequence of such large shoals of ice floating down the Severn as to render it unsafe for the mail boat to cross until Friday morning.

Thursday se'nnight, an inquest was held at Swansea on the body of John Paul, driver of the mail coach between that place and Caermarthen which on Sunday was overturned about two miles from Swansea, while proceeding with great rapidity down a hill, it being supposed the coachman's hands were so benumbed with cold that he could not restrain the horses' speed, the consequence of which was that he was so much bruised as to occasion his death on Wednesday night. The guard was slightly hurt, but the pa.s.sengers escaped uninjured. Verdict, accidental death.

Very few details exist of that exceptional season, in 1806, when Nevill, a guard on the Bristol mail, was frozen to death; but the records of the great snowstorm that began on the Christmas night of 1836 are more copious.

A valuable reminiscence of that night--Dec. 27, 1836--is Pollard's graphic picture of the Devonport mail snowed up at Amesbury. Six horses could not move it, and Guard F. Feecham was in parlous plight. Pollard's companion picture of the Liverpool mail in the snow near St. Alban's on the same night is equally interesting. Guard James Burdett fared little better than his comrade on the Devonport mail:

"An accident occurred to the Worcester mail Coach on Friday evening, March 27, 1829, opposite the Bull and Mouth Office, in Piccadilly, which, we are sorry to say, has proved fatal to Turner, the coachman.

Just as Turner had taken hold of the reins, and while he was wrapping a large coat over his knees, the leaders started, and, turning sharply to the right, dashed one of the fore-wheels against a post. The shock was so violent that the coachman was flung from his seat. He fell on his back, and his neck came violently against the curb-stone. Not a moment was lost in securing the a.s.sistance of a surgeon, by whom he was bled.

The poor man was shortly removed to St. George's Hospital, where he died at about eight o'clock on Sat.u.r.day evening. He left a wife and three infant children in a state of dest.i.tution, without even the means of buying a coffin."

As a "Caution to Mail Coachmen," the following notice was issued on June 20, 1829:--"On Friday, Thomas Moor, the driver of the London mail from Bristol to Calne and back, appeared before the Magistrates at Brislington to answer an information laid against him by Mr. Bull, the Inspector of Mail Coaches, by order of the G.P.O. for giving up the reins to an outside pa.s.senger, and permitting him to drive the mail, on May 29 last, from Keynsham to Bath, against the remonstrances of the guard. The magistrates convicted Moor in the mitigated penalty of 5 and 11s. costs. Mr. Bull presented the Bath Hospital with the amount of the fine."

On September 8th, 1837, a coachman named Burnett was killed at Speenhamland, on the Bath Road. He was driving one of the New Company's London and Bristol stages, and alighted at the "Hare and Hounds," very foolishly leaving the horses unattended, with reins on their backs. He had been a coachman for 20 years, but experience had not been sufficient to prevent him thus breaking one of the first rules of the profession.

He had no sooner entered the Inn than the rival Old Company's coach came down the road. Whether the other coachman gave the horses a touch with his whip as he pa.s.sed, or if they started of their own accord, is not known, but they did start, and Burnett, rus.h.i.+ng out to stop them, was thrown down and trampled on, so that he died.

There departed this life at Bristol, in November, 1904, a somewhat notable individual in the person of Richard Griffiths, who was born at Westminster, in the year 1811, and entered the service of the Post Office as a Mail Guard on the 17th November, 1834. At the commencement of his service he was employed as Guard to the London and Norwich, _via_ Newmarket Mail Coach, upon which duty he remained until the coach ceased running on the 5th January, 1846, when he was transferred to the London and Dover Railway, and acted as Mail Train Guard thereon. When a Travelling Post Office was established in 1860 on the Dover line of railway, and the necessity for a Guard to the Mail bags thus removed, Griffiths was ordered to the South Wales Railway, where he remained as Mail Train Guard until superannuated on the 25th August, 1870. He lived at Eastville, in Bristol, under the care at last of Mrs. Barrett, a kind old dame, who made him very comfortable, and on his demise, after being on pension for 34 years, he bequeathed his old battered Mail Coach horn to her (_see ill.u.s.tration_). It is probable that the horn was used on the last Norwich Coach out of London. The maker's name on it is "J.A.

Turner, 19 Poultry."

On November 9, 1822, attention was drawn to the "Musical Coachman"

thus:--"The blowing of the horn by the coachman and guards of our mail-coaches has usually been considered a sort of nuisance: now, by the persevering labours of these ingenious gentlemen, converted into an instrument of public gratification. Most of the guards of the stage-coaches now make their entrance and exit to the tune of some old national ballad, which, though it may not, perhaps, be played at present in such exact time and tune as would satisfy the leader of the opera band, is yet pleasant in comparison to the unmeaning and discordant strains which formerly issued from the same quarter."

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN OLD MAIL COACH GUARD'S POST HORN.]

April, 1832:--"The Tipsy Member" finds mention thus: "An M.P. applied to the Post Office to know why some of his franks had been charged; The answer was, 'We supposed, sir, they were not your writing; the 'hand' is not 'the same.' 'Why, not precisely; but the truth is I happened to be a _little tipsy_ when I wrote them.' 'Then, sir, you will be so good in future as to write 'drunk' when you make 'free.'"

In this book are depicted an old State Coach, the Mail Coach, the primitive Railway Train, and a Railway Engine of the latest pattern, all indicative of progress in locomotion. To complete the series, and for the purpose of historical record, subjoined is a picture of the first Motor vehicle used (1904-1905) in Bristol for the rapid transport of His Majesty's Mails by road. No doubt, in process of time, this handy little 5-horse power car, built to a Bristol Post Office design, to carry loads of 3-1/2 cwt., and constructed by the Avon Motor Company, Keynsham, near Bristol, will have numerous fellow cars darting about in the roads and crowded thoroughfares of Bristol for the collection of letters and parcels in conjunction with larger cars of higher horse power to do the heavy station traffic and country road work.

Still, little "Mercury" will have the credit of being the pioneer car in the Bristol Post Office Service. During its trials the car did really useful service, and did not once break down.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "AVON" TRIMOBILE, USED BY THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE.]

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BUSH TAVERN, BRISTOL'S FAMOUS COACHING INN, AND JOHN WEEKS, ITS WORTHY BONIFACE, 1775-1819.--THE WHITE LION COACHING HOUSE, BRISTOL.

ISAAC NIBLETT.--THE WHITE HART, BATH.

It appears that John Weeks was landlord of the Bush Tavern, Bristol, from 1775 to 1801, and continued to be a coach proprietor until 1806. In the Eastern cloister of Bristol Cathedral there is a mural tablet erected to his memory, with a well-executed medallion portrait of him in profile, with inscription as shown in the ill.u.s.tration.

Verger Sproule, of old time, who was born in the first year of the nineteenth century, once told Mr. Morgan, present senior lay clerk, that he well remembered John Weeks, and that the portrait on the tablet was an excellent likeness of him.

In "Mornings at Matlock," by Robey Skelton Mackenzie, D.C.L., author of "t.i.tian: an Art Novel" (London, Henry Colburn, publisher, 1850), a book which contains a collection of twenty-six short stories supposed to have been told by people stopping at Matlock, there is an interesting story relating to what was known as the Bush Guinea. Briefly told, Dr.

Mackenzie's Bush Guinea story runs thus:--"It was the delight of this Boniface (John Weeks) on every Christmas Day, to cover the great table with a glorious load of roast beef and plum pudding, flanked most plenteously with double home-brewed of such mighty strength and glorious flavour that we might well have called it malt wine rather than malt liquor. At this table on that day every one who pleased was welcome to sit down and feast. Many to whom a good dinner was an object did so; and no n.o.bler sight was there in Bristol, amidst all its wealth and hospitality, than that of honest John Weeks at the head of his table, l.u.s.tily carving and pressing his guests to 'Eat, drink, and be merry.'

Nor did his generosity content itself with this.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MURAL TABLET IN BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.]

"It was the custom of the house and of the day, when the repast was ended, that each person should go to honest John Weeks in the bar and there receive his cordial wishes for many happy returns of the genial season. They received something more, for according to their several necessities a small gift of money was pressed upon each. To one man a crown; to another, half-a-guinea; to a third, as more needing it a guinea. On the whole some twenty or thirty guineas were thus disbursed.

"On one particular year it had been noticed during the months of November and December, that a middle-aged man, whom no frequenter of the Bush Inn appeared to know, and who appeared to know no one, used to visit about noon every day, and calling for a sixpenny gla.s.s of brandy and water, sit over it until he had carefully gone through the perusal of the London paper of the previous evening. On Christmas Eve, honest John Weeks, anxious that the decayed gentleman should have one meal at least in the 'Bush,' delicately hinted that on the following day he kept open table. Punctually at one o'clock, being the appointed hour, he appeared at the Bush in his usual seedy attire. John Weeks called his head waiter, a sagacious, well-powdered, steady man, to whom he confidently entrusted the donation which he had set aside for the decayed gentleman. The decayed gentleman quietly put it in his pocket, from which he drew a card. The inscription on the card was simply 'Thomas Coutts, 59, Strand.' Amongst the heirlooms which she most particularly prized, the late d.u.c.h.ess of St. Albans, widow of Thomas Coutts, used to show a coin richly mounted in a gorgeous bracelet, which coin bore the name of 'The Bush Guinea.'"

Numerous as the pa.s.sengers were by the many coaches starting from the Bush Inn, yet evidently John Weeks was in the habit of finding enough food for them to eat, and the wherewithal to fortify themselves with, ere they set out on their long coach journeys. The Bill of Fare for the guests at that hostelry during the festive season of 1790 shows that our ancestors had an excellent conception of Christmas cheer. For variety and quant.i.ty it could not easily be surpa.s.sed, and in these "degenerate" days could not even be equalled. But let it speak for itself.

CHRISTMAS, 1790.

One Turtle, weight 47 lb.; 68 Pots Turtle; British Turtle Giblet Soup; Gravy Soup; Pea Soup; Soup and Bouille; Mutton Broth; Barley Broth; 4 Turbots; 7 Cod; 2 Brills; 2 Pipers; 12 Dories; 2 Haddocks; 14 Rock Fish; 18 Carp; 16 Perch; 2 Salmon; 12 Plaice; 164 Herrings; Sprats; Soles; 22 Eels; Salt Fish. Doe VENISON: 10 Haunches, 10 Necks, 10 b.r.e.a.s.t.s, 10 Shoulders; 37 Hares; 14 Pheasants; Grouse; 32 Partridges; 94 Wild Ducks; Wild Geese; 32 Teal; 27 Wigeon; 6 Bald Cootes; 1 Sea Pheasant; 3 Mews; 4 Moor Hens; 2 Water Dabs; 2 Curlews; Bittern; 61 Wood c.o.c.ks; 49 Snipes; 7 Wild Turkies; 8 Golden Plovers; 5 Quist; 2 Land Rails; 13 Galenas; 4 Pea Hens; 26 Pigeons; 121 Larks; 26 Stares; 108 Small Birds; 44 Turkies; 8 Capons; 9 Ducks; 5 Geese; 63 Chicken; 4 Ducklings; 18 Rabbits; 3 Pork Griskins; 11 Veal Burrs; 1 Roasting Pig; Oysters, Stewed and Scolloped; Eggs; Hogs Puddings; Ragood Feet and Ears; Scotch Collops; Veal Cutlets; Harricoad Mutton; Maintenon Chops; Pork Chops; Mutton Chops; Rump Steaks; Joint Steaks; Sausages; Hambro'

Sausages; Tripe; Cow Heel; Notlings; 3 House Lambs. VEAL: 5 Legs, 2 Loins, 1 Breast, 4 Calves' Heads. BEEF: 5 Rumps, 1 Sirloin, 5 Ribs, 1 Pinbone, Duch Beef, Hambro' Beef. MUTTON: 16 Haunches, 8 Necks, 8 Legs, 11 Loins, 6 Saddles, 6 Chines, 5 Shoulders. PORK: 4 Loins, 2 Legs, 2 Chines, 2 Spare-Ribs, 1 Porker. COLD: Boar's-Head; Baron Beef, 3 c. 1 qr.; 6 Hams; 4 Tongues; 6 Chicken; Hogs Feet and Ears; 7 Collars Brawn; 2 Rounds Beef; Collard Veal and Mutton; Collard Eels and Pig's Head; Rein Deers' Tongues; Dutch Tongues; Harts Tongues; Bologna Tongues; Parague Pie; French Pies; Pigeon Pies; Venison Pasty; Sulks; 470 Minced Pies; 13 Tarts; 218 Jellies; 800 Craw Fish; Pickled Salmon; Sturgeon; Pickled Oysters; Potted Partridges; Crabs; 24 Lobsters; 52 Barrels Pyfleet and Colchester Oysters; Milford and Tenby Oysters; Pines.

So far as can be ascertained, Matthew Stretch kept the tavern from 1801 to 1805, and James Anderson in 1805 and 1806. Mr. John Townsend was "mine host" from 1807 until 1826. Unfortunately, none of his descendants possess a portrait of him. Mr. Charles Townsend, of St. Mary's, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, has in his possession the original lease, in which the Bush Tavern in Corn Street was transferred, on the 18th December, 1806, from Mr. John Weeks, wine merchant, on the one part, to Mr. John Townsend on the other part, at a yearly rental of 395 of lawful money of the United Kingdom--the term to be for fourteen years. The stables and coach houses "of him, the said John Weeks," situated in Wine Street, were included in the transfer. Out of the rental the yearly sum of 20 had to be paid by the owner, John Weeks, to the parish of St. Ewen, for that part of the coffee house which stood in the said parish.

As showing how John Weeks safeguarded his monopoly of coach-running to and from the Bush Tavern, there was this stipulation in the lease:--"The said John Townsend shall and will from time to time and at all times during the continuance of this demise take in and receive at the said Tavern, hereby demised, all and every Stage Coach or Public Carriage which shall belong to the said John Weeks at any time during this term, under the penalty of Two thousand Pounds, and that he, the said John Townsend, shall not nor will at any time during the said Term, if the said John Weeks shall so long run carriages of the aforesaid description, take in at the said Tavern or Coffee Room any Public Stage Coach or by way of evasion any Public Carriage whatsoever used as a public stage belonging to any person or persons whomsoever without the consent and approbation of the said John Weeks &c. in writing for that purpose first had and obtained under the penalty of two thousand pounds to be paid for any default in the observance and performance of the covenants herein before contained in that behalf."

According to Paterson's "Roads," John Weeks in 1794 occupied a homestead called "The Rodney," at Filton Hay, 4 miles from Bristol on the Bristol to Tewkesbury Road.

The following advertis.e.m.e.nt from a very old newspaper will be interesting as indicative that in addition to the John Weeks, of Bush Inn fame, Bristol, there was at the Portsmouth end of the Mail Coach route another worthy of the same name, likewise engaged in the carrying trade, but by sea instead of land:--"John Weeks, Master of the Duke of Gloster Sloop, takes this method to thank his friends and the public for their past favours in the Southampton and Portsmouth pa.s.sage trade, and hopes for a continuance of the same, as they may depend on his care, and the time of sailing more regular than for many years past. He sails from Southampton every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and returns every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat.u.r.day, wind and weather permitting."

In the _Bristol Journal_ of Sat.u.r.day, July 28, 1804, "James Anderson (who kept the Lamb Inn, Broadmead, eleven years), begged to inform his old friends and the public in general that he has taken the Bush Inn, Tavern, and Coffee-house, facing the Exchange, Bristol," where he hoped, by constant attention, reasonable charges, &c., to render everything agreeable and convenient to those who might kindly give a preference to his house. There had evidently been some friction at the Bush under the late management, for Mr. Anderson also intimated that "those gentlemen who withdrew from the Bush Coffee-room (upon Huntley's leaving it) are solicited to use it, gratis, until Christmas next."

In an advertis.e.m.e.nt following the above, John Weeks solicited support to his new tenant at the Bush, and added--"In the case of large dinners, or other public occasions, John Weeks will a.s.sist Mr. Anderson to give satisfaction."