Unsteady hands
Apart from the problems associated with dealing with so much mail at Christmas, the Post Office in the 19th century also had to contend with inclement weather and the perils of intoxication.
Not only did snow and ice make moving the vast quantities of cards, letters and parcels more challenging because of delayed mail trains, it could also make the public reluctant to post their Christmas mail early.
According to the London Postal Museum, it was customary during the Victorian era to give ‘letter carriers’, known as postmen from 1883, a token of appreciation over Christmas and the New Year for the good work they had done.
However, in instances this could often take the form of alcohol, which could mean dismissal for any colleague discovered to be “over the limit” while on duty.
It was reported that in Christmas 1872 there had been more cases of drunkenness than a Mr Beaufort, the postmaster and district surveyor, could remember.
He appealed ‘to all concerned to refrain henceforth from manifesting their approval of the conduct of the letter carriers in a way which is in truth the reverse of real kindness.’
The appeal seems to have been heeded because Mr Beaufort reported fewer cases of drunkenness over the Christmas holidays the following year.
Mr Hobson, the postmaster of Glasgow backed this up, noting that at the last New Year’s Day, a trying time in Scotland, he had ‘not a single man under the influence of liquor.’
Pop into the Discovery Room at the Postal Museum to learn more about how the festive mailbag was handled in the Victorian era.
