The World's Fair

[Seato]

The amazing efficiency of the Victorian postal service recently came to my attention. I suppose back then people took it for granted as a part of life, but it does show how much could be achieved in the past through human effort that we find almost unbelievable from our limited modern perspective.

A few extracts can be found on the matter here. Victorian London - Communications - Post - Delivery Times and Postal Regulations
I will quote some choice extracts below.

Victorian London - Communications - Post - Delivery Times and Postal Regulations

Regulations of the Twopenny Post Office.- The principal office is at the General Post Office, St. Martin's-le-Grand There are, besides, upwards of 400 receiving houses for letters, both in town and country. There are seven collections and deliveries of letters in town daily, and five deliveries daily at all places in the environs of London, situate within a circle of three miles' distance from the head establishment in St. Martin's le Grand, that having been determined as the limits of the Post Office. The country delivery, as it is called, extends to a distance of twelve miles from the metropolis, and most places within that limit have four despatches and four deliveries daily (Sundays excepted).

Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844

London is divided into 8 postal districts, in which the number of deliveries varies from 12 to 6 daily, between 7.30 a.m. and 7.45 p.m.

Letters posted at the Receiving-houses in London before 6 at night are delivered the same evening at all places within a circle of three miles from the General Post Office; or if posted before 5, they are delivered in the environs the same evening.

Murray's Handbook to London As It Is, 1879

The NIGHT MAILS FROM LONDON leave the G. P. 0. at 8 p.m., and (with one or two exceptions) arrive at all important towns in England and Wales in time for a morning delivery, beginning before 9 o’clock.
The arrival at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin is also in time for a similar delivery.

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879

Doubtless, a lot of this efficiency was facilitated by the equally impressive Victorian era railway system.
This subject was brought up by Irving Finkel in a speech about diaries (mentioned around the 44 minute mark). Where he mentioned that people in Victorian London may receive as many as four sets of postal deliveries in a day. With the system being efficient enough that people would sometimes send sick notes in the post saying they would be late to work that day. Funny how comparable its usage was to modern electronic communication methods.

 

[Cosmos]

The amazing efficiency of the Victorian postal service recently came to my attention. I suppose back then people took it for granted as a part of life, but it does show how much could be achieved in the past through human effort that we find almost unbelievable from our limited modern perspective.

A few extracts can be found on the matter here. Victorian London - Communications - Post - Delivery Times and Postal Regulations
I will quote some choice extracts below.



Doubtless, a lot of this efficiency was facilitated by the equally impressive Victorian era railway system.
This subject was brought up by Irving Finkel in a speech about diaries (mentioned around the 44 minute mark). Where he mentioned that people in Victorian London may receive as many as four sets of postal deliveries in a day. With the system being efficient enough that people would sometimes send sick notes in the post saying they would be late to work that day. Funny how comparable its usage was to modern electronic communication methods.

Yes. Never underestimate just how creative, efficient and genius people and societies of the past could be. Nowadays we tend to believe (quite wrongly, I think) that things can work only in the way we know how to do it today while we tend to think it couldn’t be done better or more advanced. A big mistake to think that way I believe.

 

[A Jay]

I just so happened to come across a physical copy of the book What the Victorians Did for Us by Adam Hart-Davis in 2001 in connection with a BBC documentary of the same name[1].

This documentary series is great. Thanks for mentioning it.

I've only watched a couple episodes and I'm getting answers to questions I didn't know I had. I'm also consistently surprised at the ingenuity and creativity that sometimes led to elegant solutions to complex problems.

Definitely recommend it to anyone interested in learning about the Victorian era or the development of the industrial revolution.