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Auction: 14035 - Postal History, Autographs and Historical Documents
Lot: 3031

Historical Documents
Ralph Allen
1754 (18 July) autograph letter signed "W. Warburton", to Mr. Nourse, Bookseller at the Lamb in the Strand, asking him to forward a letter "to the Genl Post office by the penny post add. to Christopher Robinson Esq at the Genl post office, who has directions abt. it." Single page (7½ x 6 inches), filing hole, centre fold split, light dust soiling to letter, with the integral address leaf written and signed as "free R.Allen" (Ralph Allen, Postmaster at Bath) with straight-line "BATH" postal marking and "20/JY" Bishop mark. The letter closes with the initials "P.P." (Prior Park, Ralph Allen's mansion outside Bath). An unusual letter with the address written by the man who devised the Cross Post system for England and Wales. Photo

William Warburton (1698-1779), bishop and scholar, defender of Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, a controversialist who tackled Hume, the Deists, Voltaire and Wesley.

Ralph Allen (1693-1764), entrepreneur and philanthropist, friend of Pope and Fielding, notable for his reforms to the British postal system. In his youth he worked at the Post Office. He moved to Bath in 1710, where he became a post office clerk, and at the age of 19, in 1712, became the Postmaster of Bath. In 1742 was elected Mayor of Bath. He was the Member of Parliament for Bath between 1757 and 1764. He devised a system of cross-posts for England and Wales. Allen's friendship with Alexander Pope led to Pope bringing Warburton to Prior Park. This resulted in Warburton's marriage to Gertude Tucker, Allen's favourite niece, and his appointment, through Pitt's influence, to the bishopric of Gloucester.

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Sold for
£350