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Auction: 23027 - Stamps and Covers of Great Britain
Lot: 2042

Great Britain
Postal History
The Herbert Joyce Family Archive
1789 (5 Oct.), a letter from John Palmer, Comptroller General of the Post Office, on the Isle of Wight, to Thomas de Grey, 2nd. Baron Walsingham, Postmaster General, a fascinating personal letter commenting on his wife's illness and his children's education. He closes, significantly, "your lord'p is very good in your handsome congratulations of my affairs being finished"
Note: On 2 July 1789, after many meetings with the commissioners, Pitt signed a treasury warrant cancelling Palmer's earlier appointment under the Postmasters-General and ordering a new one to be given by Walsingham under his new appointment, which was signed by Walsingham, Carteret and Anthony Todd, secretary, on 11 September 1789. Palmer retained his title of surveyor and comptroller-general and his salary of £1,500 a year, but his 2½% commission on the nett profit took effect on all revenue of the Post Office over £240,000 as compared with £300,000 under the first appointment. An exceptionally rare and important letter from this Postal Reformer


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Estimate
£2,000 to £2,500

Starting price
£1400