Page 1 - Fenning_Scoland

Early Scottish Postal History
(1591 - 1711)

Introduction

This display aims to show how postal communications developed from the time when Scotland
was a separate country, unconnected with England (i.e. prior to 1603), until the date that
Scotland's Post Office was absorbed into a British Post Office (1711).

The sheets being displayed show important stages in the development of organised postal
systems together with a few relevant items of ephemera. Interspersed are some letters included
not so much for their postal importance but more for their significance at key moments in the
history of Scotland.

The earliest material has few or no postal markings. For such letters the date of the letter,
contents, author and addressee assume a particular importance as a study of these can reveal
why a letter was sent and often can provide a strong indicator or conclusive evidence of how a
letter was carried to its destination.

Letters in the display fall into three categories:

• Privately carried mail
• Burgh Posts
• Mail carried by organised services (e.g. merchant posts, King's Mail, Post Office network)

However, to provide a simple timeline linking postal developments to historical events, the display
has not been separated into these categories but has been presented in chronological order.

Frame 1

Scotland in the late 16tta Century and early 17tta Century

In the late 16th Century Scotland had its own king (James VI) and was totally independent of
England in every way. Most letters sent within the country were carried privately of by Burgh
Posts as no organised, regular postal services existed. Those few letters that crossed the border
into England also were carried privately or sometimes were consigned to merchant posts.

This frame illustrates the situation at that time:

• a selection of maps and woodcuts of the period illustrating Edinburgh and the south of
Scotland, including the earliest printed view of Edinburgh (from Munster's Cosmographia)
and an early town plan of the city (engraved by Francesco Valegio).
• the two letters from the Corsini correspondence originating in Scotland that have rates
endorsed on them
• an early 171h Century letter carried privately within Scotland