Page 101 - Fenning_Scoland
P. 101
1702 - Newcastle to Dumfries letter partly prepaid and partly unpaid
On a few occasions letters were prepaid for part of the journey and unpaid for the rest of
the journey. This practice appears to have been acceptable to the Post Office but it was
seldom used.
4 111 January 1702. Newcastle upon Tyne to
Dumfries via Edinburgh.
'For the honourable the Lady Kirkconnell at
Kirkconnell near Drumfries in Scotland
This is desired to be hastened as directed by the
postmaster of Dmmfries These'
The sender had endorsed the address panel
p' pd (post paid).
On receipt at Edinburgh Post Office, the words
'to Edr' (to Edinburgh) were added after p' pd
for clarification, and initialled. The letter was
also endorsed with the postal charge 'Z for its
onward journey.
The 'Z was the two shillings (Scots) single
letter unpaid rate for the Edinburgh to Dumfries
part of the journey (per the 1695 Act of the
Scottish Parliament).
This is one of the few examples of a letter of
this period partly prepaid and partly unpaid.
