Page 64 - Fenning_Scoland

The final five frames show postal history from the earty 1690's to 1711. This period started with a
continued expansion of the Scottish postal network and culminated in the elimination of the
Scottish Post Office in 1711. Key events were:
• 1693 - introduction of Scotland's first handstamp
• 1695 - Scotland's Post Office Act
• 1695 - 1707 expansion of post office network
• 1707 -Acts of Union resulting in discontinuation of the Scottish Partiament
• 1711 - Post Office Act abolishes Scotland's independent Post Office

Sheets particularly relevant to these events or of special interest are noted below:

Frame 8

• Scotland's first handstruck mark - the Edinburgh Bishop mark introduced in August 1693.
An example in this frame is from the first month of use.

Frame 9

• a newsletter sent by post from London to an Edinburgh coffee house and 'Refused'
• manuscript town marks, introduced from the late 1690's: Ayr, Glasgow and Port Patrick

Frame 10

• Scottish internal postal rates 1700 - 1710 (set by the Scottish Post Office Act, 1695).
Several letters displayed provide the earliest evidence of a post office existing in that town
or of a postal service operating to that town

2 shillings (Scots) single rate (up to 50 Scots miles)
3 shillings (Scots) single rate (50-100 Scots miles)
4 shillings (Scots) single rate (above 100 Scots miles)

Frame 11

• Documenting the establishment of the Coupar Angus Post Office: the letter authorising
opening the post office, the commission from the Scottish PMG appointing the postmaster,
the revenue accounts for the first 14 months of operation etc. Believed to be the only such
assemblage relating to the opening of a town's post office under the Scottish Post Office in
private hands

Frame 12

• a 'Free' letter from Scotland's Postmaster General
• a letter carried by official post from Bath to Berwick and then delivered into Scotland to
Broxmouth by private arrangement with the Berwick postmaster
• the 1711 Act that abolished the Scottish Post Office