Page 309 - Sierra Leone to 1961 - The Collection

Pre-Post Office Mail

1821 Privately Carried Letter

2 August 1821 - Private letter from Sierra Leone to London.

Private letter from a military officer
serving in Sierra Leone to his brother
in London dated 1821, more than 20
years before the Freetown post office
was established.

This letter bears no postal markings
of any kind, either in transit or whilst
in the internal UK mail. This is
consistent with the letter having been
completely privately carried.

Address panel (75%)

The letter concerns mundane financial matters, but the writer contemplates his future: When I get my discharge
if I cannot get employ in England I shall return to this country and then try in traffic to make a small fortune. In other
words, he is considering becoming a slave trader...