Page 404 - Jarvis & Wright: Jamaica Display to RPSL
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Jamaica Registration: Mailed Out Of Course.
Forerunners: ‘Found in the Letter Box’ 1841.
From an early date, long before the introduction of street letter boxes to Jamaica in 1863, every post
office was provided with “A Letter Box, opening to the public Street or Thoroughfare… open for the
reception of letters…” (from 1848 General instructions to a postmaster in the British West Indies).
This was convenient for the public for unpaid post, but sometimes left the post office with items that
should have been proffered at the post office counter, or were delayed or otherwise out of course.
The post office sometimes added defensive explanations of what had happened.
Entire from Spanish Town to Great Britain, 1841.
This was an unpaid letter, eligible for posting in the letter box, but it apparently languished unnoticed
in the box for a fortnight and was then delayed for a further week before it left Spanish Town.
→
Letter dated inside Spanish Town 8 October 1841.
th
To Great Britain, marked Packet.
Unpaid, marked in black with correct 1s packet rate; Spanish Town was within the 1s packet rate area.
nd
In red: Found in the Letter Box 22 Oct 1841.
Spanish Town: 29 October 1841.
Great Britain: 3 December 1841.
