ABSTRACT
The courtiers who hurried to pay their respects to King James in 1603 in cluded Stanhope, the Master of Posts, and four years later he obtained the grant that he desired. On 26 July the newly ennobled Lord John Stanhope and his son, Charles, were jointly awarded the position of Postmaster of England for life.1 There are warrants issued in May and June 1603 showing the annual costs of the posts at that time as £4,150.2
Before James left Scotland a proclamation concerning the royal progress southwards and the despatch of government packets was issued by the Privy Council addressed to all mayors, sheriffs, justicés of the peace, post masters, bailiffs, constables, heads of boroughs and others. Thomas Myles, Paymas ter of the posts, and Rowland White, Postmaster at the Court, were to oversee the arrangements. Shortly afterwards two other undated proclama tions were issued. The first, Orders for the thorow Posts and Curriers, summarised the regulations that had previously existed including the monopoly of the royal posts and was followed by Orders for the Posts of our Realms which put clear obligations on all town posts to accept packets from the principal secretaries and the Master of Posts. By these two instructions James re-enacted the regulations that had applied at the end of Elizabeth’s reign.3 Should a post master be unable to supply horses required to meet a warrant, then the local magistrates were obliged to find them. Tighter rules were introduced for the signatories of those letters which were to be ac cepted by the posts without charge, and the payment made for hiring post horses by the warrant holders was increased to 2 V2d. a mile in addition to the guide’s 4d.
