Sale 1185 — 2018 Rarities of the World
Sale Date — Wednesday, 27 June, 2018
Category — Colonial, Stampless, Clipperton Island, Free Frank
Great Britain, Act of Queen Anne, 1710 -- "An Act for Establishing a General Post-Office for all Her Majesties Dominions, and for Settling a Weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof, for the Service of the War, and other Her Majesties Occasions." Title page "Anno Regni ANNAE REGINAE, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae, NONO. At the Parliament Begun and Holden at Westminster, the Twenty fifth Day of November, Anno Dom. 1710..."; printer’s imprint "Printed by the Assigns of Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, deceas’d; Printers to the Queens most Excellent Majesty. 1711."; 14 pages numbered 287-311, folio, in excellent condition with minor age spottingTHIS EXTREMELY RARE PUBLICATION IS THE FIRST AUTHORIZED EDITION OF THE QUEEN ANNE POST OFFICE (REVENUES) ACT OF 1710, WHICH ESTABLISHED GREAT BRITAIN’S POST OFFICES IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES AND INTRODUCED STANDARD RATES FOR CALCULATING POSTAGE IN THE BRITISH ISLES AND COLONIES.
From the 1660s until 1692, various efforts were made by individuals and colonial governments to establish posts in the American Colonies. In April 1692 the first British Parliamentary Act establishing a post office in North America gave the 21-year postal patent to Thomas Neale (1641-1699), a member of Parliament and Master of the Mint and the Transfer Office. Neale remained in England and assigned responsibility for establishing the postal system to Andrew Hamilton, who traveled to America and worked with various colonial governments to develop posts under the Neale Patent. After Neale’s death in 1699, the patent passed to Hamilton and another financial backer, Robert West. The posts in America were never profitable, and the Crown refused to support the enterprise. It effectively ended in 1707. [Source: "Neale Patent Mail, 1693-1707," Timothy P. O’Connor, M.D., Chronicle 237, February 2013].
Parliament’s interest in postal patents as a means to raise revenue grew from the need to finance the War of Spanish Succession, which lasted for virtually all of Queen Anne’s reign. The Post Office (Revenues) Act of November 25, 1710 -- the Act of Queen Anne -- was designed to raise revenue for the Treasury and extended the General Post Office’s authority to all of the colonies under British rule. Significantly, the new law established standard postage rates, prohibited private express carriers from transporting letters not related to goods they were carrying, and completely forbade stagecoach drivers from carrying mail. The full text of the law can be found at http://www.gbps.org.uk/information/sources/acts/1710-11-25_Act-9-Anne-cap-10.php
