IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB-813 POST 1 Series
Held at: British Postal Museum and Archive: The Royal Mail Archive
Title: Post Office: Treasury Correspondence
Date(s): 1686-1977
Level of description: series
Extent: 1185 volumes, 2 files
Name of creator(s): Post Office
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The General Post Office was, until 1969, a government department, and its expenditure was controlled by the Treasury. Prior to 1969 the treasury supervised all GPO financial management, policy, planning and development.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
This series consists of records relating to the supervision of the General Post Office's financial business, including correspondence relating to authorisation of expenditure, development of services and applications for pensions.
POST 1 is commonly used by researchers investigating their family history. This is because a large proportion of this class consists of documentation relating to pensions and gratuities awarded to individual Post Office employees for the years 1686-1959. Amongst the numerous bound volumes of treasury letters are the pension details of thousands of employees. Additional information is often included such as the officer's name, rank and office, date of birth, career history, last salary, cause of retirement or date of death and a statement of reference. Case statements, reports and correspondence are sometimes included where retirement was on grounds of ill-health or the cause of death under investigation. The names of these individuals can be traced through the pension and gratuity indexes, which can in turn be found in separate POST classes, usually made available on microfilm.
Researchers pursuing their own family history are advised to consult the 'Guide to Family History' which can be found in the Search Room and is available to download online. This guide provides step by step advice on how to trace pension records, as well as appointment records.
The majority of these pension records can be found in Sub-Series 1 'Treasury letters, general correspondence' and Sub-Series 6 'Pensions and gratuities applications and awards' (pp. 1-259 and 271-349 of the POST 1 printed catalogue respectively).
Sub-Series 1 'Treasury letters, general correspondence' accounts for the majority of the material held in POST 1. In addition to pension records, this series comprises a record of communications between the Treasury and Postmaster General concerning the financial management of the inland, foreign and colonial services. This includes Treasury authorisation for expenditure on salaries and allowances; new establishments, buildings, facilities and equipment; extension of postal routes, services and postage rates. Developments in transport and technology, rapid expansion of the GPO and increasing complexity of the Civil Service are reflected in the letter books from the early nineteenth century. Volumes contain correspondence concerning road surveys; conveyance of mails by steam packets and railways; contracts for building work and ship conveyance; extension of telegraphic and telephonic communications; Post Office Savings Bank; Civil Service grades and pay scales.
Many of the letters in Sub-Series 2-5 are helpfully grouped and indexed by subject, such as Sub-Series 4 containing copies of letters authorising expenditure on postal telegraphic and telephone services. However, many of these letters are in fact duplicates of the records found in Sub-Series 1.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Chronological
Conditions governing access:
Subject to 30 year closure
Conditions governing reproduction:
Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Postal Heritage Trust's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. See our published policies for full details. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.
Finding aids:
A Guide to the Royal Mail Archive
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Records transferred internally from Royal Mail. Additionally, some records have been deposited by outside agencies and individuals, and some have been purchased.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of copies:
Some files in this series are available on microfilm in the Search Room.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Entry checked by Barbara Ball
Date(s) of descriptions: 24/03/2011 Entry checked June 2011