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British Postal Museum and Archive: The Royal Mail Archive

Post Office: Private Office Papers: Sir John Tilley


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0813 POST 101 Series

Held at: British Postal Museum and Archive: The Royal Mail Archive

Title: Post Office: Private Office Papers: Sir John Tilley

Date(s): 1853-1880

Level of description: Series

Extent: 25 files

Name of creator(s):

No further information available

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Sir John Tilley began his career with the Post Office, more specifically the Secretary's Office, in 1829, when he entered that department as a Clerk on 19th February. At that time the Secretary's Office had a very small workforce headed by the then Secretary Sir Francis Freeling. Seven months after Tilley joined that department it transferred to St Martin's le Grand, London.

Tilley had a very successful career with the Post Office and rose quickly through the ranks. By 1838, aged only 26, he had been made a Surveyor, and on 11 October 1848 he was appointed to the post of Assistant Secretary. On 15 March 1864, he succeeded the then Secretary Sir Rowland Hill, the postal reformer, of whom he had always been a staunch supporter. Tilley was made a CB in 1871, and upon his retirement in 1880 the honour of KCB was bestowed upon him.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

This series consists of bound volumes of Tilley's private letters and correspondence to the Postmaster General, the Treasury and various Post Office officials and members of the public during the time in which he was first Assistant Secretary and then later Secretary. In 1854 the Post Office underwent a general revision and the Treasury appointed a Commission of Enquiry upon which Sir Charles Trevelyan, Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr Hoffey sat. Tilley was greatly interested in the work of the Commission and, as a result, much of his private correspondence is from, and to, members of the Commission. A further area in which Tilley had influence of interest was the revision and improvement of the Rural Post System and, as a consequence, the extension of the rural delivery. Again this is reflected in the nature of the correspondence within the volumes.

Furthermore, the correspondence covers a variety of subjects including inland and overseas mail arrangements, Sunday labour disputes, wage disputes, opening of the Post Office Savings Bank, and telegraph business. There is also correspondence relating to his knighthood.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Chronological order

Conditions governing access:

Public Record

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Publication note:

Taken from: Cunynghame, A.M. "Sir John Tilley, K.C.B." St Martin's le Grand (July, 1898)

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Entry checked by Barbara Ball

Rules or conventions:

Compiled in compliance with General Internation Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G) second edition 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Entry checked June 2011


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Letters (documents) | Records and correspondence | Information sources
Personal archives | Archives

Personal names

Corporate names

Places