General Post Office in 1900: the Blind-Letter Office

Arthur H. Beavan here describes some of the amusing addresses which completely stumped the normal GPO clerks and had to be passed to the Blind-Letter Office for deciphering. This extract is from Imperial London, first published in 1901:

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"But nothing in the General Post Office building is so engrossing as the Blind-letter office.

Here, apparently, hopelessly hieroglyphic addresses are made clear by a staff of "blind" officers, whose discerning and "unravelling" powers are marvellous.

The number of obscurely directed letters that in these days of education pass through the post every week, is surprising; but in the volumes shown to visitors at the General Post Office there are duplicates of addresses, written when the schoolmaster was not so much abroad, that are very amusing and interesting.

For instance, "Oileywhite Amshire."

This is easily identified, and so is "Obern Yenen," as Holborn Union.

Not so easy to interpret is the following curious address: "Ash Bedles in such, for John Horsel, grinder, in the county of Lestysheer," which referred to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, often a topographical stumbling-block even to the natives of that Leicestershire town.

But sometimes even the "blind officers" are "stumped," as they were with "Mister Whitty whot brinds the Baber in Lang-gaster ware the gal is," translated by the Dead-letter Office (whither it had been relegated) as "The Editor of a Lancaster paper, whose offices stood in the shadow of a gaol!"

Once the Blind-office had sent to them an envelope addressed to "God-fredevi, London," posted in Italy.

This they discovered to be the equivalent of Sir Humphry Davy, and it was delivered to that eminent scientist.

Long ago, in the days of the "gold rush" to Australia, a letter was posted at Inverness, bearing the rude scrawl "Tuglmor, pipe, Colstraly."

Every person was puzzled.

Then the cute blind authorities decided, considering the quarter whence the missive was sent, to call in the services of a Gaelic speaker, who was employed as a mail-cart driver.

He thus read the inscription, "Dugal More, piper, Gold, Australia."

The letter was delivered to Dugal while he was delighting his Caledonian comrades on the goldfields by skirling on the bagpipes.

Still more singular is the number of letters - 44,360 - posted annually without any address, many containing securities and cheques sometimes worth over £7000."

Next: The nerve centre of the world: The Central Telegraph Office in 1900 London.