Led Astray - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to the first Postal History Sunday of 2022.  We had a pretty decent run during 2021 - not missing a week.  So, let's see if we can match it this year, shall we?

If you are visiting Postal History Sunday for the first time, or you've run across a couple of them, but weren't sure what the background was, this seems like a good time to give it.  Postal History Sunday is posted every Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog by a vegetable and poultry farmer (Rob Faux) who just happens to find postal history fascinating.  This project started in mid-2020 as a way to reach out to others during the pandemic and has not missed a Sunday since the tail end of August of 2020.

All are welcome here! These blogs are meant to be accessible to people of all backgrounds, whether they have no intention to collect postal history, might wish to start doing so, or already have a collection of their own.  So let's get down to business and let the farmer share something he enjoys - maybe we'll all learn something new.

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Last week's Postal History Sunday was titled Speedy Delivery, and I explored the different options for delivering the mail to the recipient in the mid 1800s.  I had several options for covers that could illustrate delivery to the recipient by a carrier, and I initially started work on this letter, sent in August of 1864 from New York to London.

This envelope no longer has its contents, so we can't know for certain who it came from, but the earliest postmark is an August 24 exchange marking at the bottom right that was applied in the New York foreign mail office.  While it might be tempting to make the claim that the letter was mailed on the 24th, we cannot be entirely certain of this since the New York exchange office typically applied these markings to reflect the departure date of the mail steamship.

In other words - this item could have been at the New York exchange office on August 23 (for example), but the clerk would still put an August 24 date on the letter if that was the date for the departure of the ship this letter was to leave on.

The sender of this letter was apparently quite aware of the mail sailing schedule, as they placed a docket at the top left that read "by the Persia, August 24 v(ia) New York."  In fact, the Persia did depart New York on that date in 1864 and it arrived at Queenstown (Ireland) on September 2.  At that point, the mailbag containing this letter was taken off of the ship and placed on a train that went to Kingston (near Dublin), Ireland.

From there the letter crossed from Ireland to Holyhead on another steamship and continued by train from Holyhead to London.  These mail trains ran both night and day and this letter traveled on the night train since the London arrival marking is dated September 3.
 

The cost of a simple letter in 1864 that was sent from the United States to anywhere in the United Kingdom was 24 cents for an item weighing no more than 1/2 ounce.  The volume of mail using this rate was significant enough to warrant a postage stamp with the 24 cent denomination.  This particular design was first issued in August of 1861 and remained in use through 1868.

To sum up - this letter was fully prepaid by the 24 cent stamp and nothing more would be owed by the recipient.

Finding Mrs. Channing

My goal last week was to illustrate that a precise address on a piece of letter mail typically indicated that a delivery to that address was expected by a letter carrier.  A common source of evidence for determining the most likely delivery method can be found by reading the address panel (the area on the envelope that shows the destination address). 

Here is what I THOUGHT this address panel read initially:

Mrs. W.H. Channing  at Rue de Saaler's, Roslyn Manse, Hampstead near London, England

This arms me with several pieces of information that might allow me to find an actual location on the map.  That, in turn, could help me identify the recipient.  The easy part, of course, is "London, England," but that hardly narrows the search.

I was able to refine my search by focusing on "Roslyn Manse" and "Hampstead."  I did some searching for period maps and found Stanford's Library Map of London for 1864, where we find this rendering of the area that is Hampstead - a very affluent area.

(Some of you might notice the name Sir Rowland Hill at the bottom right.  If the name means nothing to you, we'll give you a little information at the end.) 

If you click on the map image shown above and look towards the bottom left, you will find Roslyn House.  It was built in the 1720s and became known as Roslyn (or Rosslyn) House in 1793 when the first Earl of Roslyn, Alexander Wedderburn took possession of the property.  This site actually provides us with an opportunity to view different London maps of the same area over time, so we can see how the area has changed.  And, for those who would like to read more about the history of Rosslyn Hill, there is Old and New London: Volume 5. Originally published by Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878 - check pages 483-494.

Roslyn House

Where is Rue de Saaler's?

There is always temptation when you find something to believe you've got it all figured out and there is no reason to keep digging.  But, I had a problem with the conclusion that the letter's destination was Roslyn House.  Where is "Rue de Saaler's" on this map?  

For those who do not know "rue" is French for "street" and it is not entirely unknown to find a letter to England from the United States that might use the French version of a street address.  

But, you would think if the writer would include a street name that there should be evidence of that street SOMEWHERE on the map, right?  I went backwards and forwards in time, looking at maps from different periods and could not find a street with this, or a similar, name.

So, let's look at that address again.

You know.  At second glance that says "Sadler's."  The second "a" is a short "d" - kind of like the one found in Hampstead.   Ok.  That's great.

Except I didn't find a "Sadler's Street" either.

Looking from another angle

Well, I could chalk it up to an error by the sender or some other thing, but that did not feel right.  So, I looked at it from the perspective of the recipient.  Who was Mrs. W.H. Channing?

A little searching turned up this article put together by Dr. Anne Woodlief for a graduate class on American Transcendentalism.  William Henry Channing was born in Boston in 1810 and was a Unitarian Minister for various congregations throughout his life, including some time spend in Liverpool, England from 1854 until the Civil War, at which time he returned to the United States.  According to Woodlief's material (viewed Dec 29, 2021):

"He was the chaplain of Congress, labored in the hospitals, gave much of his time to the work of the Sanitary Commission and the Freedman's Bureau, and did valiant service in the cause of the union and for emancipation. He returned to England at the close of the war, preached for a time in London, and also in other places."

image from wikimedia commons

While there certainly could be many other W.H. Channings in the world at that time - this one's biography seemed to fit for this letter.  So, why would Mrs. Channing be at Roslyn House?  It made sense that she may have stayed behind in England while her husband returned to work during the war - but it seemed like a connection to this particular residence needed to be found.

This is where Sadler comes in

This is where I started putting things together.  Let's look at the map again.  And to help you out, let me show you what I remembered seeing that was going to put it all together.

On Roslyn Hill there was a Unitarian Chapel.  The house occupied by a Presbyterian minister is a "manse."  I had heard of parish house, parsonage, clergy house and rectory - but not manse.  So, of course, I initially made the connection of "manse" to large house or mansion.  It was only by happenstance that there actually WAS a Roslyn House in Hampstead to lead me astray.

It turns out Thomas Sadler was a Unitarian minister who served at Roslyn Hill from 1846 until his death in 1891.  He oversaw the construction of the new chapel that opened in 1862.  Like Channing, he is also credited with several written works, though he was not nearly as prolific nor as well known.  And, Thomas Sadler lived at Roslyn Manse, the clergyman's house.

It certainly does makes sense that Mrs. Channing might be the guest of another Unitarian minister at the time that her husband would return to serve as the chaplain of Congress during the war. 

And now we actually KNOW what was written on the address panel:

"Mrs. W. H. Channing, at Rev. Dr. Sadler's, Roslyn Manse, Hampstead near London, England"

The clues were likely there all along and they seem much more obvious now that we know what we are looking for.  If this had read "rue de Sadler's" we would perhaps see "Rue" capitalized, but not normally "de" - and I was bothered from the start that the road would have an apostrophe "Sadler's."  And why would a person bother with the word "at" before a road name anyway?

And, yes, it is highly likely that the mail carrier took this letter to Roslyn Manse so Mrs. W. H. Channing could receive her mail sent care of the good Reverend Doctor Sadler.

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There is your story for this fine Sunday (or whatever day you end up reading this).  This is just an illustration of how easy it is for any of us to err with respect to the details on a piece of postal history.  We can easily misread what is written and we can fail to recognize that some words do not have the same meanings now as they did at the time when the letter was written.  This is one reason why I am not always satisfied with leaving parts of an item unexplained.  If we choose to look at only a subset of the details we can be led astray and to conclusions that are simply wrong.

Bonus Material!

Sir Rowland Hill is a name that happens to be known by many postal historians and philatelists as he is often credited with the invention of the postage stamp.  But, more importantly, Hill was on the forefront of postal reforms that led to cheaper postage, making it possible for more of the populace to avail themselves of this service.  He wrote "Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability," which led the United Kingdom to implement those reforms in 1840.  The link is to the 3rd edition published in 1837.  

If you are interested in a very short bio and a portrait of Hill, you will find them at this location in the National Portrait Gallery.

Thank you again for joining me for Postal History Sunday.  I hope you have a great remainder of the day and a fine week to come!