Description:Post in the Potteries - 1796
In 1796 a national postal system using a fleet of coaches was growing in coverage but still did not directly serve the Potteries.
Many towns and cities not served by the national coach service had to rely on postboys who rode from town to town collecting and delivering mail. It was a haphazard, slow and insecure system.
Obtaining the intended mail coach between London and Liverpool
This document describes the resolutions from a meeting at which a number of local men (presumably business men, bankers and industrialists) discussed the Postmaster General's criteria for the creation of a new mail coach route from London to Liverpool via the Potteries.
Getting the service depended on the state of the roads, which would be surveyed by the Postmaster General.
Getting the road to the required standard of repair would initially have to be paid for by a number of private interests, including local businesses and banks.
This must have proved very difficult because in 1801 the Potteries still had no mail coach service.
About this document
This document was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood. It is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.