The Post Office and the Making of North Britain, c. 1750–c. 1840

Abstract

While the importance of closer, wider communications to Scotland and Scots adaptation to life within the Union, and the development of Britishness, has been commonly acknowledged, the role of the Post Office within these processes has never been systematically examined. This article charts the increasingly rapid development of postal services within Scotland and linking Scotland to London and the rest of England and Wales from the mid eighteenth century. It demonstrates the sheer extent and scope of growth of postal services in Scotland, and explores their use by different sections of Scottish society, by the mid nineteenth century. While commerce and manufacturing, as well as banking, together with the landed classes, account for the main sources of growth in use of the post, they were far from the sole beneficiaries of expanding, more efficient services. Scotland participated fully in the democratization of letter writing which was a feature of the Georgian period. The article then reflects on the consequences of these developments for the enfolding of Scotland within Britain and the rise of the latter as a salient framework within which people lived their lives. It underlines, in this context, the contemporary importance of letter writing and transmission of printed information to sustaining and forging connections and relationships between people and businesses, and overcoming frictions of distance within Britain.