It’s easy to forgot how reliant everybody was on correspondence before telephones.
In Summer 1892, a situation had arisen in Blantyre, where certain ‘postal grievances’ were being aired in the community with petition to do something about it. In those times, before telephones being widely used, if it wasn’t the spoken word, news travelled by letter, postcard or telegram and primarily in writing.
The problem was raised with the Postmaster General in that Blantyre had grown considerably in area and population and yet there was still “only” a post office at High Blantyre and one at Low Blantyre. What’s more there were “only” two deliveries a day for residents and businesses. One in the morning, the other in the evening and what was really needed was a further delivery around midday. Further grievances also related to the same frequency of uplifts.
When the Postmaster General looked into it, he could see that efforts were being made at the sorting office to bring letters to the High Blantyre or Low Blantyre offices, but residents were often marking these incorrectly, putting simply “Blantyre’ or ‘Stonefield’. This meant some letters ended up in the wrong post office, having to be diverted back to the main sorting office or in some cases were being undelivered.
Residents of Stonefield demanded a post office at the East end of Blantyre, perhaps near the Masonic Hall (at Forrest Street), the population nearby to there demanding such a thing.
I couldn’t find anything in further notes or research to suggest the post ended up being delivered THREE times a day, but the strength of feeling on the matter was so strong in reports, that it wouldn’t surprise me if it those changes were made. Pictured is the former Post Office at the bottom of Stonefield Road.
