Postal Service in Nova Scotia
23 April 1754
In 1753 Benjamin Franklin was appointed deputy postmaster general for
the British colonies (which then included Nova Scotia, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and
South Carolina). In 1755 Franklin organized the first regular monthly
mail packet service between Falmouth, England, and New York,
and opened the first official post office – in what is now Canada –
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to link Halifax with the Atlantic colonies
and the packet service to England. A post office for local
and outgoing mail had been started by Benjamin Leigh
in Halifax in April, 1754.
Source: http://www.factscanada.ca/friday/friday-2001-01-01-05.shtml
Photographs of Plaque
Halifax Nova Scotia
Located on the east side of Hollis Street, about 20m south from George Street
GPS location: 44°38’54″N 63°34’23″W
In 1755 the British Post Office…began a monthly packet run between England and New York…
packet – a boat that carries mail with a published schedule
of sailing dates; a ship employed by government to convey
official messages or mail; a vessel employed in conveying
dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, on a fixed schedule
The above photographs were taken on 20 October 2003.
Chronology of Canadian Postal History
by the Canadian Museum of Civilization
In April 1754, a notice appears in the Halifax Gazette announcing
the establishment of a post office outside the South Gate. This unofficial
post office is considered the first post office in Canadian history.
An official post office is established the next year.
http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/chs1506e.shtml
Postal History by FactsCanada.ca
In 1753 Benjamin Franklin was appointed deputy postmaster general for
the British colonies (which then included Nova Scotia, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and
South Carolina). In 1755 Franklin organized the first regular monthly
mail packet service between Falmouth, England, and New York, and
opened the first official post office in Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
to link Halifax with the Atlantic colonies and the packet service to England.
A post office for local and outgoing mail had been started
by Benjamin Leigh in Halifax in April, 1754.
http://www.factscanada.ca/friday/friday-2001-01-01-05.shtml
Hugh Finlay (c.1730-1801) Dictionary of Canadian Biography
…Hugh Finlay was appointed in 1788 as deputy postmaster general of
British North America with authority over Joseph Peters of Nova Scotia and
Christopher Sower of New Brunswick. He obtained a stopover at Halifax
of the monthly Falmouth-New York packets in each direction of their
transatlantic voyages, although it was practicable only eight months
of the year. In 1792 he negotiated a landmark postal convention with
the United States, reestablishing postal service with it and providing
for passage of mails between Britain and Lower Canada across American
territory in the four months of each year when the Halifax route could
not be used…
http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36524
North Atlantic, Halifax and Bermuda Packets Falmouth Packet Archives
http://www.falmouth.packet.archives.dial.pipex.com/id46.htm
Post-Office Packets Falmouth Packet Archives
http://www.falmouth.packet.archives.dial.pipex.com/id22.htm
Mail Packets
English mail services in the late 1700s and early 1800s:
Mails for the West Indies were made up twice monthly at the General
Post Office in London: on the first Wednesday for Jamaica and the
Leeward Islands and on the third Wednesday for the Leeward Islands only.
They were taken to Falmouth by mail coach to arrive on the Saturday
evening and the packet vessels sailed as soon as weather and tide
permitted.
Similarly mails for Halifax, Quebec and New York were made up in
London on the first Wednesday of every month throughout the year and
for Surinam and Demerara on the second Wednesday, for Lisbon every
Tuesday, Cadiz every second Tuesday, Brazils and Madeira on Tuesday,
Mediterranean and Malta every third Thursday.
The mails for Jersey and Guernsey were made up every Friday night
for Weymouth and the packets sailed from there about four or five
o’clock on Saturday afternoons and returned the following Thursday
or Friday…
http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/info.htm#mail
