Genealogy Chat

A relative of mine from Liverpool gave birth to a daughter in Belton, Rutland in January 1869 and then returned to Liverpool to her family of 3 children and husband. Two years later in the 1871 census her mother is living a few doors down from her in Liverpool.

Apart from the question as to why my relative made the journey it occurred to me ask the questions
1) How would my relative know there was a need to travel 'home'? If her mother in Rutland needed her 'home' how would a message get through to her? How effective was the postal service and what would that cost?

2) When she travelled from Liverpool to Rutland and back, how would she get there? If she travelled by coach how long would it take and what would a typical journey be like? If she went under her own steam by horse and trap, how would she know where to go?

Any guidance to sources where I can understand this better would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks - Peter Morton

Until late 1839, mail was expensive, and charged by distance - that was worse than it sounds, as it wasn't distance to addressee that mattered, but distance travelled by the letter and then, as now, London dominated the road network, so an item from Exeter to Bristol would be routed thru London. In Dec 1839, a flat rate throughout the UK was introduced, and proved so popular that after 5 wks, the rate was dropped to 1d for 1/2 oz, 2d for 1oz, and 2d for each additional oz. The price changed in 1865, 1871, 1885 and 1897, but all these were decreases. The first increase was in 1915, but it wasn't until 1940 that the price became more expensive than the 1840 rate.
http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/explore/history/internalrates/

In 1839, mostly under the old system, there were 75m items of mail - by 1870 there were 375m items.

By 1870, she would go by rail - rail lines also developed in a London-centric mode, so at worst, she would have to travel via London. Whatever way she went, it would be less than a day, and cost would matter. I don't know if Bradshaw's railway timetables existed that early, but you'ld probably need something like that to determine the cheapest route to Liverpool in 1870.

The postal system would have been quite efficient by 1870..............I'm sure you must have heard of Rowland Hill, and the 'penny black'.

To find info about travel (or anything)..................google is the obvious 'go to' option

I don't know the area at all but canals were an option for travel if available. However I believe that due to competition between railway companies for business it was more often cheaper (and no doubt faster) to travel by rail than by canal.

Chris

The first telegraph service in the UK started in 1845, so by 1870 telegrams would have been quite common. They were charged by the word, so "Come Home Quick" would not have cost much.

you may also have to assume that everyone involved could read ................. or could find someone to read a letter to them

Aren't you making a lot of assumptions, Peter?

You can't presume, without firm evidence, that her mother requested her to travel to Rutland

Perhaps she was simply paying a daughterly visit.

Perhaps her entire family were with her.

Just putting forward suggestions for an alternative scenario..........

Who actually registered the 1869 birth?

Welcome to the Community boards Peter.



(I will let Peter know how to find his replies) :-)

Thirty-third annual report of the registrar-general 1870 gives the # of marrs where the groom/bride signs with an X.
Region Men Women #marrs
Rutland 14% 11% 138
Lancs 15% 30% 25999
L'pool 23% 36% 3245

Of course, ability to sign one's name was a long way short of literacy.
However, nearly everyone knew at least one literate person, even if it was only the vicar.


Andysmum - I didn't know telegrams were so available that early.
I knew the first successful transatlantic cable was laid in 1866 by Brunel's Great Eastern. It was landed in Heart's Content in Newfoundland, just up the coast on Trinity Bay from Heart's Desire and Heart's Delight. I went there abt 10y back - the original Telegraph receiving station is now a National Historic Site, and it's got much of the original receiving equipment in it. If you cross the road and jump down onto the beach, you can see the original cables as they start to run under the road.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the trouble to kindly pass on some facts and advice. There is clearly a great deal more I need to do; but my initial interest was an academic one - in that it struck me that I had never thought about how family communications would have kept the bonds together over separation and distance.

Fascinating stuff - and yes, my relative was also illiterate and signed with an 'X' but a literate friend or neighbour would doubtless be on hand to help out.

Travelling by canal was something I had not considered and would have been 'safer' transportation for anyone pregnant than a bouncing coach over rut holes in tracks.

Thanks again to the wider community for stimulating my curiosity and researches into new avenues.

Peter

there was a train station in oakham rutland was opened in 1840's rutland is the smallest county in uk so any where in rutland would not be far from the station i dont live far from there belton is 6 miles from oakham