ThePostmaster General for Scotland, based in Edinburgh, was responsible for the postal service in theKingdom of Scotland from approximately 1616 until theAct of Union unified Scotland and England in 1707, creating a new state called theKingdom of Great Britain. From 1711, the posts in Scotland were the responsibility of theDeputy Postmaster General for Scotland, until in 1831, that position wassubsumed into the duties of thePostmaster General of the United Kingdom.
TheUnion of the Crowns took place in 1603 and on 5 May a public postal system was set up betweenBerwick, just south of the Scottish border, and Edinburgh.[1] At some time after 1603 the post of Postmaster General for Scotland was established by thePrivy Council of Scotland with the first appointment mentioned in 1616 as Sir William Seton.[2]: 12 From Privy Council records, Seton appears to have held the position until 1631, or 1633. His death is given as 1635,[3][4] but in a 1641 act[which?] of theScottish Parliament it ratifies his appointment for life as "His Majesty's cheefe post maister of all his Hienes postmaisteres ..." at a salary of £500 per annum. No new appointment was made until 1649 when theCommonwealth took over the post in Scotland.[2]: 22
Following the 1660restoration of the monarchy, one Patrick Grahame became Postmaster General for Scotland under thePrivy Seal ofKing Charles II from 14 September 1662 for his lifetime at the same salary of £500 per annum:officium precipui magistri cursoris lie Postmaster-Generall et Censoris omnium cursorum dicti regni Scotie.[5]: 4–5 Grahame's son John obtained the position after his father's death in 1674 at a new salary of £1,000 per annum and held the office until 1689.[2]: 22
In August 1695 an act of William III, thePost Office Act 1695 (c. 31), again established a General Post Office in Scotland to be set up in Edinburgh:
from whence all letters and pacquets whatsoever may with speed and expedition sent into any part of the kingdom, or any other of his Majesty's dominions, or into any kingdom or country beyond seas, by the pacquest sealed to London. It is also enacted, that a Postmaster-General shall be appointed by letters patent under the Privy Seal.[5]: 7
ThePost Office (Revenues) Act 1710 (9 Ann. c. 11) repealed the Post Office Act 1695 and united the Post Offices of England and Scotland under one Postmaster-General as the Postmaster-General of Great Britain;[6]: 347 from 1711 in Scotland the office was managed by a deputy postmaster general.[5]: 9 The first Deputy Postmaster General for Scotland was George Main who held the office of Postmaster General for Scotland until 1707 and between then and his appointment as deputy he was the Post Office Manager for Scotland[2]: 34 During his tenure between May and September 1707 he is described as the Postmaster of North Britain.[7]
Curiously, some early 19th century Edinburgh Post Office directories were published under the patronage of the Postmaster General of Scotland by Robert Trotter,[8]: 1 Francis Gray,[9]: 1 Earl of Caithness[10]: 1 : 370 andSir David Wedderburn[11]: i : 191 even though that post no longer officially existed.
The Scottish postmaster generalship, as with thesame office in Ireland,[6]: 347 was finally abolished, not at the time of theAct of Union in 1800 but in 1831.[12] The 1831 publishedPost Office Annual Directory was issued under the patronage of SirEdward Smith Lees, Secretary to the General Post Office for Edinburgh[13]: 1 who had been moved to Scotland when he swopped his Irish secretaryship with his counterpart Augustus Godby during the reforms of the Irish Post Office in 1831.[14]
| Year | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| 1616–1633[2]: 22 | Sir William Seton |
| 1662–1674 | Patrick Grahame[5]: 4 [2]: 22 |
| 1674–1689 | John Grahame[2]: 22 |
| 1689–1696 | John Blair |
| 1696–? | Sir Robert Sinclair |
| 1 May 1701–11 November 1707[7] | George Main |
| Year | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| 1710–1715 | George Main[5]: 9 |
| 1715–1717 | James Anderson[15]: 154 [5]: 12 |
| 1717–1725 | Sir John Inglis, 2nd Baronet[15]: 154 [16] |
| 1725–1740 | Archibald Douglas[17] |
| 1740–1742 | James Colhoun (sic) |
| 1742–1745 | Sir John Inglis, 2nd Baronet[16] |
| 1745–1764 | Alexander Hamilton (of Ballincrieff) and Innerwick[18] |
| 1764–(d 1795) | Robert Oliphant of Rossie |
| 1795–(d 1799) | Thomas Elder[19] |
| c.1800–1802 | William Robertson |
| 1802–1807 | Robert Trotter of Castlelaw[20] |
| 1807–1810 | Francis Gray, later 14th Lord Gray of Kinfauns[21] |
| 1811–1823 | James Sinclair, 12th Earl of Caithness[22] |
| 1823–1831 | Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet[23] |
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