Post Office GPO Round, Eagle & Dolphin Seal, 1691-1708

Post Office GPO Round, Eagle Displayed & Dolphin Embowed Seal, Image & Found by Ash.
Found in North Yorkshire.

Seal with so far unidentified coat of arms on consisting of a two ringed border (one raised continuous line circle with a circle of pellets outside that) inside the rings is a design of two ovals with decoration above that looks to be two dolphins with their tails entwined. One containing XX in a top section above a dolphin embowed and the other containing an eagle displayed with no top segment. There is a five petalled flower between the lower edges of the ovals that terminate ornately. The other side has the standard GPO Crown over POST.

Updated discription after seeing PAS record WILT-AFD0C4 identified by Mr David Algar:-
"A Post-Medieval Post Office lead bag seal from the reign of William III (1689-1702) and Anne (1702-14) of the House of Stuart. It measures c.20mm in diameter and c.4mm in thickness, weighing 10.85g. It has slight wear and a perforation from one edge to the other where it has been cramped onto a cord.
Obverse: Crown above G·POS[T] (General Post) Reverse: Two oval shields, on the left, an eagle displayed, head left and on the right, a dolphin embowed left with two saltires in chief. This seal would have been used to secure the contents of mail bags or sacks. Date: 1690-1708 The seal bears in the oval shields the crest or arms of the senior and junior Postmaster General who held office from 1690-1708: Sir Robert Cotton (The Royal Mail Archive gives his date as Postmaster General as 1691-1708), an eagle displayed, and his deputy Thomas Frankland, a dolphin embowed below two saltires in chief."

See Records created and used by the British Post Office, "The Post Office was established in 1635 by Charles I. The head of this new service was variously known as Master of Posts, Comptroller General of the Posts and Postmaster of England. The first Master of the Posts, Sir Brian Tuke, had been knighted by Henry VIII in 1512 but, prior to 1635, this system was restricted to royal letters only and not open to the public.

The Civil War saw the the Post Office contested by both sides. Acts of Parliament were passed during the Interregnum (1656) and later upon the Restoration (1660). These established the General Post Office as a branch of government which was to be headed by the Postmaster General.

The service at this time consisted of a number of main routes from London to the provinces. Postmasters on the routes collected and distributed mail and collected revenue.

During this period the scope of the Post Office's activities was limited and its administrative functions were largely concerned with its finances. The General Post Office was based in the City of London and was organised into three departments; the Inland Office which handled all internal letters, the Foreign Office which handled all overseas mails and the Penny Post Office which dealt with all locally posted mail for London. This building was destroyed by the Great Fire of London, which might explain why only a small number of Post Office records from that period survive. Those that have survived are largely volumes of accounts detailing levels of income and expenditure through the years. From 1667 the role of Postmaster General became a political appointment. Between 1691 and 1823, two Postmasters General were appointed, one being a Whig and the other a Tory. At the same time the post of Secretary to the Post Office was created. Over time this post developed into one which held real influence within the General Post Office; the Secretary's Office becoming the centre of decision making within Headquarters.

The Eighteenth Century saw much development of routes and post towns, although the Post Office continued to be run from London. It was not until 1715 that the Post Office appointed its first regional administrators, known as Surveyors. Surveyors were charged with ensuring that those at lower levels in the organisation were doing their duty and that the revenues were being correctly managed.

The Nineteenth Century was a period of vast expansion for the Post Office. Postal rates were subject to a reform which resulted in the introduction of penny postage and the adhesive postage stamp. Increased adult literacy led to a dramatic increase in the volume of mail. The latter half of the century saw an explosion of new services as the Post Office moved into banking, telecommunications and set up a parcels operation. It also saw the development of a nationwide network of post offices through which these services could be accessed.

By the end of the century, Headquarters buildings had accumulated large volumes of historical material. To meet the challenge of managing this material, in 1896 the Post Office established its own record room."