Postage due 1830-1862
Letters circulating in the town of the post office
There are many letters circulating within a municipality that has a post office. In addition, postal rates has existed since 1800.
1834: Letter from TOURCOING to TOURCOING dated 5 August 1834. This letter is postage due and taxed at 1 decime (letter weighing less than 15 g).
1848: Letter from LILLE to LILLE dated 6 December 1848. Postage due taxed at 1 decime (letter weighing less than 15g).
Letters circulating in the district of a post office
Since 1830, letters exchanged between a post office and its dependent villages were subject to a reduced postal rate. Such letters were considered to circulate within the rural district of the post office.
In the early days, a postal district typically comprised only the rural district of the main post office, as few postal stations existed. Letters sent within this district were required to bear the CL stamp.
The CL stamp was printed in red, black, green, or blue. According to Circular No. 34, issued on 18 October 1834, CL stamps were to be struck in red ink, similar to CD, PP, PD, and PF stamps.
1849: Letter weighing less than 7.5 g from VALENCIENNES to TRITH ST LEGER.
1848: Letter weighing less than 7.5 g SOLESMES for the rural commune of BRIASTRE.
It is worth noting that the CL stamp impression was sometimes missing. While such omissions were understandable in the early stages of implementation, they persisted for a long time thereafter.
Since mail circulating within a rural district remained within a confined area, largely out of sight of the postal administration, compliance checks were infrequent. This lack of oversight allowed for "shortcuts" or local interpretations of the regulations. Such practices were often driven by the need to save time, particularly in small post offices with limited staff.
1838: Letter from the village of RECOURT in Pas-de-Calais (rural mailbox L) to DOUAI (Nord). It could happen that one or more rural communes of a Department depended on a post office located in another Department. The CL (Correspondance Locale) stamp indicates that the letter is circulating in the Postal District of DOUAI (DOUAI + rural communes attached to this post office).
1850: Letter from SOMMAING (rural mailbox M) for SOLESMES. The letter was brought back to the post office on 15 October (presumably) after the last distribution and was delivered on the 16th.
1838: Postage due letter from PONT A MARCQ to TEMPLEUVE taxed at 1 decime.
1837: Postage due letter from VALENCIENNES to ANZIN.
This letter weighs 7.5g and is therefore normally taxed at 2 decimes.
Heavy local letters (above the 2nd weight step) are uncommon. The sender often preferred to carry this type of letter himself or go through another intermediary, as the tax on this type of letter was prohibitive.
Local service by a rural postman
These two letters exhibit what could be considered irregularities, at least in relation to the guidelines set out in the General Instruction of 1832. They were collected by a rural postman, either from a rural mailbox or handed to him directly, yet neither bears a tax notation. Despite being addressed to the commune of the post office, they should have been returned to the post office, as rural postmen were not authorized at that time to deliver mail within the commune itself. This task was reserved for the local postman.
Article 546 of the General Instruction of 1832 is explicit on this matter: "Under no circumstances should rural postmen deliver letters in the commune where a post office is located; conversely, town postmen should not deliver letters in the rural district."
However, at certain periods, post offices appear to have temporarily established local delivery services—within the town of the post office—using one or more rural postmen. The postal administration was aware of this practice, as evidenced by the Special Instruction for Postal Inspectors issued in May 1838, which directed inspectors to ensure that post offices were not violating Article 546. It was not until 1847 that local delivery services by rural postmen were officially authorized.
1838: Letter handed to the postman (OR stamp: Rural Origin) in the commune of BERSEE. This letter should have been taken to the PONT A MARCQ post office, which would have taxed it. A rural postman could not deliver mail in the commune of the post office. In this case, the letter does not appear to have passed via the post office (no tax, no date stamp). We can therefore conclude that the PONT A MARCQ post office had organised a local service with the rural postman.
1837: Letter from the mailbox of the village of HAVELUY depending on VALENCIENNES post office. This letter does not seem to have been taxed or even to have handled by the post office.
The VALENCIENNES post office must have put in place at least a partial local service to the town by a rural postman.
Letters circulating between 2 rural districts in the same Postal District
Letters circulating between 2 different rural districts in the same Postal District of a head post office were also subject to local postage rates.
1847: Letter from HALLUIN for the commune of LINSELLES which depends on the TOURCOING post office.
The CD stamp is used here by mistake, as it can only be applied on letters circulating in the rural district of a post office station.
1847: Letter posted at the QUESNOY-SUR-DEULE office for LILLE.
This letter shows a type 15 from QUESNOY-SUR-DEULE without a date. In 1847, this post office was still a post office station and therefore should not have had a date stamp. Having been received by error, it was used as a linear (standard postmark of post office stations) .
1836: Letter from SECLIN to LILLE.
The SECLIN post office was then a post office station reporting to the LILLE head post office.
1856: Letter from a rural commune (G stamp letter) served by the RACHES post office station to DOUAI.
The RACHES post office station depended on DOUAI head post office.
Locally made tax stamp
The taxation of letters required considerable effort, as all tax markings had to be handwritten in a prescribed calligraphy. To streamline this process, on June 2, 1831 (Circular No. 30), the postal administration supplied all post offices with a tax stamp indicating the postage due for a letter weighing up to 7.5 grams between each post office and Paris.
Some post offices, at their own expense, had tax stamps made locally. Below are examples from post offices in the Nord region used for local postage.
Tax stamps from the pre-postage stamp era are rare. To date, the only confirmed instance of such a stamp being used before the introduction of postage stamps is from the Maubeuge post office in 1841 (at least).
The post offices in the Nord known to have used locally made tax stamps include: Maubeuge, Douai, Lille, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, and Moulin-Lille.
1841: Letter from BOUSIGNIES SUR ROC (G2 letter-stamp) for COLLERET.
COLLERET was before BOUSIGNIES on the MAUBEUGE rural postman's round. Therefore, all letters collected from the BOUSIGNIES mailbox for COLLERET had to be brought back to the post office to be sent back to COLLERET the next day.
1841: Letter posted in the village of AIBES (letter-stamp H). This letter weighed between 7.5 and 15 g, as a map was included. For this weight range, 20 c. had to be paid.
1856: Letter from LILLE to LILLE, postage due. Instead of a pen stroke, a stamp impression marks the tax. This stamp is locally made and was not included in the post office equipment.
The number 51 in the top left-hand corner is the serial number of this letter in the list of postage due letters circulating inside a city. Since January 1852, post offices have been required to number postage due letters from the city to the city. This numbering is done by the day, and the numbers must also be entered on the survey no. 262.
