WASC resources: 19th century Postal Agencies

From before 1800 the General Post Office in London established Agencies abroad, overseen by Agents who were instructed by, and sometimes paid for that part of their work that involved the handling of the mail to and from vessels under charter to the Post Office. Agents were often the local British Consul. With the decline of the Packet boats, the development of relatively efficient Colonial postal services, the need for Agents was much reduced and their Offices were all concluded before the end of the nineteenth century.

Postal Agencies were established in Freetown, Lagos, Fernando Po, Madeira, Teneriffe, St. Vincent (Cape Verde Isles). Sierra Leone and Lagos had their own Post Offices by the late 1850s. Postal history associated with the Agencies is a specialised study, material is very scarce, and the literature scanty.

Two key resources are Philip Beale's WASC monograph of 1974 'The Agents of the General Post Office in Fernando Po, Lagos, Madeira, Teneriffe, St. Vincent (Cape Verde Isles) and Freetown during the nineteenth century.' and Ince and Sacher's book 'The Postal Services of the British Nigeria Region' (RPSL 1992) which includes chapters on Fernando Po and Lagos.