CALCUTTA TO PHILADELPHIA IN 1855

AN UNPAID LETTER’S ROUTE AND RATE

Presented at the 20th RPSL Regional Meeting on Zoom on 25 July 2020

THE ENTIRE
Commercial entire written 7 April 1855

Unpaid and hence postage due from recipient

Forwarded by Leach, Rawson & Co. – unrecorded by Kenneth Rowe in

his The Postal History and Markings of the Forwarding Agents (1996)

Ex John Barwis and Richard Winter

© ABHISHEK BHUWALKA 2
ROUTE: INDIA TO GB…1
Overland Route to India in John Tallis’ Illustrated World Atlas (1851)

Calcutta to Madras to Galle to Suez

via P&O Oriental

Calcutta Aden
9* April Madras 15 Galle 18 Unknown Suez 6*
April April May
1855 Date

Reg Kirk, the famed P&O researcher,

never published the Calcutta line
sailing data. Further his Alexandria-
Marseille and Alexandria-Southampton
sailings data has many gaps
*The Evening Mail newspaper of 18 May
1855 has the dates as 10 Apr and 7 May

© ABHISHEK BHUWALKA 3
ROUTE: INDIA TO GB…2
Overland Route to India in John Tallis’ Illustrated World Atlas (1851)

Suez to Alexandria overland

Alexandria to Malta to Marseille via P&O Vectis

Alexandria Malta 13 Marseille 16

8* May May May

Marseille to London via France overland and English

Channel

London 18 May 1855

*The Evening Mail newspaper of 18 May
1855 has the date as 9 May
© ABHISHEK BHUWALKA 4
ROUTE: UK TO USA
Atlantic Steam Packet Chart by James Wyld (185?)

London to Liverpool on 18/19 May

Liverpool to New York via Collins Line* Pacific

Collins Line Pacific
Liverpool 19 New York 30 Philadelphia
May 1855 May 30 May

AM. PKT. signifies it was carried abroad an

“American Packet” ship

*New York & Liverpool United States Mail

Steamship Company

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RATE MARKINGS
India to UK via France under the Anglo-French Convention, 1843
• British Rate: 1s5d or 17d per ½ oz
• French Rate: 5d per ¼ oz
• Letter Weight: Between ¼ and ½ oz
• Rate from India to GB: {1s5d + (5d × 2)} = 27 pence or 54 cents^
• Since the US was liable to pay the transit charges, the London clerk debited US 54 cents in black
UK-US Postal Convention of 1848
• Transatlantic Charges: 16 cents
• US Inland Postage: 5 cents
• Total Postage Due: 75 cents – marked by the Philadelphia clerk in black handstamp (twice)
Carrier Fee
• Postal Carrier Fee: 2 cents - total 77 cents written in ink at bottom probably at the letter carrier
office
• “Evidence of letter carrier fees seldom is seen on transatlantic letters” (Richard Winter in Understanding
Transatlantic Mail Vol. 1, 2006)
^UK-US Postal Convention of 1848 has £1 or 240 pence equal to 480 cents

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REFERENCES
¡ Hubbard, Walter, and Richard F. Winter. North Atlantic Mail Sailings 1840-75.
Edited by Susan M. McDonald. Canton, Phio: U.S. Philatelic Classics Society,
Inc., 1988.
¡ Kirk, R[eginald]. Australian Mails via Suez 1852 to 1926. Beckenham, Kent:
The Postal History Society, 1989.
¡ ———. The P&O Bombay & Australian Lines 1852-1914. Vol. 1. 4 vols.
British Maritime Postal History. Heathfield, East Sussex: Postal History
International (A Proud Bailey Division), 1981.
¡ ———. The P&O Lines to the Far East. Vol. 2. 4 vols. British Maritime Postal
History. Heathfield, East Sussex: Proud-Bailey Co. Ltd., 1982.
¡ ———. The Postal History of the P&O Service to the Peninsula. London:
Royal Philatelic Society, 1987.
¡ Tabeart, Colin. Admiralty Mediterranean Steam Packets 1830 to 1857.
Limassol, Cyprus: James Bendon Ltd., 2002.
¡ ———. Australia New Zealand UK Mails. Volume 1 - to 1880. Rates Routes
and Ships. Out and Home. Second. Fareham: The Author, 2011.
¡ Winter, Richard F. Understanding Transatlantic Mail. Volume 1. Vol. 1. 2 vols.
Bellefonte, PA, USA: American Philatelic Society, 2006.

© ABHISHEK BHUWALKA 7
CALCUTTA TO PHILADELPHIA IN 1855
AN UNPAID LETTER’S JOURNEY

www.philaliterature.com
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