13 
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE KESWICK POST OFFICE, 
PAST AND PRESENT. 
By J. FISHER CROSTHWAITE, F.S.A. 
_ ArT the General Post Office there is no record of any Post Office 
at Keswick previous to the year 1789. In that year the name of 
Mary Southward appears as postmistress, and the salary is stated 
as £23 a year, with an allowance of £158 55. for riding work. 
Mrs. Southward was the widow of Mr. Southward, landlord of 
the Royal Oak inn; and from notices in an old diary which I 
possess, it appears that her husband had been postmaster before 
her, and she was.appointed on his decease. 
The riding work was done on horseback, and it would be from 
Keswick to Penrith, and Penrith to Keswick. 
The parish register shows that Mrs. Southward was married 
_ April 4th, 1790, by licence, to Mr. John I‘Anson, by Isaac Denton, 
_ vicar, the witnesses being Mark Mayson and John Tyndall. 
In 1791 John I‘Anson appears as postmaster, with a salary of 
#10 a year, and an allowance for riding work of £158 5s. The 
_ salary was raised to £15 in 1794. 
A Bye Letter Office was established in the year 1799, and the 
salary is stated as £14. For the Bye Letter Office £10; and 
_ the allowance for riding work was raised to £167 7s. 4d. There 
_ was no further alteration in the salary during Mr. I‘Anson’s service, 
which terminated in January, 1808, on his resignation. 
Before Mr. and Mrs. I‘Anson’s retirement, they built and went 
to reside at Acorn House, she giving it that suitable name because 
