- Brief description
- Letter from Charles Dickens to I. H. Newman, 10 February 1866
- Label
- Having been made aware of plans to cease the delivery of post on a Sunday in Gad's Hill, Charles Dickens writes to Newman to explain why this would greatly affect him. He states that if these plans were to proceed, he would be forced to sell his house at Gad's Hill, Higham and move elsewhere.
- Collection
- archives & manuscripts
- Object number
- A929
- Object type
- letter
- Production person
- Dickens, Charles
- Production date
- 10/02/1866
- Inscription content
- Gad’s Hill Place
Higham by Rochester, Kent
Saturday Tenth February 1866
Sir
An announcement is set in the window of the Post office at Rochester, informing those who object to the proposed cessation of the Sunday Delivery of letters at this place, that they should forward their objections to you.
I beg to say that I most decidedly and strongly object to the infliction of any such inconvenience upon myself. There are many people in this village of Higham, probably, who do not receive or dispatch in a year, as many letters as I usually receive and dispatch in a day. It is easy to understand that their signatures are obtained without difficulty to any ?memorial in favor of a change which does not affect them; also, that it may be agreeable to their consciences to set up a Jewish Sabbath at my expense; but I submit to you that deference to such unreason is not the duty of a great national institution such as the Post office, and that my case as a public man with a large correspondence is very much stronger than theirs, and should far outweigh it.
I am on the best terms with my neighbours, poor and rich, and I believe they would be sorry to lose me. But I should be so hampered by the proposed restriction that I think it would force me to sell my property here, and leave this part of the country.
I am Sir
Your faithful Servant
CHARLES DICKENS
Endorsed on page 4, though damaged and partly illegible:
Charles Dickens Esq
Protest . . . that Higham - Credit line
- Purchased with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Friends of the National Libraries and the Dickens Fellowship.
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