WILLIAM DOCKWRA 1640 - 1716

William Docwra was born a little before 1640, and on 22 January 1663-4 the Earl of Southampton, Lord High Treasurer of England, appointed him a Customs Under-searcher of the Port of London. [Note: In the Treasury Warrant the name is spelt Docwra - Early Treasury Warrants in the PRO (T51) Vol.10, pp247/8]

He is described as "Wm. Docwra, of London, Gent." [i.e. he was native and citizen of London]

Under-searchers were paid £12 p.a. [Note: Treasury Warrant dated 4 Feb 1663-4 to pay this sum]

William kept this position "above ten years", i.e. until about 1673-4.

There is evidence that he was part-owner of the S.S. Anne, which traded to the "Guiny Coast" of Africa. In 1676 the Anne was siezed by Captain Richard Dickenson, commander of the man o'war Hunter. In 1696 William recovered £2630 compensation from the Royal African Company.

William married Rebecca and had 9 children (according to his petition for financial aid dated 1700). Three of his children are named as William, Peter and Richard, and there was at least one grandson, Thomas. [Note: Baptisms of the first two children 24 Mar 1680-1 and 12 Jun 1682 are recorded in the registers of the church of St. Andrew Undershaft] Two of his children were married by 1697.

William began the Penny Post in 1680 (27th March), setting up their Chief Office in the former mansion house of Sir Robert Abdy in Lime Street, where William was living.

One of the other "undertakers" was Dr. Hugh Chamberlen, son-in-law of Sir Hugh Myddleton.

There were three offices for the Penny Post - Lime Strret, Charing Cross and Temple Bar. (Lime Strret was called Penny Post House). The partnership between William and Robert Murray, which had spawned the Penny Post, broke up, probably in May or June 1680. Murray had always claimed to be the Inventor of the Penny Post, which independently lasted for almst 200 years, and William carried it on alone for about 6 months and was then joined by new, unknown partners, who ran it with him until 1682.

William was the subject of an action against him in the King's Bench in November 1682, due to an alleged debt of 5250L. William's Penny Post closed in November 1682 but was restarted in December 1682 under the control of the General Post Office. As a result of the trial about the legality of the Penny Post William was fined ?100 and lost the P.P. On 1st July 1689 he petitioned Parliament for £8000 compensation for "out of pocket" in setting up the Penny Post. He was as a result given a pension of £500 for 7 years, from June 1689

Prior to April 1692 he tried to sell the new style "easy coaches", with John Green of Cantaret Road as his partner, apparently unsuccessfully.

In February 1692 he was listed as an "East Jersey Proprietor", according to the American Dictionary of National Biography.

On March 17, 1693, William made an application (along with Richard Povey, Thos. Puckle and Augustin Harris) for a grant of Letters Patent for invention "of art of making moulds of iron" for casting large guns. Later they all applied for incorpration as "The Governor and Company for Casting and Making Guns and Ordnance in Moulds of Metal". [Note: This was referred to the Attorneey or Solicitor General on August 11 1693, outcome unknown]

In 1692 William was elected Master of the Armourers' Company, and twice (in Oct 1695 and Jan 1703) unsuccessfully put up for Chamberlain of the City of London.

Reports on the 20 March 1696/7 said that William was to succeed Mr Castleton as Comptroller of the Penny Post Office, who would receive "a salary of £200 p.a., taxt £40 for the Capitation Act" in addition to his pension. He was in charge until 1700.

On 20 April 1697 William petitioned the King for an extension to his pension "indefinitely", and received an extension for 3 years.. In June 1700 William was dismissed from his post as "not fit to be trusted any longer". He repetitioned in 1700 for the King's extension again but this was denied.

In 1704 there are baptisms of three children recorded in the registers of St. Thomas the Apostle, Thos., Jacob and Ann. It is thought these were grandchildren of William.

William was living in the London parish of St. Mary Aldermary in June 1709, and he died 25 September 1716, supposedly aged 94.

William was described as "that ingenious and knowing Citizen of London" by Ed. Chamberlayne in his Angliae Notitia.

Source: "William Dockwra and the Rest of the Undertakers - The Story of the London Penny Post 1680-82" by T. Todd, published 1952, by C.J. Cousland & Sons. Ltd., 30 Queen Street, Edinburgh.

WILLIAM DOCWRA AND THE PENNY POST

"In 1683 Robert Murray started a penny post in London. He assigned all his rights and property to William Docwra. William came into conflict with the Duke of York upon whom and his heirs had been settled all Post-Office revenues. The case was tried in the Court of the King's Bench and went against William Docwra. In the next year he was appointed under the Duke, as Comptroller of the District Post, and his hand stamp 'Penny Post Payd' is the oldest postage stamp known."

Source: J.F. Curwen "Kirkby Kendal" Page 360 

DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY 1888

DOCKWRAY or DOCKWRA, WILLIAM (d. 1702?*), was a merchant in London in the later half of the seventeenth century

In 1683, improving upon an idea suggested, and already partially carried out, by Robert Murray, an upholsterer, Dockwray established a penny postal system in the metropolis. There existed at this time no adequate provision for the carriage of letters and parcels between different parts of London. Dockwray set up six large offices in the city, a receiving-house was opened in each of the principal streets, every hour the letters and parcels taken in at the receiving-houses were carried to ' the grand offices ' by one set of messengers, sorted and registered, and then delivered by another set of messengers in all parts of London. In the principal streets near the Exchange there were six or eight, in the suburbs there were four, deliveries in the day. All letters and parcels not exceeding one pound in weight, or any sum of money not exceeding 10/., or any parcel not more than 10/. in value, were carried to any place within the city for a penny, and to any distance within a given ten-mile radius for twopence.

Dockwray's enterprise, so far as he personally was concerned, was unsuccessful. The city porters, complaining that their interests were attacked, tore down the placards from the windows and doors of the receiving-houses. Titus Gates affirmed that the scheme was connected with the popish plot. The Duke of York, on whom the revenue of the post office had been settled, instituted proceedings in the king's bench to protect his monopoly, and Dockwray was cast in slight damages and costs. In 1690, however, he received a pension of 500/. a year for seven years, and this was continued on a new patent till 1700. Dockwray appears to have been a candidate for the chamberlainship of the city of London in October 1695 (LUTTRELL), with what result is not stated. In 1697 he was appointed comptroller of the penny post. A poem on Dockwray's ' invention of the penny post ' is in ' State Poems ' (1697). **

In 1698 the officials and messengers under his control memorialised the lords of the treasury to dismiss him from his office on the grounds inter alia that he had (1) removed the post office from Cornhill to a less central station; (2) detained and opened letters; and (3) refused to take in parcels of more than a pound in weight, thereby injuring the trade of the post-office porters. The charges were investigated before Sir Thomas Frankland and Sir Robert Cotton, postmasters-general, in August 1699, and on 4 June 1700 Dockwray was dismissed from his position. In 1702 he petitioned Queen Anne for some compensation for his losses, stating that six out of his seven children were unsettled and unprovided for in his old age.

[Macaulay's Hist. i. 338 ; Knight's London, iii. 282 ; Luttrell's Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, ii. and iv. ; Thornbury's Old and New London, ii. 209 ; Le win's Her Majesty's Mails, pp. 54, 59 ; Stow's Survey of London, ii. 403-4.]

*   Date of death given here is incorrect, William died in 1716.

** See below for link to poem.