Free Front Signature Database: Some Civil Servants

Generally the most difficult to research, here is a selection of civil servant's signatures courtesy of Mike Birks:

Lieutenant-General Sir Stephen Remnant Chapman, KCH (1776 – 6 March 1851) - Governor of Bermuda and Secretary to the Master-General of the Ordnance.

John Clementson - Deputy Serjeant at Arms and Serjeant at Arms (1812).

Henry Cowper (1758 - 1840) - Deputy Clerk of the Parliaments and clerk assistant of the House of Lords.

Robert Hawgood Crew (23 August 1762 – 16 September 1839) - Secretary to the Board of Ordnance during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Thomas Crofton Croker (15 January 1798 – 8 August 1854) - Admiralty clerk and Irish antiquary.

Benjamin Currey (1786-1848) - London solicitor and Clerk of the Parliaments.

John Dorington - Clerk of the fees of the House of Commons.

(30 June 1797 - 27 June 1827).

Colonel John Drinkwater (1762 – 1844) - Comptroller of Army Accounts (1811-35).

Captain Thomas Drummond (10 October 1797 – 15 April 1840) - Under-Secretary for Ireland (1835-1840).

Jeremiah Dyson (1757-1835) - Deputy Clerk to the House of Commons.

Sir Charles William Flint (1777-1832) - Private Secretary to the Duke of Wellington (1808-1815) and Under Secretary for Ireland (1827).

Sir Francis Freeling (25 August 1764 - 10 July 1836) - Secretary to the Post Office.

Augustus Godby - Secretary to the General Post Office Scotland (1822-1831) and Secretary to the General Post Office Ireland (1831-c.1841).

William Gregory (1766-1840) - Under-Secretary for Ireland

(1812-31).

Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (2 April 1794 – 17 January 1865) - Clerk of the Council in ordinary.

Introduction & Aims

Welcome to my blog dedicated to the deciphering of signatures from free fronts, also known as free franks. Free front is the term given to the front of an envelope to which the privilege of free postage was given, which was cut out and collected mainly by Victorian ladies and pasted into albums. The reason they were so collectable was because in order to use the privilege those who were entitled to it had to address, date and most importantly sign the envelope, usually in the bottom left corner. The people who were entitled to the privilege were either peers with a seat in the House of Lords, members of parliament, bishops or holders of high office in government, including the army and the navy.

In more recent times collectors have fallen into two groups, those like myself who collect the signatures as autographs and the stamp collectors who are more interested in the franks and the postal history. Although the privilege began as early as the 17th century, it is from the first four decades of the 19th century that most of the fronts come, the privilege ending with the introduction of the postage stamp in January 1840.

I personally was originally drawn to free fronts due to my interest in the Napoleonic Wars and with so many of the senior officers of both the army and the navy also being MP's, peers or officials, I realised it was possible to amass quite a large collection of fronts with the signatures of veterans of for example, Waterloo or Trafalgar. With so many people being entitled to the free franking privilege over so long a period of time it was necessary to specialise in order to have a manageable and affordable collection.

It's not just the signature though, much of my interest is in deciphering the signature and researching the biography of not just the sender but also the recipient, as this is often an interesting reflection on the relationships of the people. For example I have a front from the Duke of Wellington to Sir David Wilkie, the artist who painted the Dukes portrait.

My aim with this website is to carry a database of deciphered signatures, which I hope to continuously update, to point out some commonly seen errors and to hopefully generate some interest and debate from like minded people.

Martyn

Free Front Signature Database

Some Civil Servants

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