THREE men are said to have created the City of Bath: Beau Nash made it fashionable, John Wood made it beautiful and Ralph Allen made it possible. The ‘benevolent man’, to paraphrase author Henry Fielding’s description, Allen (1693–1764) was born in St Columb Major, Cornwall, where his grandmother, Gertrude, ran the post office. He arrived in the spa city in 1710 as deputy to the postmistress and rose swiftly to the rank of postmaster, the youngest in the country, two years later.
Allen’s success lay in revolutionising the postal service, initiating a series of cross posts, staffed by post boys, that meant letters no longer had to be sent via London. His first investor was Gen Wade, who had been a supporter since Allen revealed a Jacobite plot to him,…
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Country Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 26, 2025