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Postal Savings

Postal savings

Postal savings systems were offered by many nations' post offices to provide depositors who did not have access to banks a safe, convenient method to save money and to promote saving among the poor. The first nation to offer such an arrangement was Great Britain in 1861. It was vigorously supported by Sir Rowland Hill, who successfully advocated the penny post, and William Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who saw it as a cheap way to finance the public debt. At the time, banks were mainly in the cities and largely catered to wealthy customers. Rural citizens and the poor had no choice but to keep their funds at home or on their persons. The original system was limited to deposits of £30 a year with a maximum balance of £150. Interest was paid at the rate of two and one-half percent per year on whole pounds in the account. Later the limits were raised to a maximum of £500 a year in deposits and no limit on the total. Within five years of the establishment of the system there were over 600,000 accounts and £8.2 million on deposit. By 1927, there were twelve million accounts—one in four Britons—with £283 million on deposit. The British system was spun off into an independent bank, Girobank. The United States began a similar system in 1911 under the Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 814). It was abolished by the Act of March 28, 1966 (80 Stat. 92). Many other countries adopted such systems, but they have generally been abolished or spun off like Girobank. However, in Japan, the post office is one of the nation's leading bankers holding trillions of yen from conservative, risk-adverse citizens. The government has been criticized for using these funds to engage in uneconomical infrastructure projects—what in America would be called pork barrel spending. France's La Poste does not offer deposit services, but does offer some fee-free financial services in direct competition with privately-owned banks, such as monetary withdrawals from private bank accounts and money changing. La Poste is the second largest employer in France, yet its hours of operation are often criticized as irregular and inconvenient. Germany has, like Japan, a postal banking system which is now part of Deutsche Post AG. Postal banking services, Postsparkasse, are available at all branches. Under a recent plan, Deutsche Post will be split up and privatized, and the postal savings system will no longer be government-controlled.

Post office

]] ] A post office is a facility (in most countries, a government one) where the public can purchase postage stamps for mailing correspondence or merchandise, and also drop off or pick up packages or other special-delivery items.

How they work

In each city, mail is concentrated from post boxes to local post offices to regional sorting centers. At regional sorting centers, mail is sorted by city and sent out in trucks. In the U.S., almost all first-class mail that moves more than a hundred miles flies in aircraft. At the other end of a major route, the mail goes to another regional center, and is sorted to individual post offices, which in turn sort to streets. Postal codes vary by country. In the U.S. the shorter "Zip" postal codes describe local post offices, while the longer postal codes specify individual carrier routes (or PO box number). In US government post offices, odd-sized mail such as packages and large manila envelopes is picked from the belt, and is usually sorted manually. Sorting parcel post is one of the most physically demanding manual jobs in the U.S. workforce. Manual parcel post sorters often move several tons of mail per shift. These assignments are often rotated to avoid injury. Mail workers are required to lift 80 lb (36 kg) in order to sort parcel post. In contrast, at commercial express services (such as UPS), picked-up mail is moved by forklift and chute. Parcel sorting is usually performed by computer-controlled conveyor belts. Each belt has a bar code reader that identifies each package. Each belt moves past a series of stations that can push a package onto another conveyor belt. The conveyor belts feed directly into bins that are wheeled directly into trucks for the next transport stage. The computer notes which package enters which bin, which bin enters which truck or aircraft, and thereby tracks each package precisely. In post offices, the traditional method of sorting is done manually, in many stages. In these systems, trained postal clerks "throw" standard-sized letters into pigeon-holes in a "case." When a hole fills, it is emptied to a tray. When the tray is full, it is wheeled to the next sorting station. Each case covers a certain range of streets in a city. Several people may throw the same case at different sorting stations. Large manila envelopes (called "flats") are sorted by a similar system, with larger pigeon-holes. Throwing flats is very tiring because flats are larger and heavier than standard letters. The clerks sort mail according to which route the mail is delivered on. Once the mail is sorted by route, it is passed to that route's carrier. Mail carriers sort the mail again into delivery order using the route's case. Each address normally has a slot in the case, and in this way the mail is put into its proper delivery order. Once all the day's mail is sorted into delivery order, the carrier pulls it out of the case and places it, in order, onto trays. The carrier loads these trays into their vehicle or mail bag and delivers the mail to its final destination. Many post offices now use automated or semi-automated sorting systems. These use machine vision systems to read the address. In the U.S., these machines use ink-jet printers to apply postnet bar codes to automate later sorting steps. Some businesses get postage discounts by presorting mail, and applying postnet for the post office. Many European countries also encourage machine-readable addresses, but take a different approach, specifying that they be printed in a preferred format, in a preferred font, usually OCR-B. When the sorting machine decides that it cannot read an address, normally it rejects the letter. A human postal worker then keys the postal code or address and the machine will apply a bar-coded (or in Europe, OCR) postal code. When a letter is to a vague, nonexistent or peculiar address, (such as the letters to Santa Claus by young children), the mail is routed to a very experienced clerk called a "nixie clerk." The nixie clerk determines if the addressee can be located. If so, the nixie readdresses the letter and forwards it, or if it requests address correction, returns it. If the addressee cannot be located and the sender has paid for return service, the nixie clerk marks the letter "Return to Sender." If there is no return address, the letter is returned to the last known origin, the "dead letter office." Manual mail forwarding has been traditionally performed by carriers. In the U.S. each carrier had a list of all current forwarding addresses for the route. Usually, the carrier placed stickers on route cases with forwarding. With routing machinery, the mail is readdressed and sorted to the forwarding address by the machinery. In U.S. post offices, most sorting is performed at night so that local mail arrives in the morning. Historically, in large European cities before the telephone, four mail deliveries were performed each day, permitting several business transactions to occur in one day. In those days, "special delivery" would cause a messenger to carry a restricted faster route on a more frequent schedule, or, in some cities, actually cause a messenger to be sent directly. One of the fastest historic mail services that used manual sorting was train-based sorting. Small towns and trains would exchange mail bags on hooks, without requiring the train to stop. Mail clerks in the mail car would sort mail for the next city. For distances under a thousand miles, train-based sorting had delivery times comparable or superior to modern air-delivery. In United States post offices, the FBI posts wanted posters for people to read and become familiar with, hence references to "seeing someone on the post office wall."

Services

Post offices also rent post-office boxes to people and businesses who prefer not to have mail delivered to their home or office. In many countries, post offices include other functions, such as a place to pick up various government forms, to apply for passports and driving licences to send money to others, etc. In some countries, the post office functions as a financial bank and/or a central place to use public telephones. The back rooms of a post office are where mail is processed for final delivery. Mail may also be processed in other post offices that are not open to the general public. Some countries have a Chief Post Office to administer post offices throughout the country, or a CPO in various large cities to administer the post offices in those cities or their districts. public telephone Although American citizens usually refer to its facilities as post offices, the United States Postal Service has different names for different types of postal facilities, which are listed in that article.

See also

General postal concepts


- Fleet Post Office
- Freepost (also known as business reply mail)
- mail
- Post Office box
- postal code, ZIP Code
- "going postal"
- Poste restante (also known as general delivery)
- Drop letter

Examples of operators of post offices from around the world


- An Post
- Japan Post
- UK Post Office Ltd
- United States Postal Service
- Canada Post
- Universal Postal Union
- Australia Post
- New Zealand Post
- Singapore Post Singapore Post

Famous post offices


- Old Wan Chai Post Office, in Hong Kong

Miscellaneous


- Post offices abroad
- London Post Office Railway
- Post Office Rifles
- Pony Express

External links


- [http://www.unitedstates.org/usps.htm United States Postal Service Guide] Category:Road transport Category:Postal system Category:Buildings and structures ja:郵便局 th:%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B5%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B3%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B9%8C

1861

1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday.

Events

January


- January 1 - Benito Juárez captures Mexico City
- January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I
- January 3 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States
- January 9 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
- January 10 - American Civil War: Florida secedes from the United States
- January 11 - American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States
- January 18 - American Civil War: Georgia joins the Confederacy
- January 21 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate
- January 26 - American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.
- January 29 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.

February


- February 1 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
- February 4 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America is formed by delegates from six break-away United States.
- February 8 - American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed.
- February 9 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
- February 11 - American Civil War: US House unanimously passes resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
- February 13 - Capture of Gaeta, last stronghold of the Neapolitan King Francis II, by Piedmontese forces. Francis goes into exile.
- February 18 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
- February 18 - Victor Emmanuel of Savoy becomes King of Italy. See: Kingdom of Italy
- February 19 - Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
- February 23 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
- February 27 - A crowd in Warsaw protesting Russian rule over Poland is fired upon by Russian troops killing five protesters.
- February 28 - Colorado is organized as a United States territory.

March-April


- March 2 - Nevada is organized as a United States territory.
- March 3 - Formal emancipation of the serfs in Imperial Russia
- March 4 - End of term for President of the United States James Buchanan. He is succeeded by Abraham Lincoln.
- March 4 - American Civil War: The "Stars and Bars" is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
- March 11 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
- March 17 - Proclamation of the kingdom of Italy with Victor Emanuel II as its king
- March 19 - First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand
- March 30 - Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements)
- April 12 - American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
- April 27 - American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in the United States.
- April 27 - American Civil War: West Virginia secedes from Virginia.

May-June


- May 6 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
- May 7 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
- May 8 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
- May 13 - American Civil War: Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
- May 13 - Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") discovered in Australia.
- May 14 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859 gram chondrite type meteorite struck earth near Barcelona, Spain.
- May 20 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. North Carolina secedes from the United States
- June 8 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
- June 9 - Lebanon separated from Syrian administration and reunited under Ottoman governor with the approval of European powers
- June 15 - Benito Juárez formally elected president of Mexico; he temporarily stops the payments of foreign debt
- June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1839-1861) dies and is succeeded by Abd-ul-Aziz (1861-1876).

July-August


- July 1 - First issue of Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano was published.
- July 2 - Ioan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox church into Japan.
- July 21 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory).
- July 25 - American Civil War: The Crittenden-Johnson Resolution is passed by the U.S. Congress stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
- July 26 - American Civil War: George McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
- August 5 - American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
- August 5 - US Army abolishes flogging
- August 27 - Last execution in Britain for attempted murder - Martin Doyle in Chester

September-October


- September 3 - American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.
- September 6 - American Civil War: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Union control the mouth of the Tennessee River.
- October 21 - American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff - Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.
- October 24 - The HMS Warrior, the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armoured battleship was completed and commisioned.
- October 31 - American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.

November


- November 1 - American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
- November 2 - American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.
- November 6 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.
- November 7 - American Civil War: Battle of Belmont - In Belmont, Missouri, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant overrun a Confederate camp but are forced to retreat when Confederate reinforcements arrive.
- November 8 - American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" - The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
- November 21 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.
- November 25 - Tenement collapses in the Old Town of Edinburgh and buries 50 - rescues find 15 of them alive

Unknown dates


- News of Henri Mouhot's discovery of Angkor Wat published.
- In Britain, the death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots.
- British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.

Births


- January 14 - Mehmed VI, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1926)
- January 30 - Charles Martin Loeffler, American composer (d. 1935)
- February 12 - Lou Andreas-Salome, Russian-born author (d. 1937)
- February 15 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)
- February 26 - King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
- February 27 - Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (d. 1925)
- April 8 - Son, Byong-Hi, Korean nationalist (d. 1922)
- April 15 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
- May 7 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- June 12 - William Attewell, English cricketer (d. 1927)
- June 19 - Doctor Jose Rizal, Philippine national hero (d. 1896)
- June 20, Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)
- October 16 - J. B. Bury, British historian (d. 1927)
- October 30 - Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
- December 4 - Lillian Russell, American singer and vaudeville star (d. 1922)
- November 6 - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (d. 1939)
- December 8 - Georges Méliès, French film director (d. 1938)
- December 15 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1944)
- December 16 - Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (d. 1917)
- December 10 - Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize d. 1930)
- December 20 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
- William H. Stayton, American founder of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment

Deaths


- January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia (b. 1795)
- January 17 - Lola Montez, Irish-born Spanish dancer and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1821)
- May 29 - Joachim Lelewel, Polish nationalist historian (b. 1786)
- June 3 - Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois and Presidential candidate (b. 1813)
- June 25 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)
- June 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (b. 1806)
- July 25 - Jonas Furrer, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1805)
- August 24 - Pierre Berthier, French geologist (b. 1782)
- October 5 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (b. 1778)
- December 14 - Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Victoria (b. 1819) Category:1861 ko:1861년 ms:1861 simple:1861 th:พ.ศ. 2404

Penny Post

The Penny Post is any one of several postal systems in which normal letters could be sent for one penny.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the London Penny Post was established in 1680 by William Dockwra, who established a local post that used a uniform rate of one old penny for delivery of packets up to one pound in within London. There were several deliveries a day within the city, and items were also delivered to addresses up to ten miles outside London for an extra charge of one penny. In 1683 Dockwra was forced to surrender his business to the government operated General Post Office. In 1764 Parliament authorized the creation of Penny Posts in any town or city of the UK. By the beginning of the 19th century there were a number of these, identifiable on covers, with markings such as "PP", "Py Post", or "Penny Post" along with the name of the town. On 10 January 1840, the Uniform Penny Post was established throughout the UK, and several months later could be prepaid with the postage stamp known as the Penny Black. In 1898, the Imperial Penny Post extended the rate throughout the British Empire. The Penny Post rate ended in Great Britain in 1918.

United States

In the United States, Spaulding's Penny Post operated in Buffalo, New York from 1847 to 1850. Davis's Penny Post operated in Baltimore, Maryland for several weeks of February 1856, leaving behind a handful of rare stamps. The Penny Post is the journal of the Carriers and Locals Society.

Reference


- Frank Staff, The Penny Post: 1680-1918 (Lutterworth Press, 1993) ISBN 0-7188-2878-X

External links


- [http://www.siegelauctions.com/enc/carriers/spaulding.html Siegel Auctions info on Spaulding, with pictures]
- [http://www.siegelauctions.com/enc/carriers/davis.htm Siegel Auctions info on Davis, with pictures] Category:Philately

William Gladstone

The Right Honourable William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). He was a notable political reformer, known for his populist speeches, and was for many years the main political rival of Benjamin Disraeli. Gladstone was famously at odds with Queen Victoria for much of his career. She once complained, "He always addresses me as if I were a public meeting." Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as the "Grand Old Man" or "The People's William."

Early life

Born in Liverpool in 1809, William Ewart Gladstone was the fourth son of the merchant Sir John Gladstones and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson. The final "s" was later dropped from the family surname to make it easier to pronounce. Sir John Gladstones Although Gladstone was born and brought up in Liverpool, and always retained a touch of Lancashire accent, he was of Scottish descent on both of his parents' sides. William was educated at Eton College, and in 1828 matriculated at Christ Church College, Oxford where he took classics and mathematics, which he had no great interest in, in order to obtain a double first. In December 1831 he sat his final examinations and found out on the same day that he had achieved a double first. Gladstone was a President of the Oxford Union debating society where he developed a reputation as a fine orator, a reputation that followed him into the House of Commons. At university Gladstone was a Tory and denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform. He was first elected to Parliament in 1832 as Conservative MP for Newark. Initially he was extremely reactionary (High Toryism), opposing the abolition of slavery and factory legislation. In 1838 he published a book The State in its Relations with the Church, which argued that the goal of the state should be to promote and defend the interests of the Church of England. In 1839 he married Catherine Glynne, to whom he remained married for 49 years. In 1840 Gladstone began his rescue and rehabilitation of London prostitutes. He would walk the London streets and try to convince prostitutes to change their ways.

Minister under Peel

Gladstone was re-elected in 1841. In September 1842 he lost the forefinger of his left hand in an accident while reloading a gun, thereafter he wore a glove or finger sheath (stall). In the second ministry of Robert Peel he served as President of the Board of Trade (1843–1844). He resigned in 1845 on a matter of conscience — the Maynooth Seminary issue. In order to improve relations with Irish Catholics Peel's government proposed increasing the annual grant paid to the Maynooth Seminary for training Catholic priests. Gladstone had previously written a book in which he had argued that a Protestant country should not pay money to other churches. Even though Gladstone supported the increase in the Maynooth grant and voted for it in the commons he resigned rather than have opponents accuse him of compromising his principles in order to remain in office. On accepting his resignation Peel declared "I really have great difficulty sometimes in exactly comprehending what he means". Gladstone returned to Peel's government as Colonial Secretary in December. The following year the government fell over Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws and Gladstone followed his leader into detachment from the mainstream bulk of the Conservatives. After Peel's death in 1850, Gladstone would emerge as the leader of the Peelites in the House of Commons. As Chancellor he pushed to extend the free trade liberalisations in the 1840s and worked to reduce public expenditure. He also took his moral and religious ideals into politics, but in a progressive manner later called Gladstonian Liberalism. He was re-elected for the University of Oxford in 1847 and became a constant critic of Lord Palmerston. In 1848 he also founded the Church Penitentiary Association for the Reclamation of Fallen Women. In May 1849 he began his most active "rescue work" with "fallen women" and met prostitutes late at night either on the street, in his house or in their houses. He wrote their names in his notebook. He aided the House of Mercy at Clewer, near Windsor (which exercised extreme in-house discipline) and spent much time arranging employment for ex-prostitutes. His wife supported these activities. There is no evidence he ever actually used their services and in 1927 during a court case over claims in a book that he had improper relationships with some of these women the jury unanimously recorded that the evidence "completely vindicated the high moral character of the late Mr W.E. Gladstone." Gladstone did, from 1849 till 1859 mark his diary a character resembling a whip. It is believed this means he felt tempted, either by the prostitutes he helped or by "marginally salacious material" (as Roy Jenkins described it) and used self-flagellation as a means of repentance. This practice was also followed that time by Cardinal Newman and Edward Pusey.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

During his visit to Naples in 1850 he began to support Neapolitan opponents of the Bourbon rulers. In 1852, when Lord Aberdeen became premier, at the head of a coalition of Whigs and Peelites, Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1855 and unsuccessfully tried to abolish the income tax. Instead he ended up raising it because of the Crimean War. Lord Stanley became Prime Minister in 1858 but Gladstone declined a position in his government because he did not want to work with Benjamin Disraeli, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Lord Palmerston formed a new mixed government with Radicals added in 1859 and Gladstone joined again as Chancellor of the Exchequer, left the Conservatives and joined the newly formed Liberal Party. As Chancellor, he made a controversial speech which seemed to support the independence of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. Great Britain was officially neutral at the time, and Gladstone later regretted giving the speech. In 1864 he begun to support a Bill to lower the franchise qualification and angered both Palmerston and Queen Victoria. Because of this, in the general election of 1865 he lost his seat in Oxford, but was narrowly elected for South Lancashire. In 1858 Gladstone took up the hobby of tree felling, mostly of oak trees, which he continued with enthusiasm until 1891 at the age of 81. He became notorious for this activity which prompted Lord Randolph Churchill to comment "The forest laments, in order that Mr Gladstone may perspire."

First ministry, 1868–1874

Lord Russell retired in 1867 and Gladstone became a leader of the Liberal party. In the next general election in 1868 he was defeated in Lancashire but was elected as MP for Greenwich, candidates at that time being allowed to stand in two constituencies simultaneously. He became Prime Minister for the first time, and remained in the office until 1874. Gladstonian Liberalism was characterised, in the 1860s and 1870s, by a number of policies intended to improve individual liberty and loosen political and economic restraints. First was the minimization of public expenditure, on the basis that the economy and society were best helped by allowing people to spend as they saw fit. Secondly, a foreign policy aimed at promoting peace helped reduce expenditure and taxation as well as help trade. Thirdly, there was the reform of government institutions or laws that prevented people from acting freely to improve themselves. Gladstone's first premiership instituted reforms in the Army, Civil Service and local government to cut restrictions on individual advancement. He instituted the abolition of the sale of commissions in the army and court reorganization. In foreign affairs his over-riding aim was peace and understanding, characterized by his settlement of the Alabama Claims in 1872 in favour of the Americans. He transformed the Liberal party during his first premiership (following the enlarged electorate created by Disraeli's Reform Act of 1867). The 1867 Act gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency. Male lodgers paying £10 for (unfurnished) rooms also received the vote. This gave the vote to about 1,500,000 men. The Reform Act also changed the electoral map; constituencies and boroughs with less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs. The forty-five seats left available through the re-organization were distributed by: # giving fifteen to towns which had never had an MP; # giving one extra seat to some larger towns — Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds; # creating a seat for the University of London; # giving twenty-five seats to counties whose population had increased since 1832. The later 1884 Reform Act gave the counties the same franchise as the boroughs — adult male householders and £10 lodgers — and added about six million to the total number who could vote in parliamentary elections. The issue of Irish Church disestablishment was used by Gladstone to unite the liberal party for government in 1868. The Act was passed in 1869 and meant that Irish Catholics did not need to pay their tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland. He also instituted Cardwell's Army reform that made peacetime flogging illegal in 1869, and the Irish Land Act and Forster's Education Act in 1870. In 1871 he instituted the University Test Act. In 1872 he instituted the Ballot Act for secret voting ballots. In 1873 he passed laws restructuring the High Courts.

Out of Office and the Midlothian Campaign

In 1874 the Liberals lost the election. After the success of Benjamin Disraeli he temporarily retired from the political scene and the leadership of the Liberal party, although he retained his seat in the House. In 1876 he published a pamphlet, Bulgarian Horrors and the Questions of the East where he attacked the Disraeli government for its indifference to the violent repression of the Bulgarian rebellion in Ottoman Empire. A well-known excerpt illustrates his formidable rhetorical powers: "Let the Turks now carry away their abuses, in the only possible manner, namely, by carrying off themselves. Their Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis and Yuzbachis, their Kaimakans and their Pashas, one and all, bag and baggage, shall, I hope, clear out from the province that they have desolated and profaned. This thorough riddance, this most blessed deliverance, is the only reparation we can make to those heaps and heaps of dead, the violated purity alike of matron and of maiden and of child; to the civilization which has been affronted and shamed; to the laws of God, or, if you like, of Allah; to the moral sense of mankind at large. There is not a criminal in an European jail, there is not a criminal in the South Sea Islands, whose indignation would not rise and over-boil at the recital of that which has been done, which has too late been examined, but which remains unavenged, which has left behind all the foul and all the fierce passions which produced it and which may again spring up in another murderous harvest from the soil soaked and reeking with blood and in the air tainted with every imaginable deed of crime and shame. That such things should be done once is a damning disgrace to the portion of our race which did them; that the door should be left open to the ever so barely possible repetition would spread that shame over the world." During his election campaign (the so-called Midlothian campaign) in 1879 he spoke against Disraeli's foreign policies during the ongoing Second Anglo-Afghan War in Afghanistan. (See Great Game). He saw the war as "great dishonour," and also criticised British conduct in the Zulu War.

Second ministry, 1880–1885

In 1880 the Liberals won again, and the new Liberal leader Lord Hartington retired in Gladstone's favour. Gladstone won his constituency election in Midlothian and also in Leeds, where he had also been adopted as a candidate, only being able to serve as MP for one constituency Leeds was passed to his son Herbert. One of his other sons, Henry, was also elected as an MP. Queen Victoria asked Lord Hartington to form a ministry but he persuaded her to send for Gladstone. His second administration — both as PM and again as Chancellor of the Exchequer till 1882 — lasted from June 1880 to June 1885. He saw the end of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, first Boer War and British war against the Mahdi in Sudan. He also extended the franchise to agricultural labourers and others. In 1881 he also established the Irish Coercion Act that let the Viceroy detain people for as "long as was thought necessary." Parliamentary reform continued, however, and in 1884 Gladstone instituted the Redistribution of Seats Act. The fall of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan in 1885 was a major blow to Gladstone's popularity. Critics inverted his "G.O.M." nickname (for "Grand Old Man") to "M.O.G." (for "Murderer of Gordon"). Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister in 1885, and declined Victoria's offer of an Earldom.

Third ministry, 1886

Earl In 1886 his party was allied with Irish Nationalists to defeat Lord Salisbury's government; Gladstone regained his position as PM and combined the office with that of Lord Privy Seal. During this administration he introduced his Home Rule Bill for Ireland for the first time. The issue split the Liberal Party and the bill was thrown out on the second reading. The result was the end of his government after a few months and another government headed by Lord Salisbury.

Fourth ministry, 1892–1894

In 1892 Gladstone was re-elected a prime minister for the fourth time. In February 1893 he re-introduced a Home Rule Bill. It was essentially to form a parliament for Ireland, or in modern terminology, a regional assembly of the type Northern Ireland gained from the Good Friday Agreement. The Home Rule Bill did not offer Ireland independence, something which, in any case, was not the demand of the Irish Parliamentary Party. It was passed by the House of Commons and then rejected by the House of Lords, on the grounds that it went too far. On March 1 1894, in his last speech in the House of Commons, he asked his allies to destroy the veto of the House of Lords. He resigned two days later although he retained his seat in the Commons until 1895].

Final years

1895 In 1895 he bequethed 40,000 pounds and much of his library to found St Deiniol's Library, the only residential library in Britain. Despite being over 80 he carried most of the 23,000 books in a wheelbarrow the quarter of a mile to their new home himself. In 1896 he spoke in Liverpool, denouncing Armenian massacres by Ottomans. Gladstone died at Hawarden Castle, in 1898, aged 88, from cancer which had started behind the cheekbone and spread across his body. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. His coffin was transported on the London Underground. A statue of Gladstone, inaugurated in 1905, is situated at Aldwych, London nearby to the Royal Courts of Justice [http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/ee855fb0.html]. There is also a statue of him in Glasgow's George Square, and in other towns around the country. Liverpool's Crest Hotel was renamed The Gladstone Hotel in honour of Gladstone in the early 1990s.

Gladstone's Governments


- First Gladstone Ministry (December 1868–February 1874)
- Second Gladstone Ministry (April 1880–June 1885)
- Third Gladstone Ministry (February–August 1886)
- Fourth Gladstone Ministry (August 1892–February 1894)

Biographies


- D. W. Bebbington, William Ewart Gladstone
- Eric Brad, William Gladstone
- Osbert Burdett, W. E. Gladstone (1928)
- Philip Magnus, Gladstone: A Biography (1954)
- HC Matthew, Gladstone: 1809-98
- Roy Jenkins, Gladstone (1995) (ISBN 0333662091)

Political offices

See also


- List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

External links


- Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone, William Ewart ja:ウィリアム・グラッドストン

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British cabinet minister responsible for all financial matters. Often simply called The Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister for Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other jurisdictions. The position is considered one of the four great offices of state. The Chancellor holds third oldest major state office in English and United Kingdom history, one which originally carried responsibility for the Exchequer, the medieval institution for the collection of royal revenues. Until recently, the Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy, but this ended when the Bank of England was granted independent control of its interest rates in 1997. He (all Chancellors to date have been men) also has oversight of public spending across Government departments, and is generally second only to the Prime Minister in political power. The office should not be confused with that of the Lord High Chancellor or the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, both Cabinet posts, or the Chancellor of the High Court, a senior judge (whose title until recently has been Vice-Chancellor).

Roles and Responsibilities

One of the Chancellor's key roles involves the framing of the annual "Budget", which is summarised in a speech to the House of Commons. Traditionally the budget speech was delivered on a Tuesday (although not always) in March, as Britain's tax year follows the Julian Calendar. From 1993 the Budget was preceded by an annual 'Autumn Statement', now called the Pre-Budget Report, which forecasts government spending in the next year and usually takes place in November. This preview of the next year's Budget is also referred to as the "mini-Budget". The 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2003 Budgets were delivered on a Wednesday. At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a political team of four junior ministers and by permanent Civil Servants. The most important junior minister is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to whom the negotiations with other government departments on the details of government spending are delegated. The holder of the office of Chancellor is ex-officio Second Lord of the Treasury. As Second Lord, his official residence is Number 11 Downing Street in London, next door to the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury (a post usually though not always held by the Prime Minister), who resides in 10 Downing Street. While in the past both houses were private residences, today they serve as interlinked offices, with the occupant living in a small apartment made from attic rooms previously resided in by servants. The Chancellor is obliged to be a member of the Privy Council, and thus is styled the Right Honourable (Rt. Hon.). Because the House of Lords is excluded from Finance bills, the office is effectively limited to members of the House of Commons.

Trivia

In 1997, the current First and Second Lords, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown respectively, swapped apartments, as the Chancellor's apartment in No. 11 was bigger and thus better suited to the needs of Blair (who had children) than Brown who was at that stage unmarried. So though No. 11 is still officially Brown's residence, he actually resides in the apartment in the attic of No. 10, and Blair — though officially residing in No. 10 — actually lives in the attic apartment of No. 11.

List of Holders of the Office since 1559

Several Chancellors were also Prime Minister for some or all of their Chancellorship. These are indicated by a
- .
- Sir John Baker (unknown)
- Sir Walter Mildmay (1559–1589)
- John Fortescue (1589–1603)
- George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar (1603–1606)
- Sir Julius Caesar (1606–1614)
- Sir Fulke Greville (1614–1621)
- Sir Richard Weston (1621–1628)
- Edward Barrett, 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh (1628–1629)
- Francis Cottington, 1st Baron Cottington (1629–1642)
- Sir John Culpepper (1642–1643)
- Sir Edward Hyde (July 19, 1642 - 1646)
- Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (May 13, 1661 - November 22, 1672)
- Sir John Duncombe (November 22, 1672 - May 2, 1676)
- Sir John Ernle (May 2, 1676 - April 9, 1689)
- Henry Booth, 2nd Baron Delamere (April 9, 1689 - March 18, 1690)
- Richard Hampden (March 18, 1690 - May 10, 1694)
- Charles Montagu (May 10, 1694 - June 2, 1699)
- John Smith (June 2, 1699 - March 27, 1701)
- Henry Boyle (March 27, 1701 - April 22, 1708)
- John Smith (April 22, 1708 - August 11, 1710)
- Robert Harley (August 11, 1710 - June 4, 1711)
- Robert Benson (June 4, 1711 - August 21, 1713)
- Sir William Wyndham (August 21, 1713 - October 13, 1714)
- Sir Richard Onslow (October 13, 1714 - October 12, 1715)
- Robert Walpole (October 12, 1715 - April 15, 1717)
- James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope (April 15, 1717 - March 20, 1718)
- John Aislabie (March 20, 1718 - January 23, 1721) (resigned)
- Sir John Pratt (February 2, 1721 - April 3, 1721)
- Sir Robert Walpole (April 3, 1721 - February 12, 1742)
-
- Samuel Sandys (February 12, 1742 - December 12, 1743)
- Henry Pelham (December 12, 1743 - March 8, 1754)
-
- Sir William Lee (March 8, 1754 - April 6, 1754)
- Henry Bilson Legge (April 6, 1754 - November 25, 1755)
- Sir George Lyttelton (November 25, 1755 - November 16, 1756)
- Henry Bilson Legge (November 16, 1756 - April 13, 1757)
- William Murray, 1st Baron Mansfield (April 13, 1757 - July 2, 1757)
- Henry Bilson Legge (July 2, 1757 - March 19, 1761)
- William Wildman Barrington-Shute, 2nd Viscount Barrington (March 19, 1761 - May 29, 1762)
- Sir Francis Dashwood (May 29, 1762 - April 16, 1763)
- George Grenville (April 16, 1763 - July 16, 1765)
-
- William Dowdeswell (July 16, 1765 - August 2, 1766)
- Charles Townshend (August 2, 1766 - September 4, 1767) (died in office)
- Frederick North, Lord North (September 11, 1767 - March 27, 1782)
- (From 1770) (resigned)
- Lord John Cavendish (March 27, 1782 - July 10, 1782)
- William Pitt (July 10, 1782 - March 31, 1783) (resigned)
- Lord John Cavendish (April 2, 1783 - December 19, 1783)
- William Pitt (December 19, 1783 - March 14, 1801)
-
- Henry Addington (March 14, 1801 - May 10, 1804)
-
- William Pitt (May 10, 1804 - January 23, 1806)
- (died in office)
- Lord Henry Petty (February 5, 1806 - March 26, 1807)
- Spencer Perceval (March 26, 1807 - May 12, 1812)
- (From 1809) (assassinated)
- Nicholas Vansittart (May 12, 1812 - January 31, 1823)
- Frederick John Robinson (January 31, 1823 - April 20, 1827)
- George Canning (April 20, 1827 - August 8, 1827)
- (died in office)
- Charles Abbott, 1st Baron Tenterden (August 8, 1827 - September 3, 1827)
- John Charles Herries (September 3, 1827 - January 26, 1828)
- Henry Goulburn (January 26, 1828 - November 22, 1830)
- John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp (November 22, 1830 - November 14, 1834)
- Lord Denman served as Chancellor pro tem (November 15 1834 - December 15 1834)
- Sir Robert Peel (December 2, 1834 - April 8, 1835)
-
- Thomas Spring Rice (April 18, 1835 - August 26, 1839)
- Sir Francis Thornhill Baring (August 26, 1839 - August 30, 1841)
- Henry Goulburn (September 3, 1841 - June 27, 1846)
- Sir Charles Wood (July 6, 1846 - February 21, 1852)
- Benjamin Disraeli (February 27, 1852 - December 17, 1852)
- William Ewart Gladstone (December 28, 1852 - February 28, 1855)
- Sir George Cornewall Lewis (February 28, 1855 - February 21, 1858)
- Benjamin Disraeli (February 26, 1858 - June 11, 1859)
- William Ewart Gladstone (June 18, 1859 - June 26, 1866)
- Benjamin Disraeli (July 6, 1866 - February 29, 1868)
- George Ward Hunt (February 29, 1868 - December 1, 1868)
- Robert Lowe (December 9, 1868 - August 11, 1873)
- William Ewart Gladstone (August 11, 1873 - February 17, 1874)
-
- Sir Stafford Henry Northcote (February 21, 1874 - April 21, 1880)
- William Ewart Gladstone (April 28, 1880 - December 16, 1882)
-
- Hugh Childers (December 16, 1882 - June 9, 1885)
- Sir Michael Hicks Beach (June 24, 1885 - January 28, 1886)
- Sir William Vernon Harcourt (February 6, 1886 - July 20, 1886)
- Lord Randolph Churchill (August 3, 1886 - December 22, 1886) (resigned)
- George Joachim Goschen (January 14, 1887 - August 11, 1892)
- Sir William Vernon Harcourt (August 18, 1892 - June 21, 1895)
- Sir Michael Hicks Beach (June 29, 1895 - August 11, 1902)
- Charles Thomson Ritchie (August 11, 1902 - October 9, 1903)
- Austen Chamberlain (October 9, 1903 - December 4, 1905)
- Herbert Henry Asquith (December 10, 1905 - April 12, 1908)
- David Lloyd George (April 12, 1908 - May 25, 1915)
- Reginald McKenna (May 25, 1915 - December 10, 1916)
- Andrew Bonar Law (December 10, 1916 - January 10, 1919)
- Austen Chamberlain (January 10, 1919 - April 1, 1921)
- Sir Robert Stevenson Horne (April 1, 1921 - October 19, 1922)
- Stanley Baldwin (October 27, 1922 - August 27, 1923)
- (From May 22, 1923)
- Neville Chamberlain (August 27, 1923 - January 22, 1924)
- Philip Snowden (January 22, 1924 - November 3, 1924)
- Winston Churchill (November 6, 1924 - June 4, 1929)
- Philip Snowden (June 7, 1929 - November 5, 1931)
- Neville Chamberlain (November 5, 1931 - May 28, 1937)
- Sir John Allsebrooke Simon (May 28, 1937 - May 12, 1940)
- Sir Kingsley Wood (May 12, 1940 - September 24, 1943)
- Sir John Anderson (September 24, 1943 - July 26, 1945)
- Hugh Dalton (July 27, 1945 - November 13, 1947) (resigned)
- Sir Stafford Cripps (November 13, 1947 - October 19, 1950)
- Hugh Gaitskell (October 19, 1950 - October 26, 1951)
- Rab Butler (October 28, 1951 - December 20, 1955)
- Harold Macmillan (December 20, 1955 - January 13, 1957)
- Peter Thorneycroft (January 13, 1957 - January 6, 1958) (resigned)
- Derick Heathcoat-Amory (January 6, 1958 - July 27, 1960)
- Selwyn Lloyd (July 27, 1960 - July 13, 1962)
- Reginald Maudling (July 13, 1962 - October 16, 1964)
- James Callaghan (October 16, 1964 - November 30, 1967)
- Roy Jenkins (November 30, 1967 - June 19, 1970)
- Iain Macleod (June 20, 1970 - July 20, 1970) (died in office)
- Anthony Barber (July 25, 1970 - March 4, 1974)
- Denis Healey (March 5, 1974 - May 4, 1979)
- Sir Geoffrey Howe (May 5, 1979 - June 11, 1983)
- Nigel Lawson (June 11, 1983 - October 26, 1989) (resigned)
- John Major (October 26, 1989 - November 28, 1990)
- Norman Lamont (November 28, 1990 - May 27, 1993)
- Kenneth Clarke (May 27, 1993 - May 2, 1997)
- Gordon Brown (May 2, 1997 -)

See also


- List of Lord High Treasurers
- UK topics Category:Economy of the United Kingdom Category:Government of the United Kingdom Category:Lists of British ministers

Girobank

Girobank was founded in 1968 and originally was known as National Girobank. It was originally set-up by the Royal Mail in order to provide safe, secure banking facilities for people who did not have normal bank accounts with the then highstreet banks. The benefit of Girobank was that money could be deposited or withdrawn at any Post Office, a real benefit to people in towns and villages without a bank, but with a Post Office. Girobank merged with Alliance & Leicester and Sovereign Finance in July 2003, and is now known as Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank. The accounts originally provided by Girobank are now provided through the Government agency, National Savings and Investments, whilst Girobank now provides the traditional Giro credit service to companies. Girobank has its own postcode: GIR 0AA. This now directs mail to Alliance & Leicester, Bridle Road, Bootle

External link


- [http://www.alliance-leicestercommercialbank.co.uk/ Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank] Category:Banks of the United Kingdom

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418