London Paddington W (GB)

Paddington Spring Street

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London Post Office Railway Map

PADDINGTON 1800-1901 QV ERA - This Page

PADDINGTON 1901-1951 4 KINGS ERA

The first recorded office was opened at Conduit Street, Paddington. By 1839 it was an office in the Penny Post. From 1 October 1857 it was included as a Money Order Office and from 16 October 1862 it was also a Savings Bank.

Paddington Office opened on Spring Street on 1st April 1868 replacing Conduit Street Office. It retained its operations of Money Order & Savings Bank. By the 1870's it had become a Telegraph Office using the Code PAM. The office was renamed in 1877 as London Street see below. It would by 1903 grown large enough to have District Office status.

Allocated the 42 District numeral by the Post Office in 1844. In 1868 Paddington received its own P hand cancels and became a Branch Office of the Western District Office. Paddington, was not one of the Original District Offices, however with the advent and increase in the Rail network and Paddington being a major hub for mail distribution it became its own Principle Office. It was located in Spring Street near the Paddington Station.

Paddington also had its own Postal Railway line that ran much the same as an underground below London, distributing mail to other districts and sorting offices in the Capital. Work began after discussions in 1915. With parcels and letters being carried on it from 1917/18.

Great Western Railway Prepaid Parcel stamp, Cancelled Paddington.

Paddington straight line despatch cancel on cover 1847. Stamp cancelled at the London Inland Branch Office with the 47.

Early 1845 straightline cancel 1d Paid Paddington.

The line ran from Paddington Head District Sorting Office in the west to the Eastern Head District Sorting Office at Whitechapel in the east, a distance of 6.5 miles (10.5 km). It had eight stations, the largest of which was underneath Mount Pleasant (Mount Pleasant would later become the main sorting depot for London in the later half of the 1900's), but by 2003 only three stations remained in use because the sorting offices above the other stations had been relocated. The electrified railway system was mothballed in 2003 and has since become a museum under the auspices of the British Postal Museum & Archive.

Postmark Examples

Numbers in brackets refer to the structure of the bars in the cancel. In 1868 Paddington recieved its own P hand cancels and became a Branch Office of the Western District Office. The first duplex cancel it was issued with Was P 1 to 6 and the dated portion read Paddington Spring-S^t. As well as these 6 cancels it also recieved 2 single killer cancels numbered P7 and P8. 7 & * would later also be issued in 1870 as duplexes with the Spring-S^t portion.

1868 PADDINTON SPRING S^T

1868 PADDINGTON Spring Street P1 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	1868 PADDINGTON Spring Street P2 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) SS c.jpg 1868 PADDINGTON Spring Street P3 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) SS d.jpg 1868 PADDINGTON Spring Street P4 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)
1868 PADDINGTON Spring Street P5 duplex (3,2,1,2,3) on penny plate More Images	1868 PADDINGTON Spring Street P6 duplex (3,2,1,2,3) on 1869 Penny plate 131	File:London Paddington W (GB) SS g.jpg 1868 PADDINGTON P7 Killer (3,2,1,2,3)	1868 PADDINGTON P8 killer (3,2,1,2,3)
File:London Paddington W (GB) SS i.jpg 1870 PADDINGTON Spring Street P7 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) SS j.jpg 1870 PADDINGTON Spring Street P8 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) SS k.jpg 1870 PADDINGTON P13 Killer (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) SS l.jpg 1870 PADDINGTON P14 killer (3,2,1,2,3)

1871 - 1882 PADDINGTON W cancels

In December 1871 the first Paddington W duplex cancels were issued to the office. P9 and P10 were initially issued with the Paddington W duplex portion but single killer cancels would be issued later that month. In full the PADDINGTON W series were Duplex PADDINGTON W #4,7,9-20 and Killer cancels #1-12, 16-17

1871 PADDINGTON W P4 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)	1871 PADDINGTON W P7 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW c.jpg 1871 PADDINGTON W P9 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)	1871 PADDINGTON W P10 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)
1871 PADDINGTON W P11 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) Cover sent to Faversham, Kent 1891	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW f.jpg 1871 PADDINGTON W P12 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)	1871 PADDINGTON W P13 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) More Images	1871 PADDINGTON W P14 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) on cover to Sevenoaks, Kent
1871 PADDINGTON W P15 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) on Postal card sent from Bournemouth B60 Sub-Office cancel to Westbourne Park London with PADDINGTON P15 code B duplex. Redirected to Abingdon.	c1871 PADDINGTON W P16 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) UPU card sent to Urach, Germany. Paddington W code R P16 cancel. More Images	c1871 PADDINGTON W P17 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) on 8d Orange More Images	c1871 PADDINGTON W P18 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) UPU card cancelled at Paddington W P18 duplex code T to Berlin 1898
c1871 PADDINGTON W P19 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) Paddington W P19 code X/U to Berlin 1876	c1871 PADDINGTON W P20 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) Paddington W P20 code 5/V to Minich 1894
File:London Paddington W (GB) PW m.jpg 1872 PADDINGTON W P11 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW n.jpg 1872 PADDINGTON W P12 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW o.jpg 1873 PADDINGTON W P5 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW p.jpg 1873 PADDINGTON W P6 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)
File:London Paddington W (GB) PW q.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P1 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW r.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P2 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW s.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P3 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW t.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P4 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)
File:London Paddington W (GB) PW u.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P9 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW v.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P16 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW w.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P17 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW x.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON W P4 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)

A re-issue of the killer cancels was issued in 1882 and comprised all numbers from 1-12

File:London Paddington W (GB) PW y.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P1 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW z.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P2 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW aa.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P3 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ab.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P4 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)
File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ac.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P5 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ad.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P6 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ae.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P7 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW af.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P8 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)
File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ag.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P9 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ah.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P10 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW ai.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P11 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)	File:London Paddington W (GB) PW aj.jpg 1882 PADDINGTON W P12 Killer (1,2,1,2,1)

1872 PADDINGTON W TOO LATE cancel

In March 1872 the office was allocated TOO LATE duplex cancels to indicate mail arriving too late for its distribution to destination on that day.

File:London Paddington W (GB) PW TL l1.jpg 1872 TOO LATE PADDINGTON W P11 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)

File:London Paddington W (GB) PW TL l2.jpg 1872 TOO LATE PADDINGTON W P12 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)

c.1874 Paddington duplexes

Sometime in 1874 3 new duplex cancels appeared that are almost identical to the Spring St cancels except that they do not feature Spring St in the dated portion.

Subsequently numbers 1-8 have all been discovered with this arrangement.

c1874 PADDINGTON P1 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) P-SpS 2.jpg c1874 PADDINGTON P2 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) P-SpS 3.jpg c1874 PADDINGTON P3 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) P-SpS 4.jpg c1874 PADDINGTON P4 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)
c1874 PADDINGTON P5 duplex (3,2,1,2,3) QV ½d Post Card sent from Paddington to Chiswick 1878	c1874 PADDINGTON P6 duplex (3,2,1,2,3) 2½d jubilee on cover to Switzerland	File:London Paddington W (GB) P-SpS 7.jpg c1874 PADDINGTON P7 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)	File:London Paddington W (GB) P-SpS 8.jpg c1874 PADDINGTON P8 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)

1874 Paddington duplexes

In May 1874 3 further cancels were issued to Paddington

1874 PADDINGTON P6 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)

1874 PADDINGTON P8 duplex (3,3,1,3,3)

File:London Paddington W (GB) P-W 7.jpg 1874 PADDINGTON P7 killer (1,2,1,2,1) type of 1871

1876 PADDINGTON W duplex and Square Circle

In December 1876 the office was allocated new duplex cancels numbered 21-24 and a improved type of the Square Circle cancel with strengthened corners.

1876 PADDINGTON W P21 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)

1876 PADDINGTON W P22 duplex (3,2,1,2,3) MORE IMAGES

1876 PADDINGTON W P23 duplex (3,2,1,2,3) MORE IMAGES

File:London Paddington W (GB) 1876 PW 24.jpg 1876 PADDINGTON W P24 duplex (3,2,1,2,3)

1876 PADDINGTON W Square Circle

1894 PADDINGTON W 2 Square Circle

1891 PADDINGTON duplex later issues

File:London Paddington W (GB) 1891 P l.jpg 1876 PADDINGTON P1 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)

1876 PADDINGTON P2 duplex (2,2,1,2,2) More Images

File:London Paddington W (GB) 1891 P 3.jpg 1876 PADDINGTON P3 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)

File:London Paddington W (GB) 1891 P 4.jpg 1876 PADDINGTON P4 duplex (2,2,1,2,2)

Double Circle Cancels

PADDINGTON 111 cancel used in 1900	PADDINGTON W 72 cancel used in 1898	PADDINGTON W 73 cancel used in 1899	PADDINGTON W 74 cancel used in 1899
PADDINGTON 75 cancel used in 1901	PADDINGTON 75 cancel used in 1899	PADDINGTON W 76 cancel used in 1899	PADDINGTON W 78 cancel used in 1899
PADDINGTON W 79 cancel used in 1901 More Images	PADDINGTON W 80 cancel used in 1899	PADDINGTON W 84 cancel used in 1898	PADDINGTON W 96 cancel used in 1896
PADDINGTON W 109 cancel used in 1902	PADDINGTON W 112 cancel used in 1900

PADDINGTON W 89 cancel used in 1902	Postcard "A Bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush" sent from Paddington in 1903	PADDINGTON W 109 cancel used in 1903 on "A Bird in the hand" postcard
PADDINGTON W 95 Double Circle handstamp on 1d lilac cover uprated for Railway with a Great Western 2d perf 12 sent to Ealing in 1899.

Single circle postmarks

PADDINGTON W CDS on £1 Green 1992

PADDINGTON 20 used as a receiver PADDINGTON W 58 used as a receiver PADDINGTON SPRING ST B.O.W CDS

Stunning strip of 4 BBBE £1 Green PADDINGTON SPRING ST B.O.W CDS with CHP/GPO box cancel revenue usage.

PADDINGTON SPRING ST B.O.W thimble CDS

Registered Postmarks

REGISTERED PADDINGTON W Code CX 1891 on 1/- Green Jubilee

REGISTERED PADDINGTON W Code J 1898 REGISTERED 2d handstamp with a total 3d payment to cover postage. Circled R confirming Registration sent within London to the India Office in Whitehall..

REGISTERED PADDINGTON Code BZ 1897 cover 2d Registration and 5d postage sent to Germany from Grosvenor Terrace Chiswick, registered at the Paddington B.O. and also getting the hooded London code C cancel in transit.

Parcel postmarks

PADDINGTON PARCEL OFFICE cancel on 3d jubilee

PADDINGTON SPRING ST B.O.W. cancel on Parcel Post 1909

PADDINGTON W D.O. PAID rubber handstamp in violet used on Great Western Railway paid Parcel Post 1912

PADDINGTON PARCEL OFFICE Foreign & Colonial Parcel Post part cover sent to Germany 1922 with a half crown 2/6 Seahorse and a 3d purple KGV paying the postage.

Branch & Sub-Offices of Paddington

Other Offices in the Paddington area that were not Sub-Offices or Branch Offices <London Paddington W area post offices (page 3)>

London Street

District Office status assumed by 1903

Renamed office from having been known as Spring Street. Jan 1877 became London Street BO, remained as a Money Order Office & Savings Bank. Renamed Office datestamp issued sometime in 1874 (18 Dec possibly). On 1 March 1893 - Money Order Office & Savings Bank functions were discontinued and it also underwent another name change to Paddington BO - Spring Street 41/42.

Paddington London St B.O. W

Paddington London St B.O. W on 6d

Paddington B.O.

Branch Office 41/42 Spring Street

Paddington BO opened on 1 March 1893 with Money Order Office, Savings Bank, and Telegraph Office. Code used = PAM

Located at 41/42 Spring Street.

File:London Paddington W (GB) PBOSS a.jpg

Paddington Quay B.O.

128 Praed Street and then 4 Praed Street On 5 November 1984 - located at 128 Praed St a further re-location of the office to 4 Praed Street on the 16 February 2009 and listed as Paddington Quay. 2019 - still listed as Paddington Quay.

File:London Paddington W (GB) PQBO a.jpg

247 Harrow Road

Sub Office listed as Harrow Road (247) Near Waverley Road

Paddington Harrow Road 247 W, Registered cover to Russell Square London WC

Chichester Street

Post Office

File:London Paddington W (GB) CS PO a.jpg

Paddington Green, Harrow Road (111)

Post Office

File:London Paddington W (GB) PG PO a.jpg

Bishops Road

Post Office

File:London Paddington W (GB) BR PO a.jpg

Edgeware Road (810)

Post Office

File:London Paddington W (GB) ER PO a.jpg

Lancaster Street

Post Office

File:London Paddington W (GB) LS PO a.jpg

Leimster Terrace

Post Office

File:London Paddington W (GB) LT PO a.jpg