How long would a letter take to arrive in England from America in 1890?
score:8
It took about two weeks. By 1890 postal unions had been formed allowing mail to transit around the world to most places. The domestic rate in the US was 2¢ per ounce. For a first class letter weighing 1/2 ounce or less to Britain the union cost would be an additional 5¢. Thus, the total cost was 7¢ for a first class letter.
Here are the rates from 1890, excerpted to show Great Britain:
In 1890, in Massachusetts a skilled laborer received between $15 and $20 for a 60-hour work week, or between 25¢ and 33¢ an hour.
Upvote:7
A rough estimate of the time is as follows: the distance from London to NY is approximately 3000 (nautical) miles. The Blue Riband prize was awarded to passenger liners which showed the average speed of about 15 knots, (20 knots was the world record in 1889), so I suppose it is safe to assume that an average ship at that time could cross with the average speed of 10 knots. This makes 300 hours = 12 days. This is the crossing only, and if you send your letter from London to NY.
With this estimate one could probably hope that from SOME place in Europe to SOME place in the US it may take from 3 weeks to a month.
(Nowadays when the mail is transported by airplanes it can still easily take more than a month, sometimes much more, for a letter or a small package to reach from Germany to US Midwest: personal experience).
The question about the price is probably ill defined. I suppose some fast delivery options were available for extra price like they are available nowadays.
My general impression is that there was no big progress in the speed of the (cheapest) mail from 1890 to the present.
EDIT. Here is a web page with some 19 century stamped envelopes, showing dates sent and received; the price of a British stamp is easily fund on the Internet:
http://www.triple-sonline.com/rsubprod1_2x.asp?CAT=19thCentury&CAT2=TransatlanticMail&q2=
More post
- 📝 Who was the first woman to be made a god by Rome's senate?
- 📝 Why Didn't Hitler order an immediate attack on Moscow in August 1941?
- 📝 Who is the earliest recorded person?
- 📝 Did war chariots ever actually have blades on the wheel hubs?
- 📝 What exactly happened with beer and Leeuwarden in 1487?
- 📝 Husaria, the winged hussars
- 📝 What was it like to have type 1 diabetes in the early 20th century?
- 📝 How common are historical instances of mercenary armies reversing and attacking their employing country?
- 📝 How "old" is mechanized infantry in terms of usage in warfare and what should be called as such?
- 📝 What is the first documented eating disorder?
- 📝 How did the Hansa organize river trade in the 14th and 15th centuries?
- 📝 Why are most of the world's oldest buildings in Europe and not in the Fertile Crescent?
- 📝 How were the Incas able to build such great works of architecture without using mortar?
- 📝 Has a book ever caused the ousting of a dictator?
- 📝 Did any of the bystanders express their reactions after realizing that they'd experienced the death of Antoni Gaudí?
- 📝 Is the history of relations between Ukraine and Russia similar to what was between Ireland and Uk?
- 📝 Who wrote the "Mi General Augusto Pinochet" Song?
- 📝 What is the approximate value of a Spanish ducat in 1557?
- 📝 Why do old kitchen stoves have circular openings in the upper surface?
- 📝 By mid-1945, was Japan capable of maintaining the war even in the absence of further direct American attacks?
- 📝 Has any financial market voided hours of trading worth over $1 billion USD?
- 📝 What was the inheritance tax rate in the UK during WWI and WWII?
- 📝 Why did James Baldwin call it "magnificent twenties"?
- 📝 How did Japan get so many Nobel Prizes?
- 📝 How to find the image of a 17th century music instruments manufacture?
- 📝 Crown Matrimonial
- 📝 Could a German insult Hitler without being arrested?
- 📝 What Was the Legacy of the Diggers?
- 📝 How did the Tutsis win the civil war in Rwanda after 70% of them had been killed?
- 📝 What are some good sources on the everyday life of Soviet troops during WWII?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How long would a letter take to arrive in England from America in 1890?
- 📝 How long would a letter take to arrive in Geneva from Ingolstadt? (Georgian era)
- 📝 How long did it take for a letter to arrive in England in the 1830s?
- 📝 How long would it take to travel from England to western Africa in the late 1890's?
- 📝 How long would it take to travel from the United Kingdom to America in 1890?
- 📝 How long would it take to travel from England to the colonies in the early 1700s?
- 📝 How long would it take a Victorian to travel from central Germany to the UK?
- 📝 How long would it take for a young lady in victorian England to walk this distance?
- 📝 How long would it take to sail from New Orleans to Belize in late Summer 1867?
- 📝 How long would it take to travel from Missouri to South Africa in late 1890s?
- 📝 How long did a letter take from Quebec to Bordeaux in 1929?
- 📝 How long was a sea journey from England to East Africa 1868-1877?
- 📝 How long would it take to cross the Channel in 1890's?
- 📝 How long did it take to get news of the sighting of the Spanish Armada from Land’s End to London?
- 📝 How long would it take to build 30 miles of Roman road?
- 📝 How long did it take approximately for a person to travel from Basel to Hanover (1753) by any means of transport?
- 📝 How close would a peasant from middle ages England ever come to interacting with the king?
- 📝 How long would it have taken to sail from Boston to Nova Scotia in 1775?
- 📝 How long did it take the Thule people to migrate from Alaska to Greenland?
- 📝 How long did it take to sail from Philadelphia to Boston in the 1700s?
- 📝 How long did it take for mail to get to London from New York in 1919?
- 📝 How long to travel from Ireland or England in 1680 to Plymouth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
- 📝 In the Middle Ages - 18th century, how long would it take for a blacksmith forge a regular farming scythe to a war scythe?
- 📝 How would a 16-year-old girl from Cleopatra's era curse?
- 📝 In the Medieval period, how long would an average swordsmith need to forge an average sword?
- 📝 How would a family travel from Indiana to Texas in 1911?
- 📝 How long did it take for a diplomat to travel between Berlin and Vienna in the 1770's?
- 📝 How long would the average sword last in the middle ages?
- 📝 How long does it take to craft the kinds of armour worn by typical medieval warriors in europe?
- 📝 How long did it take to build siege engines in the middle ages?