The Mail Coach Revolution
Stella Margetson describes how, with the single-mindedness of a devoted artist, John Palmer revolutionized the transport system of the British Isles.
The first mail-coach to run between Bristol, Bath and London in August 1784 was a triumph of individual foresight and enthusiasm over the lethargy and lack of imagination of a Government department. Only a man of great ability, with immense self-confidence, determination and drive, could have achieved what John Palmer set out to do against the obstructive and hostile attitude of the General Post Office.
Without the support of William Pitt, perhaps he would not have succeeded as well as he did, yet the brilliant idea he conceived when still in his thirties became an obsession with him, and he brought the single-mindedness and the passion of an artist to bear upon his purpose. Proud, impatient of fools and arrogant in his careless defiance of authority, he believed in his own vision of a fast and reliable system of transport over the roads radiating out of London to all parts of the country, and without ever turning aside, gave all his energy to the task of translating his vision into reality.
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