1To Benjamin Franklin from the Earl of Bessborough, 18 May 1760 (Franklin Papers)
AL : American Philosophical Society Lord Bessborough Complements to Mr. Franklin and desires the favour of his Company at Dinner next Sunday. William Ponsonby, 2d Earl of Bessborough ( c. 1704–1793), succeeded to his father’s title, July 4, 1758. He was an Irish M.P., 1725–58, and privy councilor, 1741; a British M.P., 1742–54; lord of the Admiralty, 1746–56; and joint postmaster general, July...
2To Benjamin Franklin from Lords Bessborough and Grantham: Commission to Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft, 25 … (Franklin Papers)
Copy: General Post Office, London In the summer of 1765 the British postal service in North America was divided into two jurisdictions: a northern district, stretching from Virginia through Canada, and a southern district, including North Carolina, the continental colonies to the south, and the Bahama Islands. Under this new dispensation Franklin and Foxcroft, hitherto the deputy postmasters...