The Royal Mail Galop
Composer
M C Barter
Date1890s
Object number00027134
NameSheet music
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 350 x 255 mm, 0.05 kg
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
Description'The Royal Mail Galop' was composed as a tribute to the Royal Mail service and dedicated to Captain Triphook. The cover features a green tinted lithograph of a paddle steamship leaving a harbour. This was the 28th edition of the musical score to be printed. Sheet music in the Royal Mail Galop series commonly depicted similar images and designs on their covers.HistorySheet music offers an insight into popular culture and social values at the time of their production. The widely distributed pieces were fairly cheap to buy, making them popular with the general public. Music was an integral part of people's social life in the home and at public events such as balls, recitals, concerts and theatre shows.
For over 400 years the British Post Office either managed or contracted the conveyance of overseas mails on commercial ships from Britain. In 1823, to ensure greater security, the British Government began to transfer responsibility for the mail service to the Admiralty. The P&O Company was founded in 1837 under the partnership of Wilcox and Anderson. They secured a contract to carry the mails from the UK to the peninsular ports of Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz and Gibralter. In 1840 the company secured a new contract to extend the service to Alexandria in Egypt, and in 1844 to Madras, Ceylon, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 1851 the Admiralty awarded P&O the contract to carry mails to Sydney, Australia twice a month via Singapore.
They provided a regular mail service between the Far East and England via the Suez Canal. P & O's first trade route incorporated Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang, Ceylon, Galle, Aden and Suez. The second route visited Calcutta, Ceylon and Suez, with Australia being added on the line after Ceylon. The arrival of mail to Australia was greeted with excitement in the emerging colony.Significance'The Royal Mail Galop' was popular in Australia and was printed in at least 28 editions. It reflects the Australian community's warm welcome of the Royal Mail service and its ship captains, such as Triphook. The music would have been played at receptions, dances and concerts in honour of the Royal Mail service.
