Charles Povey (1652?–4 May 1743) was a British

pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore inexpensive) booklets intended for wide circulation. Context Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions: to articulate a polit ...

and entrepreneur, who challenged the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

's postal monopoly by running the "Halfpenny Carriage", a local London postal system similar to

William Dockwra William Dockwra (c. 1635–1716) was an English merchant who along with his partner Robert Murray (financier), Robert Murray created the first London Penny Post, Penny Post in London in 1680. In latter 17th century London there was no official p ...

Penny Post The Penny Post is any one of several postal systems in which normal letters could be sent for one penny. Five such schemes existed in the United Kingdom while the United States initiated at least three such simple fixed rate postal arrangements. Un ...

. He founded the first

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

for

fire insurance Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or bo ...

, the Exchange House Fire Office later the "Sun Fire Office" that remains in business today as the

RSA Insurance Group RSA Insurance Group Limited (doing business as, trading as RSA, formerly RSA Insurance Group plc and Royal and Sun Alliance) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational general insurance company headquartered in London, England. RSA has ...

Insurance

Founding the Exchange House Fire Office in 1708, Povey was not long involved with it. In 1709 it became the Company of London Insurers. It was called the "Sun Fire Office", after the

fire mark Fire insurance marks are metal plaques marked with the emblem of the insurance company which were affixed to the front of insured buildings as a guide to the insurance company's fire brigade. These identification marks were used in the eighteenth ...

used by Povey. A deal of 1710 saw Povey sell out. The company innovated by insuring both houses and goods. The Sun Fire Office was soon followed by other such companies, which grew more rapidly at the outset. Shares in it were acquired by

Royal Exchange Assurance The Royal Exchange Assurance, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London. Origins The Royal Exchange Assurance emerged from a joint stock insurance enterpr ...

in 1720. Yet the Sun mark lasted for centuries.

The Halfpenny Carriage

The Halfpenny Carriage was a postal service run by Povey in the London area from October 1709, in competition with and undercutting the official Post Office monopoly, which charged a

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

per letter. It was closed down by the government, after seven months. Povey was fined, but his systematic use of bellmen was adopted by the Post Office.

Life

Povey was the brother of the Rev. Josiah Povey, parish priest of

Telscombe Telscombe is a civil parish and electoral ward (called East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs) with the status of a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It consists of three distinct settlements, separated from each other by an open a ...

. During the reign of

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Gloriou ...

, he was jailed for writing against the king. At the end of the 17th century, he took part in the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

trade. Some years later he operated as a middleman and broker in his Traders' Exchange House,

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourit ...

. The insurance company and its promotional newspaper, mostly on trade topics, were originally offshoots of a labour brokerage he ran.

Publications

Amongst Povey's publications are the following: * ''A Challenge to all Jacobites'' (1689) * ''A Challenge in vindication of the Revolution'' (1690) * ''Proposals for raising One Thousand Pounds'' (1699) * ''A Discovery of Indirect Practices in the Coal Trade'' (1700)
''The unhappiness of England, as to its Trade by Sea and Land truly stated''
(1701) * ''Meditations of a Divine Soul'' (1703)
''Holy Thoughts of a God-made Man''
(1704)
''An inquiry into the miscarriages of the four last years reign''
(1714)
''A tender and hearty address to all the freeholders and other electors of members for the ensuing Parliament of Great Britain & Ireland.''
(1714)
''English inquisition: or, Money rais'd by the new secret extent law, without act of Parliament''
(1718) * ''Britain's Scheme to make a New Coin of Gold and Silver to give in Exchange for Paper-Money and South-Sea Stock'' (1720) * ''The Secret History of the Sun Fire Office'' (1733) * ''Memorial to obtain Right and Property as promised in Her Majesty's Speech from the Throne, humbly presented to the King, Lords and Commons for the restoration of an Estate and Fortune taken away by the Crown and Parliament, contrary to the Laws of Great Britain'' (1737) * ''The Torments after Death'' (1740)
''The Virgin in Eden, or the State of Innocency- . . . Presenting a Nobleman, a Student, and Heiress, on their progress from Sodom to Canaan''
(1741)
WorldCat ''Charles Povey'' search result

Notes

{{authority control 1743 deaths British businesspeople British writers Year of birth uncertain