As is well known, I have a bit of a fascination for postal ephemera from the nineteenth century, and I was highly intrigued by this post from the Derbyshire record office …

Definitely in the ‘rather interesting’ category, and something I had not come across.

A little more digging shows that “too late” stamps were quite commonly used throughout the British Empire by the various postal administrations, including mail overseas.

Obvious when you think about it, if your mail is sent weekly by steamship missing the post could mean a substantial delay, and not just a day or two.

Uniquely, Victoria implemented a “too late” fee of sixpence (6d – a bit more than five bucks today), where, if you paid the extra fee the sorting office crammed your letter in a mail bag that was sent to the ship or train as late as possible before departure, again important in the days when mail was sent by steamship either between the Australian colonies or overseas …