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Irish The Irish mail was slightly different, in that there is no evidence of having a system of paying a late fee until 1840, so that the stamps here were only applied if the letter was received too late for despatch. As can be seen by these examples there was also variety over the Irish Sea!
This one was posted in Belfast, addressed to James Thomson Esq, in Ballymonly, and has a black, circular dated postmark of JA 19 1836. It also has another for the next day BELFAST JA 20 1836, and the TOO LATE stamp applied to show why it had been delayed. This example is a single straight line with an octagonal frame measuring 1-3/8" by ¼". Many Irish post offices used this type of mark in various sizes and colours.
This is a totally different example of an Irish TOO LATE mark. This was applied in red ink, and is a scroll shape, which was in use in Dublin during the 1820's and 1830's.
This is known as a 'Free Front' — which means that it has been cut off the original letter just showing the signature of the sender — 'Daniel O'Connell', and showing a rather poor example of the FREE postmark.
One of the rules governing the use of the Free Frank privilege was that the place of posting, and the date of the letter had to be written in full at the top of the address panel. Here it is Dublin, thirty one January, 1829, but the FREE datestamp is the next day, 1st February, 1829. So to explain the difference, the post office stamped it with the 'Too Late' mark.
This is an example from Dublin in 1835 — another Free 'front'. This is signed by Donegall addressed to Hillsborough, Glasgow, and dated Dublin April Twenty Six 1835. Notice that this has a totally different crown, and a boxed, straight-line 'TOO LATE' stamp applied in red ink.
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Scottish