Frederic Festus Kelly

Frederic Festus Kelly (died 3 June 1883) was a high official in the British Post Office. He was also the founder of Kelly & Co. (later Kelly's Directories Ltd.), which published the Kelly's Directory, a sort of Victorian-era "Yellow Pages" that listed all businesses, tradespeople, local gentry, landowners, charities, and other facilities located in a particular village, city or town. In many sources, both contemporary and modern, his name is spelled Frederick. He should not be confused with his identically-named eldest son. Inspector of Letter Carriers He began working for the Post Office in 1819. In 1835 or 1836 he became a chief inspector of letter carriers. His exact title varied over the years because in the early 19th century there were three separate services with separate corps of letter-carriers: twopenny-post (for mail within London; renamed the London District Post Office in 1844); inland (for domestic mail outside London); and foreign (for overseas mail). Although the foreign letter-carriers had been abolished by 1835, with their duties carried out by the other two services, the (by then renamed) General Post and London District letter-carriers remained separate until 1855, with separate chief inspectors. Before that date, Kelly was inspector of only the inland or general-post letter carriers.