HMS

[maeeye]

Hello
Could anyone help me with this question
Recently I found a marriage announcement where it said the bride was the niece of C.J.Soden. H.M.S., G.P.O. Dublin Ireland.
Does anyone know what the HMS would stand for coupled with the GPO..........I thought HMS was His Majestys Service or Her Majestys Service, but am not sure why they would then put GPO if that was the case.
Is there anyone out there who can clarify this for me.
Thank you
Maeeye

[gaffy]

My guess (and it is just that, I would love to see other posts) is that "H.M.S." covered a vast multitude of positions from HM Customs to HM Navy, so "G.P.O." was used to qualify it it.

Interesting to note in the following link that references to "His Majesty's Service" in the 1908 Post Office Act were only being amended in the Republic of Ireland in 1951:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1951/en/act/pub/0017/print.html 

[maeeye]

Gaffy thank you for your reply, I should of mentioned that this newspaper clipping is dated Jan 1888.

I don't know if that would make a difference to your answer. Apologies for leaving it out.

Maeeye

[RJ_Paton]

I think Gaffy is correct .... Until, at least, the 1970's in the UK Post Office premises were considered "Crown property" and were exempt from many local council restrictions and the Post Office never had to pay road tax as their vehicles were considered "crown vehicles".

[gaffy]

Here's a link to a more contemporary (1886) reference to the mail service between Londonderry and Dublin which describes the mail as "Her Majesty's mails", so my guess is still that the postal service was part of H.M.S. :- 

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1886/may/31/post-office-ireland-mail-service-between

[Sinann]

Ancestry UK has the appointment books for Postal workers, you could have a look for him there, if he's not there it might indicate that he worked in the GPO rather that for the post office, perhaps in excise or something.