3 Review(s)

About The Book: 'The Post Office of India and its Story' is his historical record of the evolution of postal services in British controlled India. He captures the pivotal moment when Postal services were formalized and brought under centralized control under a Director General. Clarke traces this journey from the enactment of the Post Office Act of 1854 to the subsequent growth of Indian postal services until the time of his writing the book in 1923. It is a fascinating read with a great deal of detail about the operations of the postal services in India. About The Author: Sir Geoffrey Clarke, CSI, OBE (1 July 1871 – 1 October 1950) was a senior civil servant in British India from 1903 to 1925, and thereafter a leading member of British industry until his death, including during World War II. Geoffrey Rothe Clarke was born in Midnapore, Bengal, on 1 July 1871. His father, George Richard Clarke of Waterford, Ireland, managed indigo plantations in West Bengal, while his schoolteacher mother, Margaret Elizabeth née Brunskill of Mountmellick, Ireland, a keen artist, became headmistress of the Cainesville school at Mussoorie, India. Clarke was accepted into the Indian Civil Service (ICS) in 1895 after passing the ICS competitive entrance examination. His first posting was to the Province of Bihar and Orissa as a District Magistrate. In 1903, he was transferred on promotion to the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department as Director General for the Punjab Province, followed by similar and higher grade posts in Madras, Allahabad, Simla and Calcutta. He became involved in the amalgamation and rapid expansion of India's post and telephone services.