Pigeon Post

For several millennia humans have used the extraordinary homing  abilities of pigeons to carry messages:-

• It’s thought that the Egyptians had established a pigeon post by 3000 BC and by the time of Ramses III (about 1200 BC) pigeons were used to give flood alerts to cities on the Nile.
• The Roman historian Pliny describes how Decimus Brutus broke Marc Antony’s siege of Mutina by sending messages to the consuls via pigeon. (43 BC). The Romans also used pigeons to relay chariot race results to owners and book makers
• Genghis Khan set up pigeon relay posts across Asia and much of Eastern Europe so he could rule his vast empire. 
• During the Crusades pigeons were used to send messages home.
• In the 1800s there was an official pigeon postal service throughout France and by 1870 there was a pigeon postal service between London and Paris
• Pigeons were used extensively to carry messages during World War 1  and World War 2.  

The Epsom connection comes from the use of pigeons to carry racing results to newspapers and bookmakers.   Other interested parties included the owners of the homing pigeons who pooled their stake money and the first bird back with the Derby result won all the money.

The Antwerp Carrier Pigeon
Source The Illustrated London News

Carrier pigeons were frequently mistaken for the feral varieties and were killed or injured by pigeon shooters.  In 1824 a carrier pigeon belonging to Mr Holloway of South Lambeth was released in Epsom with the name of the winning horse attached but it failed to appear and was presumed killed.   Much to Mr Holloway’s surprise the pigeon turned up 18 months later.   On examination  it seemed that some of the wing feathers had been damaged and pulled out so the bird waited for new ones to grow back before it completed its original task.  

The Illustrated London News of 31 May 1845 had the following article:

Pigeon Expresses.

Advantage has been taken, from the earliest ages, of strong, sustained, and rapid flight of various species of the Turkish Pigeon, to employ it in the conveyance of information between distant points.  Thus, in the antique sculptures, we see the birds, in pairs, yoked to the chariots of angelic couriers; in the early histories of romance, we read of pigeons being used to convey the welcome intelligence of succour and relief to besieged cities, of battles lost or won; and in poetry and tales of the East, they are frequently described as carriers of lover’s vows.  At the present day, when a utilitarian sprit gives character to the age, they are employed in all cases where extraordinary dispatch is required; and in Holland, France and our own country, very expensive establishments are maintained for breeding, training, and dispatching them.  The great use of a pigeon express is found in forwarding intelligence from Paris to London, by way of Boulogne and Folkstone, and on that line of flight the system may be studied by the curious with advantage.   The principle on which the whole business proceeds, is found in the singular attachment shown by the pigeon for the place of its birth; for that loved spot, the bold carrier, urged by an irresistible instinct, will wing his way back from a distance, even though he should have been born, from his home the space of many miles.  Upon such occasions, the bird, on being set at liberty, soars at once to a high altitude by a spiral series of evolutions, and then, as if it saw its birth-place  – the old familiar nook  – it darts off with immense velocity, and pursues a course so true, that neither the direction of a compass nor the dictates of experience could devise a better. In this way, the pigeon bred at Folkstone, flies with his despatch from Boulogne to Folkstone; the native of Sittingbourne, from Folkstone to Sittingbourne; the “carrier ” of Gravesend, from Sittingbourne to Gravesend; and the prime game bird of the metropolis, from Gravesend to London; completing the entire journey, from the coast of France to the British capital, in about one hour and a half.  At the places here mentioned, establishments are kept by the London stockbrokers, to convey to their several coteries the price and circumstances of foreign stocks. The despatch is usually written in symbols, on a strip of oiled French tissue paper, and wound tightly round a leg of the bird. In this position it is not visible to a spectator, and has the further advantage of not impeding the flight. Before starting, the bird is kept for some time without food, and is fed immediately on reaching his station. In training them for the channel passage, short distances are first tried; and a despatch journey is not ventured till many preliminary ones have been accomplished.

We have chosen the present racing season as an appropriate opportunity for illustrating what may be termed a system of Pigeon Expresses. They have been numerously employed during the present week in transmitting the results of the Epsom Meeting; and on Wednesday must have conveyed unwelcome intelligence to scores of “knowing ones.”

By 1890 most pigeons carrying the Epsom race results had been replaced by the electric telegraph and rapid rail travel but they were used to send sketches back to the Daily Graphic.

The Daily Graphic 24 April 1890

Training Carrier Pigeons

The Times 31 May 1836

CARRIER  PIGEONS., (From the Medical Gazette.),

The following facts respecting the training and powers of carrier-pigeons were obtained by Mr. Mayo from a practical person. They prove, that the carrier pigeon sees its way home, retracing its path in part by recollection of its several stages, in part by recollection of visual direction:-,

“Carrier-pigeons, of which the Dutch is the best breed, are thus trained:- At 8 or 10 weeks of age they begin to run, or to make flights of from 4 to 5 hours from the nest. They are then strong enough on the wing to commence their education. The pigeon to be trained is first taken no greater distance than a mile from home, and tossed into the air; when after flying round and round, and rising some height into the air, it wings its way back. This lesson is repeated five or six times in as many days. The bird is then carried to the distance of 2 miles and tossed. This lesson Is repeated twice. The bird is next carried 3 miles, and tossed; and this lesson is likewise repeated two or three times. The bird is then carried 6 miles, and then 12, then 24, then 48, then 96, and so on, in a geometrical ratio. Each of these lessons is given once only. The longest flight that a carrier-pigeon has been known to make is 800 miles. In so long a flight the bird is supposed to pitch at night and roost, renewing its flight the following day.

“When a trained carrier-pigeon is tossed, after making one or more circles, it rises in a rapid spiral to an enormous height, before it takes its departure, and at that height it is supposed to make its journey. The speed of the Antwerp birds, which are lighter and more finely made than the English breed, is supposed to be a mile a-minute. They are more extensively used than is supposed in financial transactions: one eminent speculator at Antwerp keeps 1,200 pigeons The value of a pair of well-trained Dutch birds is £5.,

“The feats of these birds, when they are used for moderate distances, are seemingly effected directly through vision: the birds see their way. They rise sufficiently high to command a view of distant known objects, which their fine sight enables them to recognize at immense distances. If their sight is baffled, they lose their way; so, if they set off in foggy weather, they are sometimes two three, or four days, or even a week in making a passage which would otherwise occupy a few hours only: sometimes, under these circumstances, they never reach home.

“It is evident that at greater distances (on the rule of training described already) there must be something more than direct vision to guide them; they must rely upon recollected direction as well as upon the sight of recollected objects – or they must employ some general ideas of direction, in which, perhaps, the position of the sun may help them, in addition to the sight of known terrestrial objects.”