General Post Office tipstaff
Date made: mid 19th century
Description: Wooden tipstaff of Eleanor Macadam.
In the mid-nineteenth century many official government posts carried a tipstaff (a symbolic mace or truncheon) as a badge of office. Having succeeded her father, at the age of 29 Eleanor Jane Macadam held the position of postmistress at Thomas Street post office in Douglas. She was famed because in 1850 she single-handedly tackled an armed burglar who had broken into the post office in the early hours of the morning. See Mona's Herald, January 16 1850 (p. 7) https://www.imuseum.im/Olive/APA/IsleofMan/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=MNH%2F1850%2F01%2F16&id=Ar00702&sk=38DBE374&viewMode=image
Measurements: overall: 13 x 2 x 2 cm
Materials: wood
Object name: truncheon
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 1954-4752