Skip to content
Ottoman BureaucracyPeople, places and careers in Ottoman public service

Job title

Sehir Posta Memuru

Group of job titles: Postal service and dispatch

Stored spellings: sehir Posta Memuru; sehir posta memuru

12 officials held the job title Sehir Posta Memuru. Its 30 annual entries run from 1871 to 1912 (AH 1288 to 1330). The median of the 30 recorded monthly salaries is 250 kuruş, against 500 kuruş for the whole collection in the same years. The median entry paid 45 per cent of the collection median of its year. On average an official was paid more than 13 per cent of the other officials with a salary in the same year. Half of the officials have an entry in it in no more than 1 different years, and a quarter in 3 or more. It was the first title on record for 83 per cent of the officials and the last for 67 per cent. No other title is recorded for 67 per cent of them. The entries name 4 places. The place with the largest number of officials is Istanbul, with 9.

Officials
12
Years on recordAH 1288 to 1330, 21 years with an entry
1871 to 1912
Median monthly salary0.45× the collection median of the same years (500 kuruş)
250 kuruş
Places with officials
4
First job title on recordfor 10 of the 12 officials
83%

Profile of the group: Postal service and dispatch

No source read describes Sehir Posta Memuru by itself, so this is the profile of its group of job titles.

The public post of the Ottoman state, founded with the Ministry of Post in 1840 and joined with the telegraph in 1871. Post offices took in, carried and delivered letters, printed matter, registered letters and valuables.

Tools and technology

  • the old overland roads, steamers of the state and of foreign companies, and later the railways
  • postage stamps from 1862

History

Before 1840 official messages were carried by couriers between relay stations (menzil) kept by local contracted postmasters (menzilci); the relay system ended when the post was organised in 1839 and 1840. The empire joined the Universal Postal Union in 1874. The postal guides list 1,033 post and telegraph offices in 1884 and 1,288 in 1892.

Sources

  1. Halaçoğlu, Yusuf (2004). Menzil (Osmanlı). TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 29, 159-161. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 159-161. Used for: history.
  2. Koh, Choon Hwee (2021). The Ottoman postmaster: contractors, communication and early modern state formation. Past and Present 251, 113-152. Online copy.Pages or part: 113, 118-120. Used for: history.
  3. Okan, Ayşegül (2003). The Ottoman postal and telegraph services in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. MA thesis, Boğaziçi University, Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History.Pages or part: iii, 20-25, 66, 77. Used for: summary, tools and technology, history.
  4. The school and the office: training, entry and pay in the Ottoman Post and Telegraph service, 1870-1905. Working paper, 2026 (the paper behind this collection; its Section II reports Akyıldız 2024, Ata 2022 and Ayhan and Maviş 1994).Pages or part: Section II. Used for: summary.
All years

Monthly salary each year

The median of the 30 recorded monthly salaries is 250 kuruş, the mean 259 kuruş.
02004006001871/72AH 12881873/74AH 12901875/76AH 12921877/78AH 12941878/79AH 12961880/81AH 12981882/83AH 13001884/85AH 13021886/87AH 13041888/89AH 13061890/91AH 13081892/93AH 13101894/95AH 13121896/97AH 13141898/99AH 13161900/01AH 13181902/03AH 13201904/05AH 13221906/07AH 13241908/09AH 13261910/11AH 13281911/12AH 1330400 kuruş in 1911/12Sehir Posta Memuru, fewer than 5 salaries in every year

The same numbers as a table
Monthly salary each year in kuruş, Sehir Posta Memuru
YearRecorded salariesMedianMeanLower quartileUpper quartileMedian of the whole collection
1871/722315315282.5347.5550
1872/732300300300300550
1873/741300300300300500
1874/751300300300300535
1875/761400400400400530
1876/771500500500500575
1877/781500500500500560
18781500500500500600
1878/792375375312.5437.5600
1879/802300300250350500
1880/811250250250250500
1881/821250250250250500
1886/871600600600600500
1902/031100100100100500
1903/042100100100100475
1904/051100100100100450
1905/062100100100100475
1906/072100100100100450
1907/082100100100100300
1908/092100100100100350
1911/121400400400400900

Salaries are nominal monthly amounts in kuruş, as assigned. The thick line is the median of each year and the thin line the mean. A year with fewer than 5 recorded salaries is drawn as an open mark and is not joined to the line.

Pay against the whole collection

Officials by their median monthly salary in this job
Officials of this jobWhole collection
50%8%17%17%8%01002003004005007501,0001,5002,500

12 officials with a salary, each counted once in the band of the median of the official's salaries in this job. A bar runs from its number to the next; the last is 2,500 kuruş and more. Most officials (50%) are in the band 100 to 200 kuruş.

The same numbers as a table
Officials of Sehir Posta Memuru by median monthly salary
Median monthly salary, kuruşOfficialsShareWhole collection
0 to 10000%3%
100 to 200650%10%
200 to 30018%17%
300 to 400217%18%
400 to 500217%17%
500 to 75018%23%
750 to 1,00000%5%
1,000 to 1,50000%4%
1,500 to 2,50000%2%
2,500 and more00%1%

The median of the 30 recorded monthly salaries of this job is 250 kuruş. In the same years the whole collection paid a median of 500 kuruş. The median entry paid 0.45× the collection median of its year, and the middle half of the entries between 0.24× and 0.67×. On average an official of this job was paid more than 13% of the other paid officials of the same year.

Times the collection median0.45×0.13×0.25×0.5×1×2×4×Share of paid officials earning less13%0%25%50%75%100%

The dot is the median, the box the middle half of the entries. Dashed lines: the collection median of the same years (1×) and the middle of the paid officials (50%).

Where the job was held

All years
4 places with officials on record, 4 of them with a position on the map. A larger dot means more officials.
Seat of a province (vilayet) Other place
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Bakırköy9 officials1 official

All 4 places, all years
PlaceOfficialsRemark
Istanbul (Dersaadet)9
Bakırköy1
Galata1
Üsküdar1

Career paths: the titles just before and after

The number is the officials who made the move. Under it, the median change of the monthly salary: the first salary of the later title less the last salary of the earlier one, where at least 5 moves have both.

Held just before

The title of the entries just before a run of Sehir Posta Memuru. Pay: the change on moving from that title to Sehir Posta Memuru. The 2 titles with most officials, of 2 moves in all.

  1. 1. Müdürdirector of the first grade1
  2. Defter-i Hakani KalemiLand Registry office1

Held just after

The title of the entries just after a run of Sehir Posta Memuru. Pay: the change on moving from Sehir Posta Memuru to that title. The 3 titles with most officials, of 4 moves in all.

  1. Posta Memurupostal official2
  2. Muhaberat-ı Ecnebiye Memuriyetipost of official for foreign communications1
  3. Pul Kitabetistamp clerkship1

Of the 6 moves shown, 0 cross at least one year without an annual entry; nothing is known about those years. Two posts held in the same years are not counted as a move.

Time in the job

Years with an entry in the job
1.5 yearsmedian over 12 officials
A quarter of the officials
3 years or moreupper quartile
Most years of one official
10 years
  1. First job title on recordthe first year with an entry with a job title has it83%10 officials
  2. Last job title on recordthe last such year has it67%8 officials
  3. No other job titlein the whole record67%8 officials
  4. One place in the jobof 12 officials with a place recorded100%12 officials

Years are years with an annual entry in the job, each counted once for an official. They need not follow one another, and nothing is known about a year without an entry. With two posts in the first or last year, both count.

Who held the job

Officials of this jobWhole collection

Community

12 officials with it recorded.

  1. Muslim (Müslüman)67%8
  2. Armenian Christian (Ermeni)25%3
  3. Christian (Hristiyan)8%1

Age at the first annual entry in the job

12 officials with it recorded.

  1. under 150%0
  2. 15 to 1933%4
  3. 20 to 2442%5
  4. 25 to 2917%2
  5. 30 to 348%1
  6. 35 to 390%0
  7. 40 and over0%0

Province of birth

12 officials with it recorded.

  1. Istanbul (Dersaadet) province83%10
  2. Kosovo (Kosova) province8%1
  3. Yemen province8%1

Schooling

12 officials with it recorded. An official can have several, so the shares add up to more than 100%. The groups of the schools recorded for each official.

  1. Rüşdiye50%6
  2. Foreign school25%3
  3. Higher or professional25%3
  4. Community school8%1

Languages

12 officials with it recorded. An official can have several, so the shares add up to more than 100%.

  1. Turkish92%11
  2. French58%7
  3. Armenian25%3
  4. Greek (Rum)8%1
  5. Italian8%1

Qualification

12 officials with it recorded. A diploma, certificate, training or decoration (nişan) recorded in the schooling or the work.

  1. No75%9
  2. Yes25%3

Officials on record each year

The fullest year is 1871/72 (AH 1288) with 2 officials. Years with an annual entry: 21.
0121871/72AH 12881873/74AH 12901875/76AH 12921877/78AH 12941878/79AH 12961880/81AH 12981882/83AH 13001884/85AH 13021886/87AH 13041888/89AH 13061890/91AH 13081892/93AH 13101894/95AH 13121896/97AH 13141898/99AH 13161900/01AH 13181902/03AH 13201904/05AH 13221906/07AH 13241908/09AH 13261910/11AH 13281911/12AH 13302 in 1871/72Recorded in an earlier year tooFirst recorded in this year

The same numbers as a table
Officials on record each year, Sehir Posta Memuru
YearOfficials on recordFirst recordedAnnual entries
1871/72 (AH 1288)222
1872/73 (AH 1289)212
1873/74 (AH 1290)101
1874/75 (AH 1291)101
1875/76 (AH 1292)101
1876/77 (AH 1293)101
1877/78 (AH 1294)101
1878 (AH 1295)101
1878/79 (AH 1296)212
1879/80 (AH 1297)202
1880/81 (AH 1298)101
1881/82 (AH 1299)101
1886/87 (AH 1304)111
1902/03 (AH 1320)111
1903/04 (AH 1321)212
1904/05 (AH 1322)101
1905/06 (AH 1323)212
1906/07 (AH 1324)212
1907/08 (AH 1325)212
1908/09 (AH 1326)212
1911/12 (AH 1330)111

An official is counted once in a year. First recorded is the first year in which the collection has an annual entry of the official on this page. It is not a hiring date.

Places

Places of Sehir Posta Memuru, the place with most officials first
PlaceProvinceOfficialsAnnual entriesYears
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Istanbul (Dersaadet) province9241871 to 1912
BakırköyIstanbul (Dersaadet) province141878 to 1882
GalataIstanbul (Dersaadet) province111886/87
ÜsküdarIstanbul (Dersaadet) province111871/72

Ottoman officials recorded

12 officials, the one with most annual entries first.

Years run from the first to the last annual entry. An official without a recorded name is listed after the named officials.

How to read these records: years and calendars, what first recorded means, gaps between annual entries, and salaries.

Subjects