Charles Povey

[1]–4 May 1743) was a British pamphleteer and entrepreneur, who challenged the Royal Mail's postal monopoly by running the "Halfpenny Carriage", a local London postal system similar to William Dockwra's Penny Post.

Founding the Exchange House Fire Office in 1708, Povey was not long involved with it.

The Halfpenny Carriage was a postal service run by Povey in the London area from October 1709, in competition with and undercutting the official Post Office monopoly, which charged a penny per letter.

Some years later he operated as a middleman and broker in his Traders' Exchange House, Hatton Garden.

[2] The insurance company and its promotional newspaper, mostly on trade topics, were originally offshoots of a labour brokerage he ran.