Thomas Witherings (died 28 September 1651) was an English merchant and postal administrator who established the Royal Mail public letter service.
Although the Postmaster was only responsible for official mail, it had become the practice to provide a service for City of London merchants dealing with the continent.
The King's proclamation dated at Bagshot on 31 July 1635 which established the letter-office required Witherings to "settle a running post or two to run day and night between Edinburgh and Scotland and the City of London, to go thither and come back in six days".
[10] Postmasters on each road were required to provide horses for the mail at 2½d a mile[7] and a conveyance tariff was fixed.
[14] In 1646 Witherings purchased the Nelmes estate at Hornchurch from the Naunton family who as Royalists were suffering financial difficulties.
[15] In April 1649 information was laid against Witherings that he had assisted George, Earl of Norwich in the 1648 Royalist insurrection in the county of Essex during the Second Civil War.
He was buried in the chancel and the inscription on his tablet recorded he was "second to none for unfathomed poilesicy, unparallelled sagacius and devining Genius; witness his great correspondence in all parts of ye Christian world".