This Letterbook entitled 'No.2 Directors 1861', contains 100 handwritten letters sent from the Managing Directors’s Senior Clerks at the P&O Head Office in Leadenhall Street in London, addressed to the P&O Aden Agent; dating from 12th June to 18th December 1861. Includes local transit arrangements, rates for passengers and cargo and also official correspondence between the Managing Directors and the Pasha of Egypt concerning the Suez Canal. Subjects covered include how the company was run, how policy was enacted between Leadenhall street and overseas ports, the relationship between Managing Directors and subordinate staff and some of the practical problems of running a global shipping, mail and passenger service in the 1860s.