1812 A. Plumptre tr. H. Lichtenstein Trav. S. Afr. I. 177 The house of the postholder [Ger. Haus des Posthalters] at Mosselbay..lies directly at the upper end.

1852 H. W. Pierson Amer. Missionary Mem. 270 They lodged in the house of the post-holder, a Dutch officer.

1896 Dispute with Venezuela in Daily News 23 July 5/5 The Dutch..had instituted a regular system of trading both with the Indian tribes and with their Spanish neighbours up the Orinoco; and their Postholders had special functions in controlling such trade.

1928 Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev. 8 301 With the fall in price of annatto wood the necessity of obtaining it from the natives disappeared and the post-holder was withdrawn.

1965 Amer. Anthropologist 67 1609 The postholder was a civil servant, charged with seeing that the Djuka observed the stipulations of the peace treaty.

1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 6 Dec. 47/1 Among his sources the Dutch ‘postholders’..charged with dealing with the free ‘bush Negroes’ of the forest, do not speak for themselves at all.

1961 M. K. Gandhi Non-violent Resistance iii. li. 123 A vigorous propaganda will have to be carried on and the message delivered to every title- or post-holder and the argument presented to him proving the duty of such surrender.

1976 Cumberland News 3 Dec. 32/7 (advt.) Our Regional Officer..requires a person to look after the Carlisle office for a minimum of two months while the current postholder is away.

1989 in R. Evans Special Educ. Needs 75 Special needs post-holders have in this way been able to develop their consultation skills with teachers.

1994 Guardian 7 July (OnLine section) 13 (advt.) The Postholder will have two main areas of responsibility: supporting members of the University..and providing Computing Services information.