Hobby Corner
Post Boxes of the United Kingdom
An unusual love affair
My friends are used to my odd ways. And I have quite a few odd ways. But there’s one love affair I’d like to share with you—The good old British post box.
A post box? Why would I share post boxes with you? Isn’t it just a box to put your mail into with the expectation that the recipients will receive it in the far-flung places they live? Well, yes, and no.
Yes, they are for putting our letters into. But also, no, as they are far more than just a portal for paper envelopes. The history behind the British postal box is as fascinating as it is long.
The average British front door has a rectangular slot opening in it, with a flap for keeping out a draft. Our doors didn’t always have these. The Victorians were encouraged to start putting these into their doors in 1849. Earlier, in 1840, a certain Rowland Hill suggested the idea of roadside pillar boxes. (There were already pillar boxes in use in other countries, such as France, Germany, and Belgium.) The first British pillar box appeared 12 years later in St Hellier in Jersey in 1852. And the first pillar box on the mainland was a year later in Botchergate, Carlise, 1853.
Early Victorian boxes had the standard colour of green. But between 1866 and 1879 the hexagonal Penfold became the National Standard pillar box, with the exception of the Liverpool Special of 1863. It was during this time that the colour red was chosen over the green, and the first boxes to be re-painted were in London on July 1874. It would take another ten years before nearly all of the remaining boxes were painted red.
1879 saw the introduction of the cylindrical design, which was to remain the main design until modern times. There are newer shaped boxes which are square, but there are still many pillar boxes in the famous cylinder shape with the ridged top. 1879 also saw the start of the lamp post, for areas with smaller mail requirements. They were usually attached to lamp posts or telegraph poles.
1857 saw the first use of the wall post box. A square design built into walls. The Ludlow box came into use in sub-post offices in 1885 and remained in use until 1965. They were called Ludlow boxes after the manufacturer, James Ludlow of Birmingham. These were made from sheet metal and wood with distinctive enamel plates, but they were more prone to rotting that the cast iron equivalent.
There were more as the years progressed that came and went, like the blue air mail pillar boxes, but one thing that remained constant on every design was the inclusion of the Royal Cipher. Except for the Anonymous boxes of 1879-1887 which omitted a cipher, and in Scotland, after 1952, the ERII replaced with the Queen’s Crown of Scotland. (Possible reason below.)
The Royal Cipher, for me, is perhaps the most interesting part of the post box. It’s from this Cipher that it’s possible to work out how old the letter box is.
There are five monarchs who have sat upon the British throne since the inception of the Royal Mail, by Queen Victoria. And each monarch has his own Cipher. In order of Ascension:
Victoria : Inception of Royal Mail – 1901
Edward VII : 1901-1910
George V : 1910-1936
Edward VIII : 1936
GeorgeVI : 1936 – 1952
Elizabeth II 1952 – present day. I should note, that her technically correct title is Queen Elizabeth, the first of Scotland and second of England.
Because of their royal status, their Ciphers always included an R. R for Regina (queen) and R for Rex (King).
So, VR is Victorian Regina. And ER is Edward Rex. With so many E’s and G’s floating around, they needed to include the number of line to make it clear which monarch was ruling when that particular pillar box was made and erected on site.
Some of the rarer boxes are Edward VIII. He was King for less than a year, (20th January 1936 – 11th December 1936) due to abdicating in order to marry Wallis Simpson. Obviously, because of his short reign, there were not many postal boxes being put up in newly built areas.
I made it my mission to find an ERVIII box, and to my delight, I found one last year. (picture below)
My next mission is to find a scroll cipher of VR. I have found plenty of block VR’s as in the photos, but none with a scroll cipher.
I hope I haven’t bored you to tears. And, maybe, next time you pop to the post box, think of me snapping pics of post boxes over here, looking like a right nutter. 😊
P.S. If you ever find yourself taking a photo of your post collection boxes, you are more than welcome, indeed, encouraged, to put them up on my facebook page. 😊
Queen Victoria
King Edward VII
King George
King Edward VIII
Close up of Cipher
Replica VR pillar box. Flambards Victorian Village Acanthus bud and leaves decorate the top.
Pillar box painted gold in recognition of London 2012 Olympic Game. For every British Gold Medalist, their town of birth has one post box indefinitely painted gold. This box is found in Penzance and was repainted for Helen Glover, Women’s Pairs Rowing. It’s also a GR VI cipher. There are over a 100 of these gold boxes in the United Kingdom. Their locations are shown here:
This is the ERII pillar box which was placed outside the Tesco Extra, sometime from 1986 onwards. These pillar boxes no longer have the decorative top of the Acanthus bud and leaves, which I think is a shame.
All photos, text, remains the copyright of RMWalker 2017