Royal Mail
The national postal service operated by the General Post Office in Britain
1711 The Post Office Act paved the way for a unified postal service across the Scottish and English (including Wales) administrations following the 1707 Act of Union. Ireland followed in 1808.[1]
1821 Steam-driven packet ships were introduced to deliver mail across the British Empire
1837 Rowland Hill (1795-1879) proposed a universal postal service in the UK based on prepayment of the items on a weight-basis and what eventually became adhesive stamps.
1839 Formation of Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. The mail ships proved popular with passengers as they ran to strict timetables to ensure mail was delivered on time.
1840 The Uniform Penny Post was approved. The first postage stamps were introduced.
1852 Pillar boxes trial on Jersey
1853 Pillar boxes introduced on UK mainland
1870 On 28 January (under the Telegraph Act, 1868) the privately-owned inland telegraph system was transferred to the British State. About 30 telegraph companies were taken over by the General Post Office.
Horse-drawn mail vans carried mail between railway stations and places distant from them, and between sub-post offices and sorting offices.
1880 First use of tricycles for delivery
1883 Introduction of the parcel post.
1887 Introduction of horse-drawn mail service
1897 The General Post Office introduced bicycles for delivery and conducted trials of powered vehicles, one a petrol-powered provided by British Motor Syndicate with a Daimler engine; the other was a steam-powered vehicle supplied by the Liquid Fuel Engineering Co; it was used on a route from Mount Pleasant to Redhill[2].
c.1904 Royal Mail Rapid Transit Mail Delivery using a motorised tricycle
1907 The first motor vehicle entered Royal Mail service - this was a 2.5 tonne lorry called the Maudslay Stores Number 1 (the first vehicles were stores vehicles rather than mail vehicles). The vehicle was in service for 18 years during which it covered over 300,000 miles.
1908 The London to Chatham mail van service ended in the summer of 1908
1909 The mail van service from London to Oxford ended
1911 The first scheduled airmail service was inaugurated from Hendon to Windsor, as part of the celebrations for the Coronation of King George V. Gustav Hamel was the pilot of the maiden flight, which was a precursor to the opening up of the postal air service overseas.
1912 Post Office acquired full control of the telephone system from the National Telephone Co.
2004 The British Postal Museum & Archive was established as an independent charity to care for five centuries of Royal Mail history.
2017 The rebranded Postal Museum opened in central London, bringing a wealth of stories from British social and communications history to life
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Royal Mail History [1]
- ↑ The Engineer 1897/12/24