Trek Road Bikes, Children's Bicycle and Accessories

Royal Mail – from 1516 AD to the present

The Royal Mail here in the UK is one of the most iconic British institutions and as such I thought it would be an idea to write about this great icon. The Royal Mail traces its history back to 1516 when Henry VIII a "Master of the messages, a feature that eventually evolved into the office the Postmaster General established. The Royal Mail service was first made available to the public by Charles I on 31 July 1635, with postage paid by the recipient, and General Post Office (GPO) was officially established by Charles II in 1660.

Between 1719 and 1763, Ralph Allen, postmaster at Bath, a number of contracts with the post office develop and expand in the UK postal network. He organized mail coaches that were provided by both Wilson & Company in London, Williams & Company of Bath. The beginning of the Royal Mail Coaches were similar to ordinary family but with Post Office coaches Livery.

In December 1839, the first substantial reform began When postage rates were revised by the brief Four Uniform Penny Post. Major changes have taken place when the Uniform Penny Post was introduced on January 10, 1840, with a uniform rate for delivery anywhere in Britain and Ireland was prepaid by the sender. A few months later, to certify that the postage had been paid to a letter, the sender, the first adhesive postage Stramp, the Penny Black that was available for use from May 6 of that year. Other innovations were the introduction of prepaid William Mulready designed letter sheets, postal stationary envelopes.

As the United Kingdom was the first country to prepaid postage or stamps are the only British stamps not bear the name of the country of issue on them.

By the late 19th century there were between six and twelve per day postal deliveries in London, allows multiple correspondents a correspondence in one day.

Royal Mail Time Line

• 1516: Founded by Royal Mail Henry VIII under Master of the messages.

• 1635: Royal Mail service first made available to the public by Charles I.

• 1654: Oliver Cromwell grants monopoly on service in England to "Office of shipment."

• 1657: Fixed postal rates introduced.

• 1660: General Post Office (GPO) officially established by Charles II.

• 1661: The first use of date stamp. First Postmaster General appointed.

• 1784: First mail coach (between Bristol and London).

• 1793: First uniformed delivery personnel. Post Office Investigation Branch formed, the oldest recognized criminal investigations authority in the world.

• 1830: First mail train (to Liverpool and Manchester Railway).

• 1838: Post Office money order system introduced.

• 1839: Four Uniform Penny Post introduced.

• 1840: Uniform Penny Post introduced.

• 1840: First adhesive stamp (the Penny Black).

• 1852: first post office pillar box built (in Jersey).

• 1853: First mailboxes placed in mainland Britain.

• 1857: First wall boxes installed in Shrewsbury and Market Drayton

• 1870: Post Office telegraph service begins.

• 1870: Post Office Act prohibited sending "indecent or obscene" literature introduced the ½ d rate for post cards, prohibiting the use of cut-outs from postal stationery, introduced the ½ d rate for newspapers, provided for the issue of the paper wrappers.

• 1880: The first use of bicycles to deliver mail.

• 1881: Money introduced.

• 1882: Army Post Office Corps formed from GPO employees (see British Forces Post Office)

• 1883: Parcel post begins.

• 1894: The first postcards.

• 1912: Post Office opens national telephone service.

• 1919: First international air mail service developed by Royal Engineers (Postal Section) and the Royal Air Force.

• 1941: Airgraphs entered service between the UK and Egypt. The service was later extended to: Canada (1941), East Africa (1941), Burma (1942), India (1942), South Africa (1942), Australia (1943), New Zealand (1943) Ceylon (1944) and Italy (1944).

• 1941: telegram service was introduced.

• 1968: Two-class postal system introduced. National Giro bank opens.

• 1969: General Post Office change of government department nationalized industry.

• 1971: Postal services in Britain were suspended for two months between January and March as the result of a national postal strike pay an asset [19].

• 1974: Postcodes extended all United Kingdom.

• 1981: Telecommunication divided when British Telecom. Rest renamed "Post Office".

• 1986: Divorced business of delivering letters, delivering parcels and postal operations.

• 1988: Postal workers will hold their first national strike for 17 years after walking on the bonuses paid to recruit new staff in London and the southeast.

• 1989: Royal Mail Romec (Royal Send Engineering & Construction) to provide facilities maintenance services to its activities. Romec for 51% and 49% owned Royal Mail Haden BML in a joint venture.

• 1990: Girobank sold to Alliance & Leicester Building Society.

• 1990: Royal Mail Parcels re-branded as Parcelforce.

• 1999: A new company: Royal Mail ViaCode – or ViaCode Limited – was launched. This wholly owned subsidiary of the Post Office online encryption services to businesses, the use of digital certificate technology. The short-lived venture was liquidated in 2002 [20].

• 2004: Reduction of deliveries to once daily. Travelling post office ("Mail Train") end [21]. Smart Stamp is introduced.

• 2005: Mail Trains reintroduced on some lines.

• 2006: Royal Mail loses its monopoly as the regulator, [22] Postcomm, the postal market opens three years ahead of the rest of Europe [23]. Competitors may carry mail, and pass by Royal Mail for delivery, a service known as downstream access. Also introduces a quotation in proportion (PiP) for The first and second class domestic mail.

• 2006: Online postage allows Royal Mail customers to pay for postage on the Web without the need traditional to buy stamps.

• 2007: Royal Mail Group PLC, Royal Mail Group Ltd in a slight change of legal status.

• 2007: Official industrial action takes place over pay, conditions and pensions.

• 2007: Sunday collections from post boxes end [24].

• 2009 (September) opens the CWU national elections for industrial action [25].

• 2010: Cycling begin to be phased out, 130 years after they were first used.

The Chinese call Britain 'The Island of the Hero's " I British think tank which we are all about. We Brits are inquisitive and competitive and are always looking over the horizon to the next adventure and discovery.

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Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All rights reserved.

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