Point of Interest: Post Boxes

Update: In All Things Coronation news, the Royal Mail has announced in a series of tweets that four new post boxes have been unveiled across the U.K. On them is the official emblem of the Coronation.

The four new postboxes are located on St. John's Street in Cardiff, High Street in Edinburgh, Main Street in Royal Hillsborough, County Down and Abingdon Street, Westminster, London. 

The Post Box will turn 160 in January 2023, and so I thought I would get a jump on this topic and talk about it's history and give some tips on where you can see "rare" post boxes.

Before 1840 when the post was reformed, it was expensive to send letters. It was established that the sender would pay for the post and stamps were born. In 1853, the first roadside pillar box was placed in Carlisle. In 1856, Richard Redgrave from the Department of Science and Art designed the pillar box to be used in London and other cities. From 1857, some post boxes were built into existing walls.

Green Post Boxes - Image used with
permission from The Postal Museum
Archives

Post boxes were originally green but were changed to red after the green boxes didn't get people's attention.

Today's post boxes are mostly round or oval, some hexagonal, or wall boxes.

The very first standardized design - the Penfold - named after its designer J. W. Penfold - was inspired by Greek design. They are hexagonal with a cast iron top. They were made by Cochrane Grove and Co. of Dudley and are dated to the 1860's. There are only about 20 surviving Penfolds remaining in the U.K, mostly in Cheltenham.

171 boxes have King Edward VIII's royal cypher, the shortest reigning monarch since Queen Victoria. One post box with Edward's cypher is located in Russell Square.

Google Maps

Here is a list for ciphers of British monarchs:

VR – Queen Victoria : 1837-1901

ER VII – King Edward VII : 1901-1910

GR – King George V : 1910-1936

ER VIII – King Edward VIII : Jan-Dec 1936

GR VI – King George VI : 1936-1952

EIIR – Queen Elizabeth II : 1952-present.

Which do you think are the most commonly found?