Anthony Trollope and Post Boxes

Another thing I never knew, that Anthony Trollope the novelist, worked for the Post Office for 33 years and that was he who masterminded the introduction of the pillar box in 1852.

We take for granted the familiar like letter boxes which in the decades following the introduction of the penny post in 1839 were viewed with suspicion, before they became accepted the postman knocked. Did he knock twice and did he ever play Postman’s Knock on his round?

Today there is an average of 75 million letters delivered every day in 1839 there were 76 million delivered in the first year but it soon rose to 350 million a year, that’s a weeks worth now.

I am only guessing but I bet up until the Second World War that they did not have a major issue with returned and undelivered mail? I know they do now and for my own part I hope they continue to do so for it is our raison d’etre for being in business.

I must look up the facts and figures and what impact the introduction of postcodes had on deliveries.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 11:33 am and is filed under 'Gone away' mail, Catalogues, Direct Mail, Postal returns, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Royal Mail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.