Delivering The Goods

From street furniture to sorting office, from transport to technology, postal services have long been a recurring theme on british stamps

- Jeff Dugdale

Perhaps not surprisingly, the theme of postal services was one of the very first to appear on British commemorative stamps, as early as 1929.

Subsequent issues have celebrated postal organisation, reform, technology, transport, infrastructure, buildings, even art.

Landmark anniversaries in the long history of the British postal service have been noted in three key issues, but the dates to which they refer can be confusing.

Two stamps issued in 1960 marked the 300th anniversary of the General Letter Office, which was constituted on the restoration of King Charles II to the throne in 1660, with Henry Bishop as the first Postmaster General.

The designs featured a 17th-century postboy on horseback and a traditional post horn, while including subtle references to Charles II, by means of ‘CII’ and ‘CIIR’ cyphers and oak branches, alluding to the story that he hid in a tree to escape from Parliament forces during the Civil War.

In 1985, four stamps marked the 350th anniversary of Royal Mail being opened up for public use by King Charles I in 1635, illustrating modern aspects of postal services such as postmen delivering letters and parcels, a rural post bus and a Datapost motorcycle courier.