Royal Mail

Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom. Historically, the Royal Mail was a government department, but it became a nationalised industry in 1969. The Royal Mail was responsible for the telephone service in the UK until BT was demerged in 1981.

History

The Royal Mail traces its history back to 1516, when Henry VIII established a "Master of the Posts". The Royal Mail service was first made available to the public by Charles I in 1635, with postage being paid by the recipient, and the General Post Office (GPO) was officially established by Charles II in 1660. The first adhesive stamp (the Penny Black) was introduced in 1840, meaning that postage was henceforth paid by the sender.

Related Topics:
1516 - Henry VIII - Charles I - 1635 - General Post Office - Charles II - 1660 - Stamp - Penny Black - 1840

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Royal Mail introduced operated telegraph services from 1870 and telephone services from 1912.

Related Topics:
1870 - Telephone - 1912

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The National Giro Bank was introduced in 1968, and in 1969 Royal Mail was converted from a government department, the General Post Office, to a nationalised industry. The office of Postmaster General was abolished in 1974. The British Telecommunications Act 1981 split the Post Office Corporation into two nationalised entities, the Post Office and British Telecommunications (later British Telecom or BT); BT was later privatised, but the Post Office remained in public ownership. Girobank was sold in 1990.

Related Topics:
National Giro Bank - 1969 - Government department - General Post Office - Nationalised - Postmaster General - British Telecommunications Act 1981 - Post Office - British Telecommunications - British Telecom - BT - Girobank - 1990

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In 2000, The Post Office renamed itself Consignia. However, the change proved to be highly unpopular with both the public and even the organisation's own employees, with the Communication Workers' Union boycotting the name. In 2002, the organisation reverted to the name Royal Mail as Royal Mail Group plc with operating divisions of Royal Mail and Parcelforce dealing with the letter and parcel services respectively, and with Post Office Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary which manages the nationwide network of post office branches as retail outlets.

Related Topics:
2000 - Communication Workers' Union - Parcelforce - Wholly owned subsidiary - Retail

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The British Government set up a postal regulator, Postcomm, and offered licences to private companies to deliver mail. Historically, many government benefits and state retirement pensions were paid in cash through the post office network and post offices acted as local branches of Girobank. However, in recent years, an increasing proportion of benefit and pension payments have been made direct to bank accounts. As the activities of Royal Mail have reduced, so the network of post office has contracted, much to the consternation of local communities which have come to rely on their services.

Related Topics:
Postcomm - State retirement pension - Bank accounts

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