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.

Timeline

• 1516: Royal Mail established by Henry VIII under Master of the Posts.
• July 31, 1635: Royal Mail service first made available to the public by Charles I. Postage was paid by the recipient.
• 1654: Oliver Cromwell grants UK monopoly to "Office of Postage".
• 1657: Fixed postal rates introduced.
• 1660: *General Post Office (GPO) officially established by Charles II.
• 1661: First use of date stamp. First Postmaster General appointed.
• 1784: First mail coach (between Bristol and London).
• 1793: First uniformed delivery staff. Post Office Investigation Branch formed.
• 1830: First mail train (on Manchester & Liverpool Railway).
• 1840: First adhesive stamp (the Penny Black).
• 1853: First post boxes erected in mainland Britain.
• 1854: Rowland Hill becomes Secretary to the Post Office.
• 1858: Ten London postal districts established.
• 1870: Post Office begins telegraph service.
• 1880: First use of bicycles to deliver mail.
• 1881: Postal order introduced.
• 1883: Parcel post begins.
• 1894: First picture postcards.
• 1912: Post Office opens national telephone service.
• 1917: London postal districts divided into numbered zones.
• 1919: First international air mail service.
• 1927: The London Post Office Underground Railway is opened.
• 1968: Two-class postal system introduced. National Giro bank opens.
• 1969: Post Office changes from government department to nationalised industry.
• 1974: Postcodes extended over all UK.
• 1979: Prestel videotex system launched
• 1981: Telecommunications services transferred to British Telecom.
• 1986: Royal Mail separated into letters, parcels and post office businesses.
• 1990: Girobank sold to the Alliance & Leicester Building Society.
• 1997: Royal Mail's association with London railway stations comes to an end.
• 2003: The London Post Office Underground Railway is closed.
• 2004: Abandonment, to much protest, of the second daily postal delivery. Travelling post offices (mail trains) end.