Royal Mail

Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom.

Royal Mail Group plc is a public limited company wholly owned by the British Government and has over 200,000 employees.

In 1969 it was converted from a government department to a nationalised industry. The office of Postmaster General was abolished.

In 1981 the British Telecommunications Act split the Post Office Corporation into two nationalised entities - the Post Office and British Telecom. British Telecom was later privatised.

In 2000 Royal Mail renamed itself to Consignia to much ridicule. The British Government set up a postal regulator Postcomm and offered licences to private companies to deliver mail. In 2002 Consignia changed its name back to Royal Mail.

Table of contents

1 Timeline
2 External Link
3 See Also

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.
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.
1981: Telecommunications services transferred to British Telecom.
1986: Royal Mail separated into letters, parcels and post office businesses.
1990: Girobank sold to the Alliance and Leicester Building Society.
2003: The London Post Office Underground Railway is closed.

External Link

Royal Mail