Post boxes on postage stamps

The need for post boxes in Great Britain became apparent following the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post in 1840. Before then letters had to be handed in at a Receiving House during the hours of business. From 1840 many more people could afford to send letters and a better system of posting letters was essential to meet the demand.

Roadside post boxes had already been in use in some overseas countries but first appeared in the Britain in 1852. They were the brainchild of Anthony Trollope, later to achieve fame as a prolific novelist but then the Surveyor’s Clerk with the Post Office. Trollope was aware of the use of post boxes in France