Sunday 5 July 2015

Scottish Post-boxes



The first post-boxes in the UK were introduced in 1854 in the Channel Islands thanks to the then Postmaster General, author Anthony Trollope.  They were sage green but changed in 1874 to the now famous pillar box red.   


With each change of monarch the royal cipher on the boxes changed throughout the country until the death of George VI when a problem arose.  

Queen Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth II of England and Wales but not of Scotland.  At the time of the first Queen Elizabeth, James VI was the Scottish monarch.   

As a result the Scottish pillar boxes installed since the early 1950s have simply borne a crown and no royal cipher.





One of the lamp post-boxes on the Isle of Lewis has had its Royal Mail sign painted over and a new red crown on a silver background plate.  This is the first one of these I have seen.


9 comments:

  1. Interesting. I love that bright red, wonder why they changed them from green to red? No matter, I am glad they did!

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    1. They were changed from sage green to bright red after people kept bumping into them. Perhaps they should not have placed so many of them outside pubs.!

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  2. I like those post boxes, and did not know Trollope brought them in to the UK. I discovered what a great author Trollope is this year, and have read the first 4 in his Chronicles of Barsetshire series of 6. He has a clever sense of humor. Do you read him? I look forward to the ITV production of his Dr. Thorne.

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    1. I didn't discover Trollope until I was in my 40s but when I did I loved him. His is one of the few fiction sets I have kept in the loft because I know I'll read it again. I didn't enjoy the Palliser novels quite so much.

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  3. I don't think the red on silver an improvement and I am all for getting rid of the Royals.

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  4. Sounds like Trollope is an author well worth reading, judging from your comments here.
    Not sure I like the new post boxes, but it may just be a question of getting used to them.

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  5. Very interesting...they say change is good and I guess it will save money to just have the silver plate with the crown installed.
    I love the deep red colour....I hope that never changes.

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  6. My hope is that the post boxes don't just disappear the way most of them have here! It's very difficult to find a box in which to put outgoing mail now, and it's not safe to put it in your own box outside of your home, sad to say.

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  7. That's very interesting. I didn't know about the no-cipher on the mailboxes, and had never seen the red crown on a silver plate. Thanks for sharing this!

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