Post box

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A free-standing early twentieth century George 5th cast-iron post box located on the pavement in Osborne Gardens near the junction with Osborne Drive, in Malone Conservation Area.

This post box is of standard design and painted in ‘pillar box red’ throughout except for the base which is black and carries its maker’s name – ‘MCDOWALL STEVEN & CO LTD LONDON & GLASGOW’ It stands 5ft 0in high and measures 21in/15½ in/17in in diameter around its cap, shaft and base respectively.

Below its shallow oversailing cap, the edge of which is fluted, is the door, hinged at left and with a raised cup handle at the right and with a keyhole above. At the top of the door is a hooded rectangular aperture through which the letters are inserted into the box. Above the aperture is a small holder containing a removable plate showing the day of the next collection – with beside it ‘NEXT COLLECTION’ in raised letters. Below the aperture is a notice plate holder containing details of collection days/times and the number of this particular box.
Below the notice plate holder is a ‘GR’ cipher with a raised crown above and ‘POST OFFICE below.

Historical information

The pillar box in Osborne Gardens was erected sometime between 1912 and 1920, appearing for the first time on the OS town plan of the latter year.

The first pillar boxes in the British Isles were introduced in 1853 but the idea of introducing roadside letter boxes was originally suggested in 1840 by Rowland Hill (reformer of the British postal system). By the end of the 19th century, the postal network throughout the United Kingdom had been transformed with the installation of pillar boxes and wall-mounted post boxes in large urban centres. In 1889 J. Wilson Hyde (Superintendent of Edinburgh’s General Post Office) wrote that ‘so much has it become the custom in these later times for the Post Office to afford facilities to the public in whatever will tend to increase the business of the Department, that in all large towns pillar boxes or branch offices are dotted about everywhere at short distances, thus altering the conditions which formerly obtained, when the chief office was the great central point where correspondence had to be deposited for dispatch’ (Hyde, p. 278).

The iconic red cylindrical pillar boxes were first introduced in Britain in 1879 and were almost identical in design to the example. The only major changes that have been made to the design of British pillar boxes between 1879 and the 1950s have been to the height of the letter aperture and the design of the Royal ciphers inscribed upon them. The first cylindrical pillar boxes did not possess a Royal cipher on their door and were unofficially known as ‘anonymous boxes.’ This design fault was not rectified until 1887 when the doors of all new pillar boxes were inscribed with the letters ‘VR’ (Victoria Regina) and the words ‘POST OFFICE’ were inserted on either side of the aperture. This particular box, marked ‘GR’ dates from the reign of King George V (1911-36).

The British Postal Museum states that since 1879 this type of pillar box ‘continues to be one of Britain’s most recognisable symbols.’ Wicks notes that the cylindrical boxes came in two sizes, ‘A’ which was a large variety, and ‘B’ which was the smaller alternative. This box appears to be a B-type post box with the diameter of its shaft measuring 15 ½ inches (Wicks). The box was manufactured by ‘MC DOWALL STEVEN & CO LTD LONDON & GLASGOW’, a firm with roots dating back to the 1820s, but which assumed that name post-1862 and branched into the manufacture of post boxes in c.1912. This suggests that this particular box was erected post-1912, but before (as map evidence shows), before 1920.

References
Primary Sources
1 OS town plans of Belfast, 1901-02, 1920

Secondary Sources
1 Hyde, J. W., ‘The Royal Mail: Its curiosities and romance’ London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1889.
2 Wicks, P., ‘History of the British Post Box’ (Pamphlet replicated on author’s website - http://www.wicks.org/pulp/part1.html)

Online Resources
1 The British Postal Museum & Archive website - http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/letterboxes
2 The Letter Box Study Group website - http://www.lbsg.org/
3 Falkirk Local History Society website –
http://www.falkirklocalhistorysociety.co.uk/home/index.php?id=107
4 Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History - https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/McDowall_Steven_and_Co

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A free-standing early twentieth century King George V cast-iron post box, erected in Osborne Gardens near the junction with Osborne Drive, in the Malone Conservation Area, between 1912 – 1920 and carrying its maker’s name - ‘MCDOWALL STEVEN & CO LTD LONDON & GLASGOW’ . This post box is in the distinctive style peculiar to the Post Office, painted in ‘pillar box red’ throughout except for the base which is black and with a fluted cap. It is of historical importance as it bears the Royal Cipher of King George V on the door.
Although the precise number of George V post boxes surviving in Belfast is unknown, these would seem to be more numerous than those erected during previous monarch’s reigns.
Post boxes of this era were of great social importance as the principle conduit by which people communicated with one another.