Wall box
Encyclopedia
Wall boxes are a type of post box
Post box
A post box is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service...
or letter box
Letter box
A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business...
found in many countries including France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, Crown dependencies and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. They differ from pillar box
Pillar box
A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
es in that, instead of being a free-standing structure, they are generally set into a wall (hence the name) or supported on a free-standing pole, girder or other stable structure. In the UK, UK Dependent Territories, Colonies and former Colonies and in many former British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
countries, wall boxes usually bear the initials of the reigning monarch at the time the box was made. The first UK wall boxes were erected in 1857 in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
and Market Drayton
Market Drayton
Market Drayton is a small market town in north Shropshire, England. It is on the River Tern, between Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" and earlier simply as "Drayton" ....
.
Construction
Wall boxes are normally made of cast ironCast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
and are fabricated in two large castings with a third casting for the door. The rear part of the box which is set into the wall is cast as one piece, rather like an upright coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
. The whole front of the box including the aperture, royal cipher
Royal Cypher
In modern heraldry, a royal cypher is a monogram-like device of a country's reigning sovereign, typically consisting of the initials of the monarch's name and title, sometimes interwoven and often surmounted by a crown. In the case where such a cypher is used by an emperor or empress, it is called...
and the collection plate holder, are cast as one. There is a large opening in the front casting into which a hinged door is inserted. It is held in place by steel pins at top and bottom which locate into machined holes in the front casting. A secure 5-lever Chubb
Chubb Locks
Chubb Locks is a brand name of the Mul-T-Lock subsidiary of the Assa Abloy Group, which manufactures high security locking systems for residential, secure confinement and commercial applications.-History:...
lock is fitted to all wall boxes made after 1870. Previously, narrower locks from the firm of Nettlefields were used. They are not interchangeable and this causes problems when keys are lost and locks have to be changed.
An even later modification, which was then widely retro-fitted, was the provision externally of a Next Collection tablet holder to hold the square metal tablet inscribed, enamelled or printed with the time or day on which the next collection is due to be made. At the same time, internally, a tablet storage box was added to hold the remaining day or hour tablets not currently in use.
Manufacturers
Many different manufacturers' names may be found on British-style wall boxes, many of which were exported around the world. Included amongst these are:Smith and Hawkes Ltd., Eagle Range & Foundry, Bernard P. Walker & Co., W.T. Allen & Co. Ltd., Carron Co., Derby Castings Ltd., Andrew Handyside & Co. Ltd.
Manufacture of cast-iron wall boxes in the UK for postal use finished in 1980.
Queen Victoria
Pillar box
A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
was erected in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
in 1852 and it was soon realised that, while successful, pillar boxes were expensive to manufacture and sometimes difficult to site. A box which could be recessed into a wall was preferred in rural areas where no pavement or street lighting existed. The First National Standard (WB74) design was made by the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, UK firm of Smith & Hawkes Ltd. and the first boxes were installed in 1857. Today, around 10 survive, mostly in the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
and West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
The design was seen to have several flaws which lead to unacceptable ingress of water when in use in the wet British climate. A modified version, The Second National Standard (WB75 and WB76), debuted in 1859 and was more successful. A pedimented top and a large rain hood helped to keep water out of the box. Drainage holes were provided at the base to enable accumulated water to drain away easily. The doors of these two boxes were rather small and set high up the front of the box, which made clearing them awkward.
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. There are about ten survivors of the later No.1 Large size and several hundred of the No.2 size in the UK.
By moving the Collection plate
Collection plate (postal)
A collection plate is a notice plate fixed to a post box giving the times of collections and days of the week on which these collections are made. They are used extensively in the UK and Commonwealth countries as well as in most other postal administrations....
from the top front of the box casting to a slot in the door, it was made much easier to change, having previously been bolted to the box front. These produced the 1871 design (WB83/1). The foundry underwent a series of ownership changes which saw Eagle Range & Foundry, Bernard P. Walker and even a combination of these two incised into the box maker's plate at the foot of the door (WB83/2-83/5).
The Eagle Range & Foundry boxes of the mid 1880s were made with smooth recessed collection plates and small neat VR cipher and crown. The contract passed to W.T. Allen in 1886 with the production of the "odd" size C box (WB86), which should have been 10 inches wide and 13 inches deep, but was actually 13 inches wide and only 10 inches deep. Only 70 were made before this mistake was rectified, with the introduction in 1887 of the Queen Victoria Jubilee
Golden Jubilee
A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...
boxes. This series comprised three sizes with the largest now designated A, the medium size (formerly No.1) now B and the small one (formerly No.2) Type C (WB84, WB85, WB87). This trend remained the same for the next 75 years.
King Edward VII
Early Edwardian wall boxes used the Victorian patterns, modified to show an "E" instead of a "V", but retaining the Imperial State CrownImperial State Crown
The Imperial State Crown is one of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.- Design :The Crown is of a design similar to St Edward's Crown: it includes a base of four crosses pattée alternating with four fleurs-de-lis, above which are four half-arches surmounted by a cross. Inside is a velvet cap...
from the Victorian boxes. This was modified in 1905 to correctly show the Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
Crown of King Edward VII. Later still, a full "scroll cipher" was used on all but the smallest boxes.
King George V
During this long reign many thousands of wall boxes were installed. Of note are the free-standing wall boxes of Size A for use on the street and the introduction of boxes with rear-opening doors, designated Types D, E and F respectively, for use in sub-post offices. Included in these are the Type E boxes made respectively in:WB106/1 1932 by Andrew Handyside & Co. of Derby
WB106/2 1933 by Derby Castings Ltd.
WB106/3 1934-6 by W.T. Allen & Co. Ltd. of London
which cause a lot of confusion for those photographing and studying them as they are identical save for the Maker's name on the base which may be obscured by 75 years' worth of paint. All have the larger GR cipher positioned low on the door, whereas earlier GR boxes by W.T. Allen 1910-25 have a smaller cipher set much higher on the door, so that the top of the cipher almost abuts the collection plate
Collection plate (postal)
A collection plate is a notice plate fixed to a post box giving the times of collections and days of the week on which these collections are made. They are used extensively in the UK and Commonwealth countries as well as in most other postal administrations....
holder. Similar difficulties are encountered when trying to identify the corresponding B size wall boxes from this period.
As noted, a few wall boxes are, confusingly, free-standing, such as that outside Vollams Newsagents (formerly a post-office) in Gloddaeth Street, Llandudno
Llandudno
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...
. These large A size boxes were designed specially to be free-standing and include additionally, a large cast-iron base and an attractive pedimented top surmounted by a ball. A well-known example was situated at Waterloo Station
Waterloo station
Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is owned and operated by Network Rail and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
until removal in the late 1990s and subsequent restoration at the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
Postal Museum. In other areas of the UK, such as East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
and the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
, standard wall boxes have been mounted on steel girders or poles where no suitable wall exists.
King Edward VIII
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
abdicated in November 1936 without ever reaching his coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
, only a handful of post boxes were made carrying his Royal Cipher. Of these, 200 were pillar box
Pillar box
A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
es, 70 were Ludlow wall box
Ludlow wall box
In the UK, a Ludlow wall box is a post box where mail is deposited to be collected by the Royal Mail and forwarded to the addressee. They are built into stone pillars or the walls of buildings and are never found free-standing. This is because they are made largely from wood. They were nearly all...
es and just 11 were cast iron wall boxes. Following the Abdication Crisis in late 1936, resentment and bad feeling led to the removal or exchange of many of the doors of these boxes. Today none exists in their original form, save for one Ludlow wall box at Bawdsey
Bawdsey
Bawdsey is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, eastern England. Located near Felixstowe, it had an estimated population of 340 in 2007.Bawdsey Manor is notable as the place where radar research took place early in World War II, before moving to Worth Matravers, which is four miles to the west of...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
. Unfortunately the original enamel plate on this box was stolen and the plate seen on the box today is a modern replica.
King George VI
With the accession of Prince Albert Edward as King George VI in 1936, the GPOGPO
-Organisations:*General Post Office **General Post Office UK*German Patent Office, *United States Government Printing Office, a federal government agency*Green Party of Ontario, a policial party in Ontario, Canada...
continued to use up stocks of George V doors as these were simply marked "GR" with no regnal number. It was not until summer 1937 that boxes began to appear bearing the newly-approved Royal Cipher of King George VI. This featured a scroll typeface with Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
for the regnal number surmounted by the Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
crown. The contract for wall boxes resided at this time with W.T. Allen & Co. Ltd. of London for the "B" and "E" size boxes and with Carron Co. of Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....
Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
for the "A" and "D" sizes and remained with them throughout this reign. By this time, production of the type "C" and "F" size boxes had been discontinued.
Elizabeth II
Coming to the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II has had the longest reign of any BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
monarch since the invention of the post box. (Queen Victoria reigned for longer, but post boxes only appeared half way through her reign.) Hence there are more EIIR boxes on the streets of the UK and Commonwealth countries than of any other monarch. Wall box manufacture at the time of her accession was with W.T. Allen & Co. Ltd. The greatest changes were in the size of the apertures in use. The older six inch wide aperture was not sufficient for modern larger letters and was quickly enlarged - first to eight inches and then to ten inches. This, combined with a change in contractor to Carron Co., led to a good variety of boxes in both Type B and the larger Type A. The contract for manufacturing cast-iron wall boxes ceased in 1980, but in the period 1952-1980 more than 20,000 boxes were installed in the UK.
Republic of Ireland
There are many true British boxes still extant in the Republic of IrelandRepublic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
from the reigns of Victoria, Edward VII and George V. However, locally made boxes from the foundry of H. & C. Smith in Dublin were commissioned very early in the history of wall boxes. Indeed a First National Standard box of this type can be seen at Johnstownbridge, Co. Kildare. Additionally, H. & C. Smith were asked to provide local versions of the WB78 Smith and Hawkes wall box during 1861 and one can still be seen at Kilmacoon Hill in Dublin.
Following the 1922 Partition of Ireland
Partition of Ireland
The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct territories, now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . Partition occurred when the British Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act 1920...
, the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
continued to commission foundries to make boxes of similar design to those installed under Colonial rule, but without a royal cipher. Many of these were from the foundry of IVI at Athy
Athy
The town developed from a 12th century Anglo-Norman settlement to an important British military outpost on the border of the Pale.The first town charter dates from the 16th century and the town hall was constructed in the early 18th century...
, Co. Kildare, who held the contract for several decades. Earlier Irish Free State boxes, such as the large A size box seen below, have the elaborate wreathed harp emblem on the door. However, with the formation of the Irish Government Department of Posts and Telegraphs, their Gaelic script logo "P&T" (using a Tironian "et" instead of ampersand) began to appear on wall boxes, such as that seen below at Clonmany
Clonmany
Clonmany is a village in north-west Inishowen, in County Donegal, Ireland. The area has many local beauty spots, and the Ballyliffin area is famous for its golf course. The Urris area to the west of Clonmany village was the last bastion of the Irish language in Inishowen...
, Co. Donegal. In recent times the department has become a free-standing commercial organisation known as An Post. No cast iron boxes have been made with An Post's wavy line logo, but there are plenty of sheet steel wall boxes across the Republic bearing adhesive decals or screen printed with An Post's distinctive yellow on green logo.