Nature of Source
Postal services began operations in 1635 with the opening of the ‘Royal Mail’ by Charles I. Oliver Cromwell established the General Post Office in 1657 but the ‘Royal Mail’ was later re-established following the restoration. A ‘penny post’ system was introduced in London in 1680 and across many towns and cities and in 1840, a nationwide postal service was introduced along with postage stamps. Up to 1969 the Post Office was a government department and therefore postal workers were classified as civil servants. The most useful records are the Appointment Books which are available online. These will lead to pension and gratuity records, available at the Royal Mail Archive.
From 1870 notices of civil service recruitment and examinations for all grades including postal staff were recorded in the London Gazette with thousands of searchable editions of the Gazette available online. The Gazette also carried notices of honours and awards including the Imperial Service Medal for non-managerial retiring civil servants including postal workers.
Also see
Directories, Trade, Professional, Telephone & Street
Friendly & Fraternal Society Records
Occupational and Labour Records (Includes links and guidance on calculating historical wage rates and the cost of living)
Trade Union Records
Where Found
The Postal Museum (The Archives holds records relating to the millions employed in the postal service since the 17th century and include appointment books [register of all employees from 1831 to 1956], staff establishment books, pensions and gratuity records, 100,000 photographs, over 700 maps and Post Office magazines. The museum catalogue can be searched here)
The National Archives (Series POST, Records created and used by Royal Mail Group plc and predecessors; POST 58, Post Office: Staff nomination and appointment, 1831-1972; POST 1, applications for pensions)
National Records of Scotland (Records relating to Royal Mail in Scotland)
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) (Records relating to Royal Mail in Northern Ireland)
National Archives of Ireland (Information on the postal service in The Republic of Ireland)
Period Covered
1691 – Onwards
Genealogical Value
- Full name.
- Date of appointment.
- Grade, position held, job title and career of postal worker.
- Place of work.
Further References
- Campbell-Smith, Duncan. Masters of the Post: The Authorized History of the Royal Mail: Allen Lane, 2011
- Collins, Audrey. Portraits of the English Working Lives: Audrey Collins, 2000 (Including Postmen)
Websites
www.postalmuseum.org/collections (The Postal Museum Archive Collection. The Postal Museum looks after 60,000 objects and thousands of records detailing over 500 years of postal heritage, including the archive of Royal Mail Group PLC, and Post Office Ltd)
www.postalmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Search-Room-Guide.pdf (The Postal Museum Archive: Royal Mail Archive: Overview Guide. This Guide gives an overview of all the records we have in the Archive)
www.postalmuseum.org/collections/archive-collection/family-history (The Postal Museum Archive: Family History. The Postal Museum is the definitive place to find out about past postal employees)
www.postalmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Family_History_Research_Guide.pdf (The Postal Museum Archive: A Guide to Family History Research. The guide provides specific information on the range of records for genealogical research)
https://fabarticles.weebly.com/chapter-11.html (Royal Mail – from 1516 AD to Present Day)
www.ancestry.co.uk/boards/topics.occupations.occupations/1536 (Ancestry Message Boards: Occupations)
Online Databases
www.ancestry.co.uk (UK, Postal Service Appointment Books, 1737-1969. These Postal Museum appointment books are indexes to the Postmaster General’s minute books. They show the point when a person began working for the Post Office or started at a new position within the Post Office. Produced in partnership with the Postal Museum)
https://data.addressinghealth.org.uk (Addressing Health Data Mapper. Morbidity, Mortality and Occupational Health in the Victorian and Edwardian Post Office. Search pensioner profiles of individual postal workers who retired between 1860 and 1902. The profiles are derived from pension records held at the Postal Museum and can be searched through either the maps, charts or the search page. The project examines the health of UK postal workers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century)
www.genuki.org.uk/big/Indexes/POST.txt (Names extracted from the Post Office Archives consisting of appointments and pensions)
www.royalmail.com/memorials/home (Royal Mail Group Memorial Database: Searchable database of more than 300 individual war memorials in the care of Royal Mail. Searches can be carried out by name, location and keywords)
https://gpowarheroes.org.uk (GPO War Heroes. Search or view books of remembrance honouring the 12,830 postal employees who are recorded to have lost their lives fighting during both World Wars. The memorial books were compiled by James Trezies in the mid-1950s)
CD Roms
N/A
