Paintings

Our collection of paintings covers over three hundred years of postal activity. They show us how the artists and their contemporaries perceived the postal service.

Some of the paintings are portraits of people who had significant impact on postal services – such as Sir Rowland Hill. Others are of anonymous postal workers going about their business. Pictures of buildings that are nationally known - such as The Post Office Tower - sit next to scenes featuring local post houses.

Some are romantic views of mail coaches rushing through the countryside. Others are less cheerful, such as the bomb damage at Mount Pleasant during World War II.

The artists represented in the collection include 18th century artist Charles Jervas, James Pollard, Charles Cooper Henderson and Henry Alken (Senior and Junior), Terence Cuneo and Lynton Lamb.

Here are four examples of paintings from our collections:

'Governor Harrison' by Charles Jervas, 1725, accession number: OB1995.142

This is one of the oldest paintings in our collection, and the largest. It depicts Governor Harrison of Madras. Edward Harrison was the son of Richard Harrison of Balls Park, Hertford.

He was Governor of Madras from 1711 until 1717, and then returned to England. He was elected MP for Hertford, and was Postmaster General from 1725-1732.

The building in the background is Fort St George, a British fortress in the town of Madras (now called Chennai).

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'The Postman' by J F Herring, c. 1840, accession number: OB1994.107

This painting was accepted by H. M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax on the death of Miss Jane Scott MacKirdy and given to the National Postal Museum. 

The Arab stallion in the painting was modelled on Herring's horse Imaum. Imaum was a gift to Queen Victoria from the Imaum of Muscat. The Queen gave Imaum to the Clerk of the Royal Stables. He in turn sold him at Tattersall’s, where Herring acquired him and used him as a carriage horse for the Herring household. Imaum appears in many of Herring’s later works.

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'Mail Packet off Eastbourne' by Capt Victor Howes, mid-19th century, accession number: 2005-0102

This painting shows a sail-powered mail packet. It is one of several paintings in our collection that reflect the various modes of transport employed by the postal service.

Some of our later paintings show steam powered ships such as the Great Western. The artist of the painting shown here was the great great uncle of Mr K A Howes who bequeathed the painting to the BPMA.

Shortly after acquiring the painting, the BPMA was contacted by a researcher who had seen a web article about the painting, and was investigating the history of Victor Toloubioff Howes. Michael Sibir's website based on this research includes a reference to our painting.

Bequeathed to the BPMA by Mr K A Howes

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'St Martin's Le Grand' by James Pollard, c. 1840, accession number: 2004-0151

This painting shows, on the left, GPO (East). This was the main Post Office building, which moved to St Martin's Le Grand from Lombard Street in 1829.

The building opposite is a coaching inn, possibly at this time called the 'Queen's Hotel', but previously known as the 'Bull and Mouth'. It is thought that the name 'Bull and Mouth' came from 'Boulogne Mouth' commemorating a battle won by Henry VIII in 1544.

James Pollard was a Victorian engraver and painter of sporting and coaching subjects.  

The GPO Headquarters building only became known as GPO (East) when the Headquarters expanded to further buildings in this area. The coaching inn itself was demolished in 1888 to make way for one of these buildings, which became GPO (North).

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