Timeline
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Key dates in Victoria's reign | Key dates in the postal service | Amount of mail delivered | |
|---|---|---|---|
Victoria becomes Queen | 1837 | Rowland Hill suggests idea of a standard penny postage rate | |
| 1838 | The opening of new lines allows direct rail travel from London to Preston | |
The launch of the first Travelling Post Office between Birmingham and Liverpool speeds the delivery of the mail | |||
Brunel’s Great Western steam ship crosses the Atlantic carrying the post | |||
| 1839 | Postal Reforms are agreed by Parliament | 75.9 million letters sent during the year | |
| Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha | 1840 | The Penny Black is issued on 6 May, following the introduction of Universal Penny Postage on 10 January | 168.8 million letters |
The Mulready pre-paid envelope is introduced | |||
| 1846 | The last London-based Mail Coach leaves for Norwich | ||
The Great Exhibition | 1851 | ||
| 1852 | The first British pillar boxes are erected on Jersey | |
Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War | 1854 | ||
| 1855 | The first London pillar boxes appear | ||
1857 | London is divided into ten postal districts based on the points of the compass | ||
Charles Darwin publishes his theory of evolution | 1859 | Experimentation with stamp cancelling machines, as volume of mail continues to rise | |
American Civil War, to 1865 | 1861 | Post Office Savings Bank opens | |
Prince Albert dies | |||
London Underground opens to the public | 1863 | The Post Office experiments with an underground pneumatic railway between Euston Station and Eversholt Street | |
Franco-German War, to 1871 | 1870 | The Post Office is given control of the telegraph service | |
The Education Act – 5,000 new schools open in Britain over four years | Postcards are introduced | 867 million letters 75 million postcards | |
| 1871 | 'Pillar Box Red' introduced as national standard colour for posting boxes | |
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone | 1876 | ||
Britain gains control of the Suez Canal | |||
Victoria is crowned Empress of India | 1877 | ||
First Boer War (Transvaal War) begins, to 1881 | 1880 | Postal Orders are introduced | |
| 1883 | Parcel Post is introduced - 'letter carrriers' become 'postmen' | ||
| 1894 | Picture postcards are now permitted | 1.8 billion letters 314.5 million postcards |
Second Boer War begins, to 1902 | 1899 | ||
| Queen Victoria dies | 1901 | 2.3 billion letters 419 million postcards |
