 The British General Post Office (GPO) was officially established in 1660 by Charles II and it eventually grew to combine the functions of both the state postal system and telecommunications carrier. In 1969 it was converted from a government department to a nationalised industry. It was finally abolished in 1981. For the more recent history of the postal system in the United Kingdom, see the article: Royal Mail. Image File history File links GPO_badge. ...
Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ...
Charles II or The Merry Monarch (29 May 1630–6 February 1685) was the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from 30 January 1649 (retrospectively de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ...
Postbox redirects here. ...
BlackBerry 7100t Telecommunications is the communication of information at a distance. ...
1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...
Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom. ...
The 19th century headquarters of the General Post Office in St Martins-le-Grand in the City of London. The British General Post Office (GPO) was officially established as a monopoly in 1660 by Charles II. The monopoly covered the despatch of items from a specific sender to a specific receiver, which was to be of great importance when new forms of communication were invented. The postal service was known as the Royal Mail because it was built on the distribution system for royal and government documents. In 1661 the office of Postmaster General was created to oversee the GPO. In later centuries the GPO acquired monopoly control of telecommunications and attempted to control the broadcasting industry. Image File history File links The_Post_Office_in_St_Martin_le_Grand_by_Thomas_Shepherd_(late_1820s). ...
Image File history File links The_Post_Office_in_St_Martin_le_Grand_by_Thomas_Shepherd_(late_1820s). ...
Events Expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique by French occupying forces. ...
Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom. ...
Events January 6 - The fifth monarchy men unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. ...
A Postmaster General is the national politician in charge of the postal system of a country. ...
BlackBerry 7100t Telecommunications is the communication of information at a distance. ...
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Early postal services i love aaron!
 Clerks at work at the post office in London circa 1808. The GPO created a network of post offices where senders could submit items. All post was transferred from the post office of origination to distribution points called sorting stations, and from there the post was then sent on for delivery to the receiver of the post. Initially it was the recipient of the post who paid the fee, and he had the right to refuse the accept the item if he did not wish to pay. The charge was based on the distance the item had been carried so the GPO had to keep a separate account for each item. In 1840 the Penny Post was introduced, which incorporated the two key innovations of a uniform postal rate, which cut administrative costs and encouraged use of the system, and adhesive pre-paid stamps. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (846x612, 122 KB) Summary The Post Office as drawn by Augustus Pugin Senior and Thomas Rowlandson for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (846x612, 122 KB) Summary The Post Office as drawn by Augustus Pugin Senior and Thomas Rowlandson for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ...
The Penny Post is any one of several postal systems in which normal letters could be sent for one penny. ...
Headquarters
 The Inland Letter Office at the General Post Office in 1845. In the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries the GPO was based a succession of locations in the City of London. A new GPO headquarters was built on the eastern side of St Martins-le-Grand in the City of London between 1825 and 1829 to designs by Sir Robert Smirke. It was in the Grecian style with ionic porticoes, and was 400 feet long and 80 feet deep. In the 1870s a new building was added on the western side of the street to house the Telegraph department, and the General Post Office North was constructed immediately to the north of the Telegraph building in the 1890s as the GPO continued to expand. Smirke's building was closed in 1910 and demolished soon afterwards and the current headquarters of BT, a post World War II building, is on the site of the old Telegraph Office. Image File history File linksMetadata GPO_Inland_letter_office_ILN_1845. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata GPO_Inland_letter_office_ILN_1845. ...
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Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ...
From ancient Greece (Ionic) An Ionian is a member of one of the four great divisions of the ancient Greek people. ...
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BT Group plc (formerly known as British Telecommunications) which trades as BT (and previously as British Telecom) is the privatised former British state telecommunications operator. ...
Combatants Allies: • Poland, • UK & Commonwealth, • France/Free France, • Soviet Union, • USA, • China, ...and others• Axis: • Germany, • Italy, • Japan, • ...and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total: 50 million Full list Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total: 12 million Full list World War II...
In the mid 19th century there were four branch offices in London: one in the City at Lombard Street; two in the West End at Charing Cross and Cavendish Street near Oxford Street; and one south of the Thames in Borough High Street. [1] The term West End is most commonly used to refer to the West End of London, an area mostly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden, in London, England. ...
The Victorian Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross The name Charing Cross, now given to a district of central London in the City of Westminster, comes from the original hamlet of Charing, where King Edward I placed a memorial to his wife, Eleanor of Castile. ...
Oxford Street, from the top deck of a bus Oxford Street is a major London shopping street in the City of Westminster. ...
Several places exist with the name Thames, and the word is also used as part of several brand and company names Most famous is the River Thames in England, on which the city of London stands Other Thames Rivers There is a Thames River in Canada There is a Thames...
Borough High Street Borough High Street is the last section of the road from Dover to London as it approaches London Bridge. ...
New communication systems When new forms of communication came into existence in the 19th and early 20th centuries the GPO claimed monopoly rights on the basis that like the postal service they involved delivery from a sender and to a receiver. The theory was used to expand state control of the mail service into every form of electronic communication possible on the basis that every sender used some form of distribution service. These distribution services were considered in law as forms of electronic post offices. This applied to telegraph and telephone switching stations.
In the mid 19th century several private telegraph companies were established in the UK. The Telegraph Act of 1868 granted the Postmaster General the right to acquire inland telegraph companies in the United Kingdom and the Telegraph Act of 1869 conferred on the Postmaster-General a monopoly in telegraphic communication in the UK. Overseas telegraphs did not fall within the monopoly. The private telegraph companies were bought out. The new combined telegraph service had 1,058 telegraph offices in towns and cities and 1,874 offices at railway stations. 6,830,812 telegrams were transmitted in 1869 producing revenue of £550,000.
The same principles were applied to telephone, wireless telegraph and wireless telephone services. This latter expansion then incorporated wireless broadcasting which was non-specific in terms of delivery from sender to receiver. At first the GPO referred to all broadcasting transmitters as senders, while individual receivers retained that name. Like the mail, everything was licensed by the General Post Office under the terms of its Royal Charter. A Royal Charter is a charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. ...
Control of broadcasting This theory ran into trouble when wireless telephone broadcasting was invented, because the senders were not addressing any specific recipient. However, this theory was accepted and made into law and it resulted in an extension of GPO monopoly over all forms of electronic communication.
In 1922 all electrical manufacturers were forced by the GPO to create a single licensed British Broadcasting Company (BBC). In 1927, the original BBC was dissolved when a Royal Charter was given to a new GPO licensed British Broadcasting Corporation. 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on October 18, 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. ...
1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...
A Royal Charter is a charter given by a monarch to legitimize an incorporated body, such as a city, company, university or such. ...
This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ...
From the start the GPO had trouble with competitive pirate radio broadcasters who found ways to deliver electronic messages to British receivers without first obtaining a GPO license. These competitors were well aware of the fact that the GPO would never grant them such a license. To police these unlicensed stations the GPO evolved its own force of detectives and "detector vans". The term pirate radio lacks a specific universal interpretation. ...
Before World War II the GPO faced broadcasting competition from the continent of Europe with stations such as Radio Normandy and Radio Luxembourg aiming their signals at British receivers. After WWII competition was renewed by Radio Luxembourg which was joined in the 1960s by radio stations located on board ships and marine structures, most famously Radio Caroline and Radio London. Unlicensed transmitters also began to appear on land within the British Isles. World map showing Europe Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ...
Radio Luxembourg (1933-1992) was an important forerunner of pirate radio and modern commercial radio in Europe. ...
German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...
The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...
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There have been two radio stations called Radio London and there is now a third up and running: The new Big L Radio London International was opened on Saturday 14th May 2005. ...
This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ...
The radio regulation functions were transferred to the Radio Authority and later Ofcom. The Office of Communications, usually known as Ofcom, is the UKs communications regulator. ...
The Office of Communications, usually known as Ofcom, is the UKs communications regulator. ...
GPO dissolved In 1969 the General Post Office was converted from a government department with a Royal Charter to a nationalised industry. It was finally abolished in 1981 when the British Telecommunications Act split the Post Office Corporation into two nationalised entities. Mail delivery was eventually assigned to a new Post Office entity which eventually settled on using the name Royal Mail and electronic communications were assigned to British Telecom and other entities. 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...
1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom. ...
BT Group plc (which trades as just BT, and is commonly known by its former name, British Telecom) is the privatised former British state telecommunications operator. ...
See also
This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...
Postbox redirects here. ...
A Victorian hexagonal red post box. ...
The Post Office in Oxford. ...
Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom. ...
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on October 18, 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. ...
This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ...
BT Group plc (which trades as just BT, and is commonly known by its former name, British Telecom) is the privatised former British state telecommunications operator. ...
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