EHL95. ERVII (Edward the Seventh) Wall Box Type 'C'. c1904-1910. Meads Road at the junction with Grassington Road, Eastbourne. what3words location: actors.chins.copy

Letter Box Study Group: Type C with new Crown & serifs on VII manufactured by W.T. Allen 1904-1910, designated WB94.   

Surveyed by Kevin Gordon.

Historic England: -

The roadside post box was introduced in Britain following the 1840 postal reform which provided for universal affordable postage. New adhesive stamps made pre-payment of postage easy. However, letters usually had to be taken to the nearest letter receiving office which could be miles away. This, together with the growth in demand for postal services linked to industrialisation and urbanisation, led to the need for many more convenient places where stamped letters could be deposited. The novelist Anthony Trollope, a General Post Office (GPO) official sent to Jersey to make recommendations, provided a solution. He adopted a system used on the Continent of placing locked cast-iron pillar boxes at the roadside and the provision of regular collection times. His scheme began in the Channel Islands in 1852 and was extended to the mainland in 1853.