Post Office Magazine
Post Office publications have run from 1850 until the present day. St Martin's Le Grand started in 1890 and was replaced by The Post Office Magazine in 1933. This in turn was replaced by Courier in 1966 which is still published today (see our online exhibition to mark the 40 years of Courier).
All Post Office publications are held in archive class POST 92 but many issues are also available on the open shelves in our Search Room.
Here are four examples of Post Office Magazines in our collection:
Article on London
Postal Services War Memorial, St Martin's Le Grand, July 1920, finding number: POST 92/1149
This article from the July 1920 edition of St Martin's Le Grand describes a bronze statue erected in memory of 329 Post Office staff. The staff had worked in the King Edward Building and the East London Branch Offices and died during the First World War.
The statue, a bronze effigy of a typical soldier of the Great War, was erected by the public counter of the London Chief Office. It was unveiled on Saturday 14 April 1920 at 3.00pm. 300 relatives and next of kin were present alongside 2,000 Post Office staff, to pay their tribute to the fallen.
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Front cover of Post Office Magazine, February 1964, finding number: POST 92/1183
This front cover is from the February 1964 edition
of Post Office Magazine. It shows the Beatles and the joint secretaries of
their Fan Club sorting out fan mail.
At this time postmen were delivering bulging sacks of letters and parcels daily to the Beatles Fan Club based in Monmouth Street, WC2. The rate was equivalent to 300,000 items of mail a year. Fans wrote to the Beatles with all sorts of personal questions, asked for autographs and pictures, sent them toys and dolls, and even a few combs!
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'Tibs the Great is no more', Post Office Magazine, 1965, finding number: POST 92/1184
This is a page from the Post Office
Magazine 1965. It shows Tibs, the Post Office’s number one cat. The imposing
23lb giant reigned at the Post Office Headquarters for 14 years until he died
in November 1964.
As Tibs was an official member of the Post Office staff, and was paid 2s 6d a week, it was only fitting that he received an obituary in the Post Office Magazine.
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'Snow Wonders!' article from Courier, February 1987, finding number: POST 92/919
This article appeared in the February 1987 edition of
Courier. The article explains how, when the big freeze of 1987 brought parts of the country to
a virtual standstill, the Royal Mail and Post Office services kept on the move.
Postal staff battled through arctic conditions to keep the mail moving and to keep the post offices open. The severe weather was the worst to hit Britain for 40 years. At the height of the big freeze several postmen used sledges to beat the transport problem.
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