POST OFFICE EMPLOYEES

The custom of sending Christmas cards was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole who was Assistant Keeper at the Public Record Office (Now TNA). He collaberated with John Callcott  Horsley, an artist, to design the card. In 1840 sending mail became more accessible which enabled ordinary people to use the postal service. Cards could be sent in unsealed envelopes for half price.

When trying to locate information about an ancestor who worked for the Post Office you will need to be prepared if possible with:

• Date of birth
• Date of death
• What type of job they did
• Where in the country they worked
• Did they receive a pension?
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The more information you know at the outset the easier your research will be. Today various staff and employment records are available on line at ancestry.co.uk

Identifying a postal worker

You may well have a photograph of your postal worker that can provide clues as to the occupation that they followed. Uniforms changed over time and varied with the type of job. Counter clerks & Postmasters did not usually where a uniform.

• Postal workers fall into several categories:
• Postmasters & Postmistresses
• Sub Postmasters & Sub Postmistresses
• Letter Carriers & Postmen
• Telegraph Messengers
• Packet Boat Agents & Captains
• Mail Guards
• Telephone Engineers
• Clerical staff
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Key records for research

There are four main types of records that will help you find information about your post office ancestor:

• Pension & gratuity records
• Appointment records
• Establishment books
• Post Office magazines.

Most post office workers belonged to a trade union. All surviving records of membership of the trade unions are at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. The Communications Workers Union incorporates all the earlier established unions for both postal workers and telephone engineers, some established in the 1880s including Postmen’s Union, Postal Clerks Association, Fawcett Association, Postmen’s Federation, Sorter-Tracers Association, London Postal Bagmen’s Association, Messengers Association, Union of Post Office Workers, Post Office Engineering and Stores Association, Post Office Engineering Union, Union of Postal Workers,  PLUS other smaller and short-lived unions and associations.

Sub postmasters these were not employed by the post office. They were shopkeepers who offered post office services. They are not included in any appointment records or establishment books but there are some records which contain details of the running of individual sub post offices.

Letter carriers became postmen in 1883. Post women were not employed until after World War One.

Separate records exist for Scottish and Irish establishments and staff.

Mail Guards were the only employees of the Post office on a mail coach. Mail coaches were privately owned and under contract to the Post Office. Mail Guards Appointments exist between 1798 and 1847.

Until 1981 when BT came into existence all telephone engineers, telephone operators and those who worked in exchanges and scientific development were employed by the Post Office and records appear in standard key sources for any Post Office worker. Records for those who worked for the Post Office telephones and in 1981 transferred to BT do not record later employment details.

British Forces Post Office - The First Army Post Office was founded in 1808 during the Peninsular War. By 1882 Queen Victoria had established the Post Office Corp and the Army Postal Corp both of which amalgamated into the Royal Engineers Telegraph Reserve. In 1918 the first Air-Mail service to troops in Germany was established and adopted later by the international postal system to provide air mail services. In 1962 the BFPO was formed and began to recruit civilian personnel. Its service includes the Defence Courier Service. Records of earlier personnel can be found with the records of the Royal Engineers

The Post Office Rifles had its origins in the Fenian scare of 1867 after bombings in the name of Irish independence. In 1868 the War office sanctioned the formation of a 1000 strong regiment which became the 49th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers (Post Office Rifles). In 1880 a numbering change occurred and they became the 24th not the 49th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. In the 1899-1902 Boer War the Rifles were the largest volunteer force in South Africa. In 1908 they became the 8th bttn City of London Regiment. All of the soldiers were Post Office workers. Their service records can be found within the Army records at the National Archives.

Being a government department the records of the Post office and Royal Mail are deemed to be public records and the series codes are those used by the National Archives. However the records in the POST series are all held by the Post Office Archives (Discovery Room part of the Postal Museum).

Other useful tips

Try and find out when your ancestor was employed by the Post Office and more importantly the circumstances of leaving – retirement, marriage, dismissed, resigned etc.

The same document classes are used for most of the Post Office occupations – appointments, establishment, pensions & gratuities.

Pensions and Gratuities records before 1860 generally list senior and clerical grades only (before then, not everyone was eligible for a pension).

Indexes to pensions and gratuities are arranged by year of award and then surname. Employees usually retired at 60.

From 1860 up to c1940, pension and gratuity applications were sent to the Treasury. They give details of individuals’ careers, but do not contain personal information Not all records survive.  After November 1940, the Post Office granted pensions.

Appointment Books (POST 58) provide a register of all employees between 1831 and 1956 searchable online via ancestry.co.uk

Two books commemorating those who worked for the Postal Service and were killed or died during both World Wars have been digitised and made fully searchable,

The running the telegraph service became part of the Post Office in 1870. Young teenage boys were employed to deliver the messages, but anyone below the age of 18 were not always recorded.

You may have come across various roles in other family history records, such as census returns, certificates etc and you may not immediately associate the occupations with the Post office. Most of these relate to the Victorian era. This list does not include the obvious and common occupations.

• Agent –official stationed overseas to facilitate Post Office business and the passage of mail.
• Bag maker – Someone making new mailbags.
• Bagman – Sorter of empty mailbags at large Post office sorting depots.
• Boatman – Person at a harbour connected with the packet ship service.
• Cable hand – A manual worker in the Post Office telegraph service handling cables on board Post Office cable ships.
• Carman – Driver of a horse-drawn Royal mail vans and wagons.
• Commander of Telegraphs – A senior officers on board a cable-laying ship.
• Dispenser – A person working in the dispensary of the Post Office Medical Department.
• Ferryman – A contractor who operates a ferry service to carry mail in coastal waters.
• Hall Porter – A commissionaire usually at the public entrance of Post Office buildings
• Indian Mail Officer – A Clerk from London who personally accompanied mail to India as far as the Mediterranean mostly travelling with the mail by trains and cross-channel ferry to Brindisi in Italy.
• Letter Receiver – A local shopkeeper who provided a receiving house (sub post office) for the public to post letters and conduct related business.
• Letter Returner – A female official in the Returned Letter Office in London.
• Lobby Keeper or messenger – Someone dealing with the incoming and outgoing mail at a large sorting office.
• Marine mail guard – A person responsible for mail conveyed on board ship.
• Marine officer – A clerk employed in the Marine Mail Service. Sent to overseas locations to pre-sort mail being sent to England on board ships.
• Matron – A senior female official at the Central Telegraph Office in London.
• News distributor –An intelligence officer involved in ensuring the speedy telegraphic distribution of news to newspapers and press agencies.
• Overseer – A supervisor employed in sorting offices or the Travelling Post Office.
• Paper keeper – A clerk responsible for filing and record keeping. 
• Porter – A worker involved in manual handling of mails at a large sorting office or railway stations usually the loading, unloading and transfer of mailbags or other postal containers.
• Submarine superintendent –A senior engineer involved with undersea telegraph cable laying and the cable-ships.
• Tube attendant –A person working at the Central Telegraph Office dealing with the despatch or receipt of information sent via the pneumatic tubes ensuring messages were forwarded correctly.
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There were many other “specialist occupations” within the Post office system during both Victorian and Edwardian times.