Early Post Box

Picture of an early post box in Leeds, Yorkshire

Walking past this post box in Little London, Leeds this afternoon I thought there was something odd about it. It took me a few seconds to realise what was unusual, there was no royal cipher and the words post office were missing.

What looks at first glance to be a pretty common post box is actually nothing of the sort. It was made by Andrew Handyside and Company of Derby who were one of the first companies to make the then new standard post box in cast iron in 1879. The early pillar boxes of this period have a high aperture and no royal cipher and are known as anonymous post boxes.

All the later post boxes or pillar boxes had from 1887 the Royal cipher, firstly of Queen Victoria and later after her death that of Edward VII and so on till the current monarch Queen Elizabeth II. There is a later post box with the cipher of Edward VII here in Woodhouse, Leeds.

I am not sure why but this post box is very high out of the ground, normally you can see less of the bottom section that is painted black.