On my quest for the old, I have been taking a journey around the Royal Mail post boxes of Bedford over the last couple of days. I thought my mission was complete before 9 this morning, having taken a diversion on my way to the gym and locating my missing George VI cipher. However, I subsequently decided I wanted something quite up to date and so took myself to the sorting office. A distinct lack of Royal reference on the rudimentary letter boxes here. Similar disappointment at the old main post office where all the boxes were closed off, out of use and without a hint of style. So my final ER came from a modern box inside what now serves as the main post office in the back of a general store in town.
So, we have:
Royal Cypher of Queen Victoria (pre 1901) two different styles
Royal Cypher of Edward VII (1901-1910)
The gap in place of the Edward VIII who in 1936 came to the throne but then abdicated in favour of Mrs Simpson (I realise this gap comes out of sequence now! Apparently, most of the boxes with this cypher were removed although a few remain up and down the country)
Royal Cypher and crown of King George V (1910 -1936) the one in Gold is the box in Bedford painted gold in celebration of the success of Olympic Gold winner Etienne Stott - mens double canoe slalom 2012. There are around a 100 of these around the country dedicated to our winners when the games were held in GB.
Royal Cypher and crown of King Geroge V1 (1936-52)
Royal Cypher and crown of Queen Elizabeth II (1952 - )
I have quite enjoyed my history excursions this week, thanks to the 'something old' theme. Today's old starts with Queen Victoria and ends with our living Queen who is Britain's longest reigning monarch and celebrates her 90th birthday this year.
Thanks for bearing with me in the history lessons. Normal service should resume tomorrow.
Wow! A fabulous collage and very interesting historical information! I was sure to share this with my husband who is always interested in this sort of thing. We are both impressed with the time and effort you took to create this collage and provide the accompanying information. Well done, Helen! Fav for sure!
What a great collection. You were definitely on a mission here and a great result.
Interesting thing - In Australia the E2R post boxes just have ER on them. The reason being is that Australia wasn't discovered when Elizabeth 1 was around, so Elizabeth II is the first Queen of Australia.
@onewing@marshwader@gaylewood Glad you were interested. I enjoyed my escapade but don't think I will be committing myself to future post box studies although I am tempted to seek out George V1 - we do sometimes go to Worcestershire and we do sometimes base a visit to places on the most obscure reasons. I looked out the Dull Men of Great Britain club. Quite an amusing collection of dull interests - I think I would draw the line at watching paint dry! I think the Scottish boxes are ER and not EIIR as well as Australia - Elizabeth I wasn't their Queen either.
March 20th, 2016
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Very interesting narrative too.
Interesting thing - In Australia the E2R post boxes just have ER on them. The reason being is that Australia wasn't discovered when Elizabeth 1 was around, so Elizabeth II is the first Queen of Australia.