Lynne About Loughborough: royal cipher

Showing posts with label royal cipher. Show all posts

Sunday, 9 October 2022

Loughborough's letterboxes, Pt 2

Last week we had a look at an interesting letterbox, of the pillar variety, in Loughborough, that did not have a royal cipher, known as an anonymous box. Ours has a low aperture for the insertion of letters, and is less common than those with a high aperture, and only around 200 of these remain in use. The low aperture also means we can date the box from between 1883, when the lower apertures came into use, and 1887, when the royal ciphers were included on the boxes.

Most pillar boxes do carry a royal cipher. These range from VR for Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901), EVIIR for Edward VII (reigned 1901-1910), GR for George V (reigned 1910-1936), EVIIIR for the short reign of Edward VIII (1936), GVIR for George VI (reigned 1936-1952), to EIIR for Elizabeth II (reigned 1952-2022). Any new boxes installed since the death of the queen will carry the cipher of King Charles III, i.e. CIIIR.

We are lucky in Loughborough to have boxes of all ages scattered around, apart from those installed during the reign of Edward VIII. To be fair, there are only around 150 of these still in existence around the country, so it's not surprising that we don't have any.

In respect of pillar boxes, I've only managed to locate two that were installed during the reign of Queen Victoria, but I'm sure there must be more!!! Although these two boxes are essentially the same, both having a low aperture, both bearing the words POST OFFICE, each word being either side of the aperture, both bearing the VR cipher, collection plate with moulded surround, and both bearing a lock on the right-hand side of the box with a metal strip just about discernible along the door opening, there are two differences.

The box which stands on Forest Road, on the left-hand side of the road as you come towards the town centre, just after the Wood Brook ends, where the road becomes two-way, only has a collection plate, whereas the box on Moor Lane, at its junction with Trinity Street, also has a collection number holder, at the top and to the right of the collection plate.

The other difference is that the box on Forest Road used to have a directional arrow on its top, which pointed the way to the nearest post box. I don't think the Moor Lane box had one of these (but to be truthful, the boxes are taller than me so I can't quite see on top, unless there is something most definitely sticking up!!!)

Sadly, the boxes have been re-painted so often, or the metalwork has started to corrode, so it's difficult to read the name of the maker that appears on the bottom portion of these boxes. I have a feeling though, that the Forest Road box might say Handyside, but am really not sure about the Moor Lane box.

Here are the two boxes in question:

Moor Lane VR box taken in 2014 (apologies for the blurriness)

The Forest Road VR box in 2017

The Forest Road VR box in 2019

The Forest Road VR box base in 2019

Next week we'll investigate some of the other pillar boxes around town.

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2022). Loughborough's letterboxes Part 2. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/10/loughboroughs-letterboxes-pt-2.html [Accessed 9 October 2022]

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Sunday, 2 October 2022

Loughborough's letterboxes, Pt 1

September seems to have flown away in no time at all, and left me wondering just what exactly has happened. I mentioned in an earlier post about some of the events that took place following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and there has been much discussion in the media about what happens with coins and banknotes, and postage stamps, which carry a picture of the queen's head.

While I was out shopping the other day, I happened to notice a headline in one of the national daily newspapers, about the royal ciphers that are on [most] postboxes across the country (and in other countries like Guernsey etc.). I've always been interested in postboxes, and have been a member of the Letter Box Study Group for many years, so it had not occurred to me that there might be any mystery behind the inscription and wording that appears on the boxes.

I've had a look through my photograph collection, and see that over the years I've taken many pictures of the postboxes in Loughborough, but not of all of them. So, I went out last week and took some pics of one specific postbox to share with you.

But first, perhaps I should say that the initials - sometimes intertwined, sometimes not - represent the initials of the monarch who was on the throne at the time the postbox was installed in its position. So, EIIR represents Queen Elizabeth II (where E is the initial of her first name, and R is for 'regina', meaning Queen, and II indicating that she was the second queen who had the name Elizabeth). You can see a similar cipher on the uniforms of the Beefeaters (Yeoman of the Guard).

Briefly, you will find the initials VR on postboxes installed during the reign of Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901); EVIIR on those placed when Edward VII was on the throne between 1901 and 1910, where in this case, the R is for 'rex' or king. The cipher for George V, however, who reigned from 1910-1936, is simply GR. Edward VIII was only on the throne for 325 days, so there are not many postboxes in existence that bear the initials EVIIIR.

George VI reigned from 1936 until 1952, and postboxes installed during this period bear the cipher GVIR. Once Queen Elizabeth was crowned, new postboxes carried the EIIR cipher, and now that King Charles III has taken the throne, any new postboxes created will be identified with CIIIR.

Postboxes came into being in 1852, but there was no standardised design until 1859, and even then that standardised design was regularly changed. Some of the early postboxes were made by Andrew Handyside, whose ironfounding firm was based in Derby, but the first standardised ones, between 1859-1866, were made by a firm called Cochrane, probably at their Woodside works near Dudley. Cochrane also made the distinctive Penfold boxes, designed by architect J.W. Penfold, between 1866-1879.

Anyway, back to the specific postbox which is the subject of this blog! Our postbox was created between 1879 and 1887, and in the year 2000, there were 300 of these boxes still standing. These boxes are known as anonymous boxes, because they do not carry any royal cipher! The initials on these should have been VR, but the Post Office, who were responsible for the design, admitted there had been an oversight. These boxes were created by Handyside, at his Britannia Works in Derby. Despite not having any cipher on the front, the boxes do carry the name of the company around the base, although in many cases the box has been re-painted so many times, that the embossed lettering is difficult, and in some cases impossible to read.

Here are some pictures of our anonymous postbox which can be found at the mini roundabout that links Park Road, as it leaves Royland Road, to Beacon Road.

Handyside Derby appears on the base

The top of the postbox

Posting aperture and collection plate

Well, that's one Loughborough postbox covered, only another 60ish to go!!!

Here's a link to Part 2 of the Loughborough letterbox blogposts.