Jersey Pillar Box

1852 · Letter Box · Work 153 of 1,871

Jersey Pillar Box, 1852, Letter Box

The first cast iron pillar box standing on a street corner in Saint Helier on Jersey, a fluted column with a vertical posting slot, a royal cipher panel and a hinged door for collection.

What it was used for
Four cast-iron pillar letter boxes in St Helier, Jersey, in use from 23 November 1852. They were ordered from John Vaudin by George Creswell, Surveyor for the Western District - seven in all, four for Jersey and three for St Peter Port on Guernsey. Anthony Trollope was then a Surveyor's Clerk, sent to the Channel Islands by the Post Office in 1851. The purpose was simply that letters could be posted in the street instead of carried to the post office. The States of Jersey give the sites as Bath Street, New Street, Elizabeth Place and St Clement's Road; other lists differ. The boxes stood on granite bases and were painted red.
What was new
The first roadside letter boxes in the British postal service, not in the world: France and Belgium already had them, and on Paul Wicks's account Rowland Hill had proposed them for Britain in 1840, twelve years before Jersey. The Postal Museum writes cautiously that it is probable Trollope saw such boxes on his travels. In his Autobiography of 1883 Trollope calls himself the originator of this accommodation in the streets and ways of England, and separates that from having got the authority for the first ones at St Heliers - he claims no invention; the Dictionary of National Biography wrote in 1899 that he claims the credit. The barb is the colour. The Jersey boxes were red; by 1859 green had become general, and in 1874 the Post Office ordered a return to red, because the green boxes were hard to find. Of the four boxes of 1852, according to the States of Jersey and The Postal Museum, none survives.

Connections

Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.

  1. Follows fromPenny Black1840The Postal Museum draws the line itself: in 1840 uniform penny post opened the postal system to almost every person in Britain, use multiplied rapidly, and as a result the earlier systems for collecting, sorting and delivering letters had to change - one such change being the means of people posting letters. Before that: carry the letter to a Receiving House or wait for the Bellman.Source: The Postal Museum: Letter boxes, Abschnitt 'Postal Reform' und 'Before Road-Side Letter Boxes' (Seite blockt WebFetch mit 403; am 16.9.2026 per direktem Download gelesen)

Further reading