Carrier Pigeon

ROYAL MAIL TIMELINE

1516: Royal Mail established by Henry VIII under Master of the Posts.
1635: Royal Mail service first made available to the public by Charles I.
1654: Oliver Cromwell grants monopoly over service in England to “Office of Postage”.
1657: Fixed postal rates introduced.
1660: General Post Office (GPO) officially established by Charles II.
1661: First use of date stamp. First Postmaster General appointed.
1784: First mail coach (between Bristol and London).
1793: First uniformed delivery staff. Post Office Investigation Branch formed, the oldest recognised criminal investigations authority in the world.
1830: First mail train (on Liverpool and Manchester Railway).
1840: First adhesive stamp (the Penny Black).
1852: First Post Office pillar box erected in Jersey.
1853: First post boxes erected in mainland Britain.
1857: First wall boxes installed Shrewsbury and Market Drayton
1870: Post Office begins telegraph service.
1870: Post Office Act banned sending of `indecent or obscene` literature
1880: First use of bicycles to deliver mail.
1881: Postal order introduced.
1883: Parcel post begins.
1894: First picture postcards.
1912: Post Office opens national telephone service.
1919: First international air mail service.
2007: Justin Solitrin sends out 9 postcards from Epping, England bound for points across the continental U.S.