THE HISTORY OF AN POST
- An act of parliament in 1657 set up a Government monopoly of the postal services, which exists in the letter services to this day. No one is allowed to conduct a postal system apart from the Government.
- John Palmer introduced the mail coach service in Britain in 1784 and a similar service was set up in Ireland at this time. The post office now gained a reputation for reliability
- The year 1840 is a very important in the History of the postal service. The postal charges were extremely high. On the 10th of January 1840 it became possible to send a letter weighing not more than half an ounce anywhere in Britain and Ireland for a penny.
- Rowland Hill also introduced postage stamps. Until this time the person receiving the letter had to pay for the post.
- In 1861 savings bank business was introduced by the post office.
- In 1909 payment of old age pensions was started.
- A separate Irish post office re-emerged in 1922 after the War of Independence.
THE CROWENSTOWN POST BOX
Across the road from our school there is a post-box on the wall. This was the perimeter wall for the old school. On this post-box we noticed the letters "ER VII".
On investigation we discovered the E was for Edward, the R was for Rex, which is Latin for king and the VII are Roman numerals for 7. We wrote to the post master in Mullingar and he supplied us with the information about the post office
- Our post box was erected during the reign of Edward VII. He reigned from1901 –1910.The original post box would have been red. When the Irish Post Office re-emerged in 1922 all the post boxes were painted green.
- Edward V11 (1841-1910) King of Great Britain and Ireland and emperor of India (1901-1910).
- The Edwardian period is named after him. Edward was born on November 9,1841 in Buckingham Palace, London. He was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Edward travelled extensively in Russia and France. He made valuable personal contacts in political and social circles.
- In 1863 Edward married Alexandra, eldest daughter of King Christen IX of Denmark. Edward succeeded to the throne in 1901. From the beginning of his reign he had a policy of promoting international friendship in Europe, where political tension had been mounting.
- At home, his popularity was increased both as Prince of Wales and as King by his interest in sports, in particular yachting and horse racing; his horses won the Derby in 1896, 1900,and 1909 and the Grand National at Liverpool in 1900. Edward died at Buckingham Castle on May 6th 1910.
- His son George succeeded him as King George V.
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An Post
On the 1st of January 1984 An Post took over from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.
1984 was also the 200th anniversary of the original setting up of a separate Irish post office.
Mr.John Hynes heads the management of the company.
The organisation is one of the largest in the state employing 10,000 people.
An Post has
5,000 Postmen and women working from
2,000 Post offices and using.
1,700 Motor vehicles to collect mail from.
6,500 Points daily and delivering to.
Every household and business in the state.
S.D.S was established in 1990 as a business unit within An Post. It is dedicated to meeting the distribution needs of Irish business and the genenal public.
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