Building    From 23/9/1829  To 1910

General Post Office

Categories: Commerce

The first general post office in London opened in 1643, after King Charles I legalised use of the royal posts for private correspondence. It was possibly located on Cloak Lane near Dowgate Hill, in the City.

Later, in 1678, the General Post Office moved from Bishopsgate Street to a building in Abchurch Lane and remained there until the opening of this building on the east side of St. Martins-le-Grand in 1829, designed by Robert Smirke. Here Trollope began work as a junior clerk and here Rowland Hill transformed the Post Office into an efficient, greatly-loved institution.

Quoting from Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844, Victorian London describes this building and adds: "Here is the head of this vast establishment; but there are four branch offices, - at Lombard Street; Charing Cross; Cavendish Street, Oxford Street; and 266. Borough High Street."

In the 1870s a new building was created on the west of St Martins-le-Grand to house the telegraph department. This was expanded to the north in the 1890s. The magnificent Smirke building was closed and demolished in 1912. All that remains is an Ionic capital outside the Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow.

The National Telephone Company, created in 1881 out of a number of small local telephone companies, was taken over by the GPO in 1912.

The1870s building was the General Post Office headquarters 1894 - 1984.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
General Post Office

Commemorated ati

General Post Office capital

185cm high x 160cm wide x 160cm deep and over 5 tons.

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General Post Office plaque

The General Post Office moved from Bishopsgate Street to a building on this s...

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GPO architectural sculpture

Immediately north of this panel are 7 other similar architectural panels rela...

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Penfold pillar box - EC1

Painted in the authentic green then in use, this is a reproduction of the Pen...

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
General Post Office

Creations i

Michael Faraday - N7 - plaque

This plaque was first erected in the Sandemanian Chapel, at the same time, 19...

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Other Subjects

Sebastian Earl

Sebastian Earl

We really don't know if the Sebastian Earl who unveiled the stone at the Hornsey YMCA is the rowing businessman with the same name but the dates look right and it's an unusual name. Our colleague, ...

Person, Commerce, Sport / Games

1 memorial
Peter the Great Company of St Petersburg

Peter the Great Company of St Petersburg

We can find nothing about this but guess it is some offshoot of the Russian embassy.

Group, Commerce, Politics & Administration, Russia

1 memorial
The Three Cripples public house

The Three Cripples public house

Pub in Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist".

Fiction, Commerce, Fictional, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Pasqua Rosée

Pasqua Rosée

Manservant brought to London from Ottoman Smyrna by his employer, Daniel Edwards, a dealer in coffee and other goods from the east. Rosée is variously described as being Armenian or from Sicily. Ro...

Person, Commerce, Armenia, Italy

1 memorial