Royal Mail is the national postal service in the United Kingdom.
Royal Mail Group plc is a public limited company wholly owned by the British Government and has over 200,000 employees.
In 1969 it was converted from a government department, the General Post Office, to a nationalised industry. The office of Postmaster General was abolished.
In 1981 the British Telecommunications Act split the Post Office Corporation into two nationalised entities - the Post Office Ltd and British Telecom. British Telecom was later privatised.
In 2000 Royal Mail renamed itself to Consignia to much ridicule. The British Government set up a postal regulator Postcomm and offered licences to private companies to deliver mail. In 2002 Consignia changed its name back to Royal Mail.
1516: Royal Mail established by Henry VIII under Master of the Posts.\n*July 31, 1635: Royal Mail service first made available to the public by Charles I. Postage was paid by the recipient.\n*1654: Oliver Cromwell grants UK monopoly to "Office of Postage".\n*1657: Fixed postal rates introduced.\n*1660: General Post Office (GPO) officially established by Charles II.\n*1661: First use of date stamp. First Postmaster General appointed.\n*1784: First mail coach (between Bristol and London).\n*1793: First uniformed delivery staff.\n*1830: First mail train (on Manchester & Liverpool Railway).\n*1840: First adhesive stamp (the Penny Black).\n*1853: First post boxes erected in mainland Britain.\n*1854: Rowland Hill becomes Secretary to the Post Office.\n*1858: Ten London postal districts established.\n*1870: Post Office begins telegraph service.\n*1880: First use of bicycles to deliver mail.\n*1881: Postal order introduced.\n*1883: Parcel post begins.\n*1894: First picture postcards.\n*1912: Post Office opens national telephone service.\n*1917: London postal districts divided into numbered zones.\n*1919: First international air mail service.\n*1927: The London Post Office Underground Railway is opened.\n*1968: Two-class postal system introduced. National Giro bank opens.\n*1969: Post Office changes from government department to nationalised industry.\n*1974: Postcodes extended over all UK.\n*1979: Prestel videotex system launched\n*1981: Telecommunications services transferred to British Telecom.\n*1986: Royal Mail separated into letters, parcels and post office businesses.\n*1990: Girobank sold to the Alliance and Leicester Building Society.\n*2003: The London Post Office Underground Railway is closed.\n*2004: Abandonment, to much protest, of the second daily postal delivery.
