The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

-level ministerial position in

HM Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...

. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the

Telegraph Act 1868 The Telegraph Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c.110) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It paved the way for the British state to take over telegraph companies and/or their operations. It has been effectively repealed (only s.1, provi ...

established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

s. This would subsequently extend to

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

and broadcasting. The office was abolished in 1969 by the

Post Office Act 1969 The Post Office Act 1969 (c.48) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that changed the General Post Office from a department of state to a public corporation, known as the Post Office. It also abolished the office of Postmaster Gener ...

. A replacement

public corporation A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

, governed by a chairman, was established under the name of the ''

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

'' (later subsumed by

Royal Mail Group , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

). The cabinet position of ''Postmaster General'' was replaced by a ''Minister of Posts and Telecommunications'', with reduced powers, until 1974; most regulatory functions have now been delegated to the

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department f ...

. However the present-day Royal Mail Group was overseen by the

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...

prior to flotation.

History

In England, the monarch's letters to his subjects are known to have been carried by relays of couriers as long ago as the 15th century. The earliest mention of ''Master of the Posts'' is in the ''King's Book of Payments'' where a payment of £100 was authorised for

Brian Tuke Sir Brian Tuke (died 1545) was the secretary of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey. He became treasurer of the household. Life He may have been the son of Richard Tuke (died 1498?) and Agnes his wife, daughter of John Bland of Nottinghamshire. Th ...

as master of the posts in February 1512. Belatedly, in 1517, he was officially appointed to the office of ''Governor of the King's Posts'', a precursor to the office of Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. In 1609 it was decreed that letters could only be carried and delivered by persons authorised by the Postmaster General. In 1655

John Thurloe John Thurloe (June 1616 – 21 February 1668) was an English politician who served as secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell and held the position of Postmaster General between 1655 and 1660. ...

became Postmaster-General, a post he held until he was accused of treason and arrested in May 1660. His spies were able to intercept mail, and he exposed

Edward Sexby Colonel Edward Sexby (or Saxby; 1616 – 13 January 1658) was an English Puritan soldier and Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell. Later he turned against Cromwell and plotted his assassination. Biography Sexby was born in Suffolk in 1616, b ...

's 1657 plot to assassinate Cromwell and captured would-be assassin

Miles Sindercombe Miles Sindercombe (died 13 February 1657) was the leader of a group that tried to assassinate Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell during the period of the Protectorate in 1657. Early military career Sindercombe was born in Kent and was apprenticed to ...

and his group. (Ironically, Thurloe's own department was also infiltrated: his secretary

Samuel Morland Sir Samuel Morland, 1st Baronet (1625 – 30 December 1695), or Moreland, was an English academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician of the 17th century, a polymath credited with early developments in relation to computing, hydraulics and ...

became a Royalist agent and in 1659 alleged that Thurloe,

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. On his father's death ...

and Sir Richard Willis - a Sealed Knot member turned Cromwell agent - were plotting to kill the future King Charles II.) About forty years after his death, a false ceiling was found in his rooms at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, the space was full of letters seized during his occupation of the office of Postmaster-General. These letters are now at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

. In 1657 an Act entitled 'Postage of England, Scotland and Ireland Settled' set up a system for the British Isles and enacted the position of Postmaster General. The Act also reasserted the postal monopoly for letter delivery and for post horses. After the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1660, a further Act (12 Car II, c.35) confirmed this and the post of Postmaster-General, the previous

Cromwellian Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

Act being void. General-Letter-Office-1653-London

1660 saw the establishment of the General Letter Office, which would later become the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...

(GPO). A similar position evolved in the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland (; , ) was a sovereign state in northwest Europe traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a la ...

prior to the 1707 Act of Union. The office was abolished in 1969 by the

. A new public corporation, governed by a chairman, was established under the name of the

(the part later subsumed by

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

), which also had responsibility for

and the

Girobank National Girobank was a British public sector financial institution run by the General Post Office that opened for business in October 1968. It started life as ''National Giro'' then ''National Girobank'' and finally ''Girobank plc'' be ...

). The cabinet position of Postmaster General was initially replaced by a Minister of Posts and Telecommunications with less direct involvement; this department was dissolved in March 1974, with regulatory functions transferring to the Home Office, the Post Office retaining control of

television licensing A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...

. Since 1992, most regulatory functions formerly conducted by the Postmaster General generally fall within the remit of the

, although the present-day

was overseen by the

until flotation.

Masters of the King's Post

Postmaster under the Commonwealth

Postmasters General of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom

The earliest postmasters had responsibility for

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

. In 1707, on the Union with Scotland, the responsibility of the office was extended to cover the whole of the new

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

as well as Ireland, but with some powers held by a Post Office Manager for Scotland. By the

Post Office (Revenues) Act 1710 The Post Office (Revenues) Act 1710 (9 Ann c 11) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which established post offices A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and ...

, with effect from 1711, the services were united, but with a Deputy Postmaster for Scotland. From 1784, there were also

Postmasters General of Ireland The Postmasters General of Ireland, held by two people simultaneously, was a new appointment set up as part of the establishment of the Irish Post Office independent from that of Great Britain, by the Act 23, 24 George III in 1784. The post las ...

, but from 1831, the postmasters based at Westminster became responsible for the whole of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...

.''Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge: Vol. VIII'' (London: W. & R. Chambers, Ltd., 1901)
p. 347
/ref> In 1922, the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

became independent, and in 1923 it established its own arrangements under a Postmaster General of the Irish Free State. In 1924 the title became

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs ( ga, Aire Poist agus Telegrafa) was the holder of a position in the Government of Ireland (and, earlier, in the Executive Council of the Irish Free State). From 1924 until 1984 – when it was abolished � ...

Two Postmasters General, 1691–1823

From 1691 to 1823 there were two Postmasters General, to divide the patronage between the Whigs and Tories.

A single Postmaster General, 1823–1900

In 1823 the idea of a Whig and a Tory sharing the post was abolished.

Postmaster General, 1900–1969

Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, 1969-1974

References

External links

Postmaster General PDF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postmaster General Of The United Kingdom Lists of government ministers of the United Kingdom Postal system of the United Kingdom United Kingdom Postmasters General Defunct ministerial offices in the United Kingdom Ministries disestablished in 1969 1517 establishments in England