A look at Stamford's rare set of postboxes with cyphers dating back to the Victorian era
As the first letters with King Charles III's cypher are sent out, we take a look at Stamford's rare set of postboxes.
The King’s new cypher was revealed earlier this week and over the coming years it will gradually appear on postboxes as well as government buildings and state documents.
The process will be a gradual one, with the new postboxes likely to be located in new housing estates rather than replacing existing ones.
Cyphers of previous monarchs can still be seen on postboxes in use today, with Stamford boasting a full set of them including the rare Edward VIII cypher.
Queen Victoria - 1837 to 1901
The postboxes with the Queen Victoria cypher are the oldest within the town.
The Victorian era postboxes can be identified by an interlaced VR cypher, such as this one in St Mary's Street.
Postboxes prior to 1879 had the VR cypher of Queen Victoria but this was accidentally omitted from then until 1887.
Edward VII - 1901 to 1910
Edward VII was 59 when he became King but died just nine years later aged 68 of suspected pneumonia.
Despite reigning for only nine years the postal network was expanding at the time so a number of interesting boxes exist.
The earliest Edwardian boxes were modified from the Victorian designs, but throughout his reign the elaborate scroll cipher of Edward VII was adopted and began to appear on post boxes such as those boxes in Cherryholt Road and St Paul's Street.
George V - 1910 to 1936
King George was described as a 'simple man' and kept his cypher very basic. He also did not add the letter V, the Roman numeral for five.
One of the postboxes displaying his cypher can be seen in Ermine Way.
Edward VIII - 1936
The rarest cypher to see on a postbox is that of Edward VIII.
His reign lasted only 325 days so there are very few Edward VIII postboxes in the country.
After his abdication, a number of boxes bearing his cypher were modified or replaced. It is estimated that under 200 remain.
However, this postbox from Edward VIII's reign can be spotted in Ryhall Road.
George VI - 1936 to 1952
George VI became King unexpectedly following the abdication.
There are still a number of boxes from his reign including this one in Tinwell Road.
Elizabeth II - 1952 to 2022
Almost 60 per cent of postboxes in use today are from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Boxes already under construction or ready for installation will continue to have the late Queen's cypher, Royal Mail says.
The separate characters of EIIR stand for Queen Elizabeth II.
King Charles - 2022
The King’s cypher features the initial C intertwined with the letter R for Rex – Latin for King – with III within the R denoting Charles III, with the crown above the letters.
The popular local Facebook page Frank Newbon’s History of Stamford often shares pictures of postboxes around the town allowing people to guess where they are located.
Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II there has been a flurry of interest on the page about postboxes.
The Frank Newbon founder, who keeps an air of mystery by remaining anonymous to his followers, has walked around Stamford to see if they could locate a postbox from each royal era.
"I used to put pictures of postboxes on every week. I saved them up until I had a photo of every postbox in town," they said.
"When I saw the postbox in Ryhall Road I realised Stamford had got the whole lot.
"I think it is quite cool as I don't know how many small market towns would."
