Pallisers, Barchester, and PO Boxes

A couple of days ago baldeagle passed on a request from nobleMaggie for a Guernsey postbox. So here we are (with "get well soon" to her!

I guess she knows the history. The advent of the British wayside letter box can be traced to Sir Rowland Hill, Secretary of the Post Office, and his Surveyor for the Western District, and noted novelist, Anthony Trollope. Hill sent Trollope to the Channel Islands to ascertain what could be done about the problem of collecting the mail on a pair of islands. The problems identified in the Channel Islands were caused by the irregular sailing times of the Royal Mail packet boats serving the islands due to weather and tides.

Trollope came here in 1852 and devised the idea of collection boxes and so Guernsey received its first three pillar boxes on February 8, 1853.

It all started here.

By the way, the mystery of the missing guernsey flag? Pete was right. It HAD blown away, and is now replaced!