Britain got her first post boxes during the 1850s. Apart from a short period when we posted mail in ‘anonymous’ post boxes, so called as they did not carry a royal cipher, (sometimes spelled cypher), the Post Office quickly settled on using the cipher of the reigning monarch on all letter boxes.
Below left is the VR cipher that is found on Victorian pillar boxes, to the right is the more elaborate VR cipher found on hexagonal Penfold pillar boxes.
VR stands for Victoria Regina, regina being latin for queen, denoting that Queen Victoria was monarch when the box was installed. The cipher is the easiest way to approximately date a post box as you can link it to the monarch on throne at the time of casting and installation.
Above left is the VR wall box and right, is the fluted pillar box, both with a pared down Victorian cipher: the letters V and R separated by a crown.
Above left is the pillar box cipher of King Edward VII. This cipher, much like Edward, is bold and extravagant, on the right is the EVIIR wall box, which is much plainer. EVIIR explained: E is for Edward and R is for Rex (latin for king), the number seven written in Roman numerals tells us that he is the seventh British monarch named Edward.
Above left is the plain GR cipher that denotes the box was situated during the reign of King George V. He was a simple man and unlike his father chose a simple cipher and did not add the letter V, Roman numeral for number five, for he was the fifth King George. As seen with the two wall box examples above there were slight variations on the theme.
Note the GR Ludlow box above, its cipher is slightly more elaborate than the usual plain King George V emblem.
Above are three examples of the short-lived King Edward VIII – EVIIIR – cipher. King for less than a year, these are the rarest of the royal ciphers to locate.
Above are examples of the cipher of King George VI, he was son of George V and brother to Edward VIII. The gold-painted cipher in the centre is from a rare Type C box in the centre of London.
Above left is the EIIR royal cipher for Queen Elizabeth II and to the right the Scottish crown cipher of EIIR that is used north of the border. Scotland objected to the cipher of Queen Elizabeth II as they had never had a Queen Elizabeth I. Nationalists failed to notice at the time that they’d never had a King Edward VII or VIII for that matter, and they didn’t complain when their pillar boxes were placed in situ. Indeed, the first pillar box adorned with Edward VIII’s royal cipher was placed in Balmoral, Scotland.
Above are examples of lamp boxes placed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The first is an English cipher and then the most recently designed lamp box and cipher. Centre is the English version and to the right is the Scottish crown.
Further resources:
HistorianRuby: An Historian's Miscellany 
That’s fascinating- I will totally admit that I have never looked too closely at a post box in the UK (the An Post boxes in Ireland are pretty standard), but the next time I visit, I will be! Thank you for sharing 🙂
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You will find some of the early royal ciphers in Ireland – but it’s a bit contentious and they are painted green! I was not interested in the subject when I visited Ireland so I have no examples of them in my photograph collection!
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The is a green VR box at Drogheda railway station. I have a photo but no idea how to share it with you.
Paul
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That’s fab! I’d love to see it. Not sure if you’ve read any other of my posts – but Drogheda is where my grandparents came from! I’m not sure if you ‘contact me’ via email if a picture can be attached. It diverts to my personal email address.
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That was really fascinating thank you 😊
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Who would have known they were so complex!
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I know! I used to frequently drive past a couple of Victorian post boxes that sparked my interest. 🙂
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So interesting! Thank you!
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Hi, I’ve dropped by your blog because of a suggestion to check it out by AggieSoon. I wrote a blog post about postboxes and she left me a link here. I am missing Edward VIII from my collection and so I particularly like your photos!
Anyway, our conversation was here:https://wp.me/p2owKx-161
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Found a different one at Ardlui when walking the West Highland Way. a wall box in a brick standalone pillar – a crown with no monogram on the door – from other images I think this is the Scottish QEII version.
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Hi Ruby.
There is a V R post box built into a wall on the corner of, Culmington Road, and , Mattock Lane, in West Ealing, London. I noticed it because I took a photo of it for my Instagram page recently. I was pleased to find your article when trying to find information about these post box ciphers.
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I spotted a post box with GR and other with VR in my local area and wondered what they stood for . Did a search on Google and your blog appeared, thank you for explaining. Be interesting to see post boxes with Charles’ cipher
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Yes! I’m waiting for this too.
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Thank you for your fascinating article.
I too love post boxes and have been photographing my local ones. We have some wonderful VR, GR & ER V11 ones in rural Northumberland.
I do hate to see the badly placed “priority post” stickers on the beautiful old one!
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so are all anonymous postboxed pre-1850? I noticed my first one earlier this month in Eastbourne
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The anonymous pillars are generally Victorian, unless you find a large wall posting box that was attached to a former post office.
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I often see old post boxes whilst walking round Sussex, I have a photo of one I am unable to identify (possibly Edward VII) can I share a photo anywhere for others opinions
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You should be able to ask on the Letter Box Study Group’s social media.
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I found 3 of the VR Fluted pillar ones in the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia last month and have since been looking into them. much nicer to see than what the new ones look like. a shame the tradition has stopped here in Australia.
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