Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
General Post Office (United Kingdom)
- This article is about the British General Post Office. For other meanings see General Post Office (disambiguation). For a specific history of the British postal system, see: Royal Mail.
The British General Post Office (GPO) was officially established in 1660 by Charles II and it eventually grew to combine the functions of both the state postal system and telecommunications carrier. In 1969 it was converted from a government department to a nationalised industry. It was finally abolished in 1981. For a specific and current history of the postal system in the United Kingdom, see the article: Royal Mail.
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Brief history
The British General Post Office (GPO) was officially established as a monopoly in 1660 by Charles II and it eventually grew to combine the functions of both the state postal system and telecommunications carrier. In 1661 the office of Postmaster General was created to oversee the GPO which was initially responsible for delivery of communications by post which were known as the Royal Mail.
Senders and receivers
This early assignment of control of written communications was managed by a system of post offices which could be entered into the system by the sender, upon purchase of a license to mail in the form a postage stamp. From the post office of origination, all post was then sent via an ever expanding service of delivery systems to distribution points called sorting stations, and from there the post was then sent on for delivery to the receiver of the post.
Electronic senders and electronic receivers
It was this early concept of sender and receiver that allowed the General Post Office to take control of the posts, and then in 1870 to take control of the telegraph, followed by the telephone; wireless telegraph and wireless telephone. This latter expansion then incorporated wireless broadcasting which was non-specific in terms of delivery from sender to receiver but could be interpreted today as mass mailing or even an early form of spam communications.
Electronic post offices
The theory used to expand state control of the mail service into every form of electronic communication possible, was based upon the idea that every sender used some form of distribution service. These distribution services, like sorting stations were considered in law as forms of electronic post offices. This applied to telegraph and telephone switching stations. At first the GPO referred to all broadcasting transmitters as senders, while individual receivers retained that name. Like the mail, everything was licensed by the General Post Office under the terms of its Royal Charter.
Control of broadcasting
This theory ran into trouble when wireless telephone broadcasting was invented, because the senders were not addressing any specific recipient. However, this theory was accepted and made into law and it resulted in an extension of GPO monopoly over all forms of electronic communication.
In 1922 all electrical manufacturers were forced by the GPO to created a single and licensed British Broadcasting Company (BBC). In 1927, the original BBC was disolved when a Royal Charter was given to a new GPO licensed British Broadcasting Corporation.
Problems with monopoly control
From the start the GPO had trouble with competitive pirate radio broadcasters who found their own ways of delivering electronic messages to British receivers, without first obtaining a GPO license. These competitors were well aware of the fact that the GPO would never grant them such a license. To police these unlicensed stations the GPO evolved its own force of detectives and "detector vans".
Constant unlicensed competition
Before World War II the GPO faced broadcasting competition from the continent of Europe with stations such as Radio Normandy and Radio Luxembourg aiming their signals at British receivers. After WWII competition was renewed by Radio Luxembourg which was joined in the 1960s by radio stations located on board ships and marine structures. Unlicensed transmitters also began to appear on land within the British Isles.
GPO disolved
In 1969 the General Post Office was converted from a government department with a Royal Charter to a nationalised industry. It was finally abolished in 1981 when the British Telecommunications Act split the Post Office Corporation into two nationalised entities. Mail delivery was eventually assigned to a new Post Office entity which eventually settled on using the name Royal Mail and electronic communications were assigned to British Telecom and other entities.
See also:
External links
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