WHY PILLAR BOXES ARE PAINTED RED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 67, 30 December 1946, Page 6

WHY PILLAR BOXES ARE PAINTED RED

Why are pillar boxes and Post Office vans—and presumably fire engines—red? The secret is now out—released by the British General Post Office. The redness has no political significance—indeed, it was adopted long before politicians were divided into reds, pinks, and blues. Nor was it adopted to attract attention, or to brighten what otherwise might be unrelieved drabness.

The use of red, the G.P.O. tells us in a special release, has a historicol background. In early times red was the royal colour of England, and as the Post Office organisation had its origin in the royal couriers, established for the conveyance of the King’s despatches, . the royal colour was the natural choice of the British Postal Service. The uniform of the London General Post letter carriers in the latter part of the 18th century consisted of a scarlet cutaway coat, with blue lapels and cuffs, embellished with brass buttons. The issue of uniform was extended to other postmen and messengers, and the cutaway coat was replaced by a frock coat—still red. The red coat was discarded in 1861 and replaced by a blue coat with scarlet collar and cuffs and scarlet piping; the blue winter trousers also had a broad scarlet stripe, and the grey summer trousers had a scarlet cord stripe. Now all that remains of the royal red, so far as uniforms are concerned, is the thin red piping along seams or edges, except in the case of the doorkeepers at the Postmas-ter-General’s entrance to G.P.O. headquarters, London. He is still attired in the old time red frock coat. But the red pillar box remains throughout the Empire.