Conflict

In wartime, one of the most important means of maintaining troops' morale is provision of an efficient mail service. Letters from family and loved ones at home are eagerly awaited, as is news from the front to those at home. In World War I this was the job of the Army Postal Service. 300 members travelled with the British Expeditionary Force to France in August 1914. By the end of the war this had grown to nearly 4,000 across all spheres of conflict.

The Post Office encouraged staff to enlist in the forces and 75,000 postal staff left their jobs to serve in World War I. 12,000 of these served in the Post Office's own battalions, the Post Office Rifles, and they fought and died bravely on the Western Front, one gaining a Victoria Cross.

In Ireland, the Easter Rising of April 1916 resulted in the destruction of the newly renovated GPO building in Dublin.

Conflict in peacetime took the form of strikes and protests. Protests by suffragettes disrupted postal services and transport strikes delayed the mail and gave rise to temporary express airmail services.

Mail Arriving at the Railhead

(below left) At the outbreak of war, all mails for units serving on the Western Front were sent to the Overseas Base Post Office, initially established at le Havre, where they were sorted.

Letters and parcels were then taken by rail to the Advanced Base Office near the front. At the railheads, the mail was transferred to supply trucks, which transported them to the troops.

By February 1915 all letter sorting was carried out at the Home Depot in London. This substantially shortened the delivery times. Mail that had taken an average of four days could sometimes be received the same day.