WHY PILLAR BOXES ARE PAINTED RED

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5285, 23 December 1946, Page 3

WHY PILLAR BOXES ARE PAINTED RED

Why are pillar boxes ,and Post Office vans — and presumably fire engines — red ? The seeret is now out — veleased by che British General Post Office. The redncss has no political significancc — in leed, it was adopted long before politicians were dividcd into leds, pinks, and blues. Nor was it adopted to attract attention, or to/ brighton what otherwise might be unrelievcd drabness. The nse of red, the G.P.O. tells us in a special release, has a historical baekground. In early times red «was the royal colour of England, and as the Post Office organisation had its origin in the royal eouriers, established for the conveyance of the King's despatches, tho 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 )i|i'ass buttons. The issue of i uniform was extended to other postmen and messcngers, and the cut-away coat was replaeed hy a frock coat — still red. The i*ed coat was discarded in 18G1 and replaeed by a blue coat with scarlet eollar and cuffs and scarlet piping; the blue winter tilousers also had a broad scailet stripe, and the grey summer trouseiw had a scarlet cord stripe. Now all that remains of the royal red, so far as unifonns are concerned, is the thin red piping along seams or edges, except in the case of the doorkeeper at the Postmaster-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.