When was the first postcode used

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Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. The Introduction of Postal Codes As far back as the early 19th century, people were using post towns and county names to help their mail reach its intended recipients. News Categories. Related News Stories. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.

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During the winter of , the Postmaster General a Cabinet-level ministerial position in Government approved the introduction of postcode classifications for "every provincial town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it", so all businesses and householders were sent notification of the introduction, letting them know what their postcode district was, and a campaign was started in to encourage people to use their postcode.

Every postbox had a poster asking users to include their postcode on their mail. In the 's The Post Office started using electromechanical post sorting machines to help speed up the process of sorting mail.

These machines processed letters, presenting an item of mail to a human operator, who would then sort the letter into the appropriate 'bin'. The addition of postcodes sped up the process, and no longer meant that the operator had to remember the correct sorting for the mail.

During the late 50's the Post Office conducted research into the attitudes of the general public with regards to using postcodes, and following a positive result they decided to extend postcodes to the remainder of the UK, which lasted at least another decade. In the addition of 'outward codes' were first seen - initially in Croydon , London. The codes consisted of the first three characters known as the inward code , a space, then the last three characters, which formed the basis of the modern postcode.

When it was expanded across the country, any existing postal districts were incorporated into the new system. In London districts were also incorporated into the system, and the remaining 60 percent of Greater London were given new allocated postcodes under the system. Back in the 15th century letters addressed to the King and Queens of England were carried by couriers.

In it was laid down that mail could only be carried and delivered by persons authorised by the Postmaster General, and in the Royal Mail service was made available to the public, announced by Charles I, and operated by Thomas Witherings, an English merchant and politician.

In the 's the monopoly was given to Edmund Prideaux, parliamentarian and lawyer who eventually became attorney-general. An act introduced in introduced a new system for Britain, which was entitled "Postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland Settled".

The first Royal Mail coach ran in , and operated between the cities of London and Bristol. At this time the Post Office Investigation Branch was introduced, and claims to be the oldest recognised criminals investigations authority in the world.

Since their widespread introduction almost 50 years ago, postcodes have been used to get deliveries to the correct address, describe areas and localities, and as an effective way to geocode and map other data.

It all started during the reign of Queen Victoria. In the population was just over 1 million, but by the population was over 6 million. The amount of post carried reflected the rise in population. In The Postmaster General, Charles Canning, set up a committee to investigate how best to divide London in order to route and distribute mail more efficiently.

The problem was not trivial, in the London population of about 3 million received million items of post. This was divided into 10 districts. So how does this collection of letters and numbers fit together to make a rational and reliable system? Let's take a look at an example:. Of course each element has a lot more too it than that, so let's look at each in more detail from largest to smallest. Please keep in mind that the postcode network is constantly changing and this data is just a snapshot at the time of writing - November A map showing each element making up the postcode YO30 5QW from general postcode area down to specific postcode unit.

Click on the image for a larger version. They are usually named as a mnemonic to identify the area or Post Town they cover. Most of the names are obvious but there are some mismatches, for example Rochester in Kent has an area code of ME for Medway and Lerwick in Shetland has a code of ZE for Zetland an archaic spelling of Shetland.

London developed a postal code system in the 19th century, so area codes in London are taken from the earlier system. Almost 3, postal districts cover the UK. Postcode Districts are used to subdivide postal areas and help route mail to its sorting office. Districts fall into areas. On average there are 23 districts in an area. The actual number varies between 3 and Each one varies in size and population quite considerably.

The UK has about 11, postal sectors. Sectors are used in the inbound code to help pick the delivery round. There are between 1 and 10 sectors to make a district. On average each district has 3 sectors. A unit postcode describes a street or part of street, a single address, a group of properties, a subsection of a property or an individual organisation or department within an organisation.

There are more than 1. This number changes regularly as around 2, postcodes are created and 2, are terminated each month. The allocation of postcodes depends on the amount of mail received.

Large users of mail such as the DVLA have different postcodes for different departments. The unit postcodes are used to find about 30 million actual addresses or delivery points, the minimum number of delivery points for a postcode is one, the maximum is , and on average the postcode is allocated to 17 delivery points.

There are on average postcodes to each sector: the most being , the least is 1. That leaves 20 for each letter.

Since their inception, postcodes have become more than just a tool to help address mail. As postcodes nest into sectors, districts and areas, the postcode has become a handy label to define geographical locations. Postcode boundaries provide a convenient way to tie people into manageable groups with similar lifestyles and outlooks to form the building blocks of geodemographic analysis.

See our blog on geodemographic analysis Although postcodes focus on addresses, their aggregated groupings and boundaries provide an ideal building block for geographic analysis. Most businesses have data that is attached to postcode information.

This could be customer records, or sales receipts for a store where the customers are most likely to travel to. Having data attached to postcodes opens up analysis and comparisons using census or other demographic data. Our own GIS systems can use postcodes as their geographical key.

Read about our work with postcode mapping Postcodes are a far more accessible reference than coordinates or longitude and latitude making them ideal for setting departure and destination points in navigation tools. However, the sheer number of postcodes means that when you move beyond individual journeys, for business or fleet logistics planning the calculations required quickly become unmanageable.

See our blog on postcode sector-based journey planning In existence in some form for more than 1, years, the divisions are based on long-standing counties and parish boundaries, which have themselves changed and been sub-divided over the centuries. This reference source ties postcodes to census and other demographic datasets. Read our blog exploring the history and use of administrative geography As you can see, postcodes have developed into far more than just a means of directing your post, they have become a fundamental building block for navigation, logistics and economic operation.

Postcode mapping for business is what we do, so forgive us if we seem a little too passionate about the subject, but I'm sure you'll agree, there really is a lot to the humble postcode. We've spent more than 25 years working with postcode geography and postcode mapping. If you'd like to see if we can help your business, please get in touch.