Edward VIII Post Box, Millroad Street near junction with Abercromby Street, Glasgow

A 1936 pillar box style, cast iron post box, probably made by the Carron Company, Stirlingshire. It is located on the north footpath of Millroad Street, near the junction with Abercromby Street in the Calton area of Glasgow.

The cylindrical cast iron pillar box is painted black at the base with a red shaft above. There is a swept frieze under a shallow domed cap which is dentilled at the rim. The full height left hinged door has a cup handle and lock to the right. The lower part of the door bears the cipher 'EVIIIR' in raised gothic lettering, with a crown above and 'Post Office' embossed below. There is a rectangular opening for letters and notice frame above. The words 'Next Collection' are embossed, to the left above the letter opening.

Historical development

The pillar post box was cast during the brief reign of Edward VIII in 1936. It is not shown on historic maps, indicating that it was likely installed elsewhere before being moved to its current location at some point after the mid 20th century.

A post box is shown on a National Grid map (surveyed 1951, published 1952), located one block to the south, on the corner of Stevenson Street and Abercromby Street. A post box is shown in this location from maps dating to the late-19th century (Ordnance Survey map surveyed 1892-93, published 1896) but this may have been replaced with an Edward VIII model in 1936. Historic images show that this post box remained on Stevenson Street until at least the 1970s or early 1980s but was later moved, possibly to the location of the current post box on Millroad Street.

The Royal Mail letter box was introduced following the reforms of the Postal Act of 1839. Rowland Hill was a social reformer who championed a single postage rate, paid for in advance, for any standard weight letters. Hill's postal reform model led to the creation of post offices and roadside letter boxes in all towns and villages in the country and standardised the cost of sending letters. The first free standing pillar box in the United Kingdom was introduced in 1852 in Jersey, the Channel Islands, and the boxes were extended to mainland Britain by 1853. The first cylindrical design pillar box was cast in 1879. The royal cipher forms part of the branding of the post box and the current monarch's monogram is normally added to every box erected during their reign. Exceptions to this include Scottish boxes erected from 1952 onwards, where the Scottish crown is used in place of the royal cipher.

Edward VIII came to the throne on 20th January 1936 and reigned for less than a year before his abdication on 10th December 1936. The majority of the wall post boxes that bore his royal cipher had their doors replaced with ones bearing that of George VI. However, the doors on pillar boxes were mostly left unaltered.

Images show that by 2010, this example on Millroad Street had an addition of a 'pouch box' to the eastern side but this was removed by 2023.