Grow Your Family Tree
Think you had relatives that worked in the postal service? Nick Peers shows how the web can help you…
Find Royal Mail ancestors
Did any of your ancestors work for the Royal Mail? They may have been posties, worked behind the counter or served in the sorting office. You might know this from stories told by other family members, or perhaps you’ve found out while examining other records listing their employment – for example, one of the censuses, their service record from World War I, or the 1939 Register.
Trace your ancestors’ career path
You should start your search in the Postal Service Appointment Books collection, which covers 1737 to 1969, and lists every employee within the organisation.
It’s available only with an Ancestry Premium membership (£13.99 per month): www.snipca.com/38556.
Results reveal the employee’s name, as well as when and where they were appointed. Records after 1866 also noted the person’s role – click the ‘View image’ button to the right of a result entry to view a scan of the original document.
Any abbreviated terms are explained in the Postal Museum’s Family History Guide (there’s a link to it on the collection’s main page). We think the ‘C.A’ in the screenshot below left stands for ‘Clerical assistant’.
Sadly, these are the only employment records available online, but the Postal Museum (based in central London) holds additional resources, including pension records. From 1860 to 1940 these included brief summaries of each employee’s career. You can make an appointment to see them in person at www. snipca.com/38680.