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Postmaster General of the United Kingdom
Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government General Post Office
Albert Illingworth 1916–1921
Style	Postmaster General
Appointer	Monarch of the United Kingdom on advice of their Prime Minister
Precursor	Master of the King's Post
Formation	1517
First holder	Brian Tuke as Master of the King’s Post
Final holder	John Stonehouse
Abolished	1969
Succession	overseen by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs. This would subsequently extend to telecommunications and broadcasting.

The office was abolished in 1969 by the Post Office Act 1969. A replacement public authority governed by a chairman was established under the name of the "Post Office (that part subsumed by Royal Mail)". The position of "Postmaster General" was, with reduced powers, replaced with "Minister of Posts and Telecommunications"; since which most such regulation instead has been delegated to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport however the present-day Royal Mail Group was overseen by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills prior to flotation.

History

In England, the monarch's letters to his subjects are known to have been carried by relays of couriers as long ago as the 15th century. The earliest mention of Master of the Posts is in the King's Book of Payments where a payment of £100 was authorised for Brian Tuke as master of the posts in February 1512.^[1] Belatedly, in 1517, he was officially appointed to the office of Governor of the King's Posts, a precursor to the office of Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, by Henry VIII.^[2] In 1609 it was decreed that letters could only be carried and delivered by persons authorised by the Postmaster General.^[3]

In 1657 an Act entitled 'Postage of England, Scotland and Ireland Settled' set up a system for the British Isles and enacted the position of Postmaster General. The Act also reasserted the postal monopoly for letter delivery and for post horses. After the Restoration in 1660, a further Act (12 Car II, c.35) confirmed this and the post of Postmaster-General, the previous Cromwellian Act being void.

The former site of the General Letter Office in London

1660 saw the establishment of the General Letter Office, which would later become the General Post Office (GPO).^[3] A similar position evolved in the Kingdom of Scotland prior to the 1707 Act of Union.

The office was abolished in 1969 by the Post Office Act 1969.^[3] A new public authority governed by a chairman was established under the name of the Post Office (however, the part later subsumed by Royal Mail). The position of Postmaster General was initially replaced with Minister of Posts and Telecommunications with less direct involvement; since this most regulatory functions formerly conducted by the Postmaster General generally fall within the remit of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, although the present-day Royal Mail Group is overseen by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Masters of the King's Post

Postmaster under the Commonwealth

Postmasters General of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom

The earliest Postmasters had responsibility for England and Wales. In 1707, on the Union with Scotland, the responsibility of the office was extended to cover the whole of the new Kingdom of Great Britain as well as Ireland, but with some powers held by a Post Office Manager for Scotland. By the Post Office (Revenues) Act 1710, with effect from 1711, the services were united, but with a Deputy Postmaster for Scotland. From 1784, there were also Postmasters General of Ireland, but from 1831, the Postmasters based at Westminster became responsible for the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.^[5] In 1922, the Irish Free State became independent, and in 1923 it established its own arrangements under a Postmaster General of the Irish Free State. In 1924 the title became Minister for Posts and Telegraphs.

Two Postmasters General

From 1691 to 1823 there were two Postmasters General, to divide the patronage between the Whigs and Tories.

A single Postmaster

In 1823 the idea of a Whig and a Tory sharing the post was abolished.^[6]

Postmaster-General, 1931–1969

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	William Ormsby-Gore		14 August 1931		Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald
	Sir Kingsley Wood		10 November 1931		Conservative
	George Tryon		7 June 1935		Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
							Neville Chamberlain
	William Morrison		3 April 1940		Conservative
							Winston Churchill
	Harry Crookshank		7 November 1943		Conservative
	The Earl of Listowel		19 October 1945		Labour		Clement Attlee
	Wilfred Paling		17 April 1947		Labour
	Ness Edwards		28 February 1950		Labour
	The Earl De La Warr		5 November 1951		Conservative		Winston Churchill
	Charles Hill		7 April 1955		National Liberal		Anthony Eden
	Ernest Marples		16 January 1957		Conservative		Harold Macmillan
	Reginald Bevins		22 October 1959		Conservative
							Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Tony Benn		19 October 1964		Labour		Harold Wilson
	Edward Short		4 July 1966		Labour
	Roy Mason		6 April 1968		Labour
	John Stonehouse		1 July 1968		Labour

See also

• Postmaster General (disambiguation)


• Postmasters General of Ireland


• Postmaster General for Scotland


• 
  Postmaster and Deputy Postmaster for Canada 1763–1851 – who reported to the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom


• Postmaster General of Canada


• 
  Postmaster General of Hong Kong – created in 1870 to replace the Royal Mail and under British administration until 1 July 1997

References