Lamp box

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A George V lamp box at Tal-y-llyn, Wales

An Post lamp box in Ireland, attached to a telegraph post. British examples in Ireland also exist but have been painted green.

Lamp boxes are the smallest post boxes used by the Royal Mail in the UK, by its counterparts in the Commonwealth of Nations and also by An Post in Ireland. Their name derives from the fact that they were designed to be affixed to lamp posts, although they may equally be found embedded in walls or mounted on poles.

Lamp boxes were introduced on an experimental basis in September 1896, being used in parts of London as an inexpensive means of supplementing the existing Pillar box network. By July 1897 these boxes had proved successful and from then on their use spread to rural areas were the greater expense of a Ludlow wall box was not justified.

The original pattern of lamp box was produced from 1896 to circa 1935. During this time there were several variations of styles.
Victoria
LB201 - There are few survivors of this type, "LETTERS" above the aperture.
LB202 - "LETTERS ONLY" was added around July 1897.
It is interesting to note that although the lamp boxes were made by the same foundry as the Victorian ciphered pillar boxes, the ciphers differ slightly. The V and R have equal length arms with an oval loop however, no curl on the toe.
Edward VII
LB203 - LB205 - Again a different cipher was used to that on the Pillar boxes. With the introduction of the LB205 in 1905 came the larger tablet holder. Prior to this all Lamp boxes used the smaller style tab.
George V
LB206- Believed to be cast until about 1927, the original GR Lamp box had a crown above a small GR cipher.
LB207-LB210 - The crown was removed and a larger GR cipher was used. While the box is 1/2 inch wider the aperture remains the same at 4 3/4 inches by 1 inch. Subtle differences in the cipher and door length distinguish between the different types.
LB211 & LB212 - In response to criticism of the narrow aperture of the original Lamp box a larger model was cast with the aperture enlarged to 5 1/2 inches by 1 inch. This type of Lamp box was in use from 1935 to 1949 when it was replaced with the modern 1940s pattern.

The text above is based on drawings and information supplied by Alan Instone and a document by an unknown author