Elizabeth II postboxes in Oxford

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Oxford post boxes: Elizabeth II (1952–2022)

Modern-style pillar box in Rectory Road [CE]	Lamp box on pedestal outside 295 London Road, Headington [CC]	Double pillar box outside 127 Cowley Road [ME]
Older style Elizabethan pillar box in Keble Road [CC]	Wall box at junction of Iffley and Magdalen Roads [CC]	Square modern-style pillar box at top of Divinity Road* [CC] (now gold: see below)
“Bantam” or Type N lamp box on pedestal at Tackley Place	Indoor postbox at Tesco’s, Cowley Retail Park	Lamp box on short squat pedestal box at Rutherway
Lamp box at Godstow Road, Wolvercote (near Webbs Close)	Queen Elizabeth II boxes are inscribed “E II R” . There are numerous boxes in Oxford dating from her reign, so just one of each of the main distinctive types is shown here. The pillar box was redesigned more than ten times during this reign. In 1957 the aperture of the boxes was increased from 6¼-inches (15.9cm) to 8-inches (20.3cm) to accommodate the width of C4 envelopes Since 1993 postboxes have been branded ROYAL MAIL rather than POST OFFICE On 1 April 2012 Post Office Ltd became independent of the Royal Mail Group, and the latter was privatized in 2013 Key: [AIF] Allied Ironfounders of Falkirk [CC] Carron Company, Falkirk [CE] Carronade Engineering, Falkirk [ME] Machan Engineering, Scotland The production of letter boxes set into walls ceased in 1980 and of cast-iron pillar boxes in 2014	SE end of Broad Street [AIF]
In October 2025 some Queen Elizabeth II pillar boxes in Oxford were converted into robot boxes: see under Charles III post boxes
Oxford's only gold post box To commemorate British gold medal winners at the 2012 Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics held in London, the Royal Mail repainted a post box near their homes in gold, and it was later decided to keep the this colour as a permanent tribute. There is just one such box in Oxford, on the Type G rectangular pillar box at the top of Divinity Road (near the corner of Hill Top Road), right. This was painted gold on 4 September 2012 in honour of Lily van den Broecke (born 1992), who coxed the crew that won the mixed coxed four event at Eton Dorney in the Paralympic Games. The text on the plaque attached to the box (including an inscription in Braille) is shown below: See Oxford Mail: “Father’s golden glow at medallist’s honour” Lily, who attended Headington School, was appointed MBE in 2013 for services to rowing and paralympic sport. A private posting box This private letter box is fixed to the railings at the side of the Physics Department on the Banbury Road. It is only possible for keyholders to post items in the aperture. Clause 81 of the Post Office Act of 1908 read: Where it appears to the Postmaster-General that any post office letter box, by reason of being on the premises of any private person or otherwise, is so situate as not to afford the same security against the improper removal of postal packets therefrom or other fraud as exists in the case of other post office letter boxes, he may declare that that post office letter box shall be a private posting box, and shall affix upon or near the box a notice of its being and of the effect of its being a private posting box, and a postal packet put into that box shall not for the purpose of any enactment, law, or contract, whereby the due posting of a postal packet is evidence of the receipt thereof by the addressee, be deemed to have been duly posted. The office of Postmaster General was abolished in 1969, which means that the small upper notice (shown in detail below) dates from the 1960s when this department building was built: The larger notice on the collection door below lists all the Royal Mail collection times for this box.

© Stephanie Jenkins

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