Andrew Handyside who made Friargate bridge in Derby also made hundreds of Pillar boxes and Post boxes around the UK and Ireland, As of June 2026 there are still over 430 Pillar boxes in the UK that were made by Andrew Handyside which shows how well they were made over 120 years ago.
Here is a rather unique Handyside pillar box in Lincoln, inside the Museum of Lincolnshire life.
This pillar box was originally installed in 1857 outside 17 Sutterton Road (now renamed Gosberton Bank), Gosberton, Lincolnshire, UK.
It was made in Derby between March 1856 and March 1857, It was definitely after March 1856 as this box has the "VR" Royal cipher above the letter slot.
At the base it reads "A. Handyside & Co Derby" and above it is the Britannia Foundry insignia.
Here is a little video of this pillar box :
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cV4IVjWGVFc
It was originally painted green but in 1874 was repainted in classic pillar box red after complaints that it could not easily be seen, especially in rural locations. Here is how it looked :
There are still boxes around in Ireland that are painted green.
The Land Army girls were billeted across the road from the pillar box in Bank House, which today is Bank house Care Home, they used this very box to post letters home.
The Pillar box was actually still in use up until Covid lockdown was lifted and the museum's opening times were changed, so is now just a museum exhibit.
It was replaced by a modern pillar box in 1969 and the museum acquired it around then. It is one of only three of this Handyside design that still exist.
The two other pillar boxes of this age are located in Framlington, Suffolk.
One here :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YJkYZiWg7zNWEonK9
And the other one here :
https://maps.app.goo.gl/gMor7PCKH2d2LTcs7
Brief history of the Pillar/Post/Wall box :
The pillar box was the brainchild of famous novelist Anthony Trollope, he was the surveyor's clerk in the post office in 1851, Trollope was sent over to the
Channel Islands to study ways of improving their postal service. He knew that in France there had been a scheme for roadside letter boxes, and Trollope's idea was accepted.
In 1852 and 1853 pillar boxes were erected in St Helier, Jersey and St Peter Port, Guernsey.
They proved successful and were then tried out in English towns including Gloucester and Carlisle, and in 1855 London had
its first pillar boxes. Demand for pillar boxes became very heavy. At first, district surveyors were allowed considerable freedom over the design of the letter box, some were hexagonal and some octagonal. They also had some freedom of choice over contractors. This meant that the early designs were made by a number of contractors and not to standard design.
The surveyor of Derby district found that Handyside could produce the type of boxes he wanted and they undertook commissions for him in 1853. At this time Handyside also
seem to have supplied the surveyor for the Eastern District, as two of Handysides 1856-style boxes were installed at Framlington in Suffolk.
The standardisation of the designs by the GPO meant less freedom for local surveyors. The Derby district surveyor tried to get the Post Office to adopt a new design by Handyside put forward in 1857. He argued that the firm would reduce their change by seven shillings a box for boxes without an elaborate crown on the top, provided they have the contract for the whole country. The post office did not like the vertical opening for letters on the design (as per the Lincoln one), nor did they
want to have to depend on one contractor. The result was that Handyside did not get any further Post Office work for some time.
In 1878 a decision was taken to adopt a new standard type of cylindrical letter box. This time Andrew Handyside was able to quote the lowest price for the work and they got the contract for supplying two sizes of pillar boxes.
The surveyor of the Dery district stressed that the firm was in a position to do the job well. It had for many years been involved in contracts supplying bridges and railroads to India, Russia and other countries.
The secretary to the Post Office was also reminded that the firm had supplied some of the earliest pillar boxes in the Derby district.
From then until 1933 the firm which in 1931 became Derby Castings Ltd kept the Post Office contract.
Until 1904 they continued to make the two standard sized pillar boxes. This contract then went to McDowell Steven and Co of Glasgow, later Allied Iron founders of Falkirk by then however, they had got contracts which they held until 1933 for double aperture pillar boxes and lamp letter boxes.
The idea for the lamp letter boxes had been borrowed from the USA and Handyside produced the first prototypes by the summer of 1898. Lamp letter boxes were first used in London. It was not until 1933 that the contract for making them went to WT Allen of London and the Sherwood Foundry, Mansfield.
In 1930 at the height of the world depression Handyside actually managed to take from Messrs WT Allen the contract for wall boxes. This contract they only worked on for three years.
Wall boxes were another suggestion of Anthoney Trollope's. They were introduced because the Post Office became alarmed at the cost of providing pillar boxes for sparsely populated rural areas, they were expensive and the wall boxes were found to cost only a quarter of what pillar boxes cost.
I would like to thank the Museum Collections Development Manager Sara Basquill for her help and assistance with some information on this item.
Also thanks to The Philatelic Bureau of London, Jean Young Farrugia's 'The Letter box', R.D. Woodall's 'Pillars of society', John Heath's "Handysides and G.P.O."
I can highly recommend a visit to this amazing museum, learn more by visiting their website :
https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/history-heritage/museum-lincolnshire-life
The museum celebrates the culture of Lincolnshire from 1750 to present day with over 250,000 exhibits. The building is a Victorian barracks dating from 1857.
I have visited many times over the years, I like their rooms which are furnished with stuff from different decades, they even have a tank from the first world war.
Please share this post to anyone you think would be interested.
If you know of any items (apart from Post boxes) in the world bearing the Andrew Handyside badge that I have not marked on my world map then please let me know.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6EmDnqQPU&list=PLA6EB1C556ABA75AF
Thanks
Andy
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