Royal Mail and Vue Cinema Group have become the first businesses to be nominated and recognised by members of the Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group (SAITG) for their outstanding efforts in the battle against the trade of fake goods. Continue reading Humza Yousaf presents counterfeit crackdown awards to Royal Mail and Vue
Royal Mail is exploring the history of sending Valentine’s cards, while outlining how different generations of Brits have sought to make their missives more memorable over the years.
An online gallery, illustrated with beautiful examples of cards through the ages, reveals the intriguing history of Valentine’s Day cards. It also provides a step-by-step guide for site visitors to create a Victorian-style puzzle purse card, allowing them to make their own personalised tribute to a loved one.
The Victorian Puzzle Purse card
The tradition of sending Valentine’s cards first began in the late 18th Century. Many people crafted their own intricate cards that were gifts in themselves. The earliest surviving example of a handmade Valentine’s card dates from 1790, and is known as a puzzle purse or courtship envelope.
The elaborate design has to be unfolded in a particular way in order to reveal the hidden verses of poetry inside.
Puzzle Purse Valentine, c.1790. Image courtesy of The Postal Museum
Visitors to the gallery can create their own version of this unusual card with Royal Mail’s special puzzle purse template, available to download here,along with special instructions. You can also watch our playful stop-motion animation of the card being made here.
Intricate printed cards become popular
As Valentine’s cards grew in popularity, printed cards became increasingly fashionable. The example below was the first ever printed card to be published, by John Fairburn in 1797.
This delicate design includes hand-painted cupids, doves and flowers, as well as a lace effect produced by piercing the corners of the paper. However, the messages were a lot more formal and considerably less direct than today’s expressions of love. The handwritten message inside the card reads:
“As I have repeatedly requested you to come I think you must have some reason for not complying with my request, but as I have something particular to say to you I could wish you make it all agreeable to come on Sunday next without fail and in doing you will oblige your well wisher.”
First printed Valentine’s card, published in 1797 by John Fairburn. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust
Valentine’s cards soared in popularity following the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840. This allowed standard letters to be sent anywhere in the UK for just a penny, and extended the practice of sending Valentine’s correspondence beyond the upper classes to the whole of society.
With increased demand came the widespread production of highly ornate cards. Many featured mechanical parts which worked to uncover a hidden message or scene. According to experts at The Postal Museum, some men would spend up to a month’s wages on a card, such as this example with gilt-embossed paper lace and fabric flowers.
‘Your love my happiness’ Valentine Card, c.1870. Image courtesy of The Postal Museum
A gold scrap at the bottom displays the message. The girl is printed using an early form of multicolour lithography and is surrounded by fabric and waxed flowers.
Vinegar Valentines
However, not all Valentine’s correspondence was so cordial. So-called ‘Vinegar Valentines’ were popular in the Victorian era as a means of insulting or making fun of the recipient.
These venomous cards generally came in the form of rude poems and offensive drawings. To add insult to injury, before the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840, the recipient had to pay the postage charge themselves.
A range of attributes could provide the basis for insults, including the recipient’s looks, temperament, profession or relationship. In this particular Vinegar Valentine, a man resembling a frog is about to kiss an unattractive woman. A rhyme at the bottom reads:
Madam I’ve found a Beau for you.
So perfect match’d, I’m sure he’ill do
For he like you does take delight
To make his form a very fright.
Design for a Vinegar Valentine, c.1790. Image courtesy of The Postal Museum
Many more intriguing examples of these historic cards can be found in Royal Mail’s online gallery.
Sending messages of love through the post is still an important part of Valentine’s Day today. According to the Greeting Card Association, £43.7 million worth of cards was sold in 2016.
Royal Mail Head of Public Affairs, David Gold, said: “It’s touching to see how over the years the Valentine’s card has cemented its role as the primary way of expressing our love for one another on February 14. It’s clear that the personal touch of setting pen to paper has in no way diminished its appeal on Valentine’s Day over that time.
“Royal Mail is proud of the role it has played in the evolution of Valentine’s cards, supporting both a rich history of beautiful design as well as enabling massive social change.
“The puzzle purse card is a great idea for those wishing to send something unique this February.”
Discover the puzzle purse template and instructions here.
Thursday 18 December: 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For®
Saturday 20 December: 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For®
Tuesday 23 December: Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed
A reminder that TOMORROW (Wednesday 18 December) is the recommended last posting date for second class letters and parcels – for first class it’s this Friday (20 December).
Queen of the privatisers Margaret Thatcher thought the better of doing it, then New Labour’s Peter Mandelson tried but failed to do it but now it seems that it’s going to be third time unlucky as the coalition government moves to sell off the Royal Mail … a national asset that belongs to all of us:
Business Secretary Vince Cable told MPs yesterday: “Now the time has come for government to step back from Royal Mail, allow its management to focus wholeheartedly on growing the business and planning for the future. It’s now time for employees to hold a stake in the company and share in its success. This government will give Royal Mail the real commercial freedom it’s needed for a long time.”
Around 150,000 staff will be offered free shares when Royal Mail – one of the world’s oldest postal services – is sold off. It’s expected that the company will be worth snywhere between £2.5 – 4 billion when it is floated on the stock market later this year
Mr Cable said privatisation was necessary to ensure that universal service, which currently guarantees delivery to all parts of the country six days a week, can continue. Th government also says that the sale will give Royal Mail the access to private capital it needs to grow and remain competitive.
Royal Mail is currently refocusing it’s business priorities, targetting parcel delivery to cash in on the rapid growth of internet shopping as the number of posted letters falls due to the explosion of email. This change of emphasis saw Royal Mail more than double its profits last year after years of losses.
Ed Davey, minister for postal affairs, said the proposals ‘safeguard the future of both Royal Mail and the Post Office – two cornerstones of British life’, but there are many who are question whether the sell-off is either desirable or necessary – and industrial action looks likely.
Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: “The fact of the matter is the British public don’t want to see the Royal Mail privatised. Vince Cable is flogging this company to the very people he denounced at the Liberal party conference – the spivs, the speculators and those who just want to make a fast buck.” He went on: “Royal Mail is thriving in public ownership, increasing its profits, providing good quality services and decent jobs. We want it to remain that way. Privatisation would be a throwback to the tired old politics of the 1980s.”
Dave Ward, CWU’s deputy general secretary, said he expected members to be balloted before the end of September. “We will be balloting for strike action, we’ve already adopted that policy. I expect that policy to be ratified by the conference of the union at the end of July. That’s about our members’ terms and conditions, I want to make that clear. It’s about what we fear will happen with Royal Mail as a private operator – what we want is a legal binding agreement that protects their terms and conditions, their contracts of employment, their pensions, for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t think our members will be bought off by the free share issue,” he added. “I believe our members are too long in the tooth not to know the dangers of privatisation.”
Speaking after the announcement North and Leith Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz said: The Government has nationalised Royal Mail’s liabilities in the form of the pension fund in which there was a large shortfall and is now intent on privatising the profits. It argues that it is necessary to subject Royal Mail to commercial discipline and give it access to private sector capital but Royal Mail’s overall operating profits more than doubled over the last year from £152m in 2011-12 to £403m in 2013-13!
“A privatised Royal Mail might continue to operate the universal service provision of delivering 6 days a week to anywhere in the UK for the same price but for how long if its commercial rivals don’t have to? As with the East Coast Main Line, ideology seems to have won out over common sense – it will be private investors who benefit from its commercial success not the taxpayer or customers.”
