Trusting the postman: prosecuting theft and managing sickness in the British Post Office, c.1860–1910

The Post Office was an immensely important institution of the British state. It fostered communication, encouraged business, provided employment and generated revenue for the Treasury. Efficiency and economy were paramount considerations for the Post Office authorities, keen to maintain the government’s trust in good management. Maintaining public trust to deliver mail and messages speedily and securely also underpinned its operations. When trust was called into question, often due to theft of mail by postal workers themselves or the rising costs of sick leave, the Post Office was keen to act. In this article we examine two critical points of tension in the Post Office that tested trust in the institution. The first relates to the incidence of mail theft by its own workers and the actions taken by the Post Office authorities to catch and prosecute the perpetrators. The second relates to the incidence of sickness and the attempts to monitor the legitimacy of claims for sick pay. Both instances lay bare the workings of the Post Office and the critical importance of trust in its operations and, more widely, in late nineteenth-century urban society.