The Last Post : Remembering the First World War
6 November 2009 to 25 January 2010
 
The story of the Post Office
during the First World War
 
A touring exhibition from the
British Postal Museum and Archive

This exhibition explores the role of the Post Office during the First World War; from the thousands of Post Office staff enlisted to fight, to its role in censorship, the role of women on the home front and, most importantly, its determination to maintain an essential postal service for military and civilian correspondence against all odds.

The Post Office actively encouraged staff to sign up with over 75,000 men leaving their jobs to fight.  As the men left, tens of thousands of women joined the workforce temporarily and performed duties from which they had previously been excluded.  Postal communications also provided an ideal opportunity for enemy forces to obtain information about the war effort.  Letters would be opened by official censors to ensure vital military secrets were not being given away.