Home Gallery Shrapnel and button from a fallen comrade (1915)
During the First World War, the Post Office was a key part of the infrastructure carrying messages to and from the front. This small brass jacket button and piece of shrapnel were sent through the post in the accompanying OXO tin by William Cox. The accompanying letter relates how this button was removed from the uniform of a fallen comrade and the shrapnel was collected from a shell that exploded above the office of the letter writer.
1900s Keeping letters private (early 20th century)
1900s British Empire Medal winner Miss Ethel Kate Bellamy (31 December 1966)
1600s London Penny Post
1800s Emergence of the letterbox
1700s The initial declaration of love – the beginnings of Valentine’s Day
1800s Letters re. John Tilley’s knighthood – Disraeli (1880)