Introduction of the national postcode scheme
Following the introduction of London postal districts in 1857-58, the Postcode system that we know now began to be introduced from 1959. The system was developed following the growth in mail volumes after the Second World War. Royal Mail realised that a nationwide postcoding scheme was required to enable mail to be sorted automatically by machine. The first Postcodes were introduced on a trial basis in Norwich in 1959 and then nationally from 1965-1972, when every British address received a Postcode.
Britain is one of only seven post coding systems in the world that uses an alphanumeric system - a combination of letter and numbers. This allows a greater number of unique combinations - over 48 million.
