Introduction from

Limerick Post Office
'Memories of Forgotten Times'.

For many years I have thought about publishing a book of the history of the Post Office in Limerick and surrounding areas. In this publication I researched as far back as possible; mail delivery in Ireland dates back to 1638. I started with photographs in mind but that would be only half the story, I would also have to include a little history of how the Post Office was established, especially in Limerick. Nothing really has been documented about the Post Office in this area; the earliest reference I came across was recorded in1653. The first Post Office was established in Limerick near the Widows’ Alms Houses in the Nicholas Street area.
With the introduction of mail coaches in 1789, mail deliveries in Britain and Ireland were usually carried by 'post boys' who provided their own horses. Mail was very expensive and had to be collected after a conveyance fee was paid at the post office by the addressee. In 1840 Rowland Hill reformed the postal service by introducing postage stamps so that the sender paid for the postage. He maintained that more people could be encouraged to exchange letters; thereby postal charges could be greatly reduced. From 1855 to 1994, mail was mainly transported by rail on special mail carriages Traveling Post Office (TPO), where postal staff sorted the mail as the train traveled through the night, stopping at stations across the country to collect and deliver mail. In a major modernisation project in 1994, Letter Post shifted to the more flexible road transport system.

This book is a simple but important record of the people who worked in the Limerick Postal area down through the years. We all have some memories, good and bad, some great stories of our colleagues who went before us. I have tried to capture some of these memories in photographs and by publishing this book some of these memories won’t be forgotten or lost to the new generation of postal workers in Limerick.
The people I contacted during my research were most helpful, both within An Post, retired members, deceased members’ families and members of the public.

My first memory of life in the Post Office is when I received a telegram on Friday 18th July 1975, to report for duty as a postman on Monday morning at 6 am. I got the shock of my life “Who goes to work in the middle of the night”?, Little did I know that I would be a member of the staff for the next 31 years. With the birth of An Post in January 1984 and especially more recently with the introduction of new computerised mail sorting, Limerick was down graded from being a Letter Forward Office (LFO) to a Delivery Office.

This book would have not been possible without the help of my colleagues at An Post, Limerick and my friends through out the Country, and especially my wife, Breda, my daughter Maryse and her husband Derek Mackessy, my son Tadhg and my grandson Brandon. I would also like to thank my Mother Maura O’Connor, my brothers Raymond, Thomas and Gearoid, my sisters Mary Casey, Kathleen O’Sullivan and Nuala Lowe and my cousin Kathleen Keating.
A special word of thanks to my proof readers, Colm O’Connor, Patrick McNamara, Military Historian, Roseleen Casey and to my sponsors, An Post, G. P.O. Dublin, Communications Workers Union Limerick & Communications Workers Union Dublin, Postal Workers Sport & Recreation Club Limerick Post Office.

Frank O’Connor