††The postal service is the system for sorting and delivering mail.
The earliest means of sending letters was simply by messenger. In Roman times, for example, governments sent messengers regularly down main routes. However, this was a private service which did not extend to ordinary people.
Variations of this messenger system existed for hundreds of years. Messengers would change horses at intervals to ensure that tired horses did not delay the mail. In Britain, Henry VIII appointed Sir Brian Tuke as Master of Post in 1516.
The first British mail coaches ran from 1784, to be replaced by trains in 1846.
