Military mail

Military mail, as opposed to civilian mail, refers to the postal services provided by armed forces, that allow serving members to send and receive mail.

Military mail systems are often subsidized to ensure that military mail does not cost the sender any more than normal domestic mail traffic. In some cases, military personnel in a combat zone may post letters and/or packages to the home country for free.

Modern military mail services are provided by most armed forces around the world. In some nations, individual service branches may run their own military mail program.

Early forms of military mail may go back to the dawn of civilization. There is some evidence of it dating back to Ancient Egypt of the 2nd millennium BC.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle make mention of messengers being sent by King Edward the Elder (899-924) to recall members of the Kent fyrd, but it is generally regarded that the origins of the postal services stem from the King's Messengers (Nuncii et Cursores) of medieval times, in particular, the Royal Post established in the reign of King Edward IV (1461–83) to support his troops engaged in a war against Scotland.

In 1795 Parliament granted the penny postage concession to soldiers and sailors of the British Army and Royal Navy. Four years later, in 1799, the Duke of York appointed Henry Darlot, an ‘intelligent clerk’ from the General Post Office (GPO) as the Army Postmaster to accompany his expedition to Helder.

Thomas Reynolds, as the British Post Office Agent in Lisbon, Portugal was made responsible for coordinating the exchange of the British Army’s mails at the port during the Peninsular War (1809–14). Two Sergeant Postmasters were appointed to work with Reynolds. The sergeants reported to the Duke of Wellington’s the Superintendent of Military Communications, Major Scovell and later Lieutenant Colonel Sturgeon.

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