Roarsome work

Sadly, more than 1,000 colleagues have been bitten by dogs in the last year alone, but fortunately, few could say they’ve been attacked by an escaped lion.

That was how the last surviving Royal Mail coach met its end. But as a recent article in The Times reported, the 200-year-old horse-drawn carriage known as ‘Quicksilver’ has now been restored to its former glory and presented to the Queen.

Quicksilver used to speed along muddy byways in the 21-hour dash from Devonport in Devon to London. It was by using this route that news of Admiral Lord Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar was delivered.

However, the red and black wooden wagon came to a sad end in 1816 when it rode through Winterslow, Wiltshire, and was attacked by a lion that had bolted from a travelling menagerie on Salisbury Plain.

The lion mauled one of the horses while petrified colleagues fled into a nearby pub. After the menagerie owner sacrificed his pet dog to the lion to recapture it, the relieved postmen climbed back onto Quicksilver and were only 45 minutes late delivering their mail.

Mark Broadbent of Fenix Carriages in Devon, spent two years restoring Quicksilver after it was found languishing in private storage for 40 years. When the Duke of Edinburgh, a keen carriage rider, found out about the restoration in October, a visit to Windsor Castle was organised and it was displayed to the Queen.

Remember, the Postal Museum in London exists to showcase the fascinating story of Britain’s postal heritage in an engaging, interactive, educational and fun way.

Their incredible collection spans five centuries of history, covering everything from groundbreaking design and quirky technology to the intimacy of personal letters.

Photo by The Times.