The General Post Office (One Minute to Six) by Hicks

Acquisition of painting by George Elgar Hicks (1824-1914) The General Post Office (One Minute to Six), 1860, oil on canvas. The immense rush to catch the last post at the General Post Office in St Martin-le-Strand became one of the sights of Victorian London. With the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840 and the abolition of the stamp tax on newspapers, which encouraged the growth of a cheap daily press, the scene came to symbolise the ever increasing pace of the modern city, and the speed and importance of London's communications with the rest of the world.