UK's longest family-run post office marks 175th anniversary & 40th milestone for Northern Ireland postmaster

• Galbally Post Office is UK’s longest family-run branch
• Donnelly family marks 175^th anniversary for this Northern Ireland branch
• Postmaster Dessie Donnelly reaches his 40 years’ milestone

Popular postmaster Dessie Donnelly has two major milestones this year for Galbally Post Office - the 175^thanniversary of his family setting up this branch in Northern Ireland, and his 40 years at the helm. Someone with the Donnelly surname has always run the branch.

Galbally Post Office in County Tyrone opened in 1850. It has been run for its entire 175 years by the Donnelly family. This is believed to be the UK’s longest family-run branch.

Dessie and his late Mother, Annie, who was postmistress for 50 years, have impressively run this post office for more than half the lifetime of the branch.

In 1935, Annie became postmistress and moved Galbally Post Office to its current location at 160 Gortnagola Road, Dungannon. Dessie was born in the home attached to this post office and has always lived there. Dessie took over as postmaster on 1 September 1985.

The first people to run Galbally Post Office were Dessie’s father’s uncles. The family know Bernard and Peter definitely ran the branch and possibly a third of Dessie’s great uncles. Dessie’s brother, Charles, still lives in the location of the original Galbally Post Office.

Dessie Donnelly said: “I’m really proud to think that my family appears to hold the UK record for a post office run by one family for the longest length of time. It’s great that the Donnelly family has achieved 175 years serving this Galbally community.

“Despite the difficult times during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, these have generally been very happy times for my wife, Bernadette, and I, running Galbally Post Office. I love interacting with customers as I really like dealing with people.

“During the Covid pandemic I stayed open to maintain vital post office services including sending mail and banking, as the nearest bank is seven miles away. Times have changed over the years and the number of banks has greatly decreased, so the post office has become the place for many people to do their banking. In this rural farming community many people still want to use cash or cheques rather than online banking.”

The 1851 census shows Bernard Donnelly’s employment as “Post Office”. It is thought Galbally was one of many additional Post Offices set up to benefit rural communities to ensure a postal service that was accessible to all, not just those living in towns and cities.

The Post Office organisation, established by Charles II, dates back to 1660. Until the mid-19th century, the Post Office was cautious about setting up deliveries in rural districts, and would only do so when more than 100 letters a week was received in a village.

Originally people paid when they received mail. This meant that each item had to be costed separately, which was labour intensive. The cost of delivery was based on distance covered and occasionally some people refused to pay.

Rowland Hill, Secretary to the Postmaster General, then campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post, where the sender pre-paid for an item of post at a post office. The Penny Black was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system and it was established in May 1840.

It was an easier system for the Post Office to operate and guaranteed payment. This allowed the cost of sending a letter to be reduced, encouraging more people to send mail. The Penny Black allowed letters of up to ¹⁄₂ ounce (14 grams) to be delivered at a flat rate of one penny, regardless of distance. In 1840 the sending of mail more than doubled.

A major expansion of rural posts throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland took place during the 1850s. Under the revision plan some 700 new posts were set up by 1850, for delivering over 7,500,000 letters a year. Prior to 1921 the headquarters of the Post Office in Ireland was the G.P.O. Dublin.

More post offices were needed to sell the stamps and the growing number of services that they provided, including telegrams. In 1870 the half-a-penny rate was introduced for sending postcards. The UK was the world’s first country to introduce postal orders in 1881 as a safer way of sending money by mail. Parcel post was launched in 1883.

To mark Dessie’s long and loyal service to Post Office he will be presented with a Post Office 40 Years’ Long Service Award later this year.

Post Office Area Manager, Timmy Grant, said: “I want to really thank Dessie for the great service that he’s provided to his rural village and outlying areas for four decades.

“I was blown away to find out that Galbally Post Office has been run by the Donnelly family for its entire time. That’s seriously impressive that the branch has been open since 1850. It’s also remarkable that Dessie and his mother have run the branch for over half that time. Dessie is a founder member of the local Torrent Credit Union, formed in 1969 and has served on the Board for over 56 years.”

At the same time as the late Annie Donnelly ran Galbally Post Office, her late husband, Daniel, was a postman and sorted mail at the sorting office alongside the Post Office, and delivered the mail locally, until his retirement in 1969. Originally postmen did deliveries on foot, until bicycles were introduced which made it easier for rural deliveries. In 1965 motorised deliveries were introduced which further improved delivery times.

Dessie recalls: “Even on Christmas Day his father still had to sort and deliver the mail. People were totally reliant on the mail for keeping in touch, especially in rural areas. Until the early 1950s Galbally Post Office was the only place in the locality with a telephone. People would come to the post office to phone for urgent services e.g. a doctor or vet. The post office would also receive messages to be delivered to people in the local area.”

The world’s oldest Post Office in the world is Sanquhar in Scotland. It first opened in 1712 and has been in continuous operation for 311 years. It has had 17 different operators during that time from many different families.