Tickhill Postmaster William Watkinson

The Post Office moved to Sunderland Street at the end of WW2 after being in Market Place for many years. The Postmaster, William Watkinson and his family, lived in the adjoining building where the front room to the right of the front door was used on two days a week as the office of the Midland Bank.

William’s family consisted of his wife Muriel, and children Ralph, Frank, Christopher and Jennifer.

William is shown right standing at the back of the Post Office. Born in Wombwell in 1903, William had lived in Tickhill since 1919. He worked for the postal service from 1937 until he retired in 1974 (apart from a six-year break for war service). He took over the Tickhill Post Office in 1951 when the previous Postmaster, Mr McNulty, died. After the Watkinson family moved in Mrs McNulty moved to the Watkinson’s former home in Church Lane.

William had been Tickhill’s only full-time postman, with Joe Saxton and Alice Croasdale, who were both part-time.He also retained an assistant, Miss Ellis, who had worked for the McNultys. William had a long working day, starting at 6 a.m. when mail was brought from Doncaster. For a short while, until a new part-time post person could be found, he himself did a small delivery before opening the Post Office. This stopped when Margaret Frankland filled the vacancy.

When post boxes were emptied local mail was extracted and hand franked at Tickhill, William’s children sometimes helping with this task. Other mail went to Doncaster for franking and sorting. It was quite possible for local mail collected in the morning to be delivered the same day in the second delivery by 1 p.m. (How different from today when mail is taken to Sheffield for franking and is not delivered in some parts of Tickhill until well into the afternoon.) On a Sunday, letterboxes in Tickhill, Harworth, Bircotes and Bawtry were emptied by cycle and taken to Bawtry to be picked up by van from Doncaster. This task was shared with staff from the other offices and ceased when Doncaster took over.

The Post Office counter had a metal grille providing some security for the staff. A second counter nearby was used for the sale of bread, cakes, sweets and some other grocery items. This arrangement was inherited from the McNultys, but after a few years William stopped selling groceries and concentrated on the Post Office business. He was responsible for writing down messages for telegrams,which were taken out by a member of staff if available. If not, a family member might be asked to deliver it. Sixpence was paid for making these deliveries.

In his limited free time (William worked into the evening checking Post Office income and sales) William joined the local history group led by Tom Beastall and wrote two articles (for ‘Collections for the history of Tickhill’ volumes 3 and 4) on Tickhill charities and then on ‘Employment patterns’.

Mrs Jean Briggs took over as postmistress when William retired in April 1974. Some irregularities in the Post Office under a subsequent postmaster in the 21st century saw this Post Office close and the business transferred to a new Post Office in the Spar supermarket in Market Place.

Left, another view of the back of the property showing the higgledy piggledy way in which the buildings were expanded over time.

Thanks to Frank and Ann Watkinson for enabling their photographs to be copied and for giving details of William’s work.