The first regular pre-paid postal service in the world began in England in 1840, and paintings such as this exploited popular interest in sending and receiving letters. In early years, a village post office often had its home in the local inn, which was, (and still is in some places), with the church, the focal centre of the community. The people on the left are reading a copy of the Times which carries the news of victory for Britain in the first Sikh War of 1845/6, another topical reference of the kind the mid-century exhibition audience so much enjoyed, while the other group, a woman with her children, have received a letter - sealed with black wax to indicate a death - presumably with the news that the family have lost their husband and father in the battle.