South Humberside is a former postal county of England. It was introduced by the

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

on 1 July 1974, when some addresses were altered in response to the changes in administration brought about under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. The postal county corresponded approximately to the part of the new

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a subdivision of England used for local government. The non-metropolitan counties were originally created in 1974 as part of a reform of local government in England and Wales, and ...

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of ...

south of the

Humber Estuary The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...

(excluding

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's Historic counties of England, historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom censu ...

, which was placed in North Humberside). All of the post towns included in South Humberside had formerly been part of the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

postal county. A changeover period of one year was allowed by the postal authorities, with the new county compulsory from 1 July 1975. It included the following post towns, all with DN postcodes: *BARNETBY *BARROW-UPON-HUMBER *BARTON-UPON-HUMBER *BRIGG *CLEETHORPES *GRIMSBY *IMMINGHAM *SCUNTHORPE *ULCEBY

Abolition

In 1996 the Royal Mail ceased to use counties as part of the routing instructions for mail. South Humberside is now a "former postal county". Coincidentally, Humberside was abolished for local government purposes in the same year, with the area south of the Humber becoming two unitary authority areas:

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lincolnshire, England. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 167,446. T ...

and

North East Lincolnshire North East Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area with borough status in Lincolnshire, England. It borders the borough of North Lincolnshire and districts of West Lindsey and East Lindsey. The population of the district in the 2011 Census was ...

. Although counties are no longer used for sorting mail, under the Royal Mail's ''flexible addressing policy'' users can choose to add a county to an address as long as the post town and postcode are included. The policy allows for the use of either the "former postal" (S. Humberside), "traditional" (Lincs.) or "administrative" (North Lincolnshire / North East Lincolnshire) county.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004)Royal Mail, '' tp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/rm/PAF_Code_of_Practice_March_2004_2.pdf Postcode Address File Code of Practice', (2004)

References

{{coord, 53.6, -0.5, type:adm2nd_dim:60000_region:GB-LIN, display=title History of Lincolnshire Postal addresses in the United Kingdom Humberside Parts of Lindsey