1-150-283 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Seasonable Advice - Put by for a Frosty Day', 1861. Mr Punch encourages a labourer to join the queue of fellow workers at the Post Office rather than spend his money on drink. The Post Office Savings Bank was founded in 1861 and, within its first ten years, had more than one million savers. Lower class workers had long been encouraged to save so as to provide for themselves and their families during the frequent seasonal periods of unemployment that caused so many families to drift into real poverty. From Punch, or the London Charivari, February 23, 1861.