Postal orders of the United Kingdom Royal Mail decided to introduce a series of gift postal orders. These have been retained. Since then, the Royal Mail has introduced a series of postal orders which can be used for purchases at Argos stores, however these have since been withdrawn. The 1946 play "The Winslow Boy" by Terence Rattigan, and the two subsequent films based on it, features the story of a schoolboy trying to clear his name over the theft of a five shilling postal order. The story was loosely based on the real life George Archer-Shee case. Postal orders are now becoming increasingly popular as a
Sir George Lewis, 1st Baronet he was selected by the Parnell Commission to conduct the case for Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish party against "The Times". Lewis had by far the largest practise in financial cases of any lawyer in London, and was especially expert in libel cases, being retained by some of the chief newspapers. He showed himself especially skilful in exposing the practises of usurious money-lenders. One of the last cases he was involved in personally was The Archer-Shee case in 1908, the 14-year-old naval cadet expelled from Osborne College accused of stealing a five-shilling postal order, the basis of Rattigan's play