The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to create their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success of the experiment led to one more four being placed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there was clearly to date no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be available in two sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop of these criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success and thus, a further design were only available in 1879. This final design will be the one with which were used to today. It was 24 months prior to this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in using the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to hard to locate because of the camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for 10 years.
For the people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to a delivery get more info service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.