The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to create their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, and also to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success with the experiment led to an additional four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland as of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design that we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp was to be available by 50 % sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success and thus, an additional design arrived 1879. This final design is the one that we're familiar with today. It was 2 years before this how the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to difficult to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting more info lasted for as much as ten years.
For the people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.