The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders could be necessitated to bring their mail with a 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 might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to try out the newest system.
The success of the experiment resulted in yet another four being set up on Guernsey, info 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 confirmed no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it was at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as 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 from the elements.
As of 1859, the box would have been to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not a huge success and so, a further design were only available in 1879. This final design is the one in which were used to today. It was a couple of years ahead of this the click here iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate this can camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for 10 years.
For people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to your delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.