The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main strategies to delivering instructions; senders would be necessitated to take their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It what food was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the brand new system.
The success with the experiment generated one more four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland by 1853.
However, there was clearly confirmed no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be around by 50 check here percent sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of these criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create 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 could be the one in which we are acquainted with today. It was two years ahead of this how the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in using the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints how the structures were to hard to locate this can camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as ten years.
For 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 with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.