The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main strategies to delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to bring their mail to 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 to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It what food was in 1852 that this 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 modern system.
The success with the experiment triggered yet another four being attached to Guernsey, one of these now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland by 1853.
However, there was as yet no universal pillar box design with which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were built 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 original included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp ended up being be around in 2 sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop for these criticism 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 only a huge success therefore, an additional design arrived 1879. This final design is the one with which we're accustomed to today. It was two years ahead of this the iconic red colour of 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, after check here a barrage of complaints that this structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about 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 some delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.