The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to create 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, with a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the newest system.
The success in the experiment led to one more four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there was up to now no universal pillar box design that were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, also it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being to be accessible by 50 percent sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not only a huge success so, a further design came in 1879. This final design is the one with which we're familiar with today. It was a couple of years ahead of this how the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in while using green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints that this structures were to challenging to locate this can camouflage, it turned out agreed that more info bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as decade.
For people most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.