The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main strategies to delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to take their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It is 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 of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp would have been to be available by 50 % sizes; a more substantial 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 up against the backdrop of which 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 is not only a huge success and thus, a further design were only available in 1879. This final design could be the one that were acquainted with today. It was a couple of years ahead of this the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints how the structures were to tough to locate this can camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the populace in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the read more ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.