The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main methods for delivering correspondence; senders could be necessitated to get 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 make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to test out the new system.
The success of the experiment resulted in one more four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland as of 1853.
However, there was up to now no universal pillar box design with which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being be accessible by 50 percent sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't 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 create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not really a huge success therefore, another design started in 1879. This final design is the one that we're familiar with today. It was 2 years before this how the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most well-liked colour option was green in order to blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to difficult website to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as ten years.
For the people most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.