The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main methods for delivering correspondence; senders will be necessitated to bring 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, also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was in 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to understand the brand new system.
The success with the experiment resulted in a different four being placed on Guernsey, info now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland by 1853.
However, there were up to now no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, this area 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 failed to receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of such criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not really a huge success therefore, an extra design came in 1879. This final design may be the one that were familiar with today. It was a couple of years before this that this iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most preferred colour option was green in order to blend in while using green British pastures. However, from a barrage click here of complaints that this structures were to hard to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for about a 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 to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.