The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering instructions; senders will be necessitated to get 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, also to make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the new system.
The success with the experiment resulted in a different four being set up on Guernsey, one of these now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland as of 1853.
However, there was clearly up to now no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as 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, the lamp ended up being to be for sale in two sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for check here elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not only a huge success therefore, another design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which we're used to today. It was 24 months just before this that this iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most well-liked colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.