The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering instructions; senders would be necessitated to get their mail to some 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 sound familiar.
It is at 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to test out the modern system.
The success from the experiment generated yet another four being installed on Guernsey, one ofthese 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 as yet no universal pillar box design that 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 initial included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, click here the therapy lamp was to be accessible by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop for these criticism that this 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 so, an additional design were only available in 1879. This final design is the one that we have been acquainted with today. It was 2 years just before this how the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the most well-liked colour option was green so that you can blend in while using green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints that the structures were to tough to locate because of the camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For the populace in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.