The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main strategies to delivering correspondence; senders could 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 sound familiar.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success in the experiment led to an additional four being set up on Guernsey, info now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, also it was in 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 initial included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp would have been to be available in 2 sizes; a more substantial 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 the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not only a huge success so, a further design came in 1879. This final design is the one with which were acquainted with today. It was two years just before this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in with all the 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 capacity for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service no read more time before witnessed in Great Britain.