The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders could be necessitated to get 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 would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It what food was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success from the experiment triggered a different 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 is to date no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and it is at 1859 that attempts were designed 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 main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp was to be available in two sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not 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 create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not a huge success so, another design arrived 1879. This final design is the one in which we have been familiar with today. It was 2 years before this how the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately a decade.
For the population in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a here delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.