The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main strategies to delivering a letter; senders could be necessitated to create their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to understand the modern system.
The success with the experiment triggered yet another four being placed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland by 1853.
However, there was confirmed no universal pillar box design that we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and it what food was in 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the 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 therapy lamp ended up being to be for sale in two sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop for these criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success and thus, an additional design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we have been used to today. It was a couple of years ahead of this how the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in using the check here green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints that this structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for ten years.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.