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, which has a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the new system.
The success with the experiment generated an additional four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, plus it what food was in 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp was to be available in two sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of which criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is read more not really a huge success and so, an extra design were only available in 1879. This final design will be the one with which we are acquainted with today. It was a couple of years just before this that the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most well-liked colour option was green as a way to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints that this structures were to tough to locate this can camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for 10 years.
For the 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, people were afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.