The event in the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main strategies to delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to create their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sound familiar.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success with the experiment triggered a different four being placed on Guernsey, info now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland by 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design with which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it was 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 main included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being be for sale by 50 % sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop of such 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 became not a huge success therefore, a further design were only available in 1879. This final design could be the one that we have been accustomed to today. It was two years ahead of this the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, more info the most well-liked colour option was green in order 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 your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.