The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main means of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to bring their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to test out the modern system.
The success from the experiment generated yet another four being installed on Guernsey, info now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland by 1853.
However, there was to date no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the lamp ended up being to be around in two 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 how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not just a huge success so, an additional design started in 1879. This final design could be the one with which we're used to today. It multi unit letter boxes for flats was two years prior to this the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate because of their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately 10 years.
For the populace in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.