The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering a letter; senders could be necessitated to take their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post in the community. In order to distinguish himself, and also to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It what food was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success from the experiment resulted in one more four being attached to Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland by 1853.
However, there was clearly up to now no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and yes it what food was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm here in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp would have been to be accessible in two sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop for these criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not only a huge success and thus, an extra design started in 1879. This final design is the one that were familiar with today. It was two years just before this how the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints the structures were to difficult to locate due to their camouflage, it had been 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 without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.