The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main means of delivering instructions; senders will 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, and to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It is at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the new system.
The success from the experiment generated one more four being placed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland since 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be available by 50 percent sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was up against 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 was not just a huge success so, an additional design came in 1879. This final design will be the one in which we are familiar with today. It was two years prior website to this the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most well-liked colour option was green as a way to blend in with the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints the structures were to hard to locate because of their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for about 10 years.
For people most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to some delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.