The Development of the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering a letter; senders will be necessitated to create 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 make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sound familiar.
It 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 placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland by 1853.
However, there was clearly confirmed no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and it is at 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being 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 would not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of which criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not a huge success so, another design arrived 1879. This final design is the one in which we're accustomed to today. It was two years ahead of this that the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most well-liked colour option was green in order to blend in website with all the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints how the structures were to hard to locate because of the camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for decade.
For the populace 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, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.