The Development on the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main means of delivering instructions; senders will be necessitated to take their mail with a 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 has on a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to try out the brand new system.
The success from the experiment resulted in one more four being installed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland since 1853.
However, there were confirmed no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the here addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being to be accessible in two sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop for these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not only a huge success therefore, an additional design arrived 1879. This final design is the one in which we have been familiar with today. It was 2 years prior to this that this iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to challenging to locate because of the camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as a decade.
For the populace most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.