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 were two main methods for delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to get 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, and also to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the newest system.
The success in the experiment led to an additional four being set up on Guernsey, one of which now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be for sale by 50 percent sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't 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 produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not just a huge success and thus, another design arrived 1879. This final design will be the one in which we're acquainted with today. It was 2 years before this that the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with all the green British pastures. click here However, after having a barrage of complaints that this structures were to challenging to locate due to their camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as 10 years.
For the population at large, 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 a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.