The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main ways of delivering instructions; senders will be necessitated to bring 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 make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It is at 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the modern system.
The success in the experiment generated an additional four being installed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were up to now no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and it was 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 norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being be for sale by 50 % sizes; a more substantial 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 of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not just a huge success and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which we're accustomed to today. It was two years ahead of this the iconic red more info colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the population in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.