The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering instructions; senders would be necessitated to take their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, and also to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to try out the modern system.
The success of the experiment resulted in a different four being installed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland as of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being to be available by 50 % sizes; a bigger 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 contrary to the backdrop of these criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not only a huge success and so, another design were only available in 1879. This final design is the one with which were accustomed to today. It was two years prior to this the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints how the structures were to hard to locate because of their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting here lasted for as much as decade.
For people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.