The Development from the Letterbox

Wiki Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to get their mail to your 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 has on a uniform and ring a bell.
It was at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to try out the modern system.
The success of the experiment led to a different four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland as of 1853.
However, there were confirmed no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it was at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being to be accessible in 2 sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of which criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not a huge success so, another design started in 1879. This final design could be the one that were familiar with today. It was 24 months before this the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the preferred colour website option was green so that you can blend in using the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to difficult to locate this can camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as ten years.
For the people most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.