The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main means of delivering a letter; senders could be necessitated to get their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post in the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and ring a bell.
It is at 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the newest system.
The success with the experiment triggered one more four being attached to Guernsey, one of which now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland by 1853.
However, there was clearly up to now no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was at 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in website letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp would have been to be accessible by 50 % 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 for 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 became not only a huge success so, another design arrived 1879. This final design is the one with which we are familiar with today. It was 2 years ahead of this the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with all the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints that the structures were to challenging to locate because of the camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately decade.
For the population in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.