The Development on 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 could be necessitated to bring 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 make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success from the experiment led to one more four being installed on Guernsey, info now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design that we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, this area would have been to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not only a huge success therefore, a further more info design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we are acquainted with today. It was a couple of years just before this that this iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints how the structures were to challenging to locate due to their camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately decade.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.