The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main means of delivering instructions; senders can 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 might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was at 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the modern system.
The success of the experiment triggered a different four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there was to date no universal pillar box design in which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the box would have been to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not a huge success and so, an additional design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we have been used to today. It was a couple of years just before this the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most well-liked colour option was green to be able to blend in using the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate this can camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for ten years.
For the populace at large, 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 a delivery service no time website before witnessed in Great Britain.