The Development of the Letterbox

· 2 min read
The Development of the Letterbox

In the pre-post box era, there are two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to create their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It what food was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the newest system.
The success of the experiment led to yet another four being placed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, plus it what food was in 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, this area would have been to be available by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of which 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 really a huge success and so, an extra design were only available in 1879. This final design will be the one that we're used to today.  https://files.fm/f/bnhyd8hh7r  was 24 months just before this that the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in using the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints the structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for a decade.
For the people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.