The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main methods for delivering a letter; senders could be necessitated to take their mail to a 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 might wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to try out the modern system.
The success in the experiment generated a different four being set up on Guernsey, info now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland since 1853.
However, there were to date no universal pillar box design that we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and it was in 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp ended up being be around in 2 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 website these criticism that 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 and thus, an extra design arrived 1879. This final design could be the one that were familiar with today. It was two years just before this how the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints the structures were to difficult to locate this can camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as decade.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.