The Development in the Letterbox

The Development in the Letterbox

Blog Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering a letter; senders would be necessitated to create 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, and make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It what food was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success of the experiment resulted in an additional four being installed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland as of 1853.
However, there was as yet no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and yes it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise commercial letterboxes the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of which criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not a huge success and thus, another design arrived 1879. This final design could be the one with which we have been accustomed to today. It was a couple of years ahead of this that this iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints how the structures were to hard to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about a decade.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.