The event in the Letterbox
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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering instructions; senders will 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 would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the new system.
The success from the experiment triggered a different four being installed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there was 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 what food was in 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area was to be for sale in 2 sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success and thus, an additional design arrived 1879. This final design may be the one that we're familiar with today. It was 24 months 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 get more info of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as decade.
For people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.