The Development of your Letterbox

The Development of your Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main strategies to delivering instructions; senders would 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, having a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the modern system.
The success from the experiment triggered an additional four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland by 1853.
However, there was clearly confirmed no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area would have been to be around by 50 percent sizes; a more substantial 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 contrary to the backdrop for these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not only a huge success so, another design arrived 1879. get more info This final design is the one in which we have been familiar with today. It was 2 years before this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as ten years.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.