The event with the Letterbox

The event with the Letterbox

Blog Article

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, using 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 a different 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 to date no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that here attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition of 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 didn't receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these 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 became not only a huge success therefore, an additional design came in 1879. This final design could be the one that we're accustomed to today. It was 2 years ahead of this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate due to their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately a decade.
For the population in particular, 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.