The Development of your Letterbox

Wiki Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main means of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to create 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 make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the new system.
The success of the experiment resulted in one more four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there were confirmed no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be available in two sizes; a greater 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 from the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in multi unit letter boxes for flats 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one in which we have been familiar with today. It was 2 years before this how the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most 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 challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately decade.
For the populace most importantly, 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 to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.