The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders will be necessitated to bring their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It what food was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the new system.
The success with the experiment generated an additional four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland at the time of 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 original 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 of these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not really a huge success and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which were used to today. It was 24 months prior to this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with the green British pastures. However, from letterboxes for apartments a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about a decade.
For the population in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.