The Development on the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main methods for delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to create their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It is at 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to try out the brand new system.
The success with the experiment resulted in an additional four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there was clearly as yet no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over here vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being be around in 2 sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop of such criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not just a huge success and so, another design came in 1879. This final design will be the one that we're used to today. It was 2 years just before this how the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in while using green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to hard to locate this can camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For the people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.

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