The Development from the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to take their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
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 new system.
The success from the experiment generated 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 as of 1853.
However, there is to date no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and click here became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area would have been to be for sale in two sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of such criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not only a huge success and so, a further design arrived 1879. This final design will be the one that were acquainted with today. It was 2 years prior to this the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in while using green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for about ten years.
For the populace at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.