The event of the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering a letter; senders could be necessitated to create their mail with 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 make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was in 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to try out the brand new system.
The success from the experiment triggered yet another four being attached to Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there was clearly to date no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on 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 from your elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be accessible in 2 sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of which criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success and thus, a further design came in 1879. This final design could be the one in which we have been used to today. It was 24 months prior to this that the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, more info the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in using the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints that this structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as a decade.
For the populace 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, everyone was afforded access to a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.