The Development of the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders could be necessitated to get 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 also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success from the experiment triggered a different four being set up on Guernsey, info now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland as of 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and yes it what food was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the 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, the box was to be around in 2 sizes; a greater 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 up against the backdrop of these 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 only a huge success and thus, another design came in 1879. This final design may be the one that we have been accustomed to today. It was 24 months just before this how the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most well-liked colour option was green so that you can blend in with all the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints how the structures were to difficult to locate because of the camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. 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, people were afforded access to your delivery check here service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.