The Development with the Letterbox

The Development with the Letterbox

Blog Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to take 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, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to try out the newest system.
The success in the experiment resulted in yet another four being set up on Guernsey, one of which now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there was as yet no universal pillar box design that we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, plus it what food was in 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being be accessible in two sizes; a larger here 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 how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not a huge success so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which we have been used to today. It was 2 years before this how the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.