The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main strategies to delivering correspondence; senders could be necessitated to get their mail to your 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 might wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 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 modern system.
The success from the experiment generated one more four being attached to Guernsey, one of which now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland by 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design that were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, also it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the box would have been to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not only a huge success and thus, an extra design arrived 1879. This final design could be the one with which we have been used to today. It was 24 months ahead of this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the preferred colour option was green in order to blend in while using green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately 10 years.
For the people at large, the click here introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.