The event of the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main methods for delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to bring their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the modern system.
The success in the experiment led to an additional four being installed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland by 1853.
However, there is up to now no universal pillar box design that we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be available in two sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which we have been familiar with today. It was 2 years before this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, website after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately decade.
For the populace most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.

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