The event of the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering a letter; senders will be necessitated to bring their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post in the community. In order to distinguish himself, and make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success with the experiment generated yet another four being set up on 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 in the discretion of local authorities, plus it was in 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being be accessible by 50 percent sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop of such criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not only a huge success and so, an additional design started in 1879. This final design could be the one with which we're familiar with today. It was a couple of years before this get more info that this iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, 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 that this structures were to challenging to locate this can camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for about a decade.
For the people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.