The event of the Letterbox

The event of the Letterbox

Blog Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main strategies to 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 in the community. In order to distinguish himself, and make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and ring a bell.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to try out the brand new system.
The success with the experiment led to a different four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became 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 for sale by 50 % sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would 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 and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which were used to today. It was 24 months prior to this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate check here because of the camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the populace most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.