The Development of the Letterbox

Wiki Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main methods for delivering a letter; senders will be necessitated to bring their mail to your 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 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to understand the new system.
The success with the experiment generated an additional four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland by 1853.
However, there was clearly confirmed no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the lamp was to be available 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 failed to receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not only a huge success therefore, another design came in 1879. This final design will be the one that were used to today. It was 2 years ahead of this how the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate because of the camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for decade.
For the people at large, the introduction and refinement click here of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.