The event in the Letterbox

The event in the Letterbox

Blog Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main methods for delivering correspondence; 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 sound familiar.
It what food was in 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the newest system.
The success with the experiment resulted in one more four being installed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland by 1853.
However, there was confirmed no universal pillar box design that we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, also it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp ended up being to be for sale in two sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not really a huge success and thus, an additional design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we have been used to today. It was a couple of years ahead website of this the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the most well-liked colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints how the structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the populace most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.