The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main means of delivering instructions; senders would be necessitated to take 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 would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success of the experiment generated an additional four being installed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland by 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was at 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, read more and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being to be for sale 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 up against the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not really a huge success and so, an additional design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which we are accustomed to today. It was 2 years before this that the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, 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 most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.