The Development of the Letterbox

· 2 min read
The Development of the Letterbox

In the pre-post box era, there were two main means of delivering a letter; senders will be necessitated to get their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It is at 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 placed on Jersey to understand the modern system.
letter boxes Australia  in the experiment triggered yet another four being attached to Guernsey, one of these now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland since 1853.
However, there was up to now no universal pillar box design in which were 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 became the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being be accessible in 2 sizes; a bigger 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 these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design is the one in which we are acquainted with today. It was two years prior to this the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints how the structures were to challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for a decade.
For the people 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, people were afforded access to your delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.