The event on the Letterbox
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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main means of delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to bring their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to 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 that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success with the experiment triggered a different four being set up on Guernsey, info now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland since 1853.
However, there was clearly up to now no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, also it was in 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the 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 in two sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop of which criticism that the 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 therefore, another design started in 1879. This final design could be the one that we have been used to today. It was a couple of years just before this that the iconic red colour of the post boxes became here a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in using the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate because of the camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about a decade.
For the population most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.