The Development of your Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main ways of delivering instructions; senders will be necessitated to get their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post in the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success from the experiment triggered an additional four being installed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were confirmed no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the box was to be available in 2 sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these criticism 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 thus, an additional design came in 1879. This final design is the one with which we are accustomed to today. It was 2 years before this that this iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, here the most preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints the structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as a decade.
For the people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.

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