The event in the Letterbox
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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main means of delivering instructions; senders could be necessitated to take their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the newest system.
The success from the experiment generated an additional four being placed on Guernsey, info now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be around by 50 percent sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of which criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
check here This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not only a huge success so, an extra design were only available in 1879. This final design could be the one that we have been familiar with today. It was 24 months prior to this that the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in using the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to challenging to locate because of the camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately decade.
For the people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to your delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.