The event in the Letterbox

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 correspondence; senders could be necessitated to bring 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 also to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to understand the brand new system.
The success of the experiment resulted in a different four being set up on Guernsey, one of these now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were as yet no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and it was in 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the lamp was to be available in two sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, and 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 this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not just a huge success and thus, a further design were only available in 1879. This final design could be the one that we are acquainted with today. It was a couple of years just before this that the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most preferred colour option was green in order to blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to difficult to locate click here due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as ten years.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.