The event in the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main strategies to delivering a letter; senders would be necessitated to bring their mail to your 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 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the newest system.
The success in the experiment led to yet another four being set up on Guernsey, one of which now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there was up to now no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and yes it what food was in 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included read more the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the lamp would have been to be accessible in two sizes; a larger 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 such criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not a huge success and thus, another design started in 1879. This final design will be the one with which we have been accustomed to today. It was 24 months just before this that the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, preferred colour option was green in order to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints how the structures were to hard to locate because of their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.