The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main strategies to delivering a letter; senders would be necessitated to bring their mail to some 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 dons a uniform and sounds familiar.
It is at 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to understand the modern system.
The success with the experiment triggered one more four being installed on Guernsey, info now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland as of 1853.
However, there were to date no universal pillar box design with which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and it was at 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as 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 2 sizes; a more substantial 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 these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success therefore, an extra design came in 1879. This final design may be the one that we have been acquainted with today. It was two years prior to this that the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in while using green British pastures. However, from a letterboxes for apartments barrage of complaints how the structures were to difficult to locate because of the camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for ten years.
For the populace most importantly, 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 no time before witnessed in Great Britain.