The event in the Letterbox

Wiki Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering a letter; senders can be necessitated to create 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, having a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to try out the brand new system.
The success from the experiment triggered one more four being placed on Guernsey, one of which now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there was as yet no universal pillar box design in which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, also it is at 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp would have been to be available by 50 percent sizes; a larger 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 contrary to the backdrop of which criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not only a huge success so, another design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we're accustomed to today. It was two years ahead of this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of get more info re-painting lasted for decade.
For the population in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.