The event of your Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main methods for delivering instructions; senders could be necessitated to create 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, with a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to test out the new system.
The success of the experiment generated a different four being set up on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there was clearly up to now no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and yes it what food was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm check here in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the box ended up being be for sale by 50 percent sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was against 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 is not really a huge success and so, a further design were only available in 1879. This final design will be the one that we are acquainted with today. It was a couple of years ahead of this how the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, the preferred colour option was green as a way to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for ten years.
For the population most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.

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