The event from the Letterbox
The event from the Letterbox
Blog Article
The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main means of delivering instructions; senders will be necessitated to create their mail to some Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, and make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It is at 1852 that the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to understand the brand new system.
The success of the experiment triggered a different four being attached to Guernsey, one of which now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland since 1853.
However, there is confirmed no universal pillar box design with which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, plus it was in 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the lamp ended up being to be around by 50 % sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was up against the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not just a huge success therefore, another design started in 1879. This final design will be the one that we have been used to today. It was a couple of years ahead of this how the iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before click here this time around, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that the structures were to challenging to locate this can camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about 10 years.
For the people in particular, 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 with a delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.