The event in the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main means of delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to get their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post through the community. In order to distinguish himself, and make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It was at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to test out the new system.
The success of the experiment led to an additional four being set up on Guernsey, info now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland by 1853.
However, there was confirmed no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and 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 had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, this area was to be for sale in 2 sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive more info universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of which criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not a huge success so, an additional design were only available in 1879. This final design will be the one with which we have been accustomed to today. It was two years just before this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most well-liked colour option was green as a way to blend in using the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as 10 years.
For the people most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to some delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.