The event in the Letterbox

The event in the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main ways of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to get their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sounds familiar.
It is at 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 test out the new system.
The success in the experiment triggered yet another four being set up on Guernsey, one of which now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland as of 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design with which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, and it was at 1859 that attempts were designed 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 initial included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be available in 2 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 contrary to the backdrop for these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success so, an additional design started in 1879. This final design will be the one with which we are acquainted with today. It was 24 months ahead of this how the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with the green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to difficult to locate because of their camouflage, it turned check here out agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately ten years.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.