The Development from the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main means of delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to bring 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, also to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was 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 placed on Jersey to test out the modern system.
The success in the experiment triggered one more four being placed 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 were to date no universal pillar box design with which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and yes it is at 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition of the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As read more of 1859, the lamp would have been to be for sale in 2 sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not 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 produce another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not really a huge success and thus, a further design arrived 1879. This final design may be the one with which we are familiar with today. It was 24 months prior to this that the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, 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 challenging to locate because of the camouflage, it had been agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as ten years.
For people in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.