The event in the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main methods for 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 from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success of the experiment resulted in one more four being placed on Guernsey, one of these 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 to date no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be available in two sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of such criticism that the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened read more in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design may be the one with which were used to today. It was 2 years before this how the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate because of the camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the populace most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.