In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to get their mail to a 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 might wear a uniform and ring a bell.
It was at 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to try out the brand new system.
The success of the experiment triggered an additional four being placed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing on the mainland since 1853.
However, there was clearly confirmed 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 had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the initial included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from the elements.
As of 1859, the therapy lamp ended up being to be for sale in two sizes; a larger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes failed to receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of which criticism that 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 only a huge success and so, another design were only available in 1879. This final design may be the one with which were accustomed to today. It was 2 years prior to this how the iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before Spam in My Letterbox - How to Separate the Wheat From the Chaff , the most preferred colour option was green in order to blend in with the green British pastures. However, after having a barrage of complaints that the structures were to challenging to locate due to their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as decade.
For the populace in particular, 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 a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.