Notes

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main methods for delivering correspondence; senders can be necessitated to create their mail with a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was at 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, having a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Letterbox Distribution -iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to understand the brand new system.
The success of the experiment triggered yet another four being attached to Guernsey, one of which now forms part in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland since 1853.
However, there was up to now no universal pillar box design in which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was on the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were created 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 main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being be for sale in 2 sizes; a larger 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 up against the backdrop for these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this became not a huge success and so, an extra design came in 1879. This final design will be the one with which we are used to today. It was a couple of years before this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the most preferred colour option was green in order to blend in using the green British pastures. However, following 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 approximately 10 years.
For the population at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access to some delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.
Read More: https://pbase.com/topics/mckeehaagensen5/letterbox_distribution