Within the pre-write-up box period, there have been two main means of providing a letter; senders will be necessitated to provide their mail to some Obtaining House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, accumulating publish from the Neighborhood. So as to tell apart himself, and to produce his presence known, the Bellman would dress in a uniform and ring a bell.
It had been in 1852 the recommendation Channel letter manufacturer of street-facet containers at last grew to become a truth, using a demo proposed for your Channel Islands. A few Solid-iron pillar bins had been mounted on Jersey to check out the new system.
The success in the experiment brought about an extra 4 staying mounted on Guernsey, certainly one of which now varieties Section of the British Postal Museum & Archive assortment. Letter containers then began showing up on the mainland as of 1853.
Nonetheless, there was as however no common pillar box style with which we’re currently acquainted. Style and design and manufacture was within the discretion of community authorities, and it was in 1859 that tries were produced to standardise the constructions.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option above vertical kinds, and have become the norm in letterbox design and style. Even more advancements upon the original provided the addition of your protruding cap to protect the contents from The weather.
As of 1859, the box was for being obtainable in two dimensions; a larger and wider dimension for very populated parts, along with a lesser Model for elsewhere. On the other hand, the standardised pillar containers did not acquire universal acclaim. It was from the backdrop of these types of criticism which the Liverpool Unique was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to produce A further standard letter box in 1866. Once more, this wasn’t a tremendous achievement and so, an additional design and style came in 1879. This ultimate layout would be the 1 with which we’ve been accustomed to these days. It was two years ahead of this that the iconic purple colour on the submit bins became a typical attribute.
Just before this time, the popular colour solution was inexperienced to be able to Mix in While using the inexperienced British pastures. Having said that, following a barrage of issues that the buildings have been to challenging to Identify because of their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that shiny red was the best option. The programme of re-portray lasted for roughly a decade.