British Post Boxes - Their History in 10 Quick Steps

There are over 116, 000 red post boxes round the Uk. Once we start our daily business we regularly walk past them with no second thought, taking it as a given that after you want to post instructions - the post box come in an opportune location nearby. However, the post box continues to be part of the British mainland's landscape since 1853. Following a introduction of Rowland Hill's Uniform Penny Postage in 1840, the amount of mail increased and, because there were merely a few Post Offices, we adopted the continental practice of putting in roadside boxes to make collecting the mail easier. Listed here are ten interesting facts on the good reputation for post boxes.

1. The first four experimental post boxes for nice Britain were set up in St Helier, Jersey on 23rd November 1852. It was then three more in Guernsey the year after.



2. Installation for that mainland of The uk began with post boxes at Botchergate, Carlisle in September 1853.



3. The first post boxes were hexagonal and painted green; however designs varied in various areas as each Mailbox District Surveyor had a port to their manufacture and design.



4. 1859 saw the first national standard box. It were built with a protective hood on the roofer along with a wire cage insert to retain the mail. Additionally, it arrived 2 sizes and was obtainable in red or green. Within this year a better standardised wall box was introduced - again in red or green. It had been introduced to the rural areas, because it were built with a porch over the aperture to safeguard the mail. Until recently rural customers had needed to wait through the roadside for that Mailbox Messenger to gather their mail.
   
   
   
   



5. From 1874 all post boxes were painted a typical red colour to improve visibility.



6. In 1879 the easy cylindrical design was introduced. Accidentally, those made between 1879 and 1887 bear no royal cypher or crown; they merely had the makers' name, "Handyside". They were known as the 'anonymous' post boxes.



7. In 1887 the 'anonymous' boxes were corrected and all sorts of new boxes carried the wording 'POST OFFICE' and the 'VR' cypher. The post opening in seemed to be enlarged, as previously it absolutely was tailored for small Victorian envelopes.



8. 1952 the 'EIIR' Post Box, familiar to the ones still seen today, was made.



9. In 1991 the wording 'Royal Mail' first started appearing on British boxes, further to alterations in the company.



10. Business post boxes created for franked mail were introduced in 1995.

In 2002 Royal Mail and English Heritage agreed an insurance policy for that retention of operational letter boxes in existing locations, meaning they can't be moved unless under exceptional circumstances.

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