The Post Box

The first pillar post box of 1855 was considered stubby and rectangular and was surmounted by a decorative ball.  It was manufactured for London use by Grissel & Son of the Hoxton Ironworks.  The reason they were replaced is because the Victorian’s thought them ugly.  Only one managed to survive into the 20th Century, but before it could be preserved it was destroyed during WWII when it was hit by a bomb.  All that is left of this very important pillar box is a photograph.

Standardising design started around 1857 due to deliberations of Committee for Science and Art.  This committee designed an elaborate and ornate box which they adorned with Grecian style decorations, but forgot to leave place for the aperture.  Once cast the aperture had to be hewn out and this destroyed the aesthetics of the design.  Only fifty were cast out which only three have survived.  Ireland owns a simplified version of one which has been painted green and which today stands in the Kent Railway Station in Cork.

Before 1859 there was no standard colour, with the exception of the royal cipher which was often picked out in gold lettering. A bronze green was used in 1859 because it was considered to by unobtrusive, but people kept walking into it and so in 1874 the colour was changed to red.  It wasn’t however until ten years later that each and every post box in the UK was painted red.  Red remains the standard colour today.

Once a design had been settled on, this remained in manufacture until 1905 when only basic changes were made.

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