Rowland Hill (1795-1879)

Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability

Colour trial 1840	Penny black May 1840

The postal system before Rowland Hill

A postal delivery system had been in place since 1510 for the King's Post. The General Post Office was established in London in 1710. Prior to the uniform penny postage introduced in 10th January 1840 the postage depended on the distance travelled and the number of sheets of paper used (postal rates). In 1812 the rate for single letter was 4d. for a distance of not more than fifteen miles. A letter from London to Brighton cost 8d., to Nottingham 10d and over the Scots border to Edinburgh 1s 1½d which was a days salary then. The rate doubled if two sheets of paper were used, some ingenious method were used to get around this (see crossed letter left). The postage was paid by the receiver rather than the sender and much effort was spent by the Post Office in collecting the money from a reluctant receiver. The postal system was unpopular with the masses who could not afford it. By prepaying the postage the difficulty in collecting the money was reduced and money could be saved by the Post Office.

Rowland Hill (1795-1879)

Rowland Hill (1795-1879) is the man usually connected with the postal reform. He was born in Kidderminster in 1795, his mother died at birth and he was raised by his father who was a school teacher, and for a time he was a teacher. Hill published his most famous pamphlet "Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability" in 1837, when he was 42. Hill wrote in his reform plan about the need for pre-printed envelopes and adhesive postage stamps to indicate prepayment of postage. The sender paid the postage rather than the receiver.. The Reform also called for a uniform low rate of one penny per half-ounce a letter to anywhere in the British Isles. Previously postage depended on distance and the number of sheets of paper, now one penny could send a letter anywhere in the country. One penny was a lower rate than before, usually more than 4d. With the reform the sender paid for the, now lower cost of postage rather than the receiver. The lower cost made communication more affordable to the masses. The uniform penny postage was introduced on 10 January 1840, four months before stamps were issued on 6 May 1840 (example letter). Also issued at the same time were prepaid letters designed by Mulready.

		Uniform Penny Postage - letter sent Apr 4 1840

Before and After Postal Reform

The Penny Black - The world's first prepaid adhesive postage stamp

The Penny Black was the world's first prepaid adhesive postage stamp. It was issued on 6th May 1840 and the Twopenny Blue was issued on 8th May 1840 early in the reign of Queen Victoria (b1819) when she was twenty. She reigned from 1837-1901, her portrait was used on the stamp as it would be more recognisable by the public, and difficult to counterfeit. The portrait on the penny black is based on the Wyon city medal of 1837 which William Wyon modelled in 1834 when Princess Victoria was only 15. As this was the first postage stamp, the country name is omitted, a tradition continued with all the stamps of Great Britain, the identifying characteristic is the monarch's head which usually faces to the left. The postal rate of one penny meant that a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight could be sent to any part of the United Kingdom. The purpose of the stamp was to indicate that the postage had been prepaid. Before the invention of the stamp the receiver paid the postage rather than the sender.

	Dec 24 1840		Jan 5 1841

Rowland Hill worked for the Treasury between 16th Sep 1839 until 1843, he returned to office as Secretary to the Postmaster-General in 1846 until his retirement in 1864. He was knighted in 1860, he was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society and died in 1879, the same year that Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co lost the contract to print the line-engraved low values. The success of the Uniform Penny Postage can be seen by the number of letters carried in the United Kingdom.

Other countries followed; in 1843 Brazil, 1847 USA and Mauritius, 1849 France and Belgium and by 1860 about 85 countries or other entities had issued stamps.

With the advent of prepaid postage Rowland Hill advocated that houses should have letter boxes to facilitate delivery of the letter.

The line-engraved printing method was used in which the ink was in grooves on a plate and pressure was used to force the ink onto the paper. The printing was carried out by Perkins Bacon and Petch.

The stamps were initially not perforated, but had to be cut with scissors, perforations were introduced in 1854. Each stamp had its own 'small crown' watermark. Due to wear eleven different plates were used to print the Penny Black.

Initially the cancellation was in red, then changed to black. In 1841 some of the same plates used to print the Penny Black would be used to print the Penny Red, the colour was changed so that the black cancellation would be more clearly seen.

Red Maltese Cross May 1840,    Black Maltese Cross Feb 1841 until 1844

more info on stamps

Recommended book The British Postage Stamp of the nineteenth century, Robson Lowe, 1968 Vera Trinder Ltd (This is an excellent book both for historical info and pictures of rare Victorian stamps)

Main stamps page

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