The Postage Stamp - 1
Hear this page read aloud
Rowland Hill & postal reform
One of the most radical innovations of the early Victorian period was the adhesive postage stamp. Before 1840 postage rates were very high and based upon the distance the letter travelled. With more than one sheet the cost doubled or trebled. There were also many anomalies and abuses.
Rowland Hill suggested in 1837 that the anomalies and abuses be eliminated and that postal charges be reduced to a basic rate of 1d (one penny). Letters would be charged by weight rather than distance and prepaid rather than by the recipient. This principle lasted for over 160 years, only being modified with Royal Mail's Pricing in Proportion scheme in 2006.
This proposal was a deliberate attempt at social as well as postal reform: reducing the cost of mail would be a boost to literacy and democratise the use of the post. The importance of uniform penny postage - embodied in the Penny Black stamp - is explained in the new education pack produced during The Penny Black Changed the World project. The pack is full of activity sheets for pupils, and notes for teachers of Key Stage 2 History.
Methods of prepayment suggested included stamped envelopes (‘covers’) and most famously Hill’s own suggestion of "a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous wash" which became the adhesive postage label or stamp. After a long campaign these proposals were accepted and became law in August 1839.
This slide shows the portrait of Rowland Hill by Mary Martha Pearson.
