Uniform Penny Post

Rowland Hill (1795-1879) is the man usually connected with the invention of the modern postal service.

He was born at Kidderminster in Worcestershire (where his statue still stands) 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. 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.