Antique Collecting Magazine - July-August 2009 Extract


ANTIQUE COLLECTING The Journal of the Antique Collectors' Club

Extract from the July-August 2009 Magazine

COLLECTING POSTAL HISTORY:
Postal Reform

by Arnold Budds

This article results from the realisation that, whilst the range of collectable antiques is vast, the Royal Mail -which was made available to the general public as long ago as 1635 - has also produced a mass of collectable material; however, such material seldom figures in antiques magazines or at antiques fairs. The following thoughts might help to create an interest.
It is a common misconception that 'stamps' were introduced on 6th May 1840 with the appearance of the One Penny Black and Two Pence Blue. True it is that these historic little pieces of paper were officially made available that day but, to be accurate, they should be referred to as the first adhesive postage stamps (figure 9).
Stamps (that is handstamps) had been in use long before the appearance of adhesives - and not only in connection with the postal service. A stamp might be described as a device, usually stamp hand-held, for striking a mark of authority on to to a document - for example, endorsing a letter to indicate the date or place of posting (figure 1) or to show whether it had or had not pre-paid its postage (figures 1, 2 and 3). Even today most of our mail shows this information though it will doubtless have been applied by machine and in a very different form.

July-August 2009 Magazine Page 41 Figure 11.29th December 1840. Letter from Hingham to Wymondham via Attleborough. The sender has not used the new stamp but has exercised his right to prepay postage in cash. This has been confirmed by the Attleborough 'Paid/1d' handstamp in red. This very rare stamp was in use for only a few months during 1840-41.

The early part of the 19th century was a time of very expensive and ever-increasing postal rates, and this was causing a great deal of agitation for cheaper postage. The majority of the population simply could not afford to use the General Post, as' letters were charged on both the distance they were carried and the number of sheets they contained. Almost invariably the unfortunate recipient had to pay the postage and this led to the refusal to accept a considerable proportion of the letters put into the post. And with the circuitous nature of contemporary mail routes - it being quite usual for a letter from one post town to another to have to travel to its destination via London! - the cost of postage in relation to wages was enormous (figures 3 and 4). The result was that, in spite of high postage rates and an increasing population, the GPO was not a profitable concern. By 1837 revenue had not increased since the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
As is generally known, it was Rowland Hill who ultimately became the leading voice in the cry for postal reform; but he was by no means the first of the campaigners. Figure 5 shows an example of a proposed 'stamp' designed by Charles Whiting. This was one of the many unsuccessful entries in the 1839 Treasu Competition to design stamped stationery and pre-paid stamps. The example shown was just one of the 2,600 entries received.
It was Rowland Hill's pamphlet Post Office Reform (1837) that became the springboard from which cheaper postage eventually became a reality. Hill's main concerns were twofold:
(i) to establish a Uniform Post whereby, no matter what distance was involved, a letter weighing up to half an ounce would be charged a country-wide basic rate; only extra weight (not number of sheets) would increase the postage to be paid;
(ii) to encourage the sender to pre-pay postage and so relieve the recipent of the burden of paying the postman on delivery. It was this second aim which was to result in the production of the adhesive postage stamp.
To force the issue, Hill tried to persuade the GPO that with greatly reduced postage rates, the public would enormously increase its use of the Post, thereby generating large profits. In the event, this desirable outcome did occur but took several years before it became a reality.
It may be something of a surprise that the adhesive postage stamp did not at first figure prominently in Hill's plans. He envisaged providing the public with stamped paper and stamped letter sheets and envelopes which would be obtainable from the Stamp Office and the GPO. The idea of stamped paper did not long survive and Hill concentrated on the idea of making stamped stationery available. The letter sheets and envelopes were eventually to be bought for Is.3d. a dozen or a penny-farthing (1&FRAC14;old pence) each. With such small sums of cash involved, Hill was confident of enthusiastic public support. How wrong he was!