Greetings:

Until postal reform became a reality through the efforts of Rowland Hill and others, postage rates were usually beyond the means of most ordinary working people. Rates were based on number of sheets of paper and upon mileage from the GPO, which in the United Kingdom meant from London. The postage bewteen two towns which were only a few miles apart, but which lay along different post roads, could be exhorbitantly high. Let's say one town were 42 from London and the other were 45 miles away. The postage would be based upon 87 miles, or 42 miles down one post road and 45 miles back up the other.

Hill successfully proposed that one uniform rate be charged for letter carried between any two points within the U.K. Furthermore, he proposed that the rates be charged per unit of weight regardless of the number of sheets. As part of these reorms, he suggested that postage could be efficiently prepaid, either by use of prepaid envelopes or lettersheets or by adhesive postage stamps.

Here are some important dates when Hill's reforms went into effect:

December 5, 1839: The first uniform postage rate within the UK became 4 pence per half ounce.

Januray 10, 1840: The uniform postage rate became 1 penny per half ounce.

May 1, 1840: The world's first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black went on sale. It was not valid for use until May 6, but a few examples are known to have been improperly used as early as May 2.

May 6, 1840: The Penny Black (1 penny stamp) became valid for postage. So did prepaid 1 penny envelopes and lettersheats (called Mulready stationery after its designer).

May 8, 1840: The world's second adhesive postage stamp, the Two-Penny Blue, went on sale. It was useful in paying the postage on letters weighing over half an ounce up to a full ounce.

There were actually several songs written to honor Rowland Hill, postal reform, and the postage stamp.

--- Steve