For immediate release – 11 May, 2015
Guernsey Post has issued a special stamp to mark the 175th anniversary of the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp used in the public postal system.
The miniature sheet, priced £2.00, features Rowland Hill, who became interested in postal reform due to the prohibitively expensive and unfit-for-purpose system that existed. He adapted the postal system of the 1830s from one in which the recipient paid postage based on distance and number of pages at point of delivery, which was slow and inadequate, to a low, uniform rate of prepaid postage based on weight.
Hill proposed the idea of wrapping a letter in an additional sheet of paper (now known as an envelope) and attaching a ‘label’ where the pre-payment would be shown using an adhesive stamp on the letter sheets; this is where the Penny Black was born.
Whilst the system was initially met with scepticism Hill drew public support and was given the opportunity to run a two-year trial. In the first three months of its implementation the amount of paid-for correspondence increased by 120%: Hill had succeeded in making the postal system more efficient and profitable.
The Penny Black was issued in Britain on 1st May 1840, for official use from 6 May of that year. The stamp, as depicted on the miniature sheet, featured a profile of Queen Victoria with the design based on a sculpture by William Wyon produced for a medal commemorating Her Majesty’s visit to the City of London in November 1837.
Dawn Gallienne, head of philatelic at Guernsey Post said: - “The Penny Black has a lasting legacy: from this one small stamp developed an innovative postal system and crucially, costs became low enough that almost everyone could afford to send a letter.”
The stamps are available to order by visiting
www.guernseystamps.com or by contacting philatelic customer
services on (01481) 716486.
-End release-
Press enquiries to:
Sarah Amies, pr consultant, 01484 687040/07811 133973
Dawn Gallienne, head of philatelic at Guernsey Post, 01481 733524
Notes to editors:
About Rowland Hill:
In 1846 Rowland Hill became Secretary to the Postmaster General and then
Secretary to the Post Office. He was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order
of the Bath in 1860. He died in Hampstead, London in 1879.
About
the miniature sheet:
Date of Issue: 1 May 2015
Designer: Keith Robinson
Printer: Lowe-Martin
Values: £2
Process: Offset Lithography
M/Sheet size: 70mm deep x
110mm wide
M/Sheet stamp: 28.8mm deep
x 28.8mm wide
Paper: 110 gsm
unwatermarked / PVA adhesive
Perforation: 12.5
Cylinder: A