Invented by: Rowland Hill

Information: Before stamps were invented, it wasn't the person sending the letter who paid for the postage, but the person who received the letter. Also, the cost depended on how far the letter had to go and it was getting very expensive. People were stopping writing letters.

By chance a teacher called Rowland Hill saw a postman bringing a letter from London addressed to a young village girl. She examined the letter, but because the postage on it was too expensive, she refused to accept it. Rowland Hill paid the postage and she told him that the letter was from her fiance working in London, but as she was too poor to afford letters from him. Rowland thought this was terrible and he tried to sort the problem.

Rowland Hill was born on 3rd December 1795, in a town called Kidderminster. He thought of the idea of sticky postage stamps. This meant that the sender could pay the postage, which was the same cost through the whole of Britain. This cost only varied if the package was particularly heavy.
The basic cost of sending a letter in Britain was 1 penny. The stamp was black in colour, and was named the Penny Black.
Soon afterwards, lots of other countries used this idea, but to avoid confusion, they had to put the name of their country on it.

Great Britain is the only country that does not have its name on the stamp, only a picture of the Queen.

Victorians Inventions Page