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The story of how the 1841 imperforate Penny Reds came into being progresses through:

  • 1. The inequitable British postal charges that had been worsening since around 1815.

  • 2. Postal reform, with uniform 4d postage being implemented from December 1839.

  • 3. Pre-paid Penny Post, anywhere in Britain, implemented from January 1840.

  • 4. The Penny Blacks, used from May 1840.

  • 5. The colour trials, to overhaul the Penny Blacks, taking place during 1840.

  • 6. The eventual creation of the imperforate Penny Reds, issued for use from 10 February 1841.

Pre-Reform Postage in Britain

Before the 1840 postal reforms, sending post in Britain was complex and unaffordable to most. The system in place was subject to abuse and corruption, and the rates were confusing and perceived to be illogical.

Letters were charged based on the distance sent, and the number of sheets of paper contained. Furthermore, the charge was typically paid by the recipient, not the sender. An 1835 Post Office report stated that each delivery took postal workers on average a costly 1½ minutes, due to the requirement to knock on the door and collect cash. Cash handling on the street in Victorian England was also of course open to abuse, and the postal system was considered dysfunctional.

 Many items did travel for free, including letters between members of the Houses of Parliament, and some items such as newspapers. It was quite common for members of the public to ask their MP to frank their post to avoid the charge. There were many anomalies, as well as local systems with different charges. There were some affordable Penny Posts within a number of local areas, such as Glasgow, Manchester and Dublin.

 However, postal charges between cities at this time were designed to act as a tax to raise revenue for the government and were often extortionate. The Postal Museum reports that a letter from Dublin to London cost 1s 3d, which was doubled for two sheets and tripled for three. The rates within London had also been rising since 1801, and by 1835 were 2d within the city and 3d for the suburbs.

Postal Reform

Richard Cobden and John McCulloch, among others, campaigned for reform from around 1833, attacking the government’s postal system, arguing that it was so ineffective that it restricted commerce.

 Robert Wallace developed this campaign from 1835. He campaigned for cheaper postage and ultimately triggered a governmental commission to investigate the problems, with a view to increasing use of the postal system, and thereby generating more government revenue.

Sir Rowland Hill

 In 1837, Sir Rowland Hill published a pamphlet on postal reform, and in 1838 proposed a revolutionary flat-rate pre-payment postage system for any town in the British Isles.

At the same time, a Committee on Postage was working on ideas to lower postal charges. Hill was a member of this Committee, as was Henry Cole – who took the ideas forward with passion, creating petitions and newspaper articles.

This paved the way for the Postage Act 1839, which facilitated the final reforms. Hill was appointed to the Treasury to oversee the changes, supported by Cole.

Flat rate postage

The flat rate postage rule came into effect in December 1839, initially allowing people to send any letter weighing up to ½ ounce at a rate of 4d, regardless of distance.

Shown here is a uniform post rate 4d cover from December 1839, with ‘4’ written in black ink to signify payment due.

This was immediately successful and, from January 1840, the rate was changed to 1d for pre-paid letters. The postal service had finally become affordable and accessible.

The idea for a postage stamp

In 1839 and at the beginning of 1840, stamps were still not in use, and simple annotations or hand stamps were used.

Shown here is a uniform penny post cover from early 1840, hand stamped in red to signify pre-payment

The Treasury Competition

During the reforms, Hill further outlined his plans to develop a physical postage label, describing ‘a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous wash’.

This was to become the Penny Black, the world’s first postage stamp.

A Treasury competition was run in 1839, requesting potential designs for the new stamp, as well as for stamped envelope covers. Some of the most interesting and intricate stamp designs came from Charles Whiting, shown here.

Hill, however, did not feel any of the designs were quite right, and proceeded with a different design, which became the Penny Black.

The Penny Black

The Penny Black was issued for use from 6 May 1840. It was the culmination of years of development, heralded a new era for British postal services, and singlehandedly initiated the entire hobby of philately. Having sparked the transformation of postal services across the world, the British system has remained remarkably similar ever since.

Shown here is a notice of the upcoming implementation of the Penny Black.

The red Maltese cross

When used, the Penny Blacks were cancelled with a red Maltese cross. Red cancellation ink was initially chosen because it contrasted sharply with the black background of the stamp, making the cancellation nicely visible.

However, techniques were quickly developed by unscrupulous customers to remove the red ink and reuse stamps. This prompted a shift to using a more robust black cancellation ink, which was harder to remove. Unfortunately, however, this did not contrast so well against the black stamp, and so did not entirely solve the reuse problem. Furthermore, it was still just about possible to remove the black ink without damaging the stamp surface, partly due to the resilience of the ink used in printing the Penny Black.

Shown here are Penny Blacks obliterated by red and black Maltese crosses, as well as used Penny Blacks with Maltese crosses removed.