Sujet

Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B., late Secretary to the Post Office, 1864. Creator: Mason Jackson.

Légende

Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B., late Secretary to the Post Office, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by J. and C. Watkins of '...the author of the Penny Postage...Sir Rowland Hill has lately retired from the public service; but the country will not forget how much it owes to him...It was in 1836 that he applied himself to study the question of Post-office reform...The defects of the system which then existed were manifest...In estimating the first of the items of cost - receiving the letter and preparing it for its journey - Mr. Rowland Hill observed that the postage not only varied in proportion to the distance the letter had to travel, but that the clerk had to ascertain whether the letter was composed of one, two, or three sheets of paper. The rate of increase was...exorbitant, and bore no proportion to the small additional cost imposed upon the Post Office...delivering the letter and receiving the postage...exposed the Post Office to frauds and defalcations, and rendered necessary a multifarious and complicated system of accounts. The less money the postmasters handled the better...An agitation in favour of penny postage spread like wildfire...In 1839 the Penny Postage Act was passed, amid the joy and congratulations of the entire kingdom'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/The Print Collector

Notre référence

HRM24A26_077

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

29,0Mo (3,3Mo) / 23,7cm x 30,6cm / 2804 x 3615 (300dpi)

Mots clés

people male job man men communication communications businessman arts politics money finance science art guy occupation British post mail color political century Britain profession savings newspapers press expense print concept stamp postage B&W cost post office engraved engraving inventor Colour postal service postage stamp 19th century industrialist black & white black and white B W white and black nineteenth century postage stamps reformer The Print Collector Illustrated London News Penny Black reform Rowland Hill ILN newspaper portrait Hill Rowland Sir Rowland Hill Mason Jackson Jackson Mason Penny Post 19th-century M. Jackson Jackson M. John & Charles Watkins Watkins John & Charles John and Charles Watkins Watkins John and Charles J. and C. Watkins Watkins J. and C.