History

History

The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp

Although there have been several claimants to priority, it is generally held that postage stamps were first introduced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in May 1, 1840 as part of the postal reforms promoted by Rowland Hill. With its introduction the postage fee was now to be paid by the sender and not the recipient as heretofore, though sending mail prepaid was not a requirement. The first postage stamp, the Penny Black, while put on sale on the 1st of May, was postally valid from May 6, 1840; two days later the Two pence blue was issued. Both stamps show an engraving of the young Queen Victoria and were an immediate success though refinements like perforations were instituted with later issues. At the time of the Penny Black, there was no reason to include the United Kingdom's name on the stamp, and to this day the UK remains the only country that does not identify itself on its stamps.

Other countries followed suit by introducing their own postage stamps: the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland issued the Zurich 4 and 6 rappen on 1 March 1843. Although the Penny Black could be used to send a letter weighing less than half an ounce anywhere within the United Kingdom, the Swiss continued to calculate mail rates based on the distance travelled. Brazil issued the Bull's Eye stamps on 1 August 1843. Using the same printer as that used for the Penny Black, the Brazilian government opted for an abstract design instead of an image of emperor Pedro II so that his image would be not be disfigured by the postmark. In 1845 some postmasters in the U.S. issued their own stamps, but the first officially issued stamps came in 1847, with the 5 and 10 cent stamps depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. A few other countries issued stamps in the late 1840s. Many more, such as India, started in the 1850s and by the 1860s most countries of the world had issued postage stamps.

Following the introduction of the postage stamp in the United Kingdom the number of letters mailed increased from 82 million in 1839 to 170 million in 1841. Today an average of 21 billion items are delivered by post every year in the UK alone.