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From as early as 2800 BC letters have been sent in envelopes. The letters and the envelopes were made of sun-dried clay. Edward I is thought to have set up fixed stations along the road from London to Dover for the urgent despatch of Royal and military correspondence. In 1482 Edward IV appointed a single rider for every twenty miles which enabled news to be carried by letter two hundred miles in two days. In about 1513, Henry Tuke became known as the first Master of the Posts, the beginning of the Royal Mail. Charles I allowed the public to use the Posts for a sum that was dependent upon the number of sheets of paper carried. The Post Office was officially established in 1660, and Henry Bishop was installed as Master of Running Messengers, which later became Postmaster General. It was about this time that the first postmark was introduced and was known as the Bishop Mark A. William Dockwra and others organised a private local Post for London using a triangular postmark. This became too popular for the Post Office and they took over the service with Dockwra in charge. Their postmark differed very little from Dockwra's B. Each city, town and many villages had their own postmarks. C shows an envelope written by Elizabeth Fry, the prison reformer, from Liverpool. Arguably, the most important step took place in 1840 with the introduction of Rowland Hill's Universal Penny Post. On May 6th of that year the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamp appeared D, followed closely by the Twopenny Blue E. The speed that letters were delivered in view of the transport available, was remarkable, and even rivalled that of today. F shows an envelope sent from London on 18th April 1866 and was received in Cannes just two days later. |
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