http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk JANUARY 2016^55POSTAL HISTORY
Commenting on the Postmaster
General’s statement that the
introduction of Imperial Penny
Postage would result in a deficit of
£75,000, conference speakers argued
that the primary function of the
General Post Office was not to raise
revenue for the Government, but to
supply postal facilities for the public
where needed. Further, the GPO’s
yearly surplus was £3,000,000 and
growing year-by-year. Any temporary
reduction in profit would soon be
offset by the stimulus to commerce
that will follow the introduction of
lower Empire postage rates.
The GPO eventually paid heed to
such criticism. Rates fell progressively,
and in early December 1898 British
newspapers carried the following official
announcement: ‘The Imperial Penny
Post will come into operation on 25
December. From that date letters posted
in this country to any of the following
places will require only a 1d stamp,
where 2½d in stamps is at present
required. The list: Aden, Bahamas,
British Central Africa, British East
Africa, British India, Canada, Cape
Colony, Ceylon, Cyprus, Falklands
Islands, Fiji, Gambia, Gibraltar, Gold
Coast, Hong Kong, Lagos, Leeward
Islands, Natal, Newfoundland, Niger
Coast Protectorate, St. Helena,
Seychelles. Sierra Leone, Straits
Settlements, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks
Island. Uganda, Windward Islands.’
Back in 1840 the triumph of
the Penny Black had contrasted
starkly with the dismal failure of
Mulready’s postal stationery which
suffered lampooning and ridicule
when first launched. Nevertheless,
the advertising and propaganda
possibilities of its pictorial format
attracted several imitators from various
mid-19th-century reform movements
that aimed to communicate their
messages through the mails. Anti-
Slavery societies, Free Trade advocates,
Temperance movements and Peace
campaigners all publicized and
promoted their causes with the aid of
adhesive stamps and envelopes. Elihu
Burritt, a philanthropist and linguist
from Connecticut USA, supported at
least two of them when he founded the
League of Universal Brotherhood in- He travelled throughout Europe
during the next few years, attending
conferences in France, Germany,
Belgium and Britain; giving speeches,
writing for newspapers and generally
cajoling for greater understanding
between nations and social classes.
His travels in Britain brought him
into contact with many like-minded
men who at once appreciated the
economic and social benefits that
would inevitably flow from cheaper
overseas mail. One was GeorgeBradshaw, mapmaker and publisher of
the famous Bradshaw Railway Guides.
Another was pioneer photographer
James Valentine who later won renown
as a picture postcard publisher.
A third was successful London
publisher Charles Gilpin. Each was
inspired by Burritt’s most famous
propaganda pamphlet, The Proposition
of a Universal Ocean Penny Post; each
would publish their own illustratedRight, from top
June 1851 Valentine’s
Ocean Penny Post
envelope, first design,
used from Turriff to Banff
with 1841 1d. The cover
sold for £230 at auction- Valentine’s second
design, used registered
from Darlington to
Thomas Dick at
Broughty Ferry, with
1841 1d. RK (margins
almost all around) neatly
tied by ‘233’ numeral,
a further impression of
which most unusually
cancels the ’OCEAN/
POSTAGE’ stamp at
upper left, endorsed
faint ‘Registered’ and
‘6’ in red indicating
prepayment of the
registration fee in cash.
With original letter from
Mrs. Elizabeth Pease,
wife of Henry Pease, a
director of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway
and which originally also
enclosed a banknote - Ocean Penny Post:
1850 (Feb) Gilpin’s
envelope used from
London to Okehampton,
franked by 1841 2d.
plate 3 JF tied by
indistinct numeral, few
minor imperfections,
part of flap missing,
otherwise fine and rare.
R.P.S. Certificate (1988).
Realised £2,800 at a
Grosvenor auction
p54 Ocean.indd 55 24/11/2015 13:37