Stamp_amp_amp_Coin_Mart_-_February_2016__

34 FEBRUARY 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

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Stamp sidelines

In various forms (figure 9), these pre-

cancels spanned nearly a century, but are

almost ignored in this country. Figure 9

illustrates four basic types out of the five,

the other being like the King George

V example but with numbers. There

are many variations and, because of the

usage, many also have perfins.

As briefly mentioned above, The

Times and the Stamford Mercury

elected not to use this system. Instead

they continued with the systems that

they already had, the history of which

goes back to 1712 when there was a

duty required on newspapers that also

included the privilege of passing them

through the mail for free, multiple

times, for up to fifteen days. Initially, the

procedure for paying this tax and getting

the news-sheets impressed with the duty

stamps was very onerous. From 1853

(after eighteen years of campaigning

by Rowland Hill) some of the main

newspapers were enabled to print their

own stamps (in black) as part of the

printing process, while using a counter

for accounting purposes. Though this

was still illegal, the only ones who

could take action against them were

the Commissioners of Inland Revenue

who also wanted the changes and in fact

actively assisted in the work involved.

The newspapers using this system were

The Times, the Stamford Mercury and the

Illustrated London News.

Due to public discontent over

the ‘tax on knowledge’, this tax was

abolished in 1855, though the revenue

stamps could still be used until 1870,

allowing them to pass through the post

(with the money going to the Inland

Revenue, rather than the Post Office).

Thus the impressed marks used became

pre-cancels (figure 10).

The symbolic cancel was printed

as part of the ‘stamp’. The Illustrated

London News adopted the new system,

but the Stamford Mercury adopted a type

based on the 1844 postal cancellation

number of 742 (figure 11). As the

illustrations show, this type has been

used for many years with little change.

A number of more exotic uses of pre-

cancels – including newspaper wrapper

precancels, precancelled circulars, and

the precancelling of railway letters by

pen – can add a further challenge for

the collector, but these British examples

provide enough scope for an intriguing

and informative collection.

Figure 9. The ‘milled edge postmarks’ used by post offi ce clerks at the customer’s premises

Figure 10. Newspaper tax, known as the ‘tax on knowledge’, was repealed in 1855, leaving these markings to be used as precancels

Figure 11. Various uses of the Stamford Mercury’s precancel, showing its use over the years

Figure 8. The William Dawson & Sons precancel of May 1890

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