Postage stamps and postal history of the United Kingdom

Under Thomas Witherings, chief postmaster under Charles I, the Royal Mail was made available to the public (1635),[2] with a regular system of post roads, houses, and staff.

From this time through to the postal reforms of 1839–1840 it was most common for the recipient to pay the postage, although it was generally optional to prepay the charge within the British Isles.

In subsequent years, the postal system expanded from six roads to a network covering the country, and post offices were set up in both large and small towns, each of which had its own postmark.

Hill convinced Parliament to adopt the Uniform Fourpenny Post whereby a flat 4d per half ounce rate (equivalent to 10s 8d per pound for heavier items) was charged regardless of distance.

[7] This was immediately successful, and on 10 January 1840 the Uniform Penny Post started, charging only 1d for prepaid letters and 2d if the fee was collected from the recipient.

Fixed rates meant that it was practical to avoid handling money to send a letter by using an "adhesive label", and accordingly, on 6 May, the Penny Black became the world's first postage stamp in use.

After more than 2,000 suggestions were submitted, Rowland Hill chose the method and printer, and worked by trial and error to achieve the required result.

He decided to go with Perkins, Bacon & Petch, "a firm of bank-note printers, to carry out the work by the process of steel engraving, and the head of the Queen as engraved by William Wyon for a special medal struck to celebrate Her Majesty's official visit to the City of London in the year of her Coronation.

For this reason the name of the country was not included within the design, a situation which continued by agreement with foreign post offices, provided the sovereign's effigy appeared on the stamp.

The inefficiency of using scissors to cut stamps from the sheet inspired trials with rouletting (the Archer Roulette), and then with perforation, which became standard practice in 1854.

The new low values were also surface-printed: first was a penny stamp coloured Venetian red in a square frame, issued in 1880.

They succeeded in their purpose – relatively few of the stamps survived usage, their colours fading away when soaked from the envelope – but they were not liked by the public.

[11] Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, responsibility for posts and telegraphs in what was initially called Southern Ireland transferred to the new Provisional Government.

A Postmaster General was initially appointed by the Free State Government, being replaced by the office of Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in 1924.

[12] George VI's coronation was marked with a commemorative: part of an omnibus issue which included every colony in the Empire.

New definitives featured a profile of the King on a solid colour background, based on a plaster cast by Edmund Dulac.

Post-war issues included commemoratives for the return of peace, the Silver Jubilee and the 1948 Summer Olympics in 1948, and the 75th anniversary of the UPU, in 1949.

A collection of variations on a theme that came to be known as the Wilding issues, based on a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, was the result.

[15] The Machin design is very simple, a profile of the Queen on a solid colour background, and very popular, still being the standard British stamp.

A compromise, a small silhouette of the Queen based on the coinage head of Mary Gillick, was accepted and this has been the standard ever since for commemorative stamps.

[22] When the monarch's portrait is part of the stamp's main design (as for example in the case of issues commemorating the Queen's birthday), then the silhouette is not needed and usually does not appear.

Beginning in 1958, counry definitives (initially known as regional issues) were introduced in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

[27] England-specific issues were added later, starting wth the World Cup – England Winners commemorative stamp in 1966.

The United Kingdom has introduced postal services throughout the world and has often made use of British definitives bearing local overprints.