Rowland Hill

Sir Rowland Hill ( born December 3, 1795 in Kidderminster, † August 27 1879 in Hampstead ) was a reformer of the British postal system.

Life

Rowland Hill was born the nephew of General Rowland Hill. He was until 1833 a teacher, then became secretary of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge and created a sensation by his signature post office reform, lts, importance and practicability ( Lond. 1837), in which he a profound reform of the British postal system, including also a uniform postage rate of 1 penny for letters up to a weight of 0.5 ounces within the country demanded. This demand was made ​​into law in 1840, and Hill entered the service of the post. The Hill 's postal reform, the principle was introduced that the sender and not the recipient has to pay for postage. The payment of postage by the receiver was common in England before 1840.

Sir Rowland Hill is considered the " father of the postage stamp ." He developed the idea in 1837 for the so-called postage receipt, today's postage stamp. According to Chalmers (The penny postage scheme of 1837: was it an invention or a copy, London, 1879 ) was not Hill but Lord Lowther, the inventor of the penny postage.

Hill was in 1846 secretary of the Postmaster-General, 1854 directing Secretary of Postdepartemens, entered 1864 in retirement and died on 27 August 1879 in Hampstead, near London.

Honors

1857 Hill was admitted as a member ( "Fellow" ) to the Royal Society. In 1860 he received the Bathorden second class ( Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ).

In recognition of his services Hill received a national reward of 20,000 pounds sterling ( today's value about 1,350,000 pounds ), was buried in Westminster Abbey, and in 1881 there was a bust in 1882 another monument of the Stock Market unveiled.

In 1968, a stamp of the Principality of Liechtenstein ( Michel-Nr. 503) with a portrait of him as a brand from the set called "Pioneers of Philately".