Before 1840, sending letters in the United Kingdom was a privilege that few could afford. The cost of a simple letter often equaled a full day’s wage for a working man, and postal rates were calculated based on the number of sheets and the distance traveled. This encouraged all sorts of creative methods to save money—people frequently wrote several pages on a single sheet, turning the paper sideways and filling the spaces between the lines to avoid paying for additional sheets. The system also contained many inconsistencies: certain types of correspondence were carried free of charge, newspapers were heavily subsidized, and in most cases the recipient—not the sender—paid the postage.
It is no surprise that decades before 1840, various proposals for reform had already emerged. One of the earliest advocates was James Chalmers, a bookseller and printer from Dundee, who as early as 1822 promoted the idea of prepaid postal labels. In 1834 he even produced printed samples of adhesive labels and argued for standardized letter sheets and envelopes, which later appeared in the form of the Mulready stationery. Some researchers credit Chalmers as the true inventor of the adhesive postage stamp.
Later, the movement for reform gained momentum thanks to Rowland Hill and Robert Wallace, who became central figures in reshaping the postal system. In 1837, Hill proposed a groundbreaking concept: enclosing a letter in a separate wrapper—what we now call an envelope—and affixing a small label to indicate that postage had been prepaid. This idea laid the foundation for the modern postage stamp.
On 17 August 1839, Parliament passed the Penny Postage Act, establishing a uniform rate of one penny for ordinary letters and making prepayment the standard. The act required the use of special “labels” to show that postage had been paid—these would become the Penny Black and the Twopence Blue. A red cancellation mark was introduced to indicate that the stamp had been used.
That same year, the Treasury launched a public competition to design the new stamps, but none of the submissions were accepted. Ultimately, Rowland Hill introduced the service in 1840 using a decorative letter sheet designed by William Mulready and a black stamp featuring the profile of Queen Victoria. As the world’s first postage stamps, they did not include the name of the issuing country—a tradition that British stamps continue to this day.
The portrait of Queen Victoria was engraved from a drawing by Henry Corbould, inspired by a medal created by William Wyon to commemorate the young queen’s visit to London in 1837. The stamps were printed by Perkins, Bacon & Petch. The word “POSTAGE” appeared at the top to distinguish the stamp from revenue issues, while “ONE PENNY” at the bottom indicated the prepaid value. The background consisted of intricate engine‑turned patterns, and the lower corners contained letter combinations identifying each stamp’s position in the sheet of 240.
The Penny Black went on sale on 1 May 1840 and became valid for postal use on 6 May. London post offices received ample supplies, but provincial offices lagged behind and continued to accept cash payments for some time. The Mulready letter sheets were issued simultaneously, but while the Penny Black was widely admired, the Mulready design was mocked and quickly abandoned.
Production of the Penny Black lasted only one year and involved eleven different printing plates. The stamps were imperforate and had to be cut out with scissors. Experiments with perforation began in the late 1840s, eventually leading to the first perforated penny red in 1854.
The short lifespan of the Penny Black was due to a practical flaw: the red cancellation mark was difficult to see on the black background and could be removed relatively easily, allowing stamps to be reused. To solve this problem, the stamp was reissued in red, and the cancellation mark was changed to black, a far more effective combination.