Editing Penny Post

{{Short description|Type of postal system}}
The '''Penny Post''' is any one of several [[postal system]]s in which normal letters could be sent for one [[penny]]. Five such schemes existed in the United Kingdom while the United States initiated at least three such simple fixed rate postal arrangements.

==United Kingdom==
===London Penny Post===
[[File:Examples of Dockwra postal markings.jpg|thumb|right|Postmark and time stamps from Lime Street office]]
{{main|London Penny Post}}
In [[Kingdom of England|England]], the postal service, from 1660 [[General Post Office]], had developed into a monopoly, affirmed by [[Oliver Cromwell]] in 1654,<ref>{{cite web |title=September 1654: An Ordinance touching the Office of Postage of Letters, Inland and Foreign |work=Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |date=1911 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/acts-ordinances-interregnum/pp1007-1013 |access-date=4 September 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Blake |first=Heidi |title=The Royal Mail: a history of the British postal service |work=Royal Mail |publisher=Daily Telegraph |date=10 June 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/7814591/The-Royal-Mail-a-history-of-the-British-postal-service.html |access-date=4 September 2016 }}</ref> for the collection and carriage of letters between post towns, however, there was no delivery system until [[William Dockwra]] and his partner [[Robert Murray (financier)|Robert Murray]] established the '''[[London Penny Post]]''' in 1680. They set up a [[local post]] that used a uniform rate of one [[pound sterling|old penny]] for delivery of letters and packets weighing up to one [[pound (mass)|pound]] within the cities of [[Westminster]] and [[London]] as well as in [[Southwark]].<ref>"Calendar of Treasury Papers Vol. LXXXII. 1702, Oct.13 - Nov. 30"</ref> Several deliveries took place a day within the city, and items were also delivered to addresses up to ten miles outside London for an extra charge of one penny. In 1683 Dockwra was forced to surrender the Penny Post to the English Crown for circulating what were considered seditious newsletters sharply criticizing [[James II of England|the Duke of York]], who was in charge of and directly benefited from the General Post Office.<ref name="Provincial Penny Posts">{{cite web |url= http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/collections/stamps/markings/markings-pennypost/ |title= Provincial Penny Posts |publisher=The British Postal Museum and Archive |access-date=4 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921053141/http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/collections/stamps/markings/markings-pennypost |archive-date=21 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="Dockwra Family Research Center">{{cite web |url= http://www.docwras.org.uk/articles.php?article_id=24 |title= Dockwra Family Research Center |work= The Local Posts of London 1680-1840 by George Brumell |author= George Brumell |publisher= first published in 1938, second edition published by Alcock and Holland |access-date= 17 June 2011 }}</ref>
{{clear}}
===Local Penny Post===
In 1765, Parliament authorized the creation of Penny Posts in any town or city of the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]. The single postage rate of one penny was charged within the area, calculated by weight.<ref name="Provincial Penny Posts"/> By the beginning of the 19th century there were many of these, identifiable on [[Cover (philately)|covers]], with markings such as "PP", "Py Post", or "Penny Post" along with the name of the town.<ref name="Provincial Penny Posts"/><ref name="Dockwra Family Research Center"/>

The early penny post system in [[Edinburgh]], founded in 1773/4 by [[Peter Williamson (Indian Peter)|Peter Williamson]],<ref name="Provincial Penny Posts"/><ref name="Dockwra Family Research Center"/> known as "Indian Peter," usefully combined it with one of the world's first street directories.<ref name="A Man Called Indian Peter">{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalsilver.co.uk/TimeGun/indian_peter.html |first=David |last=Dobson |publisher=University of Georgia Press |title=A Man Called Indian Peter |access-date=6 April 2017}}</ref> He circulated mail to 17 shops in the city (effectively [[post office]]s) and employed four uniformed postmen. Their hats read "Penny Post" and were numbered 1, 4, 8 and 16 to make the business look bigger.

===Uniform Penny Post===
{{main|Uniform Penny Post}}
On 5 December 1839 the '''[[Uniform Fourpenny Post]]''' was introduced by the [[General Post Office]] but lasted only 36 days until 9 January 1840 when the Uniform Penny Post replaced it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.askphil.org/b25u.htm |title=Glossary of Stamp Collecting Terms |publisher=AskPhil.org - Collectors Club of Chicago |access-date=2009-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628203343/http://www.askphil.org/b25u.htm|archive-date=28 June 2011 }}</ref> 
In 1835 [[Rowland Hill (postal reformer)|Rowland Hill]] published a pamphlet entitled 'Post Office Reform' which led to various reforms and the introduction of the first postage stamp. He convinced Parliament to implement much needed reforms in the current postal system. On 10 January 1840, the '''[[Uniform Penny Post]]''' was established throughout Great Britain and Ireland, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap conveyance of letters. Hill had demonstrated that the current system was inefficient and slow and not cost effective. Time was wasted when the postman waited at each house to collect payment. From 6 May 1840, letters could be prepaid with the first [[postage stamp]], known as the [[Penny Black]] for up to a half ounce in weight, otherwise they would be charged twopence as unpaid letters or required additional postage. The use of prepaid postage through adhesive stamps revolutionized the postal service. While the Post Office was initially skeptical, the new system proved to be a resounding success, leading to greater efficiency, speed, and profitability.<ref>Fred J. Melville, ''Origins Of The Penny Post'' (London: Philatelic Institute, 1930). </ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Colin |last=Baker |url=http://brlsi.org/proceed04/lunch200404.htm |title=Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution Proceedings vol.8 The History of the Postal Services |publisher=Royal Literary & Scientific Institution |access-date=December 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524151409/http://www.brlsi.org/proceed04/lunch200404.htm |archive-date=May 24, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Ocean Penny Post===
[[Elihu Burritt]] proposed that a fixed rate of one penny be established for all mail throughout the entire [[British Empire]] as a means of facilitating international interaction and international unity. This was known as the '''Ocean Penny Post'''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bacon |first=E. D. | title=Ocean penny postage |journal=St. Martin's-le-grand | issue=April | year=1899 |location=<!--London--> | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gDgaAQAAIAAJ&q=ocean+penny+post&pg=PA164 | page=164ff}}</ref>{{efn|See also [[s:League of Universal Brotherhood Pledge|League of Universal Brotherhood Pledge]]}}

===Imperial Penny Post===
On Christmas Day, 1898, the '''Imperial Penny Post''' extended the rate throughout the British Empire except for Australia and New Zealand, who would not benefit from it until 1905.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/heaton-sir-john-henniker-3745 |title=Dictionary of Australian Biography: Sir John Henniker Heaton |publisher= National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |access-date=3 September 2015 }}</ref> In 1908 it was extended to America.

The Penny Post rate ended in Great Britain in 1918.

==United States==

In the [[United States]], '''Spaulding's Penny Post''' operated in [[Buffalo, New York]] from 1847 to 1850.

'''Davis' Penny Post''' operated in [[Baltimore, Maryland]] for several weeks of February 1856, leaving behind a handful of rare stamps.<ref>{{citation |title=Davis's Penny Post |publisher=Siegal Auction Gallaries |date=1999-11-15 |pages=196–197 |url=http://www.siegelauctions.com/enc/carriers/davis.pdf |access-date=2014-05-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Davis's Penny Post, Baltimore, Maryland |work=Auction catalog |publisher=Siegal Auction Galleries |year=1999 |url=http://www.siegelauctions.com/enc/carriers/davis.htm |access-date=2014-05-01 }}</ref>

'''''The Penny Post''''' is the journal of the [[Carriers and Locals Society]], and was also the original name of ''[[The Cincinnati Post]]''.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last= Staff |first=Frank |title=The Penny Post 1680-1918 |year=1993 |publisher=The Lutterworth Press |url=http://www.lutterworth.com/product_info.php/products_id/775 |isbn= 0-7188-2878-X }}
* {{cite book |last=Golden |first=Catherine J. |title=Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing |year=2009 |publisher=[University Press of Florida] |isbn= 978-0-8130-3379-2}}

==Further reading==
* Anon. "Peter Williamson and the Edinburgh Penny Post". ''Philatelic Journal of Great Britain''. (November 1938).
* Brumell, George. ''The Local Posts of London 1680-1840''. Cheltenham: R. C. Alcock Ltd, 1971, 91p.
* Cochrane, William P. ''The Glasgow Penny Post, 1800-1845''. Hamilton: The Scottish Postal History Society, 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-9081390-3-0}}, 238p.
* Cowell, J.B. ''The Bangor Penny Post, 1814-1840''. Gwynedd, Wales: Welsh Philatelic Society, 1977 {{ISBN|0-904098-01-X}}, 20p.
* Dittmann, Manfred. ''Die Dubliner penny post nach offiziellen unterlagen und verschiedenen samumlungen = The Dublin penny post compiled from official and historical data from collections''. Munich: Forschungs- und Arbeitsgemeinschaft Irland e.V. im Bund Deutscher Philatelisten e.V., 1992, 312p.
* Holyoake, Alan. ''Great Britain, the development and introduction of uniform penny postage (1839-1840)''. Gerrards Cross: the author, 2006, 15p.
* Melville, Fred J. ''Origins Of The Penny Post''. London: Philatelic Institute, 1930, 120p.
* Melville, Fred J. ''A Penny All The Way''. London: W.H. Peckitt, 1908, 48p.
* Phil (A.D. Blackburn). ''The Penny Postage Jubilee and Philatelic History''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1891, 261p.
* Staff, Frank. ''The Penny Post, 1680-1918''. London: Lutterworth Press, 1964, 219p.
* Todd, Thomas. ''William Dockwra and the Rest of the Undertakers: The story of the London penny post, 1680-1682''. Edinburgh: C. J. Cousland & Sons, 1952, 156p.
* Winmill, R.B. ''The Evolution of Imperial Penny Postage and the postal history of the Canadian 1898 Map Stamp''. Toronto: Jim A. Hennok Ltd., 1982 {{ISBN|0-919772-00-5}}, 110p.

==External links==
* [http://www.siegelauctions.com/enc/carriers/spaulding.html Siegel Auctions info on Spaulding, with pictures]
* [http://www.siegelauctions.com/enc/carriers/davis.htm Siegel Auctions info on Davis, with pictures]

[[Category:Postal history]]
[[Category:Postage rates]]
[[Category:Postal history of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Postal history of the United States]]