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Hill, Sir Rowland
Hill, Sir Rowland (1795–1879). Inventor of penny postage. Hill was born in Kidderminster, son of a schoolmaster and pioneer of shorthand. He took over his father's school and instituted a novel system of discipline, involving the boys as assessors. After 1828 he abandoned teaching, experimented with a number of inventions, and in 1835 became secretary to a commission to colonize south Australia. He then became interested in the postal service, which was so prohibitively expensive that the revenue of the Post Office was falling in a period of rapid population growth and commercial expansion. Hill suggested pre-payment, a standard delivery charge irrespective of distance, and the use of an adhesive stamp. A pamphlet of 1837 attracted attention and penny postage was adopted in 1839. Hill was put in charge but met with vast obstruction from within the Post Office and was dismissed in 1842. Reinstated by Russell in 1846, he held office until 1864. He was knighted in 1860 and Gladstone said of his reform that it had ‘run like wildfire through the civilized world’. Anthony Trollope, who worked at the Post Office with Hill, was less flattering: ‘a hard taskmaster who had little understanding of the ways of men … it was a pleasure for me to differ from him on all occasions.’
J. A. Cannon |
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JOHN CANNON. "Hill, Sir Rowland." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Hill, Sir Rowland." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-HillSirRowland.html JOHN CANNON. "Hill, Sir Rowland." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-HillSirRowland.html |
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Hill, Sir Rowland
Hill, Sir Rowland (1795–1879). Inventor of penny postage. Hill was born in Kidderminster, son of a schoolmaster. He took over his father's school but abandoned teaching, and in 1835 became secretary to a commission to colonize south Australia. He then became interested in the postal service, which was so prohibitively expensive that revenue was falling in a period of rapid population growth and commercial expansion. Hill suggested pre‐payment, a standard delivery charge irrespective of distance, and the use of an adhesive stamp. Hill was put in charge but met with vast obstruction from within the Post Office and was dismissed in 1842. Reinstated by Russell in 1846, he held office until 1864.
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Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Hill, Sir Rowland." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Hill, Sir Rowland." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-HillSirRowland.html JOHN CANNON. "Hill, Sir Rowland." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-HillSirRowland.html |
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Sir Rowland Hill
Sir Rowland Hill 1795–1879, English educator, inventor, and postal reformer. He introduced the system of self-government in his school at Hazelwood in Birmingham. In his Plans for the Government and Education of Boys in Large Numbers (1822) he argued that moral influence of the highest kind should be the predominant power in school discipline. After his retirement from teaching (1833), Hill invented a rotary printing press and evolved a system of prepaid penny postage that was finally adopted in 1839. From 1854 to his retirement from public office in 1864 he was secretary to the Post Office. He was knighted in 1860.
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"Sir Rowland Hill." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Sir Rowland Hill." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Hill-Sir.html "Sir Rowland Hill." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Hill-Sir.html |
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Hill, Sir Rowland
Hill, Sir Rowland (1795–1879) British educationist, administrator, and inventor. He was initially a teacher who introduced a system of self-government at his school in Birmingham and wrote on the challenges of mass education. In the 1830s he invented a rotary printing-press. Hill is chiefly remembered for his introduction of the penny postage-stamp system in 1840; he later became Secretary to the Post Office (1854–64).
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Cite this article
"Hill, Sir Rowland." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Hill, Sir Rowland." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-HillSirRowland.html "Hill, Sir Rowland." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-HillSirRowland.html |
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Hill, Sir Rowland
Hill, Sir Rowland (1795–1879) English administrator and postal reformer. Hill invented the nationwide ‘penny post’, adopting the first adhesive, pre-paid postage stamp.
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Cite this article
"Hill, Sir Rowland." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Hill, Sir Rowland." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-HillSirRowland.html "Hill, Sir Rowland." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-HillSirRowland.html |
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