The Penny Post

A note in English. Yay, no translating for once. The Penny Post was organized in 1680 by a merchant named William Dockwra. It allowed you to deliver mail anywhere in London for a penny. He also introduced the practice of postmarking letters to indicate when and where they had been posted. However, the system became so successful that the government took control of the operation in 1682 and absorbed it into the Post Office. And as things do when given to the government, the price went up. So much so, that it eventually could cost you a days wage to send a letter from London to Edinburgh! There was a committee formed, because that's what governments are good at, forming a committee, and it was decided that more mail would be sent if it went back down to a penny. They also decided to make it "prepaid" in the form of an adhesive label, or stamp. The Uniform Penny Post went into effect on January 10, 1840 and 112,000 letters were posted on the first day. Three times more than the same day the previous year. In 1839 there were 76 million letters posted in the United Kingdom. In 1840 after the introduction of the Penny Post there were 168 million and ten years later this had doubled to an incredible 347 million letters.
Our dear paper talks about letter boxes in walls and street corners painted red and how you could put your letter inside and with a twopence or halfpenny stamp, your letter could go as far away as Edinburgh or India. Anywhere within the British Empire. Well, we are looking at sometime before 1947 if India is still a part of the British Empire. Very cute paper and, as always, I have learned something.