Episode 1 of 2
Repeal of Newspaper Stamp Duty
- When
- 1855
- Where
- United Kingdom
In 1855, the total repeal of the tax on newspapers was enacted, following advocacy by Milner Gibson and Richard Cobden.
The abolition of the stamp tax allowed newspapers to become profitable through advertising sales. This change, part of progressive reductions since the 1830s, led to a massive growth in circulation as public demand for information increased.
Sources
- History of British newspapers Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-10
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.