Episode 1 of 2
Immediate Increase in Correspondence
- When
- November 1839 to February 1840
- Where
- United Kingdom
Paid internal correspondence increased by 120% between November 1839 and February 1840 due to the new uniform rate.
Following the reduction of the rate to fourpence in December 1839 and then to one penny in January 1840, the volume of paid internal correspondence rose dramatically. This surge demonstrated the immediate impact of the reform on public usage before stamps were widely distributed.
Sources
- Rowland Hill Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-16
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.