Editing Postage stamp (section)

=== Rowland Hill ===
[[File:Rowland Hill photo crop.jpg|thumb|upright|Rowland Hill]]
In 1836, [[Robert Wallace (MP for Greenock)|Robert Wallace]], a Member of (British) Parliament, gave Sir [[Rowland Hill]] numerous books and documents about the postal service, which Hill described as a "half [[Hundredweight|hundred weight]] of material".<ref>The Life of Sir Rowland Hill, p. 246</ref><ref>Hill, Rowland & Hill, George Birkbeck, ''The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the History of the Penny Post'', Thomas De La Rue, 1880, p. 242</ref> After a detailed study, on 4 January 1837 Hill submitted a pamphlet entitled ''Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability'' to the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon|Thomas Spring Rice]], which was marked "private and confidential", and not released to the general public.<ref>Muir, Douglas N, ''Postal Reform & the Penny Black'', National Postal Museum, 1990, p. 42</ref> The Chancellor summoned Hill to a meeting at which he suggested improvements and changes to be presented in a supplement, which Hill duly produced and submitted on 28 January 1837.<ref>The Life of Sir Rowland Hill, p. 264</ref>

Summoned to give evidence before the Commission for Post Office Enquiry on 13 February 1837, Hill read from the letter he wrote to the Chancellor that included a statement saying that the notation of paid postage could be created... by using a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous wash..."<ref>The Life of Sir Rowland Hill, p. 269</ref><ref>''The Ninth Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Management of the Post-office Department'', 1837, p. 32</ref> This would eventually become the first unambiguous description of a modern adhesive postage stamp (though the term "postage stamp" originated at a later date). Shortly afterward, Hill's revision of the booklet, dated 22 February 1837, containing some 28,000 words, incorporating the supplement given to the Chancellor and statements he made to the commission, was published and made available to the general public. Hansard records that on 15 December 1837, [[Benjamin Hawes]] asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer "whether it was the intention of the Government to give effect to the recommendation of the Commissioners of the Post-office, contained in their ninth report relating to the reduction of the rates of postage, and the issuing of penny stamps?"<ref>{{cite web| url = https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1837/dec/15/post-office#column_1116,| title = Hansard, 15 December 1837| access-date = 18 October 2020| archive-date = 18 October 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201018213438/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1837/dec/15/post-office#column_1116,| work = [[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]| date = 15 December 1837| url-status = live}}</ref>

Hill's ideas for postage stamps and charging paid-postage based on weight soon took hold, and were adopted in many countries throughout the world.<ref name="postal revolutionary"/> With the new policy of charging by weight, using envelopes for mailing documents became the norm. Hill's brother Edwin invented a prototype envelope-making machine that folded paper into envelopes quickly enough to match the pace of the growing demand for postage stamps.<ref name="British Postal Museum & Archive">{{cite web| url = http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/rowland-hill%E2%80%99s-postal-reforms/| title = The British Postal Museum & Archive, Rowland Hill's Postal Reforms| access-date = 14 September 2010| archive-date = 24 December 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141224185335/http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/rowland-hill%e2%80%99s-postal-reforms/| url-status = live}}</ref>

Rowland Hill and the reforms he introduced to the United Kingdom postal system appear on several of its commemorative stamps.<ref name="British Postal Museum & Archive"/>