Post Office Notices & Postal Reform by Howard Hughes

The society was treated recently to a world class display from Howard Hughes on Post Offices notices from the 18th Century to the modern day.

Howard explained that this started as as sideline but then soon developed into a collection in ints own right, now housing some of the rarest and in many cases, unique examples of Post Offices notices of the past two hundred years.

Starting with original notices from the reign of George III in the 1780’s the display showcased the transformation of the postal system in this country, which eventually culminated with the revolutionary introduction of a pre paid system, advocated by Rowland Hill, at the rate of just 1d for a letter.

The display included seals, obliterators and colour trials of different ‘labels’ as well as some extremely rare May 6th 1840 penny black ‘first day’ covers.

The display also included an explanation for the changes to parcel rates, special delivery rates and finally, airmail rates and routes from Britain to the rest of the world.

A vote of thanks was given by Bryan Lythgoe on behalf of the members and we would all like to thank Howard for taking the time to show us this amazing material.