Inked date stamps were at first called 'Bishops marks' after their inventor, Henry Bishop, Postmaster General, 1660-1663. The post office was receiving complaints about late arrival of the post. Bishop claimed: 'a stamp is invented, that is putt upon every letter shewing the day of the moneth that every letter comes to this office, so that no letter Carryer may dare to detayne a letter from post to post; which, before, was usual.' As we now know, this did not actually solve the problem, just provided more evidence that the problem existed.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
First postmarks in the world
Commemorated ati
General Letter Office
Near this spot the General Letter Office stood in Post House Yard, 1653 - 166...
Other Subjects
Lieutenant Colonel Albert Victor Cowley
Member of the Ealing District Council in 1899. Albert Victor Cowley was born in 1860, the third of the four children of Edward Spencer Dickin Cowley (1816-1893) and Selina Cowley née Lindfield (18...
1 memorial
Susan Garth
The plaque claims that Garth launched London's first antiques market in Portobello Road, but without a date the claim is impossible to substantiate. See June Aylward's plaque, which at least gives ...
1 memorial
Lieut. Colonel R. Shoolbred, CMG, TD, DL, JP
A member of the family that owned the Shoolbred department store. Wrote a war diary, of which part of April 1917 is given at Lynsted Society. 1885-90 Walter Shoolbred bought land in Scotland near...
1 memorial
Grove Road Toll Bar
"In use in the 18th and 19th centuries" so the dates we give are very approximate.
1 memorial
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