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
Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Smith
Born Scotland. Emigrated to Canada in 1838 to work with the Hudson's Bay Company. He worked his way up the company and entered politics, made his fortune and was knighted in 1886. Died 28 Gros...
Person, Commerce, Philanthropy, Politics & Administration, Canada
1 memorial
Sebastian Earl
We really don't know if the Sebastian Earl who unveiled the stone at the Hornsey YMCA is the rowing businessman with the same name but the dates look right and it's an unusual name. Our colleague, ...
1 memorial
1 memorial
Kindersley Workshop
From the Workshop's website: "David Kindersley {1915–1995}, lettercutter, sculptor and inventor, started his workshop near Cambridge in 1946, having been apprenticed to Eric Gill. He was joined in ...
1 memorial
Sun Fire Office
Founded in London, now the oldest existing insurance company in the world.
1 memorial
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