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
Mercers' Company
Records go back to 1348. From the Guild‘s website: "In its widest sense mercery could describe all merchandise, although in London the term evolved to mean the trade specifically in luxury fabrics,...
4 memorials
Julian Metcalfe
Co-founder of Pret a Manger with Sinclair Beecham, who he met at the Polytechnic of Central London. Also founded the itsu chain of Asian-inspired restaurants.
1 memorial
Downs Hotel
The Pickwick Bicycle Club was founded here on 22 June 1870. At that first meeting, it was decided that the Downs Hotel should be the general rendezvous for bi-weekly excursions on Wednesdays and Sa...
1 memorial
1 memorial
1 memorial
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