Who should pay for a letter?
Travel back to 1840 — and then three years further, to 1837. Postage charges depend on distance and the number of sheets. In many cases, the person receiving a letter pays on delivery. Rowland Hill publishes a plan for a simpler system: the sender should pay one old penny in advance for a letter weighing up to half an ounce, regardless of distance within the United Kingdom. The proposal could place the post within reach of many more people.
Visitor questionWhy does 240 pennies equal £1?
Britain had not yet decimalised its money. The system was inherited from medieval accounting: one pound was split into 20 shillings, and every shilling contained 12 old pennies.
12 pennies×20 shillings=240 pennies = £1
That is why a sheet of 240 one-penny stamps had a face value of exactly £1. The 240 was not chosen for the stamp sheet; the sheet matched the existing currency. An old penny was written as 1d. Since decimalisation in 1971, £1 has contained 100 new pence instead.