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
Edward Orme
Engraver, painter and publisher of illustrated books, and property developer in Bayswater. Born Manchester. c.1800-24 he published and sold many books of aquatints and etchings, in his own shops in...
1 memorial
Old Spitalfields Market
1638 King Charles I gave a licence for flesh, fowl and roots to be sold on Spittle Fields. The market lapsed during the Commonwealth but it was re-founded in 1682 by King Charles II. The existing ...
3 memorials
Sir Harry Arieh Simon Djanogly, CBE
Textile manufacturer and philanthropist. His family fled from France after the Nazi occupation and he was naturalised as a British subject on 1 November 1948. In 1986 he merged his Nottingham Manuf...
1 memorial
1 memorial
1 memorial
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Benjamin Hall, Baron Llanover
Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover, known as Sir Benjamin Hall 1838-59, civil engineer and politician. First Commisioner of Works 1855-58. He oversaw the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament and h...
1 memorial
Queen Eleanor of Provence
French noblewoman who married King Henry III and became consort queen, 1236 until his death in 1272. Eleanor was the "my fair lady" in "London Bridge is falling down", since she was apparently re...
1 memorial
James Purdey the younger
Gunmaker, built premises in 1880 to house his new showrooms and workshops, James Purdey & Sons Ltd. The Picture Source website has a short on-line history and also informs about a book on the s...
1 memorial
English National Opera
Originated in the opera recitals presented by Lilian Baylis at the Old Vic theatre in 1898 and then at Sadler's Wells. As Sadler's Wells Opera it moved to the London Coliseum in 1968 and became the...
2 memorials
Henry Charles Fehr
Sculptor. Born Forest Hill into a family of Swiss origin. Died London. Other work in London: Passmore Edwards Library E3, Methodist Central Hall (with Henry Poole) and the 1893 Perseus Rescuing ...
13 memorials