The purpose of the meeting had to have been for
British Empire; Thomas Phillips, the noted antiquarian; and
Hill to report on the reception to the designs at the National
certainly William Mulready, who was co-auditor, with Turne r, of
Gallery and to present Wallace with his copy.
the exhibition.
Following the later arrival of the first sheet of the penny
The meeting would have taken place during the natural ligh t
stamps, one doubts little time was wasted in cutting the first
of day because the council was actually viewing the paintin gs
and, in any case, the Gallery closed at 5p.m.
As the main purpose
of the stamp was seen as a means of paying excess postage
during March and April of 1840 was exceedingly dry and Hil l
on the Mulready envelopes and wrappers, this would be the
would have walked up the half mile from Downing Street, al ong
first time to see how the finished articles complemented one
Whitehall to Charing Cross, and around the construction of the
new Trafalgar Square to the gallery.
Only three of these pristine ungummed examples
memorial column were just starting to be erected.
another.
The hoardings for Nels on’s
The was donated in the 1960s by Reginald Phillips and resides in
example was a proof on white paper taken from the brass p late the British Postal Museum.
1840, is almost certainly one of several copies brought to t he
Fortunately for posterity, the presentation of both the
Academy that day.
We know the same is
was recorded by Wallace at the time he stuck these items
true of the art press who must have been in attendance an d
into his personal scrap-album.
received copies of the proof.
It is the first known, and Penny Postage Stamp Cover, presented to Mr Wallace by Mr
arguably one the most favourable reviews of the ill-fated The Right Honble The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Francis
stationery.
Several aspects support that it refers to this Thornhill Baring- April 10th 1840”
meeting.
Firstly, the publication date of April 11th; secondly
that it records Mulready’s reaction to having seen it; an
thirdly that it is written in terms of a detailed appreciation o
its artistic merits
In a second equally effusive article in the
me Mr.
s the 6th of May 1840.” The piece also mention
that the envelopes were expected to appear before June 1s t.
Later that day, Baring and Wallace returned to the House of
As the issue date was set following Hill’s visit to both printi ng
Commons to debate an act to grant a pension to the retired
houses on April 14th, this further indicates that it refers to t he
Lord Seaton.
April 10th meeting.
being delivered for inspection to the Commissioner of Stam ps
Which of the thirty-seven Academicians were present is and Taxes half a mile away at Somerset House on the Strand.
not known- they were meeting to discuss the paintings of This was the case for all parts of the production of the stamp
fellow Academician J.M.W
values, the moulds
paintings for that year’s Summer Exhibition beginning on M ay for watermarking the paper, the ink to be used, and even the
4th, the paintings having arrived three days previously.
Turner, who had submitted sev en including the master dies for the 1d.
and 2d.
The list gum samples.
of attendees may well have included the President, Sir Mar tin
The meeting of Baring, Wallace and almost certainly Hill,
Archer Shee; Turner; Edwin Landseer; William Wyon, the
would have taken place later on the afternoon of April 10th at
engraver of the City Medal used as the model for the Queen ’s
11 Downing Street.
Both Baring and Wallace were due back
head on the Penny Black; Alfred Chalon, the royal portraitis t
at the House of Commons later that day and Wallace’s office
who was to provide Her Majesty’s likeness for the early sta mps
was just up the road at 1 Great Scotland Yard and en route to
of Canada, Nova Scotia and many other territories of the
Parliament.
known single stamps from the sheet.
The weather
from the very first printing are believed to exist, and all are
from the first row with adjoining lettering.
The first, AI, is the
It appears that the purpose of this visit was to unveil the ne w specimen presented here and the second, a loose pair AG-AH,
design to the artistic community, and its creator Mulready.
Its date is corroborated by an April
engraved by Thompson similar to the example shown to Qu een 30th letter from Rowland Hill to his former teacher and family
Victoria the previous week.
An example in the Royal Collect ion, friend Samuel Lines, but therefore later dated than the Wallace
signed by Rowland Hill to William Mulready and dated April Document and not integrally either.
Hill notes in his diary that the design wa s
Mulready proof and the first Penny Black “fly or loose stamp”
“greatly approved” by the members.
Wallace’s notation included
the actual date when this presentation took place, the main
An article that appeared in the weekly “Spectator” provides page heading above the Mulready proof reading: “1st Proof of
some insight into the meeting.
Beneath the One Penny Black lettered AI label that Wallace
attached to the left of the Mulready proof is the notation:
“Universal Penny Postage Fly or Loose Stamp, presented to
Wallace as above.”
monthly “Art Critic” published on April 15th the writer infor ms
r A further notation then stating: “These come into public use on the readership that their copy of the proof was available “fo
the curious” to view at their offices.
Having together just witnessed the birth of the
very first of what would eventually number many trillions of
ins, postage stamps, they returned to politics and sat in opposition One mile to the east at 69 Fleet Street at the offices of Perk
as over the motion. Bacon & Petch, the completed Plate 1 of the Penny Black w
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