Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Re: Some great men of Birmingham..
Sir Rowland Hill KCB, FRS (1795–1879)
An English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of penny postage and his solution of prepayment, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters (where did it all go wrong?). Hill later served as a government postal official, and he is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the postage stamp.
Some genealogical info:
Born: 3rd December 1795, Kidderminster, the third of six sons. (Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8))
Married: Caroline Pearson 27th Sept. 1827 St. Peter or Collegiate, Wolverhampton.
Died: 27th August 1879 aged 84 at his residence in Hampstead.
Buried : 1879 Westminster Abbey [2nd chapel to the left of the North entrance].
Father: Thomas Wright Hill. d. 13 June 1851
Mother: Sarah Lea. marr: 29July 1791, St. Martin, Birmingham.
Born in Blackwell Street, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. Rowland's father, Thomas Wright Hill, was an innovator in education and politics, including among his friends Joseph Priestley, Tom Paine and Richard Price. At the age of eleven, Rowland became a student-teacher in his father's school. He taught astronomy and earned extra money fixing scientific instruments. He also worked at the Assay Office in Birmingham and painted landscapes in his spare time. Busy boy.
But there was lots more to this remarkable man. For a spot of company and a swift half or two he is known to have frequented the Woolpack Hotel in Moor Street, together with other notable luminaries of the day, John Baskerville and Dr Samuel Johnson. In 1819, Rowland established the Society of Literary Improvement there. In the latter part of the 18th Century, however, I’m glad to say, this hostelry turned to offer other less academic pursuits and became a cricketing pub, and was for a long time the HQ of the ‘Gentlemen Players’ of England.
Anyway, whilst researching this incredible Birmingham man and his contributions to stamp collecting, I chanced upon other fascinating character apects, such as cartography and a sort of pre-Agatha Christie interest in ‘murders most foul’. A combination of mikejee and Wendy no less. Well, judge for yourself, from this link to the Mary Ashford Murder, and his part in it….
https://www.kunstpedia.com/articles/a...nny-black.html
https://www.archive.org/stream/showel...search/ashford
The case set a number of legal precedence when Thornton, accused of the Mary Ashford Murder and acquitted but there was sufficient outcry to move to revive the long-disused right of appeal against acquittal.
So Thornton invoked an ancient right and challenged the King's Bench judges to armed combat, literally throwing down his gauntlet. Since they could not respond, the result was a victory for Thornton, followed by an Act abolishing both wager of battle and appeal against acquittal.
Our Rowland Hill was certainly a Polymath. There is an interesting article about him and particularly his impact on schooling in the Stanley Gibbons Monthly mag (surely you must be an avid reader?) https://www.gibbonsstampmonthly.com/J...owlandhill.pdf
His father owned Hill Top school in Town but he opened Hazelwood Scool on the Hagley Road in 1819 and in London a few years later to critical acclaim. As there are Blue plaques at 146 Hagley Road and also in Lionel Street and Severn Street I assume they are connected.
And finally, as a tribute to all Postmen and women who serve us so well in all weathers...a poem...
What a wonderful man the postman is
As he hastens from door to door!
What medley of news his hands contain
For high, low, rich, and poor!
In many's the face the joy he can trace,
In many's the grief he can see,
When you open the door to his loud rat-tat
And his quick delivery.
Chorus
Every morning as true as the clock
Somebody hears the postman's knock.
Number One he presents with news of a birth,
With tidings of death, number Four,
And at Thirteen a bill of terrible length
He drops through a hole in the door;
Now a cheque or an order in Fifteen he leaves
In Sixteen his presence to prove,
While Seventeen doth an acknowledgement get,
And Eighteen a letter of love.
And the mail must get through
Whatever the hazards or odds
This low man of letters just peddles on through
Pursued by a pack of wild dogs
But ease and complaining whatever the trial
Or beating he never retreats
For you get a free bag and a hat with a badge
And it's better than walking the streets.
It is now a Morris Dance standard (no, really) - here is 1st Sedgley Morris performing it in Dudley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqtQsAqbLHQ
And then there's this picture that has been on here many times before, depicting his famous Penny Black as a Pub or inn sign...Queen's Head Yard...in Steelhouse Lane before being swept away in the Corporation street slum clearance efforts...and the stamp itself...
Sir Rowland Hill KCB, FRS (1795–1879)
An English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of penny postage and his solution of prepayment, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters (where did it all go wrong?). Hill later served as a government postal official, and he is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the postage stamp.
Some genealogical info:
Born: 3rd December 1795, Kidderminster, the third of six sons. (Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8))
Married: Caroline Pearson 27th Sept. 1827 St. Peter or Collegiate, Wolverhampton.
Died: 27th August 1879 aged 84 at his residence in Hampstead.
Buried : 1879 Westminster Abbey [2nd chapel to the left of the North entrance].
Father: Thomas Wright Hill. d. 13 June 1851
Mother: Sarah Lea. marr: 29July 1791, St. Martin, Birmingham.
Born in Blackwell Street, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. Rowland's father, Thomas Wright Hill, was an innovator in education and politics, including among his friends Joseph Priestley, Tom Paine and Richard Price. At the age of eleven, Rowland became a student-teacher in his father's school. He taught astronomy and earned extra money fixing scientific instruments. He also worked at the Assay Office in Birmingham and painted landscapes in his spare time. Busy boy.
But there was lots more to this remarkable man. For a spot of company and a swift half or two he is known to have frequented the Woolpack Hotel in Moor Street, together with other notable luminaries of the day, John Baskerville and Dr Samuel Johnson. In 1819, Rowland established the Society of Literary Improvement there. In the latter part of the 18th Century, however, I’m glad to say, this hostelry turned to offer other less academic pursuits and became a cricketing pub, and was for a long time the HQ of the ‘Gentlemen Players’ of England.
Anyway, whilst researching this incredible Birmingham man and his contributions to stamp collecting, I chanced upon other fascinating character apects, such as cartography and a sort of pre-Agatha Christie interest in ‘murders most foul’. A combination of mikejee and Wendy no less. Well, judge for yourself, from this link to the Mary Ashford Murder, and his part in it….
https://www.kunstpedia.com/articles/a...nny-black.html
https://www.archive.org/stream/showel...search/ashford
The case set a number of legal precedence when Thornton, accused of the Mary Ashford Murder and acquitted but there was sufficient outcry to move to revive the long-disused right of appeal against acquittal.
So Thornton invoked an ancient right and challenged the King's Bench judges to armed combat, literally throwing down his gauntlet. Since they could not respond, the result was a victory for Thornton, followed by an Act abolishing both wager of battle and appeal against acquittal.
Our Rowland Hill was certainly a Polymath. There is an interesting article about him and particularly his impact on schooling in the Stanley Gibbons Monthly mag (surely you must be an avid reader?) https://www.gibbonsstampmonthly.com/J...owlandhill.pdf
His father owned Hill Top school in Town but he opened Hazelwood Scool on the Hagley Road in 1819 and in London a few years later to critical acclaim. As there are Blue plaques at 146 Hagley Road and also in Lionel Street and Severn Street I assume they are connected.
And finally, as a tribute to all Postmen and women who serve us so well in all weathers...a poem...
What a wonderful man the postman is
As he hastens from door to door!
What medley of news his hands contain
For high, low, rich, and poor!
In many's the face the joy he can trace,
In many's the grief he can see,
When you open the door to his loud rat-tat
And his quick delivery.
Chorus
Every morning as true as the clock
Somebody hears the postman's knock.
Number One he presents with news of a birth,
With tidings of death, number Four,
And at Thirteen a bill of terrible length
He drops through a hole in the door;
Now a cheque or an order in Fifteen he leaves
In Sixteen his presence to prove,
While Seventeen doth an acknowledgement get,
And Eighteen a letter of love.
And the mail must get through
Whatever the hazards or odds
This low man of letters just peddles on through
Pursued by a pack of wild dogs
But ease and complaining whatever the trial
Or beating he never retreats
For you get a free bag and a hat with a badge
And it's better than walking the streets.
It is now a Morris Dance standard (no, really) - here is 1st Sedgley Morris performing it in Dudley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqtQsAqbLHQ
And then there's this picture that has been on here many times before, depicting his famous Penny Black as a Pub or inn sign...Queen's Head Yard...in Steelhouse Lane before being swept away in the Corporation street slum clearance efforts...and the stamp itself...
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