Sir Rowland Hill, postal reformer and
civil servant, was born on 3 December 1795 in Kidderminster,
Worcestershire, one of six surviving children of schoolmaster
Thomas Wright Hill (d.1851) and his wife Sarah (Lea). His siblings
were Matthew, Edwin, Arthur, Frederic and Caroline. In 1827 Rowland
married Caroline Pearson (d.1881) and they had a son Pearson and
three daughters. He had started work as a schoolmaster and later
was appointed Secretary to the South Australia colonization
commission. In 1837 his Post Office Reform was published and it is
for his tireless work in this field that he is remembered. At that
time recipients of a letter had to pay for postage based on the
number of sheets and the distance it had to travel. He suggested
stamps for pre-payment and the penny post allowed a letter to be
sent anywhere in the country. Hill became a major public figure, a
Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 1860. He died on 27
August 1879 and was buried in St Paul's chapel. The small
gravestone reads simply: SIR ROWLAND HILL 1879.
A life size white marble bust was erected near the grave and is
by W.D.Keyworth, jnr., 1881. The inscription below the bust
reads:
"Underneath is interred Sir Rowland Hill. Born
Dec.3.1795. Died Aug.27.1879. Originator of the system of penny
postage".
A photograph of the bust can be purchased from Westminster Abbey
Library.
Further reading:
For further information on Thomas and Rowland Hill see the 2004
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.