The Penny Black, the first postage stamp, is issued

On 1 May 1840 the Post Office of the United Kingdom put on sale the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamp, bearing a profile of the young Queen Victoria; it was valid from 6 May. Rowland Hill, a teacher and reformer, had proposed the reform in 1837, with a uniform rate of one penny for letters under half an ounce anywhere in Britain, prepaid by the sender, instead of costs by distance and paid by the recipient. Mail volumes doubled in two years. The idea spread rapidly, with Switzerland and Brazil issuing stamps in 1843 and the United States in 1847.

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