penny postagen.
/ˌpɛnɪ ˈpəʊstɪdʒ/, U.S. /ˌpɛni ˈpoʊstɪdʒ/ Now historical.
The delivery of letters, etc., for a charge of a penny each; spec. the system of delivery devised by Rowland Hill (1795–1879) and introduced into Britain and its colonies in 1840.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > types of service
printed paper1553
letter post1660
penny post1680
general post1687
parcel post1790
penny postage1798
twopenny post1811
twopenny1818
printed matter1836
parcel delivery1837
bangy1842
book post1848
special delivery1865
V.P.P.1888
express delivery1891
rural free delivery1891
certified mail1955
recorded delivery1960
Mailgram1969
freepost1970
1798 State of Nation i. 17 Instancing the Effects of the Penny Postage to Ireland.
1831 Times 13 Sept. 2/3 Our correspondent ‘S. G.’ will find that the charge of the penny postage on newspapers sent to Kensington is correct.
1839 Times 13 May 4/6 Mr Rowland Hill's plan of a penny postage.
1839 W. M. Thackeray Let. 23–31 Dec. (1945) I. 405 There is to be penny postage..in 10 days, but no penny postage for us—we shall be obliged to pay one and eightpence as usual.
1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Jan. 7/1 The Jubilee of the Penny Post. Fifty years ago to-morrow, by virtue of a warrant published in the London Gazette on the 28th December, 1839, was inaugurated our system of penny postage.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 238/2 The penny postage was not established in England until 1840.
1970 Daily Tel. 16 May 9/7 Since the introduction of Penny Postage in 1840 there has been a charge of double rate for unpaid letters.
2003 Liverpool Daily Post (Nexis) 4 Dec. 3 In the 1830s, Hill proposed the adoption of uniform penny postage for local letters through the use of stamps and prepaid letter sheets and envelopes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1798