The Press and Newspapers | 62 | The Routledge Companion to Britain in

ABSTRACT

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, newspaper proprietors were obliged to pay stamp, advertisement and paper duties. Together they comprised what Radicals criticised as ‘taxes on knowledge’, resulting in small circulations of expensive newspapers. Their complete abolition by 1861 made possible the cheap daily provincial newspaper.

	Stamp duty per sheet	Advertisement duty	Pamphlet duty per sheet	Postal rate for 55 miles	Cost of a newspaper in London
1712	1d	1s	2s	3d	2d
1757	1 d minimum	2s	,,	,,	,,
1776	,,	,,	,,	,,	3d
1780	,,	2s 6d	,,	,,	,,
1784	,,	,,	,,	4d	,,
1789	2d	3s	,,	,,	4d
1796	,,	,,	,,	5d	,,
1797	3/d	,,	,,	,,	4/d-6d
1801	,,	,,	,,	6d	,,
1805	,,	,,	,,	7d	,,
1812	,,	,,	,,	8d	5d-7d
1815	4d	3s 6d	3s	,,	7d
1833	,,	1s 6d	,,	,,	,,