ABSTRACT
the year 1840 in England was a memorable one in a number of ways. On the tenth of January Sir Rowland Hill's great benefaction—penny postage—began its ministrations to mankind and the world's first postage stamps were issued. Every stamp-collector is familiar with the girlish portrait of Queen Victoria on that new postal device which Hill called 'a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp and covered at the back with a glutinous wash'. Queen Victoria herself remembered the year 1840 less for her appearance upon the first postage stamp than for her appearance before the altar on February 10 to marry Albert. And before spring tripped north again that year, Victoria and her husband were happily looking forward to the birth of their first child—the Princess Royal who arrived punctually on November 10.
