Glossary

This Glossary is taken from The Penny Black Changed the World education pack. It contains words or phrases that appear in the information sheets within the pack and on the Penny Black History pages in this part of the website.

Adhesive – glue.

Boy Messenger – a boy who delivered telegraphs.

British Empire – territories under British control; was at its height during Queen Victoria’s reign.

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1806-1859) – famous engineer who developed tunnels, ships and railways during the Victorian era.

Cancellation – the mark to show the stamp has been used for postage. Also known as a postmark.

Chromatography – a process used for the separation of different mixtures of colour.

Commemorative stamp – issued to honour or commemorate a person, place or event. Introduced in Britain in 1924.

Cross-written letter – letter written both horizontally and vertically in order to make the maximum use of the paper. This frequently happened before theintroduction of Uniform Penny Postage, as postage was charged by the number of sheets of paper used.

Die – the original metal block with the stamp design engraved on it.

Embossing – the creation of a raised mark on the surface of paper or other material through the use of special tools.

Essay – a trial design printed at stamp size. Serves as a ‘dry run’ of the actual printing of the stamps to uncover design problems not detected in the artwork or problems in reproducing the designer’s choice of colour.

Forgery – an illegal copy of something, such as apainting or money.

Fugitive Inks – inks that run when combined withwater or other substances.

Hen and Chickens (also 'Hen and Chicks') – a cycle with a large central driving wheel and four smaller wheels at the corner, invented in 1882.

Hill, Rowland (1795-1879) – inventor of the first prepaid postage stamp, the Penny Black, introduced in 1840.

Industrialisation – a process of social and economic change where society is transformed from agricultural to more machine driven.

Jubilee – the celebration of the day on which an important event happened; Silver Jubilee celebrates an event 25 years before; Golden Jubilee celebrates an event 50 years before; Diamond Jubilee celebrates an event 60 years before.

Lamp box – small post box designed to be fixed onto a lamp post.

Letter box – slit cut into a door for delivery of mail; also generic name for pillar, lamp and wall boxes.

Line engraving – an engraving in which lines are cut by hand into a metal plate from which the print is made.

Mail Coach – horse-drawn vehicle used for the delivery of mail over long distances. Mail coach service began in 1784, but died out with the arrival of the railways in the 1830s.

Manufacturing – production of goods in large numbers, usually in a factory using machines.

Morse Code – a system of representing letters, numbers and punctuation marks by means of a code system.

Mulready envelope – pictorial stationery issued in 1840 named after William Mulready the artist. Attempted solution to the problem of prepayment of post. Rejected after much ridicule.

Mulready, William (1786-1863) – an Irish painter who lived in London. He was a member of the Royal Academy; designed the Mulready envelope.

Ocean Penny Postage – campaign for cheap overseas postage, led by American Elihu Burritt.

Packet boat – a cargo and passenger boat that also carries mail, including packets of government documents.

Penny Black – the world’s first prepaid adhesive postage stamp, introduced in Britain in 1840.

Perforation – holes cut between the stamps on a sheet so that they can be easily separated from one another.

Philately – the study of stamps. Usually linked to stamp collecting.

Phillips Collection – collection of Victorian stamps, donated to the nation by R M Phillips in 1965; the basis for the material in The Penny Black Changed the World education pack

Pillar box – freestanding box for people to post their letters, usually painted red.

Population – the number of people who live in a place.

Postcoding – a way of dividing areas into specific postal districts.

Postmaster General – government-appointed head of the Post Office. This position ceased to exist in 1969.

Post Office Savings Bank – opened in 1861 to encourage people to save money.

Proof – a trial impression taken from an original die or plate.

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) – Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who was on the throne between 1837 and 1901.

Rainbow Trials – series of trials designed to find inks that could not be removed by chemicals or water for use on postage stamps and cancellation marks.

Royal Cipher – letters that show which monarch was on the throne: VR on a pillar box means Victoria Regina (Queen Victoria).

Rural – relating to the countryside.

Telegram – a message sent by telegraph.

Telegraph – a system in which information is communicated over a wire with a series of electrical current pulses, usually in the form of Morse Code.

Travelling Post Office – special train carriages that enable mail to be sorted on the way to its destination.

Treasury Competition – competition set up by the government Treasury department for people to submit ideas about how prepaid postage should be developed.

Trollope, Anthony (1815-1882) – Post Office surveyor who introduced pillar boxes to Britain in the 1850s; now more famous as an author.

Urban – relating to a town or city.

Watermark – security device or pattern, embodied in the paper to deter forgeries. Used in Penny Black but discontinued 1967.

Wax Seal – used to fasten letters and documents before the introduction of adhesive envelopes.