fbpx

KidsKonnect

Sir Rowland Hill Facts & Worksheets

Sir Rowland Hill was an English teacher, an inventor, and a social reformist. His most significant contribution was a comprehensive postal reform and the invention of the first postage stamp, Penny Black.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /People /Inventors /Sir Rowland Hill Facts & Worksheets
Premium
Sir Rowland Hill Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Sir Rowland Hill was an English teacher, an inventor, and a social reformist. His most significant contribution was a comprehensive postal reform and the invention of the first postage stamp, Penny Black. However, he also made improvements in the public commute and education.

See the fact file below for more information on the Sir Rowland Hill or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Sir Rowland Hill worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

  • Sir Rowland Hill was born on December 3, 1795, at Blackwell Street, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England.
  • He was the third son of Sarah Lea Hill and a schoolmaster and an innovator in education, Thomas Wright Hill, who encouraged him to pursue a career in education.
  • Hill started helping out in his father’s school at the age of 12. He would assist his father in teaching their six and seven-year-old boys.
  • He became a schoolmaster in 1819, establishing the Hazelwood School at Edgbaston at Birmingham.
  • He adopted a new discipline system, where kindness and moral influence should be the predominant force in discipline rather than caning and fear.
  • In September 1827, Hill married Catherine Pearson of Wolverhampton. They had one son and three daughters.
  • He abandoned teaching in 1828 and became the secretary of the South Australian Colonization Commission in 1832 to work in establishing a settlement without convicts in Adelaide. It was a part of their solution to what they believe an overpopulation and overcrowding problem in Britain.

HILL’S POSTAL REFORM

  • Hill began his interest in Postal Reforms while he was employed in the Colonization Commission.
  • In 1837, Hill published a pamphlet called “Post Office Reform; Its Importance and Practicability” detailing how impractical the current postal system is and how to reverse this.
  • The cost of postal service was expensive for ordinary people during this time. The basis of the price was the distance and number of sheets of paper, which Rowland found irrelevant. It also had to be paid by the recipient, which they can easily refuse, especially if they cannot afford it.
  • Postal service was free to four different social classes: members of the parliament, House of Lords, officeholders, and archbishops and bishops. They put a free frank mark on their letters to distinguish them from others.
  • To avoid paying for the postal service, some British tried to imitate these free frank marks. They also tried to get away from paying for multiple sheets of paper by writing in two directions across a piece of paper. These practices put a strain on the revenue of the post office.
  • When Rowland published the pamphlet, it immediately gained support from the merchants, traders, and bankers who thought that the current system was corrupt and trade-restraining. They formed a group called the “Mercantile Committee” to push the adoption of Hill’s postal reforms.
  • Hill was given a two year contract to establish the new system in 1839. His advocacy to have a lower postage rate according to weight and regardless of the distance made him formulate the Uniform Penny Post. Hill also included the prepayment of postage as part of the reform.
  • As the new system required proof that a letter to be sent was paid, Hill invented the first adhesive postage stamp called the Penny Black. It has the engraving of the young Queen Victoria.
  • Using this stamp, the post office will deliver letters up to 14 grams with one penny rate regardless of the distance.
  • Hill’s reforms allowed poor people to be able to send letters. Later on, people did not limit themselves to letters. They started sending postcards, birthday cards, invitations, and in 1843, the first Christmas card.
  • Other countries also adapted Hill’s new postal system, and by 1860, almost a hundred states, colonies, or districts were printing postage stamps.

HILL’S LATER CAREER

  • Hill continued to work in the post office, but was dismissed in 1842 due to state leadership change. However, the following year, the London and Brightway Railway named him a director.
  • During his time there, Hill made the commute comfortable for passengers. He decreased fares from London to Brighton, offered special excursion trains, and expanded routes. He left his office here in 1846 as a chairman of the board.
  • When the political leadership changed again in 1846, Hill returned as secretary to the post office postmaster general. He was named the secretary to the post office from 1854 until his retirement in 1864.

RECOGNITIONS AND COMMEMORATIONS

  • Due to his outstanding contribution of bringing all kinds of people connected through letters, it was only appropriate to give Hill recognition and commemoration.
  • Hill had four public statues in England. In Birmingham, in Kidderminster, in London, and at Dalton Square, Lancaster, the Victorian Monument.
  • In 1860, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He was also made a fellow of the Royal Society and awarded an honorary degree from the University of Oxford.
  • The Royal Mail and the British Philatelic Trust created the Rowland Hill Awards in 1997 to encourage and reward fresh ideas that help promote philately.
  • He died in Hampstead, England, on August 27, 1879, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
  • One hundred years after his death, an omnibus issued stamp was produced in 80 countries and distributed in 147 states commemorating him.

Sir Rowland Hill Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Sir Rowland Hill across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Sir Rowland Hill worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Sir Rowland Hill who was an English teacher, an inventor, and a social reformist. His most significant contribution was a comprehensive postal reform and the invention of the first postage stamp, Penny Black. However, he also made improvements in the public commute and education.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Sir Rowland Hill Facts
  • A Postmaster’s Life
  • Old and New
  • Hill’s Journey
  • Rowland Hill’s Inquiry
  • Hill’s Legacies
  • Commemorating Hill
  • The Story of Stamps and Letters
  • The Schoolmaster’s Quote
  • As a Social Reformist
  • Your Own Stamps

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Sir Rowland Hill Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 2, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources