Commemorative Stamp Sheet marks Anthony Trollope Birth Bicentenary.

As forecast in the Daily Mail and reported here last year, Royal Mail are commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of novelist Anthony Trollope.  But rather than a set of stamps as forecast, this is a premium-priced Commemorative Sheet.

Issued on the bicentenary of the birth of Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) he was one of the most successful and respected English novelists of the Victorian era and had a long association with the Post Office.   Anthony Trollope began his career with the Post Office in 1834 when, at the age of 19, he became a Post Office clerk at St Martin’s-le-Grand in London. Though his early career was not especially distinguished, as his responsibilities grew so did his enthusiasm for the postal service during an innovative and interesting period of its history, with the introduction of the penny post and the steady organisation of efficient delivery routes.

One of Trollope’s key achievements was his determined lobbying for the introduction of pillar boxes into Britain.  Such facilities already existed in France and so during a review of postal services in the Channel Islands, he recommended that pillar boxes be trialled in St Helier, Jersey, in 1852. The following year they were introduced to mainland Britain, in Carlisle, and in 1855 London’s first pillar box appeared.

Special postmarks have been announced for the issue of this sheet:

Ref 13381 is available from London Special Handstamp Centre, Mount Pleasant.
Ref 13386 is available from the North of England Special Handstamp Centre, South Shields.

UPDATE
Royal Mail has created a special slogan postmark to mark Trollope’s bicentenary.  This will appear on stamped mail across the UK from 24 April for one week

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