The History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876 - John Hendy (1909)

"The
INTRODUCTION. 9
the stamps by the aid of chemicals. This fact caused the composition to be changed
from the red to a black oleaginous ink, which in turn was also removed by chemicals.
Mr. Hill at this failure says in his biography : worry of this continued succession
of hope and disappointment made me at last almost afraid to enter my office . . . and
in my anxiety I went so far as to trouble the greatest chemist of the age (Professor
Faraday)."
After many experiments and trials of various coloured inks by chemists and others,
Messrs. Perkins and Co., aided by Professor R. Phillips, F.R.S., invented an ink which
was so far successful that it could not be removed without serious injury to the postage
stamp, and when the colour of the label was changed from black to red to a great extent
the principal difficulty was removed. But Rowland Hill's troubles were far from being
at an end ; several cases of fraud were brought to his notice. In each instance an
official of the Post Office was the perpetrator of the fraud, which consisted of making use
of labels that had already been used in payment of postage. The first case to be
brought to trial was that of a postmaster, but on account of the same type of obliteration
mark (Fig. 42) being in use at all offices, and there being no mark to distinguish one
Fig. 42.
office from another, the prosecution failed, and the case was dismissed. In consequence
of this failure the other cases were never brought up for trial.
Shortly afterwards figures, from l to 12, were inserted in the obliteration stamps in
use in the London Chief Office (Fig. 43), so that the stampers using each number could be
Fig. 43.
traced if necessary. The Maltese Cross or croix patee obliterator—the latter is really
the correct term to apply to it from a heraldic point of view—varied a good deal in shape
in different places. Figs. 44 to 46 are three different styles. They are also found with a
Fig. 44. Fig. 45.
Figs. 4^-40.
Variations of t^e croix patee.
Fig. 46.
dot in the centre, but rarely so. Rowland Hill did not consider the croix path obliterator
as by any means perfect. From his point of view it was '' too small, and, being light
in the central parts, is not so effective in cancelling the label, which is also hght in the