Penny Red Penny Red The Penny Red was a British postage stamp, issued in 1841. It succeeded the Penny Black and continued as the main type of postage stamp in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1879, with only minor changes to the design during that time. The colour was changed from black to red because of difficulty in seeing a cancellation mark on the Penny Black; a black cancel was readily visible on a Penny Red. Initially, some of the same plates that were used to print the Penny Black were used to print the Penny Red and
Penny Post local post that used a uniform rate of one old penny for delivery of letters and packets weighing up to one pound within the cities of Westminster and London as well as in Southwark. Several deliveries took place a day within the city, and items were also delivered to addresses up to ten miles outside London for an extra charge of one penny. In 1683 Dockwra was forced to surrender the Penny Post to the English Monarchy for circulating what were considered seditious newsletters sharply criticizing the Duke of York, who was in charge of and directly benefited from the