Charles Whiting
Charles Whiting was a printer. He was the son of James Whiting who had set up the Beaufort House Press and was responsible for the introduction of the compound plate printing method invented by the second Sir William Congreve (1799-1828) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Congreve,_2nd_Baronet. Congreve had invented the Congreve rocket that is mentioned in the "Star Spangled Banner".
Congreve was also member of the committee that looked at a method of making the Bank of England banknotes more difficult to forge. He submitted some examples but the committee rejected both his own submission and Joshua Perkins's bid to produce banknotes. (see Perkins Bacon (Perkins_Bacon)).
Compound plates were interlocking printing plates that were inked separately and then assembled for the printing. They could incorporate embossed designs and engine turning. The compound plates were made by Bryan Donkin, the embossing was done by Dobbs & Co and the engraving by Robert Branston. From 1828 the engraving was done by Alfred Deacon.
One of the first uses of the compound plate was for the invitations to the Coronation of George 1V (who was a friend of Congreve).
Printing plates assembled, they would be separated for inking.
Images used with permission of the Spear Museum of Philatelic History at The Royal Philatelic Society London.
Plates of this type were used in the printing of medicine and paper duty stamps at the Inland Revenue and also on provincial banknotes . They were also used for revenue stamps in India and Sweden. These are listed later.
Charles Whiting was active in the lobbying for the introduction of cheaper postage and first wrote to the Postmaster General in 1830 suggesting the use of "Go Frees" for the collection of newspaper postage using a modified form of his banknote duty stamp.
Since 1833 Robert Wallace had been lobbying for Post Office reform and by 1836 Rowland Hill had joined the campaign leading to his famous 1837 pamphlet. Whiting was part of the group which promoted these ideas and was often the printer for some of these pamphlets.
Hill proposed various methods of pre-paying of postage, his initial thoughts were of postal stationary and "Stamped to order" envelopes, the stamp as we know it was almost an afterthought.
In 1837 a select committee was formed as a result of the lobbying and Whiting was called. Although he recommended compound plate printing concern was raised about the cost and printing speed. The report from the committee contained copies of the London District post 1d and 2d envelopes printed by Whiting on John Dickinson silk thread paper.
A Mercantile Committee was formed in 1838 under the leadership of Henry Cole. Whiting printed "The Post Circular" which contained various designs, some of which were later used as submissions to the competition.
He was one of the printers who submitted work to the Treasury Competition of 1839 and printed entries for other people. It is difficult to be certain which designs were actually submitted and often reprints from a later date are sold as Treasury competition entries. Although unsuccessful in getting the contract for the production of the first stamp, various ideas from his submissions were used in the design of the penny black especially the idea of letters in the corners.
Some were embossed.
Over the next few years various designs were reprinted and used in various publications.
- From the March 1840 London and Westminster review
- From the Art Union Monthly Journal 1 June 1848.
Pieces have been cut out from these and often have part of the design of the next page on their reverse and should not allocated to the Treasury competition.
He also produced a series of portraits for the Royal Cameo Scrapbook
He collaborated with Wyon on various designs that led to the replacement of the much derided Mulready envelope and eventually the embossed high value stamps. There was some friction with Hill and Wyon. Wyon removed his die leading to Whiting producing a new die with the royal head facing the other way.This was used for the production of an envelope. Later reprints have a flaw on the neck.
James Whiting and later Charles Whiting produced Paper Duty Stamps.
A duty stamp was used on the back of provincial banknotes.(The front was often printed by Perkins Bacon!)
Duty was charged on medicines.
They also produced Fiscal stamps for Sweden and India.
The Whitings produced labels for various clients.
The Congreve patent was also sold to other printers.
In 1860 he finally won two contracts for stamps. He got the contract to print Telegraph stamps for the South Eastern Railway.
He was also successful in bidding for the supply of stamps to Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Charles Whiting died in 1875 and the Whiting and Co went bankrupt in 1892. Alfred Deacon had remained in the company until 1881 and was probably responsible for reprinting some of the "treasury competition" entries.
J.A.Tilliard came into possession of some of the dies and plates and they are in the Spear Museum of Philatelic History at the RPSL.
The Beaufort house printing works were redeveloped into the Savoy Hotel.
See "The Life and work of Charles Whiting and the Beaufort House Press" by Michael Salmon.
The London Philatelist Volume 116 January 2007 Supplement ISSN 0024-6131.
Also:
GBPS Society Displays 17 March 2018 Alan Huggins GBPS Newsletter 373 pp6-14.
The Congreve - Whiting Embossed Portraits by Marcus Samuel GBJ 1974 pp74-9.
The Congreve - Whiting Embossed Portraits by Marcus Samuel GBJ 1980 pp42-6.
International Postal Reforms. James L. Grimwood-Taylor RPSL 2020
The 1840 Embossed Wyon-Whiting Essays. Alan Huggins and Tony Wicks RPSL 2021
