Page "Postage stamp" Paragraph 22

As the postage amounts stated in James Chalmers ' essay mirrored those that were proposed by Rowland Hill in February 1837, it is clear that Chalmers was aware of Hill ’ s proposals.

It is unknown whether he had obtained a copy of Hill ’ s booklet or if he had simply read about it in The Times newspaper, which had, on two occasions, on 25 March 1837 and on 20 December 1837, reported in great detail Hill ’ s proposals.

However, in neither article was there any mention of " a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp ", so merely reading the Times would not have made Chalmers aware that Hill had already made that proposal ; this suggests either that he had read Hill's booklet and was merely elaborating on Hill's idea, or that he in fact independently developed the idea of the modern postage stamp.