Rowland Hill

Today we went to Kidderminster to buy a new mattress, and had a quick walk in the town centre in search of a blip.

This image is of the rather imposing statue of Rowland Hill outside the Town Hall. Born in Kidderminster in 1795, Hill was a social reformer, English teacher and inventor. He founded the Hazelwood School in Edgbaston, which he designed complete with radical innovations such as a science lab and a swimming pool. He advocated that school discipline should be based upon kindness instead of caning, and moral influence rather than fear.

Later in life he took a serious interest in the postal service, writing a paper arguing for reform of an inefficient and corrupt system, in which the recipient rather than the sender had to pay. Today he is credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the Penny Black postage stamp.