January 10 in Victorian History
What the Victorians were up to on this date, year by remarkable year.
1840
The Uniform Penny Post begins
Rowland Hill's great reform takes effect: any letter up to half an ounce can now travel anywhere in Britain for a single penny. On the first day, more than 112,000 letters are posted in London, over three times the previous year's number. Cheap postage will knit the Victorian nation together and carry love letters, business and news to every town.
1863
The London Underground opens
The Metropolitan Railway opens to the public between Paddington and Farringdon, and the world's first underground railway is born. Steam locomotives haul gas-lit wooden carriages through brick tunnels beneath London's streets. On day one, some 38,000 passengers ride the new line -- the Tube age has begun.