Henry Fawcett - Political Career

Political Career

After repeated defeats as a Liberal Party candidate, Fawcett was elected Member of Parliament for Brighton in 1865. He held this seat until 1874, and thereafter represented Hackney between 1874 and 1884. He campaigned for women's suffrage. In 1880 he was appointed Postmaster-General by William Ewart Gladstone and sworn of the Privy Council. He had a particular interest in encouraging saving through the Post Office Savings Bank. He introduced the savings stamp which allowed people to save pennies at a time to build up the minimum account limit of a shilling. He pushed through parliament an act to allow savers to convert their post office savings to government stock and he developed the post office's life insurance and annuities schemes. He introduced many other innovations, including parcel post, postal orders, and licensing changes to permit payphones and trunk lines.