The next issue for Social Reformers and was released on 28th April. The issue pays tribute to British Pioneers of social reform in the 19th century and the designer, David Gentleman, employed the symbolic use of hands as a common theme.

The 8 1/2p depicts Hewing Coal, with the inscription Thomas Hepburn. He was responsible for forming the first minors union at Hetton in the Tyne and Wear district in 1831. He called a strike over the bond of service whereby men could be sacked and evicted from their houses for small offenses.

The 10p depicted Machinery, with the inscription Robert Owen, who reformed conditions for workers in cotton mills. In 1799 he purchased New Lanark Mills and was shocked at the conditions, and made changes to make them a model for a better industrial system, including schools and co-operative communities.

The 11p depicts Chimney Cleaning with the inscription Lord Shaftesbury, who pioneered many reforms. He was responsible for the 1843 Mines Act, which excluded women and children under 13 from working in mines. He pushed forward changes including houses for workers, free elementary education and changed the public attitude to mental illnesses. He is most famously known for the abolition of chimney sweeping by young boys, which is the image depicted on the stamp.

The 13p shows Hands Clutching Prison Bars with the caption Elizabeth Fry, who dared to visit the two cells in the notorious Newgate Prison where 300 women cooked, ate and slept on the bare floor. She introduced women supervisors, separation of regular offenders from petty criminals, education and employment and her ideas were carried on and progressed in prisons throughout Europe.

The radical design and dark effects of the stamp made them very popular with the public. In all values there is an extension of the design 2mm into all four margins, something that had happened on a few previous issues, designed to ensure all stamps were identical no matter where they are positioned on the sheet.

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