Thirty years ago, the designer Jon Daniel started and led a campaign to put black people on Royal Mail stamps (They have all earned Britain’s thanks: 20 Black heroes who should be on a postage stamp, 28 October). He designed and printed postcards with his own stamps on one side and the Royal Mail’s address on the other. In a pre-internet age, his word-of-mouth campaign went viral. People sent these postcards to the Royal Mail in their hundreds.
Sadly, despite being overwhelmed by the public’s response, the Royal Mail ignored Jon’s campaign. However, he would use his designs and his stamp collection of leading black figures for his 2011 show Post-Colonial: Stamps from the African Diaspora, hosted by Stanley Gibbons at its shop on the Strand in London. The Guardian published an obituary of Jon in 2017. His crucial role in trying to put black heroes on British stamps three decades ago should be recognised today.
James McCarthy
Cambridge
• Sad to see that your feature did not include William Cuffay, a lifelong campaigner for voting rights for all. A London-based tailor and trade unionist who was the son of a freed slave, Cuffay was one of the organisers of the “monster Chartist rally” on Kennington Common in 1848. He was accused of “conspiring to levy war” against Queen Victoria, and sentenced to 21 years’ penal transportation. He died in Tasmania in 1870, aged 82.
Marietta Crichton Stuart
Chair, the Friends of Kennington Park, London
• How did your star panel overlook Maggie Aderin-Pocock? Fortunately, this omission was mitigated by the article about her in the following day’s Observer magazine.
Owen Knight
Little Baddow, Essex
• I would love to see Bill Morris included in any list celebrating heroes. The reason and dignity with which he led the Transport and General Workers’ union inspired me to be a lifelong trade union member.
Jackie King
Brighton, East Sussex
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