In June 1879, less than three months before his death, the Freedom of the City of London was bestowed upon the veteran reformer. By this time he had grown much too infirm to go to the Guildhall to receive the honour in accordance with long-established custom. The Court of Common Council therefore considerately waived precedent, and sent to Hampstead a deputation of five gentlemen,[239] headed by the City Chamberlain, who made an eloquent address, briefly describing the benefits achieved by the postal reform, while offering its dying author “the right hand of fellowship in the name of the Corporation.” My father was just able to sign the Register, but the autograph is evidence of the near approach to dissolution of the hand that traced it. On the 27th of August in the same year he passed away in the presence of his devoted wife, who, barely a year his junior, had borne up bravely and hardly left his bedside, and of one other person. Almost his last act of consciousness was, while holding her hand in his, to feel for the wedding ring he had placed upon it nearly fifty-two years before. My father's noblest monument is his reform which outlives him, and which no reactionary Administration should be permitted to sweep away. The next noblest is the “Rowland Hill Benevolent Fund,” whose chief promoters were Sir James Whitehead and Mr R. K. Causton, and was the fruit of a subscription raised soon after the postal reformer's death, doubled, eleven years later, by the proceeds of the two Penny Postage Jubilee celebrations, the one at the Guildhall and the other at the South Kensington Museum, in 1890. Had it been possible to consult the dead man's wishes as to the use to be made of this fund, he would certainly have given his voice for the purpose to which it is dedicated—the relief of those among the Post Office employees who, through ill-health, old age, or other causes, have broken down, and are wholly or nearly destitute. For, having himself graduated in the stern school of poverty, he too had known its pinch, and could feel for the poor as the poor are ever readiest to feel. My father's fittest epitaph is contained in the following poem which appeared in _Punch_ soon after his death. His family have always, and rightly, considered that no more eloquent or appreciative obituary notice could have been penned. In Memoriam ROWLAND HILL ORIGINATOR OF CHEAP POSTAGE Born at Kidderminster, 3rd December 1795. Died at Hampstead, 27th August 1879. Buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of James Watt, Thursday, 4th September. No question this of worthy's right to lie With England's worthiest, by the side of him Whose brooding brain brought under mastery The wasted strength of the Steam giant grim. Like labours—his who tamed by sea and land Power, Space, and Time, to needs of human kind, That bodies might be stronger, nearer hand, And his who multiplied mind's links with mind.