"Thomas Edmondson (30 June 1792 in Lancaster, England – 22 June 1851 in Manchester, England) is the inventor of the Edmondson railway ticket.
He was a member ...
[Read more]
of the Religious Society of Friends and originally worked in the Lancaster cabinet making business of Gillow.
While working as a station master at Milton (later Brampton) on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway he devised the idea of a new type of railway ticket: a small piece of cardboard, pre-printed with journey details (as opposed to the then current hand-written paper bill). The tickets would be numbered by hand, and validated by a separate date-stamping press when purchased. He also invented and built a foot-operated version of the latter device." - (en.wikipedia.org 30.01.2020)