Throughout the world, not just in Britain or the Empire, the second half of the 19th century is thought of as the Victorian Era. For some it is the height of culture and progress, for others it is a time of racial and sexual repression. As the country that experienced her reign first hand, Britain under an 80s Conservative government will share the first view. This stamp issue tries to show a lot of the progress of the time. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
With such a long reign, there is of course a lot to talk about and each of the four stamps of the issue take on three things to represent the period. In this stamps case, it is the art, the technology progress, and the virtue of the British people. A lot to show on a small gumed piece of paper that also manages to show a portrait of Queen Victoria and the always present profile of Queen Elizabeth. A lot going on that a postal user will likely miss but much for a philatelist to peruse.
Todays stamp is issue A359, an 18p stamp issued by Great Britain on September 8th, 1987. It was a four stamp issue remembering the 150th anniversary of the ascension to the Throne of then 18 year old Queen Victoria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
Queen Victoria became Queen at age 18 years and one month upon the death of her uncle Willian IV. Being barely 18 she avoided a Regency planned for her by her mother and because of German royalty Salic laws against Royal women, the British monarch was no longer the monarch of Hannover in Germany. For the best given the events of the 20th century. Her mother lost much influence on Victoria but she accepted much advice from the then Whig Prime Minister. As a young single lady, even the Queen was required to live with her mother, but with large Buckingham Palace she was able to consign her mother to an out of the way bedroom and control when she sees her. She married Prince Albert in 1840.
Prince Albert was a force behind the Chrystal Palace in the center of the stamp. France had several previous exhibitions of French achievements but Britain through Albert had bigger ideas. The first of many International Expos happened in London in 1851. The Chrystal Palace, of steel and a then new type of strong sheet glass was constructed in Hyde Park for the purpose. The exhibition was worldwide but the technological and artistic sophistication of Britain was displayed for all to see. To cope with the large crowds the worlds first pay toilets were installed. It cost one penny to use the facility and over 800,000 did. It was such a sensation that spending a penny became slang for going to the bathroom.
The right hand portrait on the stamp is a portrait of Grace Darling, an exemplar of the virtue of the British people. Grace Darling grew up poor in a family that lived in and operated a lighthouse. In 1838, she spotted a ship foundering on nearby rocks. She got her father and they rowed a canoe out in the rough waters and were able to save five survivors. Her father and saved men than went back and saved additional ship passengers. Grace’s role in the heroism became well known and she became a national hero. A trust fund was set up for her and Queen Victoria personally contributed. Unfortunately Grace died of tuberculosis a few years later at age 26.
The left hand portrait is the famous portrait of a red stag deer known as the “Monarch of the Glen” by Sir Edwin Landseer. It captures the beauty of the animal and a sense of the rural terrain of Scotland. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria who was a big fan of this style of art. The portrait became somewhat of a cliché later as it was used in much advertising later including a soap company and more famously Dewars Scotch Whiskey. Through Dewars the painting came into the hands of the multinational liquor conglomerate Diagio who sold it discounted to The Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh in 2016. I drink Glen Moray rather than Dewars when I drink Scotch so I knew nothing of the commercialization of the image when I saw the painting during a visit to Scotland in 2017. I was so moved by Landseer’s painting that I bought a bronze depiction of the deer in the gift shop. It is nice to know that I have similar taste in art as Queen Victoria.
Well my drink is empty and I will poor another to toast Queen Victoria. Not many get to dominate a century the way she did and in a good way. A second toast, perhaps I should take it slow, is deserved by the stamp designers who managed to show so much on the stamp. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.