When does one have too much intelligence? Perhaps when extra abilities get you sent away from the place you love to meet your potential and you are left writing poems to keep your memories stirring. Thus the story of T. E. Brown. 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.
Isle of Man did a great job with this stamp. Leaving the portrait of Brown to the top corner and bringing some of the cast of characters from Brown’s poem. The stamp size then allows those with exceptional eyesight to enjoy a few unifying verses. Imagine trying this format with one of the self aggrandizing but country loathing modern national poets.
Todays stamp is issue A48, a seven penny stamp issued by the Isle of Man on May 6th, 1980. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used or unused.
Thomas Edward Brown was born in 1830 on Isle of Man into a family of Baptist preachers. Even as a boy Brown displayed remarkable intelligence and at age 15 the local schoolmaster arraigned for him to attend the local Manx University. Even as a very young man at university, it was thought that Brown was not adequately challenged. Brown was sent on to Christ Church, Oxford on a full scholarship.
Brown was now severely challenged but not academically where he excelled. At the time students given a free ride were referred to as servitors. They were expected to act as servants for the faculty. There was also much hazing allowed from the paying students. Brown felt himself damaged and humiliated by the treatment.
Nevertheless he set upon a career as a school master at a string of high brow public schools in England. He attempted to be a modernizing force that put more emphasis on the sciences and less on the classics.
All the while and far from home, Brown was composing and publishing poetry that romantically portrayed his home island. Fairly uniquely, it was written with the accent and rythem of the Manx dialect of English. This dialect also owes much to Gaelic.
Getting older and feeling the pull of the island, Brown took early retirement from his last public school Clifton College and returned to Isle of Man to concentrate on his poetry. Once there there was conflict between the isolation of the island and his old role as school master. When he was invited back to Clifton to speak to the new crop of students Brown jumped at the chance. He was giving a rousing speech when suddenly a blood vessel burst in his brain and he collapsed dead.
Well my drink is empty. I am not sure I am in favor of sending away the best and brightest from everywhere to just a few places. We can understand the conflicts within Mr. Brown but left unexplored is what a more direct contribution to the island he so loved would have been possible had he stayed. Come again on Tuesday when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. Enjoy the Martin King holiday.