Tag: Great Britain stamp

When one thinks of education in Britain, one thinks of the 10 or so ancient public schools that train the aristocracy. This is instead about spreading the opportunity to the masses. More teachers certified to a low standard, less religion, more state control and resources. Something for every lowly brick in Pink Floyd’s wall. 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.

How strange this stamp is. Showing fireworks and a graduation cap. The first in a lower background family to graduate perhaps. Brought to you by your government who has decreed what you will be taught, how your progress is evaluated, who teaches you, and requires your attendance. This can be for the good but it was a big change in the 19th century. Perhaps we should hold off on the fireworks.

Todays stamp is issue A1252, 1 19 penny stamp issued by Great Britain on April 11th 1989. The stamp honours the 150th anniversary of public education that the stamp times to the Whig educational reform of 1839. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Education was around in England long before 1839. The public schools were selective, expensive, single sex, and mainly boarding. They were known for loneliness, bullying, and rampant homosexuality. They were also known for a classical education that was beyond any where else in the world taught by teachers that were experts in their fields. The contacts made by the students helped them to network their way to success in later life as part of a community of their classmates, in both senses of the world.

In the 19th century came the industrial revolution. Fewer people were needed on farms but had to be prepared for life as a factory worker. A basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic was helpful. Also though the ability to stay indoors all day and take instruction from strangers put in a position above. Most importantly perhaps was to get them in the habit of showing up when the reward of wages may be days or even weeks away.

This need was not adequately filled by the education system of the time that was mainly through the church. Liberal politicians had gotten a big increase in government education spending to provide workers for the new economy. It was also important to them that liberals be in charge of the system so that they could control what was taught and by whom.

To the liberals disappointment this is not how it was going. The educational grants given by government required local matching funds. Although non religious schools were free to apply, The Anglican church took the vast bulk of the government money as they were able to raise the matching funds through their school’s local parish.

This was not what the liberals had in mind and a change in the system was put through. As of the 1839 Whig reform bill. The three pillars of the reform were onsite school inspections, the end of local matching funds, and certification of teachers. One can see how this is really a takeover of the system. The reform had a great deal of success. The illiteracy rate in Britain dropped from about 40 percent in 1850 to about 5 percent in 1900. That perhaps calls for some fireworks. Literacy over time was measured then by the percentage of adults that were capable of signing their marriage certificates with more than an x. Curiously the system might have thought to be a bigger help to females, but they had a persistent advantage in literacy in Britain back to 1500.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast this years graduates. I have great confidence that you will be able to proudly sign you marriage certificates, if you ever bother to marry. Come again tomorrow, public schools having taught you the mistake of skipping, for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

A bright red TR3A. The peak of the early postwar export or die British sports car boom. 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. Don’t rev your engines, it bothers the neighbors and there is all those adult beverages to think about.

The aesthetics of the stamp is great because it is a good looking car. But modern. By then in 1996 the British motoring industry was out of affordable sports cars. If the challenge was export or die, then death was chosen. As such, there is a touch of the melancholy.

The stamp today is issue A470, a 20 Pence stamp issued by Great Britain on October 1st, 1996. The stamp displays a late 1950s vintage Triumph TR3A. It was part of a 4 stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the history of British sports cars from the 1950s period. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents in it’s used state.

With Britain war ravaged goods that could be exported and thereby restore wealth were prioritized. The basis of the Triumph line was fairly prosaic. The separate frame of the car was adopted from a pre war family saloon from the companies Standard line. The suspension was adopted from the new post war smaller sedan called the Mayflower. Yes they called it the Mayflower because they hoped to export it to America. The engine was a pushrod unit from Standard’s new larger sedan, the Vanguard.

This is not to say it was not a proper sporting machine but rather that it was built to sell overseas at a reasonable price. Triumph may have wanted you to think of a dashing Duke’s son as the proper driver, but it was available at a lower price. The USA price was $2675, a little less than $25,000 in todays money.

Triumph did a lot to the basic design to give a proper sporting experience. The frame rails allowed the bucket seats to be quite low. It lowered the cars center of gravity but more importantly made the driver feel in more contact with the road. The doors were severely cut down and roll up windows were replaced by seldom used plastic side curtains as on a Jeep. The engine was tuned up to 90 horsepower from dual carburetors, and sport exhaust. The sedan version of the same engine made 69 horsepower. The engine, though still an economical 4 had much more displacement than the cars German and Italian competitors. In combination with the available electric overdrive, it made the car much more suited to sustained high speed cruising as would be done on American interstate highways.  The overdrive offered 7 forward gears including a relaxed top cruising gear. The short geared forty percent smaller engine Italian sports cars were simply not up to this type of travel. The design made the cars distinctly British and much different from the more expensive but very German Porsche and the more expensive and very American Corvette.

The car line developed from the TR2 in the late 40s through the TR6 in the mid 1970s. The car got new bodies, an independent rear suspension, roll up windows, and even a six cylinder engine. When the Triumph line of sedans was dropped in favor of a new line of Rovers in a consolidating industry, the TR6 was dropped.

The Triumph name was last used in the 80s on a rebadge of the Honda Civic. While the Civic has a good reputation as a small car, it was no Triumph. When the car was not accepted as a Triumph a luxury brand Rover badge was attached to it. Britain of the time apparently had more underutilized car names than distinct models. Those that thought that there was nothing intrinsically British about a car were no doubt shocked that the perfectly competent Honda was not celebrated and certainly not exported successfully. The Honda based line died in 2005 and the tooling exported to China. At least it died with a last export, the original point.

Well my drink is empty and while I check what a Morgan costs now. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

The College of Arms is something that many want not to exist. In Britain it receives no government funds. Before you say why should it, think of some on the long list that do receive government funds. In Australia the government recognized that many Australians sought British Heraldic recognition of their families, but said the College of Arms had no more authority than a graphic art studio to grant one. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of an adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Though I liked that Britain still thought to do a stamp issue on heraldry in 1984, I don’t agree with how they did it. They seem to be trying to imply the College’s work is a function of the government, such as including the Arms of the City of London. If the government is doing something, it implies inherently that it could decide to stop. The College’s future might be more secure the more the government thought it not their concern. For this issue, why not instead show some of the wild things that get into Coats of Arms, it might inspire young and old to research the process.

Todays stamp is issue A326, a 16 Pence stamp issued by Great Britain on January 17th, 1984. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

In the 15th century, even before he was King, Richard III kept roles of arms and had ideas of a more formal organization. In 1484, he issued a Royal Warrant creating the College of Arms to grant and protect coats of arms. At first the King supported the operations directly with his funds. The Charter read in part, in perpetuity, for the time being, the college will keep a list of Arms. He was right to perceive that forever should be tempered for the time being.

King Richard III was killed at the end of the War of the Roses and the Tutor line of Kings began with Henry VII. The College of Arms naturally wondered where this left them. Parliament declared the grants of Richard III to be null and void. The headquarters of the College of Arms was taken away and given to Henry VII’s mother. Henry turned out to be a great fan of pomp and circumstance and the Heralds were given much to do in the new King’s Court. After a few years the College had the courage to petition Henry VII for the return of the headquarters. The request was denied.

The headquarters became an issue again in the 20th Century. The building was heavily damaged in the Blitz, and there was no recourse to government funds to fix it. The land itself had become very valuable and there was a tempting push to sell the land, divide up the money and be done with it. Instead tradition was followed and a public subscription funded repairs. Recently Queen Elizabeth required an office in the department of Justice to maintain accurate records of arms and to keep the list up to date in case the College fails.

Sometimes the College of Arms is asked to settle a dispute. In 1954 the Manchester City Council took issue with the emblem of a theatre in town that resembled theirs and thus implied the city was involved with the theatre. After several court hearings to decide if it still existed and had jurisdiction the College of Arms convened a High Court of Chivalry for the first time in 200 years to decide the matter. It ruled in favor of the City Council of Manchester.

Well my drink is empty. Below is the Coat of Arms of my family. We found it for sale in plaque form at an English gift shop in the 1970s. I hope the High Court of Chivalry doesn’t convene to take it away from me, though I recognize their jurisdiction. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

“We want Muffin. Muffin the Mule. Dear old Muffin, Always playing the Fool”. Television was a new medium in 1946, but a new medium needs a breakout star. Even if it was a puppet. 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.

Children’s television had a fifty year history at the time of this stamp. So the stamp shows a black and white image of the BBC presenter Annette Mills and the Muffin puppet. Imagine someone today conceiving a show of a mature and accomplished lady performs original music while a mule puppet is made to dance on the piano by puppetiers who concieved the puppet, voice it and wrote the script.It would have never happened that way now and the Muffin reboots since never stuck to the formula. The formula would have looked familiar to 1940s Britain. There were still traveling kids shows such as Punch and Judy that were similar.

Todays stamp is issue A469, a 20P stamp issued by Great Britain on September 3rd, 1996. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations also available as a prestige booklet that displayed Britain’s children’s tv over time. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents used. The prestige booklet is worth $16.

The original puppet mule was made by puppet maker Fred Tickner on commission from the husband and wife puppeteer team of Jan Busell and Ann Hogarth. It was part of the puppet circus of the traveling Hogarth Puppet Theatre. The in person show went on hiatus during the war. The Hogarth team was hired by the BBC to work with presenter Annette Mills, a talented singer, pianist, and in her earlier days a dancer. She was also the sister of actor Sir John Mills and aunt to later child star Haley Mills. On TV they were able to recreate the live old style live performance but had the added challenge of debuting new material every week.

The show was very successful and ran until 1955 when Annette Mills died of a heart attack. A few years later the show was reimagined with Muffin the mule getting a lot of friends such as Sally the sea lion and Perguene the penguin. On the new ITV show Muffin lived in Muffinham village and was put upon by the hijinks of his new compatriots. You can sense the modernity creeping in.

The stardom of the puppet was such that in 1959 Lesney Products, then makers of Matchbox cars, made a die cast metal Muffin the mule toy. It was the only tv character they ever did that for. The character was even brought to the Soviet Union with a series of Soviet made episodes. They did however convert Muffin to a donkey.

Well my drink is empty and though there are people here worthy of a toast, it seems wrong in relation to a kids show. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

With another English Prince abdicating his duties and losing his title to placate the unroyal woman he loves, it is a good time to review what happened with Edward VIII. Time will tell if the past is precursor.  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.

Edward did not have enough time on the Throne to have a full set of stamps done for him. There was just this rather austere bulk issue where it turned out very appropriately Edward is not wearing a Crown. The stamps showing Edward were not demonetized or overprinted to cancel out his image after abdication. Their short time status is reflected in stamp value today. The next issue same value stamp displaying new King George VI are worth one third the value.

Todays stamp is issue A99, a 2 and a half Pence stamp issued by Great Britain in 1936. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents used.

King Edward VIII was on the Throne for 10 months. He desired to marry an American socialite Wallis Simpson who was divorcing her second husband. Prime Minister Baldwin  advised that it was not an appropriate marriage as he was the symbolic head of the Church of England and that the British people would not accept Wallis as Queen Consort. Under the Westminster Statue Law of 1931 the Parliaments of the Dominions had to give assent to the choice. Prime Minister Baldwin also implied that if Edward married anyway, the government would resign. Edward then proposed a morganatic marriage to Wallis where she would not become Queen Consort and any offspring would not be in the line of succession. This was all rejected and Edward abdicated in December 1936.

In theory Edward would have reverted to the Prince title but new King George VI quickly bestowed the title of Duke of Windsor with an accompanying His Royal Highness. This happened before the marriage so HRH did not go to Wallis. Giving Edward this title made him a peer and disallowed him  discussing politics or running for the seat in the House of Commons, a big fear. There was also much ado about money. Bank accounts controlled by the King were cleaned out during Edward’s last days on the Throne. Leaving meant that Edward was no longer on the civil list for government funds but George gave Edward a large stipend in return for not coming back to Britain. He also demanded payment for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. Telephone calls demanding money from Edward became so frequent that King George VI and the Queen Mother Mary stopped taking his calls.

The Church of England refused to marry but a renegade priest Robert Jardine conducted the ceremony in Paris. The priest claimed that the Bishop’s instruction not perform the marriage did not apply outside of Britain. Jardine was forced to resign the priesthood afterward and move to the USA where he cashed in by writing a book.

As we can expect from Harry, the stipend from the Monarch however generous it would seem to any even well off person, was not enough for the jet set lifestyle. Edward began monetizing his notoriety by being paid to be interviewed and accepting junkets offered by iffy people.

Among those iffy people was Nazi era Germans. Wallis had an affair with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop from the time he was German Ambassador in London in 1936. They remained in contact and everyone was worried that Edward would reclaim the Throne with German backing, in the dark days after the fall of France. Edward played into that fear by traveling from France to Nazi sympathizing Spain And Portugal. In July 1940, Edward was appointed Governor of far off Bahamas to keep Edward out of Germany’s reach. There was much relief when he boarded the ship to leave Lisbon for his new assignment.

Edward after the war concocted a plot to return to England. He considered buying a country house near London as George VI’s health declined. He wanted to be in place in case there was an opportunity to serve as Regent. This did not pan out and he received no new assignments from Queen Elizabeth II. One bone she threw at her uncle was allowing him and Wallis! to be buried at the Royal burial ground at Frogmore castle. The previous plan would have seen the couple buried in Baltimore, Maryland next to Wallis’s father. The cemetery in Baltimore is also the place of rest for John Wilkes Booth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast King George VI. It must have been a Herculean task to keep things going through all the craziness. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

The oldest daughter of the Queen in 1973 was not likely to assume the Throne as younger male siblings took precedence. That does not mean Anne, Princess Royal’s marriage to Calvary Captain and Olympic Gold medalist Mark Phillips was not worth broadcasting around the world to give a peak at a different sort of life. Maybe that life wasn’t so different after all as infidelities on both sides lead to divorce. 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.

Deciding on a close up face shot was an interesting choice by the stamp designer. It might have worked better with better looking people. On the other hand, Royal style over the top military uniforms and hyper traditional wedding dresses would have annoyed or seemed political in 1973.

Todays stamp is issue A250, a 3 and a half penny stamp issued by Great Britain on November 14th, 1973. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations and colour tints with the same picture. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Untitled Mark Phillips was commissioned as a junior officer into the 1st, the Queens Dragoon Guards, cavalry regiment in 1969. The Regiment still exists and mainly recruits from Wales. It is currently light cavalry  with Jackal Armoured Cars. In 1969, the Regiment had tanks but Phillips was a horseman. He was an alternate on Britain’s 1968 Equestrian Team and won a gold with the team in 1972. He was still on the team as late as 1988. He met Princess Anne at horsing events. After the marriage, Phillips was promoted early to Captain and served as a military aide de camp to Queen Elizabeth. He declined a peerage offered by the Queen and this meant that the couples two children were not eligible for courtesy titles. Queen Elizabeth gifted the couple a country house, Gatcombe Park, with elaborate horse facilities.

The pomp of the wedding attracted some unwanted attention to Princess Anne. In February 1974 her Austin Princess IV limo was forced to the side of the road by a armed would be kidnapper Ian Ball in a Ford Escort. Ball shot 4 people trying to defend the Princess. He intended to hold her for ransom and then give the proceeds to the National Health Service. He instructed her to get out of the limousine but she replied that was “Not Bloody Likely”. She and her lady in waiting eventually escaped out of the other side of the limo and lead away by a passerby. The Queen had many medals to hand out to Anne’s many defenders. Ball has been in a mental hospital since.

The marriage of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips did not last. In 1985, Phillips fathered a child out of wedlock with a New Zealand art teacher who later sued for paternity. Princess Anne herself had an affair with a crewman on the then Royal Yacht Britannia. He is now her second husband and an Admiral. Her second marriage had no related stamp issue at least in Great Britain.

Phillip’s second marriage was unsuccessful. He married Sandy Pflueger in 1997 with whom he fathered another daughter. She was from Hawaii, the daughter of a car dealer, and a member of the American Dressage team. The couple lived in Britain on the grounds of Gatcombe Park, where Anne still resides. In 2012 the couple divorced as the second Mrs. Phillips had taken up with a female. With the children grown up, Philips has now moved to America. Phillips received a divorce settlement of 3 million pounds from Princess Anne, which is about 20 percent of his net worth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another for Anne, Princess Royal, for her active service to Britain. The idea of hyping out of the line Royal Weddings might require a rethink however. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

With Iceland announcing the end of their postage stamp issuance and with small country farm outs ever less connected with the country or origin, I have been wondering about what the end of postage stamp issuance would look like. Therefore a modest proposal. 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.

If this were the last stamp, think how much of the 180 years of the hobby of stamp collecting could be included. The British Penny Black was the first stamp and in itself a major reform of the postal system. Copied all over the world. William Wyon’s 1837 Victoria profile became so recognizable that it was used for her whole Reign without ever requiring even including the country name on the stamp. Arnold Machin’s profile of a timeless Queen Elizabeth II has now lasted even longer and the two basic images together work so well. Make this the last stamp.

The Penny Black was the first postage stamp. Previously to mail one had to go to the post office and pay the post master who would then initial the top corner of the envelope. It was realized that selling stamps in sheets would greatly ease commercial mailing by enabling pre payment. The increased mail volume would allow a drop in price for a standard domestic letter to one penny regardless of distance. This was a third of the previous rate which added heavily for distance. The stamp was elaborately engraved on high quality paper to avoid counterfeiting. Gum on the back and perforations would come later. The penny black was not completely successful in one regard. The red cancelation on the black stamp could be washed off by sly re-users. In 1842 the penny black was replaced by a penny red of the same design that used a permanent black cancelation.

In the early days of Elizabeth II’s Reign, a three quarter face portrait picture by Dorothy Wilding was used on the stamps. This was controversial among some stamp designers as it took up so much of the stamp. There was also a push to remove the Sovereign from the stamp and add UK to the stamps. This was promoted by left politician and then Postmaster General Tony Benn. By the mid 1960s even the Queen herself could see the issue of continued use of the dating Wilding portrait was not optimal. A new competition was held with the Queen to pick the winner.

The winner was Arnold Machin’s profile that was originally a bas-relief in clay done from pictures by Lord Snowden. He originally included the Queen holding a bouquet of flowers but decided on simplifying it before submission. Elizabeth is wearing the George IV State Diadem crown dating from 1820 and also worn by Victoria in the Wyon profile. The image was also used on coinage starting with decimalization in 1968 and earlier on Rhodesian coins. Elizabeth’s image was updated on the coins in the 1980s but she sensibly refused the suggestion to update the stamp image. Machin got his own stamp in 2007 and his work of art is the most commonly reproduced in the history of the world, 320 billion times to date.

A note about inflation. This stamp shows a value of 20 Pence, below the current rate of 70 Pence. If you adjust the 1840 1 Penny for inflation and decimalization, it works out to 35 Pence. For a final issue and everyone’s last letter mailed, why not go back to one penny for a day or even a week. Think of the final volume and remember you are still benefiting from decimalization! There are no longer 240 Pennies in a Pound.

Well my drink is empty and I can’t claim any influence on how things will end. This stamp wouldn’t be the worst. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

The industrial revolution did much to bring the masses of people out of poverty. Better off, they can themselves buy more goods expanding the market continuing the cycle. Until the manufacturer has to start cutting prices to keep sales going. Then those factory workers start to look expensive. 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.

Britain was trying to put a good face on car production in the UK in 1982. This Austin stamp was perhaps the most optimistic. The old car on the stamp the Austin 7 had legitimately expanded the car market and the then current Austin Metro was the last British designed model to play in that part of the market. The other stamps in the set are less successful. Ford and Vauxhall are appropriated as domestic. Jaguar and Rolls Royce were low volume luxury niche players.

Todays stamp is issue A317, a 15.5 Penny stamp issued by Great Britain on October 13, 1982. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the manufacture of British automobiles. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

The Austin motor company was founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin. He was able to acquire a mothballed former print works in Longbridge where both cars on todays stamp were built. The Austin 7 model on the stamp was his big success in the inter war years. It was a very small car that could be manufactured cheaply and sold a cheap price that expanded the car market down to less well off people. The car was a large success and was licensed to sell around the world including the USA. In Germany, the Austin 7 was the first BMW. In Japan it was the first Nissan. Typical of Asia then and now, the Nissan version was an unlicensed copy. The light weight of the car saw sport specials built off of it including the first sporting cars built by Bruce McLaren and Lotus’s Colin Chapman.

Post war many auto manufacturers merged down to only a few as it required ever more economies of scale to make a profit. This is often blamed on union worker demands but throughout the industry there were ever demands for new and better with no willingness to pay for it. There was also the issue that Britain like the USA allowed lower cost foreign manufacturers in to sell their products at prices that could not be competed with. This hit the British manufacturer like Austin with declining volume to go with the rising cost. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/14/great-britain-1962-the-pm-pontificates-to-the-queen-about-productivity/  .The quite successful Mini managed to sell over 5 million units but Austin lost money on every one of them. They needed that volume though to keep the dealers in business. There was the further issue of the baby boom generation was rebellious and part of that rebellion was not to support domestic industry with whom they did not feel a connection.

To replace the Mini for the 80s, a new Metro model was designed. It was modern and safer and rode better than it’s foreign competitors thanks to the hydragas suspension. Air springs normally being luxury car fare. To keep cost down, carry over engines from the Mini were reused. The tag line for the car was send the foreign invaders back where they came from. It didn’t quite do that. It did sell over 2 million units and lasted 18 years in production. This means it outlasted Austin itself with later models getting the Rover name. It was the last time Britain attempted to design and build a car completely in country for it’s biggest car market segment. The leader in the segment is now the Ford Fiesta, but it was designed in Germany with third world assembly. Ford being American the profits would go to America if there were any, but there is no need to worry for that.

I mentioned that the Metro and the Austin 7 were built at the same Longbridge plant. Most of the plant closed in 2005 with the end of Rover. The Chinese acquired it from bankruptcy and for a while assembled a few of the old cars from Chinese kits in a corner of the old plant. This ended in 2016 and the area is being redeveloped into residential housing. That fits, Britain has been doing better lately on it’s houses than trying to manufacture anything. Now if it could only figure out how to send the foreign invaders back where they came from. I know, John mind your own business.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Herbert Austin. The Longbridge facility was huge and he was able to acquire it in his first year, this really let him think big by going small. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Michael Faraday had several strikes against him. He grew up poor and his Christianity was of an obscure sect in a class conscious 19th century Britain. Yet he was able to work and his research advanced human knowledge in the fields of electricity and magnetism. How is it that such stories happen in only a few places and times in the world. 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.

Regular readers will sense that I really like this 1991 British stamp issue. A few weeks ago I covered this stamp on Charles Babbage,the proto computer inventor. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/15/great-britain-1991-remembering-one-of-those-great-19th-century-polymaths/   . Being a fairly ignorant American, whose knowledge of electricity consists of visions of Ben Franklin flying a kite, I am presented with an opportunity to expand my knowledge with what Britain was up to in the field. Mr. Faraday is presented in a smoking jacket with a lightbulb going off in his head like when I figure out what a stamp is talking about. Bringing me in an expanding my mind. Stamp making at it’s best.

Todays stamp is issue A393, a 22 pence stamp issued by Great Britain on March 5th, 1991. It was a four stamp issue remembering prominent British scientists. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents.

Michael Faraday grew up poor in an outer suburb of London in a family that practiced the small Glassite offshoot of the Church of Scotland. He was able as a teenager to get an apprenticeship at a bookseller. This gave him access to books and to other people who read them. Contacts from the store got him invited to science lectures held at the Royal Institution. The RI had been founded in 1799 with the purpose of extending scientific research to benefit the masses. Hearing a lecture from chemist Humphry Davy, he sent him a 300 page report on what he heard. Impressed, Davy hired him as an assistant and his work was rewarded by an appointment of his own at the Royal Institution. In English society this did not quite make Faraday a gentleman. He was quite offended to still have to function as Davy’s valet on a European tour. A real gentleman would not have made such a production out of the perceived slight.

Anyway. Faraday made many advancements including early insights in how magnetic fields work and how electricity is conducted. He also built the first electric generator and bunson burner. I assume Mr. Bunson may argue with that last one. He was also much rewarded. He turned down a Knighthood based on the precepts of the Glassite sect. He did accept from Prince Consort Albert a Grace and Favor country house. The house was owned by Prince Albert, but given rent and expense free as a thanks for service to the Empire. One service he was not willing to provide the Empire was work on chemical weapons during the Crimean War. He explained his religion based objections and the house nor the position at the RI was removed from him. His Glasite sect of Christianity died out in the late 20th century.

One can understand what good a properly functioning Royal Institution can do for a nation. It still exists in it’s original and now quite valuable building in London. It still exists but had a brush with modernity recently. The leader was a female descendant of an Austrian electrician and an exotic dancer. Her idea to advance the institution was to spend 25 million pounds to renovate the building so an upscale public nightclub for the glitterati was a part of it. It bombed and the institution was left in debt. An anonymous donation prevented the building from having to be sold. When she was removed, the lady, a Countess, sued, claiming she was discriminated against. Well the people that appointed her should have used more discretion. Any way the woman’s science work is in the field of dementia. So perhaps we can all forget. No wonder the last Nobel Laureate from the RI was born way back in 1933.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what modern institutions that actually advance knowledge look like today. The RI seems moribund, China is littered with scientific institutions with no decernable output, and silcon valley in the USA hasn’t been heard much from lately. Wonder what that Tesla guy is up to? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.