Tag: Ireland stamp

A newish stamp with a picture of an old stamp is not at all unusual. Ireland was using British stamps in 1867 but that doesn’t mean the imagination can’t conjure up what a newly independent stamp issue of 1867 would have looked like. If the Fenian rebellion succeeded. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and st back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Since this stamp is an Irish fantasy lets examine how they did. Not so bad. Most new countries start with a coat of arms, even one where the independence was achieved from violent chaos. One can note a pretty giant difference between this would be issue and the later real issues of the Irish Free State. They aren’t all about the Catholic church. The Fenians were rough men, whose struggle was routed in class not in intricacies of interpreting scripture. Their independent Ireland would have been different than what came later. Kudos to the stamp designer, S. Allen Taylor, for picking up on that. By 1967, Irish stamp issues were becoming way more secular. On some of the real early stamps, Ireland could be mistaken for a caliphate.

Todays stamp is issue A62, a 5 penny stamp issued by Irish Republic on October 23rd, 1967. The stamp recognized the 100th anniversary of the failed Fenian Irish rebellion of 1867. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

The class situation was serious in 19th century Ireland. The landowning class was largely British and the available land was often used for cattle raising, so the beef could be exported to feed the insatiable English desire for corned beef, that was newly cheap and available to the masses of industrial workers. This left the Irish short of food and money. Thus there were frequent rebellions against British rule. There were also many Irish leaving for the USA, Canada, and factory work in England. The situation eventually corrected with corn beef resourced from Uruguay. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/07/uruguay-1889-we-will-grow-by-immigration-merino-wool-and-corned-beef/

Several leaders of a 1848 uprising were in Paris and in contact with Irish in the USA. After the American Civil War there were many Irish born veterans that had been paid to fight for the North. Taking inspiration from the Irish Fianna of the middle ages. They hoped their armed arrival in Ireland and Canada would lead to an uprising that would end British rule. Fianna were sons of Ireland in the middle ages that were landless and had to scratch out a living as armed bands. There were several Fenian attacks in Ireland, England and Canada that were mainly hoping to seize weapons. The attacks failed and so the leaders were not able to lead an uprising of the Irish people.

That does not mean the Irish people did not remember and appreciate the effort. After the rebellion was put down there was a massive outpouring of wishes than the Fenians not be hung as traitors but instead given amnesty. Some were and some weren’t. The old Fianna mottos were. We have purity in our hearts, we have strength in our limbs and our actions match are speech. The modern Fenians added that they were deeming better to manfully die in the struggle for freedom than continue an existence of utter serfdom. A movement needs some martyrs and these were better than most.  In England, they were seen differently of course, see the cartoon below.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another of Irish Whiskey to toast stamp designer S. Allen Taylor. Stamp collectors like to remember an old stamp, but it goes the extra mile to imagine what an old stamp would have looked like if things had gone differently. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

Saint Patrick’s Day is a big celebration, well not this year, in my city. Yet I knew nothing of Saint Patrick beyond being Catholic and Irish. So when I spotted this Irish stamp, what a great excuse to learn more. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your green beer and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp processes poor period printing. The design is properly reverent, but I wonder why the stamp has blue tinting instead of green.

Todays stamp is issue A42 a 3 pence stamp issued by Ireland on September 25th, 1961. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations honoring the 1500th anniversary of the death of Saint Patrick. His dates aren’t quite firm but were guessed later based on his use of the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Saint Patrick was born in Roman era England. As a child he was captured by Irish pirates, taken to Ireland and pressed into slavery. His labors were looking after animals. He escaped his bondage and managed to return to England and his family. In adulthood he became a priest and felt it was his mission to convert Ireland to Christianity re-arriving in 432 AD. There are those that say he returned to Ireland after facing a trial in Britain for accepting gifts from wealthy women and payment for Baptisms. He was not convicted and his Confessions contain his denial of financial impropriety. In Ireland he succeeded in Baptizing thousands, finding and ordaining priests to serve local communities and well off spinster ladies to become nuns.

The year before Patrick returned to Ireland another Bishop by the name of Palladius arrived. He was French and tasked by Pope Celestine I with converting Ireland to Christianity indeed becoming the first Bishop of Ireland. There is some scholarly debate that some of the legends of Saint Patrick, like ridding Ireland of snakes was actually the work of Palladius. To modern Irish ears, this also has the advantage of removing credit from England regarding the Christian conversion.

Saint Patrick was universally recognized as a Saint before the later Catholic Church formalized the process of recognizing them. This was also before the big break with the Orthadox Christianity of the East. In the Orthadox tradition, Patrick is the holder of a higher title than Saint called Equal to Apostles. This title is limited to Saints that had Devine success in the job of Christian conversion in the tradition of the 12 Apostilles of Jesus Christ.

Well my drink is empty and this was one of those stories getting bogged down where the modern historians with their new takes on the old texts. It gets them mentioned with the old texts, yes I know I chose not to site them, but reduces the majesty of what was accomplished. One or two good men came from far away and offered a better way. What were the chances that they would be listened to? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

There was a big movement to get southern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. How to accomplish that without acquiring a new master in the form of the Catholic church was the challenge. Choosing the son of an Anglican Vicar as the first President was a way to walk that line. 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.

This is a strange stamp. At the time Douglas Hyde was the sitting President of Ireland. Yet the stamp was in recognition of his founding of the Gaelic League 60 years previous. Yes he was quite old. The Presidency was under the Irish constitution of the day was vague on whether the ceremonial post was actually Head of State or whether that was the British King. A stamp showing him above politics was a not so subtle hint that he really was the Head of State.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a half penny stamp issued by Ireland on July 31st, 1943. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1 used.

Douglas Hyde was born in Ireland in 1860 the son of a Church of Ireland (Anglican) Vicar. In is teen years, he befriended a local Irish game keeper. What especially fascinated was the Roscommon form of the Gaelic language that the game keeper spoke and was getting quite rare. He bucked family tradition by studying languages and literature at Trinity University instead of going into the church.

As a member of the Literary Society, Hyde created quite a stir. Under the pen name “A pleasant little branch” he published poetry in Gaelic. Then he went further publishing a manifesto on The Necessity of Deanglicizing the Irish Nation. This argued the Irish were in much danger or loosing their language, literature, style of dress, music and dance if measures weren’t taken to preserve it. This got this discussion going among a high brow group less political and less Catholic.

Hyde then became a cofounder of the Gaelic League to do the above. He tried to keep the group apolitical but was forced out during the Irish troubles as by then politics and religion were front and center.

After Ireland formed the Free State, people remembered and respected Hyde and invited him to run and win a seat in the upper chamber of the legislature. After one term, the Catholic Church started a disinformation push to remove people like Hyde from power. The accused him of  being in favor of divorce. He had a life long marriage. He lost his seat and returned to academia humiliated.

In 1937 there was a new constitution that devolved further from Britain and created a ceremonial office of President. The two rival political parties agreed on offering the Presidency to Hyde. He seemed a good choice. There were those that felt Ireland was a confessional state that was a tool of the Catholic Church. Having an Anglican President would diffuse that. Being near 80, it was also thought there would be less threat that he would attempt to become or allow Prime Minister to become a dictator. He was also a learned man who would be taken seriously on the world stage. There was much fanfare around the world in 1938 when Hyde was inaugurated. The exception was in Great Britain where it was thought to be a personal slight to the King.

Despite suffering a stroke and the loss of his wife, Hyde was able to serve a full seven year term as President. He was able to keep Ireland neutral through World War II. The level of anti British feelings were still high and came out on the very last days of the war upon the news of the death of Adolph Hitler. Politicians of many parties up to and including  Douglas Hyde met with Nazi German Ambassador Eduard Hempel to offer the condolences of the Irish people. They found the German distraught and wringing his hands in anguish. Hempel’s wife Eva later claimed it was just that his eczema acting up.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast at least the non political version of the Gaelic Society. Who isn’t a fan of Irish culture? Come again next Monday when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. Happy New Year!

The first ship’s captain in the rebellious American Continental Navy was an Irish Catholic. He chose the life of a sailor after his tenant farmer family had been forced from the land by British landowners. Well that might be a story now independent Ireland should be interested in. We will give the Irish a statue to tell the story. 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.

The statue on todays stamp was a gift of the USA to Commodore John Barry’s home county of Wexford in Ireland. The statue was delivered by a United States Navy destroyer. The Irish Naval Service has an annual John Berry day where they do a ceremonial laying of a wreath at the statue. Ireland was interested in the story. Ireland did another stamp for Barry in 2003 on the 200th anniversary of his death as part of an issue of Irish mariners who rose in other people’s navies.

Todays stamp is issue A31, a 3 Penny stamp issued by Ireland on September 16th, 1966. It was a two stamp issue coinciding with the American gift of the statue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

John Barry was born in 1745 in Tacumshane, Ireland. The family were tenant farmers under a British landowner. After being forced to leave the land for undisclosed reasons, the family moved to the port of Rossliare where an uncle operated a fishing boat. Future Commodore Barry started out as a cabin boy.

Relocated to Philadelphia in the American colonies, he received the first commission as a ships captain in the rebellion against the British. As you might expect, the American continental navy was not a proper navy  but pirate ships that raided shipping operating under letters of marquis issued by the Continental forces. One of his most successful  battles with the Royal Navy was the Battle of Turtle Gut inlet in 1776. A Royal Navy blockade ship was chasing a brig carrying a load of gunpowder. They forced the brig to run aground. Barry’s pirate ship crew was able to row to the shipwreck and recover most of the gunpowder. The then left an explosive charge with a delay fuse for when the British boarded the next day.

The British were impressed with Barry and offered him a bounty and ship’s command to change sides. Barry responded there were not enough pounds in the British Treasury or ships in the Royal Navy for him to abandon his adopted country.

Barry survived his many ship commands and in 1797 George Washington declared him America’s first Commodore, a title no longer used in the USA Navy. The statue in Ireland is not Barry’s only monument. There is a park named for him in Brooklyn and the navy has a destroyer named for him. It is the fourth USA Navy ship named for him and though it is getting older, commissioned in 1992, it recently received a midlife update and is equipped with the AEGIS missile system. There is also a sailor’s bar named for him in Muscat, Oman.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another and toast the US Navy for taking the time to tell Ireland a story they wanted to hear. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

We think today of Irish Catholics rebelling against Anglican British rule. Earlier revolts were not so religious. We did an Irish stamp here  https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/15/ireland-1967-100-years-later-irish-stampmakers-fantasize-about-alternate-history/  , that remembered the failed Fenian rebellion that was less about religion. In 1798 there was another rebellion, inspired by the French and American revolutions that sought an Irish republic and it’s leader was a Protestant. 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,

It is surprising to me how much this Irish stamp ascribes the 1798 Rebellion to the French. Tone was of French protestant heritage and spent the years up to the Rebellion serving in the French Army, while trying to lobby France to send troops to support an Irish Rebellion. The ship you see on the stamp is French. The rebellion failed though and Tone died in British custody.

Todays stamp is issue A22, a two and one half penny stamp issued by the Republic of Ireland on November 19th, 1948. It was a two stamp issue marking 150 years since the uprising of 1798. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Theobald Wolfe Tone was born into the Irish wing of a French Protestant family that emigrated to England to avoid religious persecution. English/ Irish aristocrat Theobald Wolfe was his godfather and perhaps natural father. Tone attended Trinity and became a lawyer and worked with a Belfast Society of United Irishman that wanted to expand the vote to all, at the time non Anglicans were excluded from voting. At first they worked within the British system and the right to vote was extended. At this point the group became more radical inspired by the American Revolution. France had agreed to support the American Revolution while letting the victorious Americans to be governed by the revolutionaries, not the French. Promoting Irish independence was illegal and United Irishman began to be rounded up.

Tone then emigrated to Philadelphia but found Americans even more repulsive than the British. No word on how repulsive Americans found Tone. Anyway, Tone was soon off to France where he joined the Army and began lobbying for French help in an Irish uprising. Tone had some success but the first French flotilla had to turn back having been caught by the Royal Navy. The French General in charge soon died and Napoleon came to power. Napoleon at the time was more interested in Egypt but agreed on a few naval raids that included Tone. The help was not enough and Tone fell into British hands and was sent to Dublin to be tried for treason. Tone’s perhaps half brother Judge Wolfe tried twice to issue a writ of habeus corpus to get Tone released but was unsuccessful as he was held by the Army. Tone did not regret his actions but asked to be shot as a soldier rather than hung as a spy. He had a case for this as he was captured wearing a French uniform. This was not granted but Tone died in custody before he could be hung. The Wolfe family maintained and flowered Tone’s grave as if he was one of them.

Prisoners from the rebellion were treated harshly as traitors to the Crown rather enemy combatants and Irish in turn did likewise. A British Union Act banned discrimination against Irish Catholics but hostility persisted now often on grounds of taxation  and evermore on sectarianism.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the efforts of Judge Wolfe. It is going above and beyond to put his neck out for his brother by another mother on the other side. The United Irishmen still resented his presiding in trials of others of them. In 1802 during another rebellion, he was pulled from his carriage and stabbed to death. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Arthur Guinness has the fairly unique situation of a brewery he started over 250 years ago being still around and being the leader in stout beers, that Arthur late in his career focused on. 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.

Todays stamp is not very well printed as is typical of Ireland’s early stamp offerings. As the 50s became the 60s the stamps of Ireland became less religious and more Euro centered. That does not mean that Ireland does not still honour it’s past. Indeed, Arthur Guinness received another stamp issue on the 250th anniversary of his most famous brewery in 2009.

Todays stamp is issue A38, a 3 penny stamp issued by the Irish Republic on July 20th, 1959. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations with this one being the low value. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Arthur Guinness was born in 1725 in Ireland to an Anglican family. His godfather, an Anglican Archbishop bequeathed him 100 pounds in 1742. He used the money to start the first of his breweries. He was involved in several before taking on the one celebrated on this stamp. He had a lot of confidence in the success of the Dublin Brewery as he signed a 9000 year lease. A long lease worked as rent control for the brewery as now 45 pounds a year sounds very economical. Arthur married and by his one wife had 22 children, 10 of which lived into adulthood. Several of his children followed him into the brewery  but others were Anglican clergy, politicians and soldiers in the British Indian Army.

Late in his career Guinness focused his brewing to a dark beer known as porter. It was stronger and aged for longer period. Over time the methods were economized with less aging and the type of beer began to be known as stout. This type of beer was better known to come from London but the world wars changed that. With war time shortages, London brewers were forced to water down there now limited offerings. These shortages and rules just did not apply in Ireland and so Guinness Breweries were able to really expand their market. The fact that the brewery has continued and prospered means the company takes an active part in marketing the memory of Arthur Guinness. His signature, taken from the 9000 year lease, is on every bottle and there is now a scholarship foundation funded by the company in his name.

Well my drink is empty and since it was stout I think it best to just open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

When a people are different from their outside rulers, the desire for independence grows. How much independence and the method to get it are issues to be dealt with. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take tour first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp was an early issue of the Irish Free State. The remarkable thing to a non Irish nearly a hundred years later is how Catholic the stamps are. The vast majority of Irish were Catholic, and Catholics felt repressed by a Britain that of course had its own doctrinally similar Church of England. Early stamps of a free state are a way to define who you are as a nation. To Ireland of the 20s, that meant a very conservative form of Catholicism. To foreign eyes, one may wonder if the Irish were trading some other freedoms for this religious purity.

The stamp today is issue A5, a 2 pence stamp issued by the Irish Free State on June 22nd, 1929. It marks the century of Catholic Emancipation in Ireland the great accomplishment of Daniel O’Connell, who is featured on the three stamps of the issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 55 cents used.

Daniel O’Connell was born in 1775 to a formerly wealthy Catholic family. Ireland was ruled by neighboring Great Britain and there was much turmoil between the Protestant British and the Catholic Irish. From a still wealthy uncle Daniel was able to receive a first rate education and was received into the legal bar. As a condition of his educational help, his uncle required that Daniel not participate in any violent uprisings against Britain. This meant that Daniel’s reform efforts were within the system of British law.

O’Connell ran for the British Parliament and won a seat. At the time the oath sworn by new members included fealty to the Church of  England. Up to then this had kept the Irish delegation Protestant and thereby unrepresentative. When the British realized that the failure to seat O’Connell would likely lead to rebellion in Ireland, the law was changed. The Catholic Emancipation Act allowed them to omit that part of the oath and be seated in Parliament. King George IV only signed the new law after Lord Wellington threatened to resign if he did not. King George quipped that Lord Wellington was king of England, O’Connell was king of Ireland and he himself was only dean of Oxford.

At home in Ireland, O’Connell was often at odds with both militants and with those more supportive of the Protestants. After criticizing a company in Ireland considered a center of Protestant power., O’Connell was challenged to a duel. He killed the man and was forever sorry as it had left the man’s family destitute. His offer to support the widow was refused but he was allowed to support the man’s daughter, which he did for the next 30 years.

O’Connell helped his son acquire a brewery that put out a beer bearing his name. At the time Arthur Guinness was both a political rival as well as a maker of a rival beer. As such, ones beer choice in Ireland often also spoke to one’s politics. O’Connell died in 1847.

The Irish Free State was pretty close to O’Connell’s ideal for Ireland’s future. Some thought it not independent enough and one of the political parties pushed for a full break from England and leaving the Commonwealth. Ireland proved just how free it was when this party was allowed to take power after winning an election. Ireland ended the free state in 1937, sat out World War II, and left the Commonwealth in 1949.

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another and toast Mr. O’Connell,  but with a glass of Guinness, as I am somewhat to his right  politically. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.