Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

38 APRIL 2016

http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

This month Royal Mail honours six Britons who have gone down in history for their role in offering

humanitarian assistance to those in need, saving thousands of lives, both in the UK and overseas

GB Stamps

the UK newspaper Jewish News in the

months following his death last year, as

reported in Stamp & Coin Mart. Czech

Post issued stamps to honour Winton

just weeks after this passing.

The next stamp features Sue Ryder

(1924-2000), a name now known

across the UK for its associations

with the Sue Ryder charity. Ryder was

born Margaret Susan Ryder in Leeds

in 1924. During the Second World

War, she served as a volunteer with

the Special Operations Executive,

then after the war became involved in

charity work.

Ryder established the Sue Ryder

Foundation in 1953, initially providing

accommodation for concentration

camp survivors, and in later years, for

the elderly and disabled. Some of the

Foundation’s fundraising was done

via charity shops; an initiative which

continues today through the 500 Sue

Ryder charity shops around the UK.

Stamp three features an Ayrshire

teacher who was awarded the Nobel

Peace Prize for his work in promoting

nutrition through his role as director

general of the United Nations Food &

Agriculture Organisation. John Boyd

Orr (1880-1971) began his working life

as a teacher and in this role, was shocked

at the poor nutrition of the Glasgow

children whom he taught.

When Boyd Orr was offered

a Carnegie research scholarship,

he was able to study the causes of

British Humanitarians

B

ritish Humanitarians features

three men and three women

who between them have

saved the lives of hundreds

of refugee children, founded

homes for people in need, improved

global nutrition and strived to improve

working and social conditions for men,

women and children.

These six humanitarians were all

born in the UK and between them their

achievements cover good works in the

fields of war work, housing, nutrition,

social care, women’s rights and child

welfare. Each stamp features one of the

humanitarians in a black and white

photo portrait, showing the subject

facing towards the camera (with the

exception of Josephine Butler, who is

portrayed in profile).

The first stamp features a photo

of Nicholas Winton MBE (1909-

2015) whose death last year drew

attention to his work in rescuing 669

Kindertransport children on the eve of

the Second World War. Winton was born

in Hampstead in 1909 to German Jewish

parents who had emigrated to the UK.

He was a stockbroker by trade and in

1938, was asked by a friend to take part

in Jewish welfare work. Carrying out his

top secret work from the dining room

table in his home, Winton set up and

administered a system by which Jewish

children at risk from the Nazis could be

brought secretly to Britain and cared for

in special homes. Many of the children

saved went on to achieve high-profile

roles in public life, including Jerusalem’s

Chief Rabbi Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss and

film maker Karel Reisz.

Winton’s role in saving the children

wasn’t made public until 1988, when he

was dubbed by the media as ‘Britain’s

Schindler’. He was knighted in 2003

and also received the Order of the

White Lion, the Czech Republic’s

highest honour.

Winton’s appearance in this set was

prompted by a petition organised by

British humanitarians

Issue date: 15 March, 2015

Design: Hat-Trick Design

Size: 35mm x 35mm

Printer: International Security

Printers, lithography

Perforations: 14.5 x 14.5

Phosphor: Bars as appropriate

Gum: PVA

Stamp details

The stamps use

simply black and

white photographs of

the subjects, and are

similar in design to the

‘Remarkable Lives’ set of

March 2014 and ‘Britons

of Distinction’ stamps of

February 2012

p38 GB stamps.indd 38 01/03/2016 11:23