http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk APRIL 2016 45JERSEY
Happy Anniversary!
NEW STAMPS FROM GUERNSEY, ISLE OF MAN & JERSEY
On 29 April, 2016, The Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge will celebrate their fifth wedding
anniversary. In their first five years of marriage,
they have carried out several overseas tours
on behalf of the Queen, undertaken public
engagements in the UK and had two children,
Prince George (born 2013) and Princess
Charlotte (born 2015).
Jersey Post has issued five stamps which capture
milestones from each year of the Royal Couple’s
married life. The set begins with a 48p stamp
showing the couple being driven down The Mall
in an open carriage following their wedding.
Next, we move forward a year to the 2012
royal tour of Tuvalu, undertaken as part of the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour. As depicted on
the 60p stamp, the royal couple were carriedfrom their aircraft on a portable throne and
taken to a colourful welcome ceremony where
they were introduced to Tuvalu’s Governor
General, Sir Iakoba Italeli and the country’s
Prime Minister at the time, Willy Telavi.
The third stamp (74p) shows the birth
of Prince George, born on 22 July, 2013.
The stamp shows the royal couple with baby
George in the garden of Kate’s family home
in Bucklebury, Berkshire. A year after the
prince’s birth, William and Kate released photos
showing Prince George enjoying a butterflies
exhibition at the National History Museum.
One of these photos is shown on the £1 stamp.
The final stamp (£1.29) marks the birth
of Princess Charlotte on 2 May, 2015. Before
returning home to Kensington Palace, the Dukephotographs relating
to the battle, with
a field of poppies along the
bottom of each design. Each of the designs is
said to depict ‘an historic change in the warfare
of the time: the introduction of the tank, heavy
artillery, chemical warfare and the price paid by
a generation and ‘the missing of the Somme’.
The Battle of the Somme, also known as the
Somme Offensive, was fought by the armies
of the British and French empires against the
German empire. The Battle was one of the
largest of the First World War and took place
on both sides of the River Somme in France
between 1 July and 18 November, 1916.
The first day of battle, 1 July, 1916, saw over
60,000 British casualties sustained in many
areas for little or no gain. One such casualty was
young Manx soldier, Ashley Watterson McGain
of Port Erin on the Isle of Man, whose story is
recalled in the stamp presentation pack. As the
battle progressed, the British army developed
and refined its tactics, introducing tanks forthe first time in the history of warfare, and
pioneering cooperation between aircraft and
ground forces.
Following the initial setbacks, British
objectives shifted to the total destruction of
the German army rather than just a simple
breakthrough. The Battle of the Somme
eventually lasted four and a half months and
in that time the Germans were driven back six
miles. Many historians consider the battle as
being a significant milestone on the road to
victory for the allied forces in 1918.
Charles Wilson, Honorary Colonel of Isle of
Man Army Cadet Force said: ‘The First World
War (1914-18) was remarkable for its impact of
loss to Europe both of soldiers and civilians who
were caught in the conflict. Many Manx men
were lost along with their hopes and dreams,
and this stamp issue records their contribution
and sacrifice.’eir name liveth
for evermore
Stamp details
Stamp details
Issue date: 29 April 2016
Printer: Lowe-Martin, Canada
Stamp die size: 30mm deep x 40mm wide;
miniature sheet: 75mm deep x 110mm wide
Print process: Four-colour offset,
lithographyBattle of the Somme
Issue date: 17 February, 2016
Design: EJC Design
Printer: BDT, offset lithography
Perforations: 14
Paper: 110gms PVA Gummed
1st - soldiers using canon
77p - aerial battle
93p - two soldiers
£1.24 - tanks on battlefi eld
£1.65 - wounded soldiers
£1.68 - war memorial
and photos of soldiersISLE OF MAN
and Duchess posed on the hospital steps, allowing
photographers to capture the first pictures of the
new princess, one of which features on the stamp.
The miniature sheet features a family
photograph, taken by Mario Testino OBE, one of
four official photographs released by Kensington
Palace following Princess Charlotte’s christening.
In the background surround of the miniature
sheet is an image of Westminster Abbey where
the Duke and Duchess were married and a
photograph of the Duchess’ wedding bouquet.A set of six Isle of Man stamps were issued
recently to mark the centenary of the Battle
of the Somme, which has been described as ‘a
battle of attrition on the Western Front that
proved such a significant lesson to all nations’.
The stamps, which support the Royal
British Legion, feature illustrations anda field of poppies along thep44 Islands.indd 45 01/03/2016 11:24