Stamp_amp_amp_Coin_Mart_-_February_2016__

http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk FEBRUARY 2016 39

I

t was the day after the death of

King George V on 20 January,

1936 that the Post Office

received its first enquiry about

stamps for the reign of King

Edward VIII – it came from

the Australian Post Office, wishing to

put into motion its new designs.

From the British Post Office

perspective, some decisions were

quickly reached. A priority should

be to provide new stamps in values

up to one shilling, and these would

be regarded as an ‘Accession’ issue.

Subsequently work would begin on

designing a Coronation set (on which

the King was keen), to be followed

by a ‘permanent’ issue. It was also

agreed the stamps would be printed

by photogravure: for this it was felt

best that a photographic portrait

of the King be used. Finally, it was

decided not to invite several artists to

submit ideas as hitherto this had only

created its own problems. Instead

the stamp printers, Harrison and

Sons, were invited to produce ideas,

as was the Chief of the Engineering

Department GPO Drawing Office,

Mr AS Willmot.

Designs were also submitted by the

public. Particularly significant was the

approach made by Hubert J Brown,

a seventeen-year-old schoolboy from

Torquay, who wrote to the Postmaster

General on 13 February asking if

he could submit a design. Receiving

agreement he sent a pencil drawing,

ten times stamp size, and a stamp-

size photographic reproduction,

on 1 April, following it up with an

improved submission on 4 April.

His design used a simple approach,

with a central portrait of the King,

the denomination in figures in the

top left, the Crown in the top right,

the value in words along the bottom,

and ‘POSTAGE’ and ‘REVENUE’ at

Paul Brittain looks at the inspiration behind the King Edward VIII definitives of

1936 and reveals the identity of a young designer who received little credit or

remuneration when the stamps were issued

GB stamps

Designed by a

schoolboy

K

IN

G

E

D

WA

RD (^) V
II
I
(^)
1
9
3
6
EVIII
the left and right respectively: it was
admired within the Post Office and
forwarded to Harrisons.
The printers slightly modified
Brown’s design, adding a photograph
of the King by Hugh Cecil that had
been selected for use on the new
stamps, producing a bromide of
the result which was shown, along
with others, to the King. The King
favoured the Brown-inspired approach.
Little acknowledgement
However, the Post Office was clearly
reluctant to acknowledge the inspiration
behind the issued stamps. Indeed a note
was produced: ‘We are quite entitled to
say that we have not adopted Mr Brown’s
design, and there is no difficulty in
demonstrating that the main feature
which had been adopted, namely the
crown balancing the figure of value,
is by no means new. At the same time
Mr Brown deserves much credit for
his suggestion and I feel it would
be only right he should have some
expression of appreciation before he
sees the new stamps in circulation.’ In
fact the Post Office had not appreciated
that Mr Brown was a schoolboy:
enquiries had determined that ‘He
is a retired man, of middle age in
comfortable circumstances with a nice
car, but no telephone. It seems hardly
appropriate in the circumstances to
offer monetary recognition.’
A letter was sent to the supposed
designer: ‘Stamps of the new reign will
appear shortly and you will see that the
design which has been selected bears
some features in common with that
which you suggested.’ The reply dated
1 September read: ‘It is a matter of
gratification to me as well as to my son...
to find that so many of his suggestions
have been embodied in the new stamp
which is issued today... My son has made
a study of the various processes, and had
in mind the production of a stamp by the
photogravure process.’
The Post Office gave no recognition
to Hubert Brown; the philatelic press
disclosed the truth in January 1937,
resulting in national press coverage.
Images courtesy of the British Postal
Museum & Archive, copyright Royal Mail.
sasas
The sketch submitted
by Hubert J Brown and,
below, a block of essays
of the design. The stamps
issued in 1936 were
very similar but did not
feature the ‘POSTAGE’ or
‘REVENUE’ side panels,
instead having the word
‘POSTAGE’ along the
bottom. Brown received
no credit at the time
p39 GB Column.indd 39 21/12/2015 09:43