Great Britain 1987 150th Anniversary of Queen Victoria's Accession

Great Britain 1987

150th Anniversary of Queen Victoria's Accession 

 

Crystal Palace, "Monarch of the Glen" (Landseer) and Grace Darling.  
The demure young queen looks out at us with a trace of uncertainty in this painting of 1837, the year of her accession.   

Left vignette: The Monarch of the Glen is a popular engraving by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802- 1873). Landseer was famed for his animal portraits, of highbred dogs in particular, and his work helped to usher in the great age of the Victorian print. The Monarch in this case is a noble 10-point stag, lord of the Scottish highlands Victoria loved so well.

Centre vignette: The Crystal Palace of 1851 housed the first great international exhibition and was the forerunner of the world's fair. Made entirely of slender iron rods and glass, the hall covered an area of 900,000 square feet (92000 square meters), or about 23 acres. Some 14,000 exhibitors turned up, including developers of ceramic false teeth and McCormick's steam-powered reaper.

Right vignette:The young woman rowing the boat was reluctant celebrity of an unusual kind. Her name was Grace Darling, the daughter of a Northumbrian lighthouse keeper. On September 7, 1838, the SS Forfarshire wrecked in the Farne Islands off the English coast. With her father, Grace braved the raging seas to row survivors to safety. Her exploit caught the attention of the press and she lost the solitary way of life she treasured. Her early death, to tuberculosis, at the age of 26 added the element of pathos to her fame.

"Great Eastern", Beeton's Book of Household Management and Prince Albert.  
In this portrait, we see a regal, confident, even glamorous queen. Quite a transformation from the plain and girlish image on the previous stamp. 

Top left  vignette:Wife of ladies' magazine mogul, Samuel Beeton, Mrs. Isabelle Beeton wrote and compiled an indispensable guide for Victorian homemakers, Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861). Though the title may seem quaint today, the object of the book was to provide women with useful skills that would help to make them productive managers of the home. By boosting women's sense of self-worth and value, she contributed to the cause of political emancipation that would follow.

Top right vignette: The man peering over the shoulder of the confident young queen is the Prince Consort, Albert of Saxe-Coburg, father of the queen's nine children, and the idol of her life. Despised as a foreigner by the average Englishman, Albert was a vigorous man of many talents who became the queen's chief confidante and "king without a crown" after their marriage in 1840. Victoria never recovered from his death of typhoid fever in 1861. She retreated from public life and dressed in mourning for many years. 

Centre vignette: The advent of the age of steam is celebrated in this engraving of the Great Eastern. The vessel was one of three famous steamships built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 - 1859). also renouned for the many beautiful arched railway bridges throughout Britain. The Great Eastern boasted two side-wheels as well as screw propulsion. One of the first steamers to provide transatlantic service, she gained her fame by laying the first successful transatlantic cable. 

Albert Memorial, Ballot Box and Disraeli.  
The next transformation for Victoria is that of the sombre, matronly widow we see in this portrait. The buffeting of political reform contributed to her anxiety and isolation as well.  

Left vignette: The monument is the Albert Memorial, ordered by the queen in 1863 following the prince consort's death but not completed until 1872. Standing 175 feet (53 meters) tall, the memorial is a grand but melancholy expression of the Victorian gothic style made popular by its architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott. 125 years of weather left the memorial in a sad state. After several years, and millions of pounds, restoration was completed and the shimmering memorial was finally unveiled in 1999.

Right vignette: The "Australian" or secret ballot was introduced into English parliamentary elections by the Ballot Act of 1872. Not Disraeli, but his arch rival William Gladstone was responsible for this achievement, which might be seen as the culmination of a number of reform bills put through parliament during Victoria's reign.

Centre vignette: It is not by chance that the vignette of novelist and radical conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) replaces that of Prince Albert in the previous stamp. Twice Prime Minister, Disraeli was a staunch supporter of the monarchy while still appearing to be a champion of reform. It was at his instigation that the queen was proclaimed Empress of India in 1876. Victoria, in turn, named Disraeli the First Earl of Beaconsfield. Gossip mongers linked the queen and her minister romantically but there was never any proof of such a liaison. 

Diamond Jubilee Emblem, Morse Key and Newspaper Placard for Relief of Mafeking. 
The Dowager empress sits for a photograph in the Diamond Jubilee year of 1897, whose emblem is at the far right of the stamp. Serenity has settled over her in this mezzotint. And little wonder. She has given her name to an age and her descendants, through marriage, are present in every royal house of Europe. 

Left vignette: The Boer War (1899-1902) fought between the British and the Afrikaner republics of South Africa was, in many ways, the first modern war. It was the first to see the wide-scale use of the machine gun and barbwire, the introduction of camouflage military uniforms, military commandos, and that peculiarly modern horror, the concentration camp. Oddly, the Boers lost their independence only to emerge a dominant force in the new crown colony of South Africa, a fact that was reflected in the dual language (English-Afrikaans) postage stamps of the colony. Of further philatelic interest, the Boer siege of the British base at Mafeking produced covers that are highly prized by collectors.

Top vignette: Telegraphy had been introduced in 1844 by Samuel Morse, but it wasn't until 1898, at the end of Victoria's reign, that the first wireless transmission was made across the English Channel. Building on the work of scientists like Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell, Gugliemo Marconi set the stage for the rapid development of radio technology. By 1901, Marconi had taken advantage of vacuum tube technology to broadcast Morse code across the Atlantic Ocean.