Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

150th Anniversary of the National Portrait Gallery - 18 July 2006

The National Portrait Gallery was established in 1856 after 10 years of effort by the 5th Earl Stanhope. and his supporters, including Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) and Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881). Stanhope first introduced the idea to the House of Commons in 1846; he tried again in 1852 and after he took his seat in the House of Lords he tried for a third time in 1856.

The Gallery was established with the criteria that it was to be about history, not about art, and about the status of the sitter, rather than the quality or character of a particular image considered as a work of art. As the guardian of more than 9,000 portraits of famous men and women and boasting a phenomenal archive, library and information technology gallery, the NPG rules the roost as a pictorial Who’s Who of British history.

As foreast this will be a set of 10 x 1st class; we think that it will be issued in a se-tenant block. The stamps depict:
Sir Winston Churchill, statesman, politician, author, artist; portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds; poet and playwright TS Elliot; suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst; novelist, Virginia Woolf; novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott; Mary Seacole the pioneer of battlefield nursing from the Crimean War; William Shakespeare; Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement and the father of modern evolution theory Charles Darwin.

National portrait gallery stamp of Sir Winston Churchill. National portrait gallery stamp of Sir Joshua Reynolds. National portrait gallery stamp of T.S.Eliot. National portrait gallery stamp of Emmeline Pankhurst. National portrait gallery stamp of Virginia Wolff.
National portrait gallery stamp of Sir Walter Scott. National portrait gallery stamp of Mary Seacole. National portrait gallery stamp of William Shakespeare. National portrait gallery stamp of Dame Cicely Saunders. National portrait gallery stamp of Charles Darwin.

Background information on the stamps and the subjects

Sir Winston Churchill. Artist: Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942); Date: 1927; Medium: oil on canvas; Measurements: 18 in. x 12 in. (457 mm x 305 mm); On display at the National Portrait Gallery. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), Politician, Prime Minister, Statesman. Stamp shows whole painting.

Sir Joshua Reynolds. Artist: self-portrait; Date: circa 1747-1749; Medium: oil on canvas; Measurements: 25 in. x 29 1/4 in. (635 mm x 743 mm); Not on display. Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and theorist, the first President of the Royal Academy in London, and the artist responsible, more than any other, for raising the status and prestige of artists in Britain. Born in Plympton near Plymouth. Stamp shows detail of painting.

TS Eliot. Artist: Patrick Heron (1920-1999), Painter and art critic; Date: 1949; Medium: oil on canvas; Measurements: 30 in. x 24 3/4 in. (762 mm x 629 mm); On display at the National Portrait Gallery. Thomas Stearns (‘T.S.’) Eliot (1888-1965), Poet. Intellectually demanding and stylistically innovative, Eliot is a writer of outstanding importance in modern English literature, and the author of The Waste Land (1922), Murder in the Cathedral (1935), Four Quartets (1944) and The Cocktail Party (1949). Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939), a book of light verse, is the basis of the musical stage show, Cats. Stamp shows most of the painting.

Emmeline Pankhurst. Artist: Georgina Agnes Brackenbury (1866-1949); Date: 1927; Medium: oil on canvas; Measurements: 31 in. x 24 1/4 in. (787 mm x 616 mm); On display at the National Portrait Gallery. Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), Militant suffragette. The leader of the militant movement for women’s suffrage, in 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union with her daughter Christabel. Georgina Agnes Brackenbury (1865-1949) studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1888-1900. She was a member of both the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the Women’s Social and Political Union. Stamp shows most of the painting.

Virginia Woolf. Artist: George Charles Beresford (1864-1938), Photographer; Date: 1902; Medium: platinum print; Measurements: 6 in. x 4 1/4 in. (152 mm x 108 mm); Not on display. Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (1882-1941), Novelist and critic; sister of Vanessa Bell. This photograph was taken in July 1902, when Virginia Woolf (Virginia Stephen as she was then) was just embarking on her career as a writer and when the photographer George Charles Beresford had recently set up a commercial studio at 20 Yeoman’s Row SW3, off the Brompton Road.

Sir Walter Scott. Artist: Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1781-1841), Sculptor; Date: 1841 (1820); Medium: marble bust; Measurements: 30 in. (762 mm) high; On display at the National Portrait Gallery. Sir Walter Scott, 1st Bt (1771-1832), Novelist and poet.

Mary Seacole. Artist: Albert Charles Challen (1847-1881); Date: 1869; Medium: oil on panel; Measurements: 9 1/2 in. x 6 1/4 in. (240 mm x 180 mm); Not on display. Mary Jane Seacole (née Grant) (1805-1881), Jamaican nurse, adventurer and writer. This, the only known painted portrait of Seacole, has been lent to the National Portrait Gallery by its owner. The newly discovered portrait, the only oil portrait identified as Mary Seacole, is by an obscure London artist called Albert Challen and dates from 1869. Stamp shows whole painting.

William Shakespeare. Artist: John Taylor (died 1651); Date: circa 1610; Medium: oil on canvas, feigned oval; Measurements: 21 3/4 in. x 17 1/4 in. (552 mm x 438 mm); Not on display. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Dramatist and poet. The most celebrated English playwright and poet, and one of the great writers of all time, Shakespeare was highly esteemed during his life. This is the only portrait of him which has a real claim to have been painted from life. Stamp shows whole painting.

Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders. Artist: Catherine Goodman (1961-); Date: 2005; Medium: oil on canvas; Measurements: 35 7/8 in. x 27 7/8 in. (912 mm x 707 mm); Not on display. Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders (1918-2005), Founder of the hospice movement. Stamp shows whole painting.

Charles Darwin Copy by John Collier. Artist: John Collier (1850-1934), Painter and writer on art; Date: 1883 (1881); Medium: oil on canvas; Measurements: 49 1/2 in. x 38 in. (1257 mm x 965 mm); On display at the National Portrait Gallery. Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), Naturalist and originator of the theory of evolution. Stamp shows detail of painting.


Technical details: The 27 x 37mm stamps are printed in 4-colour gravure by De La Rue Security Print. Design is by Peter Willberg.

The images except for Norvic FDCs are copyright Royal Mail 2006.


Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers

As usual we have produced an exclusive FDC for this issue. The cover is illustrated with a specially-commissioned watercolour of the Gallery, as shown below, and will be available with a choice of postmarks, either L10116 or L10125 - Price £8.95

Norvic Philatelics official limited edition FDC for National Portrait Gallery stamps
Norvic Philatelics official limited edition FDC for National Portrait Gallery stamps

Set on PO FDC (see below) Price £5.25
- we will have L10116, L10125, L10124, & L10117, please order from the online store or email us using the link lower down this page.

Royal Mail FDC for National Portrait Gallery stamps

Also available:
Mint block of 10 - £4.00 - individual stamps 45p each.
PO stamp cards - these are postcard-sized reproductions of the stamps: price £4.50 for a set of 10.
Presentation pack - price £4.75


Special postmarks available on the day of issue are shown here; (these may not be to scale).

Philatelic Bureau official postmark for the National Portrait Gallery stamps 18 July 2006. London WC2 official postmark for the National Portrait Gallery stamps 18 July 2006. London WC2 official non-pictorial postmark for the National Portrait Gallery stamps 18 July 2006. postmark showing entrance to the National Portrait Gallery, London. postmark showing female portrait.
Ref FD625
Official Philatelic Bureau FDI postmark
Ref FD626
Official London WC2 FDI postmark
Ref FD625N
Official London WC2 FDI non-pictorial postmark
Ref L10116
National Portrait Gallery Celebrates 150 Years, London WC2
Ref L10117
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London SW1
postmark showing Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London. postmark showing Walmer Castle. postmark showing National Portrait Gallery. postmark showing Sir Joshua Reynolds, born at Plympton, Devon. postmark showing Sir Rowland Hill.
Ref L10120
150th Anniversary NPG, Southwark, London SE1, showing Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Ref L10121
150th Anniversary NPG, Walmer, Deal, showing Walmer Castle
Ref L10122
150th Anniversary NPG, Trafalgar Square, London WC2, showing the Gallery
Ref W10129
150th Anniversary NPG, Plympton, Plymouth showing Sir Joshua Reynolds
Ref M10126
Rowland's Road, Birmingham
postmark with formal frame, text as below. postmark showing artists' palette. postmark with text as below. postmark with text as below. postmark showing artist's brush.
Ref L10123
Great Britons on Canvas, St Martin's Place, London
Ref L10124
National Portrait Galery, St Martin's Place, London WC2
Ref L10125
National Portrait Galery, 1856-2006, London WC2
Ref L10128
Portraits on Pub Signs, London WC2
Ref L10129
From Paint to Pixel, Bletchley Park Post Office Milton Keynes
Postmark showing Sir Winston Churchill. Ref L10154
International Churchill Society, Churchill, Oxford
postmark showing circular Union Flag. <<<<<
Ref L10136
The Great Britons, British St, London EC3

This page updated 22 July 2006

If you have any questions about these stamps or FDCs please email us.

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2006 stamp issues
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January
10
Animal Tales Joint issue with USA
Paddington Bear Smilers
February
7
British Journey - England
23 Bicentenary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
March
1
Welsh Assembly MS
7 Fun Fruit 'n' Veg Smilers
21 Ice Age Animals
28 New definitives and country stamps
April
18
80th Birthday of HM The Queen
May
25
Smilers Sheet for Washington 2006 Stamp Expo
June
6
World Cup (Soccer) & Smilers Sheet
20 Modern Architecture
July
4
Generic Smilers Sheet - pictorial definitives
18 150th ann National Portrait Gallery
August
1 & 15
New PIP definitives for new postage rate structure
31 Miniature sheet: Year of the Three Kings 1936
September
12
New PIP definitives
21 Victoria Cross
October
3
Sounds of Britain (Europa)
17 Smilers Booklet and Generic sheet
November
7
Christmas
9 Lest We Forget
14 Belgica 2006 Smilers Sheet
30 St Andrew's Day

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