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List of United Kingdom commemorative stamps facts for kids

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A commemorative stamp is a special postage stamp that celebrates an important event, person, or anniversary. These stamps are issued by Royal Mail, the postal service of the United Kingdom. Unlike regular stamps, commemorative stamps are usually printed in limited numbers and for a specific time.

History of UK Commemorative Stamps

The story of stamps in the United Kingdom began on May 6, 1840. That's when the world's very first sticky postage stamps were introduced: the famous Penny Black and the Two Pence Blue. Before 1924, almost all British stamps only showed a picture of the king or queen at the time. The only exception was a set of "High Value" stamps in 1913, which were larger and had more designs.

The first true commemorative stamp in the UK was released in 1924 for the British Empire Exhibition. For about 30 years after that, special stamps came out only once in a while. But from the mid-1960s onwards, Royal Mail started issuing many more. Now, usually six to nine new sets of commemorative stamps are released every year.

In the mid-1960s, the General Post Office (which ran the postal service back then) also started offering official First Day Covers. These are envelopes with new stamps cancelled on their very first day of issue. They also introduced "Presentation Packs," which are special folders containing the new stamps. Later, in the mid-1970s, PHQ Cards were introduced. These are postcard-sized pictures that look just like the commemorative stamps.

You might also notice that stamps made before April 1967 often had a special pattern called a "watermark" in the paper. This was a security feature. After October 1967, most stamps were printed on paper without watermarks.

Early British Commemorative Stamps (1924–1969)

This table shows some of the earliest commemorative stamps issued in the UK. It lists when they came out, what they celebrated, how many stamps were in each set, and who designed them.

Issue dates of the early British Commemorative stamps, 1924–1969
Issue date Commemorative Issue No. in set Designer(s)
1924
23 April 1924 British Empire Exhibition (dated 1924) Two (1d, 1+1⁄2d) Harold Nelson
1925
9 May 1925 British Empire Exhibition (dated 1925) Two (1d, 1+1⁄2d) Harold Nelson
1929
10 May 1929 9th UPU Congress, London Five (1⁄2d, 1d, 1+1⁄2d, 2+1⁄2d, £1) F W Farleigh, Ernest Linzell, Harold Nelson
1935
7 May 1935 Silver Jubilee of George V Four (1⁄2d, 1d, 1+1⁄2d, 2+1⁄2d) Barnett Freedman
1937
13 May 1937 Coronation of George VI One (1+1⁄2d)
1940
6 May 1940 Centenary of First Adhesive Postage Stamp Six (1⁄2d, 1d, 1+1⁄2d, 2d, 2+1⁄2d, 3d)
1946
11 June 1946 Victory Two (2+1⁄2d, 3d)
1948
26 April 1948 Royal Silver Wedding Two (2+1⁄2d, £1)
29 July 1948 Olympic Games Four (2+1⁄2d, 3d, 6d, 1s)
1949
10 October 1949 75th Anniversary of Universal Postal Union Four (2+1⁄2d, 3d, 6d, 1s)
1951
3 May 1951 Festival of Britain Two (2+1⁄2d, 4d)
3 May 1951 High Value Definitives George VI (This set was not a commemorative issue, but a new type of regular stamp with pictures) Four (2s 6d, 5s, 10s, £1)
1953
3 June 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II Four (2+1⁄2d, 4d, 1s 3d, 1s 6d)
1955
September 1955 Castles (Not a commemorative issue, but the second set of 'Pictorial' High Value Definitives) Four (10s and £1 first issued 1 September, 2s 6d and 5s first issued 23 September)
1957
1 August 1957 World Scout Jubilee Jamboree Three (2+1⁄2d, 4d, 1s 3d)
12 September 1957 46th Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference One (4d)
1958
18 July 1958 6th British Empire & Commonwealth Games Three (3d, 6d, 1s 3d)
1960
7 July 1960 Tercentenary of Establishment of General Letter Office Two (3d, 1s 3d) Faith Jaques
19 September 1960 1st Anniversary of European Postal & Telecommunications Conference Two (6d, 1s 6d)
1961
28 August 1961 Centenary of Post Office Savings Bank Three (2+1⁄2d, 3d, 1s 6d)
18 September 1961 European Postal & Telecommunications (CEPT) Conference, Torquay Three (2d, 4d, 10d)
25 September 1961 7th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference Two (6d, 1s 3d) Faith Jaques
1962
14 November 1962 National Productivity Year (Some stamps were also issued with a special "Phosphor" coating) Three (2+1⁄2d, 3d, 1s 3d) David Gentleman
1963
21 March 1963 Freedom From Hunger (This was when the GPO started using official "First Day of Issue" postmarks) Two (2+1⁄2d, 1s 3d)
7 May 1963 Paris Postal Conference Centenary One (6d)
16 May 1963 National Nature Week Two (3d, 4+1⁄2d)
31 May 1963 9th International Lifeboat Conference, Edinburgh Three (2+1⁄2d, 4d, 1s 6d) David Gentleman
15 August 1963 Red Cross Centenary Congress Three (3d, 1s 3d, 1s 6d)
3 December 1963 Opening of COMPAC (Trans-Pacific Telephone Cable) One (1s 6d)
1964
23 April 1964 Shakespeare Festival (This was when the GPO started offering "Presentation Packs") Five (3d, 6d, 1s 3d, 1s 6d, 2s 6d) David Gentleman
1 July 1964 20th International Geographical Congress, London Four (2+1⁄2d, 4d, 8d, 1s 6d)
5 August 1964 10th International Botanical Congress, Edinburgh Four (3d, 6d, 9d, 1s3d)
4 September 1964 Opening of Forth Road Bridge Two (3d, 6d) Andrew Restall
1965
8 July 1965 Winston Churchill Commemoration Two (4d, 1s 3d) David Gentleman
19 July 1965 700th Anniversary of Simon de Montfort's Parliament Two (6d, 2s 6d) Stewart Black D.A
9 August 1965 Salvation Army Centenary Two (3d, 1s6d)
1 September 1965 Centenary of Joseph Lister's discovery of Antiseptic Surgery Two (4d, 1s)
1 September 1965 Commonwealth Arts Festival Two (6s, 1s 6d) David Gentleman
13 September 1965 25th Anniversary of Battle of Britain Eight (6 different stamps at 4d, 9d, 1s 3d) David Gentleman and Rosalind Dease
8 October 1965 Post Office Tower Two (3d, 1s 3d) Clive Abbott
25 October 1965 20th Anniversary of UNO and International Co-operation Year Two (3d, 1s 6d)
15 November 1965 ITU Centenary Two (9d, 1s 6d)
1966
25 January 1966 Burns Commemoration Two (4d, 1s 3d) Gordon F. Huntley
28 February 1966 900th Anniversary of Westminster Abbey Two (3d, 2s 6d) Sheila Robinson
2 May 1966 Landscapes Four (4d, 6d, 1s 3d, 1s 6d) Leonard Rosoman
1 June 1966 World Cup Football Championship Three (4d, 6d, 1s 3d)
8 August 1966 British Birds Four (Four different 4d) J Norris Wood
18 August 1966 England's World Cup Football Victory (4d value from the June set, with 'England Winners' added to design) One (4d) David Gentleman
19 September 1966 British Technology Four (4d, 6d, 1s 3d, 1s 6d) D Gillespie
14 October 1966 900th Anniversary of Battle of Hastings Eight (Six different 4d, 6d, 1s 3d) David Gentleman
1 December 1966 Christmas Two (3d, 1s 6d) Tasveer Shemza and James Berry. Shemza and Berry were six-year-old children whose stamp designs won a Blue Peter competition.
1967
20 February 1967 European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Two (Both with Watermark)
24 April 1967 British Wild Flowers Six (All with Watermark)
  • Mary Grierson (Two)
  • W. Keble Martin (Four)
10 July 1967 British Paintings Three (No watermark)
24 July 1967 Sir Francis Chichester's World Voyage One (No watermark)
19 September 1967 British Discovery and Invention Four (All with Watermark)
18 October 1967 Christmas (4d value) One (No watermark)
27 November 1967 Christmas (3d & 1s 6d values) Two (No watermark)
1968
29 April 1968 British Bridges Four
29 May 1968 British Anniversaries Four David Gentleman
12 August 1968 British Paintings Four
25 November 1968 Christmas Three
1969
15 January 1969 British Ships Six (5d, 3 × 9d se-tenant, 2 × 1s se-tenant) David Gentleman
3 March 1969 First flight of Concorde Three (4d, 9d, 1s 6d) Michael Goaman & David Gentleman
2 April 1969 Anniversaries Five
28 May 1969 British Architecture, Cathedrals Six
1 July 1969 Investiture of HRH The Prince of Wales Five
13 August 1969 Gandhi Centenary Year One
1 October 1969 Post Office Technology Commemoration Four David Gentleman
26 November 1969 Christmas Three

Other Decades of Stamps

Since 1965, the UK has released between six and ten sets of commemorative stamps almost every year. You can find lists for stamps from later years in these articles:

See also

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