Battles - Sunday Stamps II

I have no disaster stamps although the loser of a battle may have regarded it as a disaster.

This week I have two first day covers to show that commemorate battles of a different sort.

USA - First Bull Run, July 21 1861

The American Civil War broke out on April 12 when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter. The Union soldiers surrendered the next day.

Bull Run, the first significant engagement of the war, dispelled any thoughts of a prompt resolution of the conflict. The battle took place in Virginia near a stream called Bull Run.

The Fort Sumter and Bull Run stamps were the first in a series commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War.

In Britain the news headlines this week has featured the issue of the latest Bond film. No mention has been made of the fact that one of the most famous battles in British History took place on October 21, 1805

Great Britain - FDC, Battle of Trafalgar

The battle on 21 October 1805 was the naval engagement in which the British fleet defeated the combined forces of France and Spain during the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 - 1815.

The individual stamps, issued 18 October 2005, are worth looking at.

 Left to right:

• Franco/Spanish Fleet putting to sea from Cadiz
• 'Entrepreante' with dismasted British 'Belle Isle'
• Cutter and HMS 'Pickle' (schooner)

• Nelson wounded on the deck of HMS 'Victory'
• British Cutter 'Entrepreante' attempting to rescue crew of burning French 'Achille.'

• British Fleet attacking in Two Columns

Six hundred years ago today in 1415 it was the British won the Battle of Agincourt. No stamps have been issued to commemorate this event unless you count this one which I have shown before.

Eve of Agincourt (Henry V)

'And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here.

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon St Crispin's day.'

For stamps commemorating other battles or disasters please follow the links at Sunday-Stamps-II-45.

Famous People - Sunday Stamps II

It wasn't until 1964 that someone other than the monarch appeared on stamps of Great Britain. That first person was commemorated on a set issued on his birthday - 23rd April.

Great Britain - Shakespeare Festival, Eve of Agincourt
(Henry V)

But the first person to appear who had been alive in my lifetime was - 

Sir Winston Churchill (8 July 1965)

Also in 1965 the pioneer of antiseptic surgery was honoured on the centenary of his discovery.

Great Britain - Joseph Lister.

It was 1967 before a living person appeared on a GB stamp and then you have to look hard to see him.

Sir Francis Chichester's Round the World Voyage.

Two years later it was the centenary year of one of the first foreign men that I was aware of as a boy, other than Hitler of course.

Gandhi Centenary Year.

Rather than show a Hitler stamp I'll show a German stamp.

West Germany

Our host has chosen a German stamp as well, to see this and follow the other participants please cross over to Violet at Sunday-stamps-ii-4.

Haunted Herstmonceux

The facade of Herstmonceux Castle

(By Brian Raine - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 generic license)

Herstmonceux Castle, in East Sussex, has had a chequered existence and like many of England’s it has it ghosts.

Sir Roger Fiennes, Treasurer of the Household of Henry VI, started building the castle in 1441. It was one of the first major brick buildings and today is the oldest brick building of any note still standing in England.

By 1700 the last Lord Dacre, Earl of Sussex was forced to sell the castle and by the end of the century most of it had been demolished. By the early 1900s it had become a ruin before being reconstructed. In 1946 the estate was sold to the Admiralty and it became the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. In 1993 Herstmonceux Castle was acquired by The Queen’s University of Canada; it is now an International Study Centre.

The most famous Herstmonceux ghost is the nine-foot tall Phantom Drummer who frequents the ramparts at night. Some accounts say he was killed at the Battle of Agincourt and ever since his death tattoo can be heard accompanied by showers of blue light from his drum sticks.

Other versions say the drummer is the ghost of an old Lord Dacre who lived secretly in the castle and beat his drum to ward off lovers of his young wife. He applied phosphorous to his face, clothes and drum and appeared round the castle in a drummer’s uniform. His wife became so annoyed she locked him in and left him to die. Unfortunately for her, the sound of his drum could still be heard, frightening her lovers away.

The spectral White Lady seen swimming across the moat at night and standing nearby wringing her hands in torment is believed to be the wraith of a girl from the village. One of Sir Roger's sons had forced his attentions upon the girl; she escaped his clutches by leaping into the moat. Her attacker caught her and dragged her back into the castle. He then assaulted and murdered her.

Visitors to Herstmonceux Castle are now invited take part in a guided tour and become familiar with the stories of the resident ghosts.

Aerial View of Herstmonceux Castle

 (By Welshie - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license)