This special stamp issue released by the Tristan da Cunha Post Office commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965). One of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK and the rest of the English-speaking world.
Although Churchill was a statesman, military officer, writer (receiving a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953), amateur artist and devoted father, he is generally viewed as the victorious wartime leader who defended liberal democracy against the spread of fascism, and as a liberal reformer who spurred the creation of the modern welfare state. Historians and the British public often rank Churchill as one of the greatest prime ministers in British history, serving from 1940 to 1945 (during WW2) and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from a brief period from 1922 to 1924, he was a Member of Parliament from 1900 to 1964.
Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire into the aristocratic Spencer family. However, by the standards of his social class, he was not especially wealthy and spent much of his life on the brink of debt and bankruptcy. From a young age he aspired to become a great man, believing that without a great deal of money to his name he would first have to become a hero.
He achieved this by literally throwing himself at life. Prior to WWI he had participated in 4 wars with great bravery. As a war correspondent during the 2nd Boer War he had already achieved some fame when his capture and subsequent escape through 300 miles of enemy territory attracted a great deal of publicity. Throughout that war, he publicly chastised anti-Boer prejudices, calling for them to be treated with "generosity and tolerance", and afterwards urged the British to be magnanimous in victory. In 1898, as a 23-year-old, he even participated in the last major cavalry charge of the British Army, at the Battle of Omdurman. At the outbreak of WW1 Churchill was serving as First Lord of the Admiralty. However, some questionable decisions saw him demoted and after resigning from Government, he served as an officer on the Western Front before being appointed Minister of Munitions.
When he became Prime Minister in 1940, he believed that everything in his life up until that point was simply in preparation for that moment.
In the 1930’s, Churchill was one of the first to warn of the threat posed by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. At a time when appeasement was popular, he was ridiculed in the House of Commons and his speeches kept off the airwaves by the BBC. Ultimately, he was proven to be right and became the great war leader who oversaw the survival of Britain during the terrible period from the evacuation of Dunkirk until the end of 1941 when Russia and the USA joined the war. Ultimately Churchill triumphed and, in this regard, he was central to saving Western Civilisation.
Technical details:
Designer/illustrator Andrew Robinson
Photography 55p Background and portrait © IWM
£2.50 Portrait © IWM
FDC © IWM
Printer Cartor Security Printing
Process Lithography
Stamp Size 42 x 28mm
Perforation 13 ¼ x 13 ½ per 2cms
Sheet Layout 10
Release date 11 December, 2024
Production Co-ordination Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd