Royal Mail to remember World War I with five-year series

Great Britain’s Royal Mail has announced a five-year stamp series commemorating World War I.

The series will include 30 stamps, with a set of six to be issued each year from 2014 through 2018.

Royal Mail reports that the stories of the war will be told through imagery, including memorials, artifacts, portraits of some of the participants, art showing some of the famous and moving scenes of the conflict, and newly commissioned art.

Subjects to be covered include the contribution of the armed services; the role of the Commonwealth countries, noncombatants and women; and how artists, including writers and painters, interpreted the events.

The first set of six stamps will be issued July 28. Two stamps from this set are shown nearby.

The nondenominated first-class stamp shows Poppy by botanical artist Fiona Strickland.

The £1.47 stamp pictures a Princess Mary gift box, which was sent to all servicemen for Christmas 1914 and delivered by the postal service.

Two other nondenominated first-class stamps in this set feature lines from the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon, and a portrait of Pvt. William Tickle, who enlisted Sept. 7, 1914, at age 15, and was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Two more £1.47 stamps show A Star Shell, a painting of a flare illuminating no man’s land by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson; and The Response, a bronze memorial by Welsh artist William Goscombe John. The memorial is located in a public park in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.

Royal Mail is an official First World War Centenary Partner with the Imperial War Museum.

Stephen Agar of Royal Mail said: “The Great War changed the course of world history in ways which are still being felt today. This is why we took the decision to produce 30 stamps over a five year period.

“To commemorate all those who were involved is a major undertaking so we have consulted widely, including taking advice from the Imperial War Museums, senior figures within the Armed Services, and other organisations, including the Royal British Legion.”

For more information about Great Britain’s WWI series, visit the website www.royalmail.com/greatwar.

Royal Mail also has published a searchable database of the memorials in its care, www.royalmailmemorials.com.