Isle of Man Stamps & Coins World War One Remembrance Album

A POSTAL REMEMBRANCE OF WORLD WAR 1 – PART ONE E A pictorial album containing commemorative stamp sheets and a miniature sheet

‘A CUP OF SOMETHING HOT FOR OFFICERS AND MEN ON THEIR WAY OUT FROM THE TRENCHES’

Photo: The National Library of Scotland

This photograph, by an unknown photographer, shows a group of soldiers sitting on a bank having a hot drink after coming out of the trenches. They are muddy and H[KDXVWHG 7KH YLVLEOH ODFN RI UHDFWLRQ WR WKH SKRWRJUDSKHU SHUKDSV UHÀHFWV KRZ irrelevant photographs must have seemed when the white crosses in the background ZHUH D PXWH UHPLQGHU RI GHDWK (YHQ LQ WKH EHVW FRQGLWLRQV LW ZDV GLI¿FXOW WR JHW IRRG supplies to the men manning the trenches. The food they did get was rarely even warm, so a hot drink must have been welcome.

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Communications Trenches were the only place to string phone wires for vital communications. They were extremely vulnerable to footfall DQG VKHOOÂżUH VR IUHTXHQW UHSDLUV ZHUH UHTXLUHG

EXTRACT FROM ‘THIS TERRIBLE ORDEAL’

How the Manx go to War, There’s ‘prentice boys from Douglas, And fisher lads from Peel.

There’s boys from out the Corrany, And up past Laxey Wheel.

Oh the boys of Ellan Vannin, That were reared beside the sea, Have come out to fight the Kaiser And his men from Germany!

Mona Douglas ‘Isle of Man Weekly Times’ 26 September 1914

Sheppard, s s i M r ea "D your great r o f s k n a Many th ing me the d en s n i s kindnes should be I , es h t o l c d overcoat an ld send me u o c u o y f very glad i uch as any s es l b a t ea a parcel of milk. I d n a r a g u , s , tin food, tea from Bath e er h e n o y I am the onl nce again. o u o y g n i ltshire." i thank W ..

R , y l u r's Tr remain You

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Sappers Sappers dug tunnels underneath enemy lines so that explosives could be laid in order to advance the army’s position. Often GDQJHURXV ZRUN WKH\ ZHUH SULRULW\ WDUJHWV IRU HQHP\ ¿UH

In a dispute with Regiment du Picardy the Royal Scots were citing their ancestry as the oldest of British Army regiments when the French claimed that their history was greater having been on duty (as Romans) at the CruciďŹ xion.

The Scots replied, ‘Had we been there we would have seen who rolled away the stone!’ So, the Royal Scots won the title, ‘Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard’. They remain so to this day. They in their turn, with Manxmen amongst them, stepped up to the ďŹ re trenches of WWI at Mons, Ypres, Loos, Somme and Flanders as their Battle Honours show.

Vauban knew his principles of defence well:

Depth Concealment Mutual Support All Round Defence He had perfected the ‘star fort’ concept where each wing protected its neighbour. The Germans and the Allies simply cut the star in half and extended the shape into a line which enabled the mutual support of trenches and considerable depth, reaching back many kilometres.

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Trenches The trench network of World War I stretched approximately 25,000 miles (40,200 km) from the English Channel to Switzerland. It became known as the Western Front.

Photo: Manx National Heritage

Knitting socks at the Derby Castle theatre, Douglas

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Horses Most animals that travelled with the army had a job to do.

Horses were kept as draft or pack animals to transport heavy supplies to the fronts.

Photo: The National Library of Scotland

In all of this the Manxmen played their part. The Island’s ‘Rolls of Honour’ are a stark witness to the Manx contribution and sacriďŹ ce. Manxmen fought and died alongside their comrades in regiments across Great Britain, from Scotland, through Wales, to London and the West. There is hardly a Regiment or Corps without a Manxman.

Regularly Manx names also appear in the rolls of colonial forces; Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Name a WWI battle and you will ďŹ nd a Manxman. Much has been made of the ‘Pals’ Battalions who were recruited from the densely packed urban areas. When the Manx were mobilised as the 1st Service Company, they surely knew each other. They held together proudly their Manx identity in whichever part of the British Army they fought and died.

EXTRACT FROM ‘THIS TERRIBLE ORDEAL’

The Blue Cross Do you hear the cry, the piteous cry From the shell-struck earth to the flaming sky “Oh think of us that suffering lie, Your faithful wounded Horses!

There’s the hero’s Cross for the valiant brave, There’s the Holy Rood o’er the soldier’s grave, There’s the Red Cross Aid your men to saveAnd what for the wounded Horses?

O a penny here, and a penny there, And the silver groat that you can spare, For the Blue Cross Boys whose skill and care, Are saving the wounded Horses.

Josephine Kermode

Colonel Charles Wilson Honorary Colonel, Isle of Man Army Cadet Force, the heirs to this Manx military tradition

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Christmas Truce

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On Christmas Day 1914, troops from both sides declared DQ XQRI¿FLDO WUXFH VLQJLQJ FDUROV WR HDFK RWKHU DQG VRPH ventured into ‘no man’s land’ for a game of football.

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£3

WWI

2014

BDT

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Technical Details T

Design ......................................................................................................... CASCO Text ...................................................................... Colonel Charles Wilson Format.......................................................................... Sheets of 8 Stamps Process ........................................................................ Offset Lithography Colours ...................................................................................................................... 4 Paper..................................................................... 110gms PVA Gummed Perforations .............................................................................. 14 per 2cms Stamp Size.................................................................... 42.58 x 28.45mm No. of Stamps ...................................................................................................... 6 Date of Issue.........................................................19th February 2014

Extracts from ‘This Terrible Ordeal’ Written by Matthew Richardson, Manx National Heritage Curator for Social History, this fascinating new book charts how the Isle of Man endured the ordeal of the First World War. Previously untold personal stories from men, women and children are revealed, alongside letters home from Manx soldiers and sailors, poetry and art produced in reaction to the conflict.

The book is the first of Manx National Heritage’s commemorations of the role of the Manx people in this cataclysmic event in world history, and coincides with a major exhibition at the Manx Museum.

Design ..........................................................EJC Design Text ................................Jane A Kimball BA, MA, MSLS Photography ................................Kathleen Bishop MFA Process ............................................. Offset Lithography Colours .......................................................................... 4 Printer ......................................................................BDT Paper .......................................... 110 gms PVA gummed Perforations ................................................ 14 per 2cms Stamp Size.............................................32.4 x 48.26mm Format ............................. Miniature sheet of one stamp Date of Issue .................................. 19th February 2014

EXTRACT FROM ‘THIS TERRIBLE ORDEAL’

Gardens Somewhere in France Was another garden - a lonely rood In the broken heart of a mangled wood, And all around Upon every mound Were little white crosses with names thereon, In the pale white sunshine cold and wan; No man might see the Gardener there, Yet I found the marks of His loving care.

I bent me down those names to spell Dear English names that we knew so wellAnd I whispered the words with bated breath, Of the gardener old, ‘There is no death’!

And I bared my head and looked at the sun, And I gave God thanks for every one; For I knew that the happy dead would rise To flower in the garden of Paradise.

Frederick Bishop Kermode ‘Isle of Man Weekly Times’ 21 April 1917

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