ST HELENA 1937 Coronation 1948 Silver Wedding KGVI BLOCKS Sc 115, 116, 117, 130

Description

SAINT HELENA / ST. HELENA
1937 Coronation Issue
1948 Royal Silver Wedding Anniversary Issue
Corner Block of 10
Blocks with Large Margins
MINT NEVER HINGED (MNH)
Catalogue Value: High
Same Stamp with Different Stamp Numbering System:
Scott Number  SC #115, 116, 117,130
Stanley Gibbons Number SG #128, 129, 130, 143
Mint Never Hinged (MNH)
Scarce Corner Block of 10
72 Years Old Mint Block Stamps
Lot #111
Saint Helena
Saint Helena is a
British Overseas Territory
locatedin the
SouthAtlantic Ocean
. It consists of a remote
volcanic
tropicalisland
lying some 1,950 kilometres (1,210 mi) west of thecoast of southwestern Africa, and 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) eastof
Rio deJaneiro
on the
South American
coast. It is one ofthree constituent parts of the
British Overseas Territories
of
Saint Helena, Ascensionand Tristan da Cunha
.
[3]
Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres (10 by 5 mi)and has a population of 4,534 (2016 census).
[2]
Itwas named after
Saint Helena of Constantinople
. It isone of the most isolated islands in the world and was uninhabited whendiscovered by the
Portuguese
in 1502. It was animportant stopover for ships sailing to
Europe
from
Asia
and
SouthernAfrica
for centuries. Saint Helena is the United Kingdom'ssecond-oldest overseas territory after
Bermuda
.
Early history (1502–1658)
Most historical accounts state that the island was sighted on 21May 1502 by
Galician
navigator
João daNova
sailing in the service of
Portugal
, andthat he named it Santa Helena after
Saint Helena of Constantinople
. A paperpublished in 2015 observes that 21 May is probably a Protestant rather than aCatholic or Orthodox feast day, and the date was first quoted in 1596 by
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten
, who wasprobably mistaken because the island was discovered several decades beforethe
Reformation
andthe start of
Protestantism
.
[4]
[5]
[6]
Analternative discovery date of 3 May is suggested as being historically morecredible; it is the Catholic feast day of the finding of the
TrueCross
by Saint Helena in
Jerusalem
, andcited by Odoardo Duarte Lopes
[7]
and
Sir Thomas Herbert
.
[8]
Portuguese Viceroy
Francisco de Almeida
passedthe island in 1505 but could not land - other
Portuguese
explorerswho landed at an earlier date include
João daNova
in 1502 and
Estêvão da Gama
in1503.
Another theory holds that the island found by da Nova wasactually
Tristanda Cunha
, 2,430 kilometres (1,510 mi) to thesouth,
[9]
andthat Saint Helena was discovered by some of the ships attached to the squadronof the
Estêvão da Gama
expeditionon 30 July 1503 (as reported in the account of clerk
ThoméLopes
).
[10]
[11]
[12]
ThoméLopes mapped St Helena's geographic position with reasonable accuracy when hequoted its distance and direction with respect to locations such as Ascension,Cape Verde, São Tomé and the Cape of Good Hope. The island's map location withrespect to Ascension and the Cape of Good Hope was likewise described followingthe 1505 Portuguese expedition led by
Francisco de Almeida
whichpassed the island on its home voyage but did not land - "[o]n thetwenty-first day of July we saw land, and it was an island lyng six hundred andfifty miles from the Cape, and called Saint Helena, howbeit we could not landthere. [...] And after we left the island of Saint Helena, we saw anotherisland two hundred miles from there, which is called Ascension".
[13]
When Linschoten arrived on 12 May 1589 he reported seeingcarvings made by visiting seamen on a fig tree that were dated as early as1510.
[14]
ThePortuguese probably planted saplings rather than mature trees, and for these tobe sufficiently large by 1510 to carry carvings suggests the plants wereshipped to the island and planted there some years earlier, possibly within afew years of discovery.
A third discovery story, told by the 16th-centuryhistorian
GasparCorreia
, holds that the island was found by the Portuguese nobleman andwarrior Dom
Garcia deNoronha
, who sighted the island on his way to India in late 1511 orearly 1512. His pilots entered the island onto their charts and it has beensuggested that this event was likely decisive in leading to the utilisation ofthe island as a regular stopover for rest and replenishment for ships en routefrom India to Europe, from that date until well into the seventeenth century.
[15]
Ananalysis has been published of the Portuguese ships arriving at St Helena inthe period 1502–1613.
[16]
The Portuguese found the island uninhabited, with an abundanceof trees and fresh water. They imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables,and built a chapel and one or two houses. The long tradition that João da Novabuilt a chapel from one of his wrecked carracks has been shown to be based on amisreading of the records.
[17]
Theyformed no permanent settlement, but the island was an important rendezvouspoint and source of food for ships travelling by
CapeRoute
from Asia to Europe, and frequently sick mariners wereleft on the island to recover before taking passage on the next ship to call atthe island.
[18]
Englishman
Sir Francis Drake
probablylocated the island on the final leg of his circumnavigation of the world(1577–1580).
[19]
Furthervisits by other English explorers followed and, once Saint Helena'slocation was more widely known, English ships of war began to lie in wait inthe area to attack Portuguese India
carracks
on their way home.
[20]
In developing their
Far East
trade, the
Dutch
alsobegan to frequent the island. The Portuguese and Spanish soon gave up regularlycalling at the island, partly because they used ports along the
WestAfrican
coast, but also because of attacks on their shipping, thedesecration of their chapel and religious icons, killings of their livestock,and destruction of their
plantations
by Dutch
pirates
.
[20]
The
DutchRepublic
formally claimed Saint Helena in1633, although there is no evidence that they ever occupied it. The Dutch lostinterest in the island after establishing
theircolony
at the
Cape ofGood Hope
.
[20]
East India Company (1658–1815)
In 1657,
Oliver Cromwell
granted the
East India Company
acharter to govern Saint Helena and, the following year, the companydecided to fortify the island and settle it with planters.
[21]
Atradition, which had its origins in the early 20th century, that the earlysettlers included many who had lost their homes in the 1666 Great Fire ofLondon, was shown to be a myth in 1999.
[22]
The first governor, Captain John Dutton, arrived in 1659, makingSaint Helena one of
Britain's earliest colonies
outside
NorthAmerica
and the
Caribbean
. A fort and houses were built.After the
Restoration
ofthe English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a
royalcharter
, giving it the sole right to fortify and colonise the island.The fort was renamed James Fort and the town
Jamestown
, inhonour of the
Duke ofYork
, later
King James II
.
[20]
Between January and May 1673, the
Dutch East India Company
seizedthe island, but English reinforcements restored East India Company control. Thecompany experienced difficulty attracting new immigrants, and there was unrestand rebellion among the inhabitants. Ecological problems, such as
deforestation
,
soilerosion
, vermin and drought, led Governor Isaac Pyke to suggest in 1715that the population be moved to
Mauritius
, but that was not acted upon andthe company continued to subsidise the community because of the island'sstrategic location. A census in 1723 recorded 1,110 inhabitants, including 610slaves.
Eighteenth-century governors tried to tackle the island'sproblems by planting trees, improving fortifications, eliminating corruption,building a hospital, tackling the neglect of crops and livestock, controllingthe consumption of alcohol, and introducing legal reforms. The island enjoyed alengthy period of prosperity from about 1770. Captain
JamesCook
visited the island in 1775 on the final leg of his secondcircumnavigation of the world.
St. James' Church
wasbuilt in Jamestown in 1774, and
Plantation House
in1791–1792; the latter has since been the official residence of the Governor.
EdmondHalley
visited Saint Helena on leaving the
University of Oxford
in1676, and set up an astronomical
observatory
with a 7.3-metre-long(24 ft)
aerialtelescope
, intending to study the stars of the
Southern Hemisphere
.
[23]
Thesite of this telescope is near
Saint Mathew's Church
inHutt's Gate in the
Longwood
district.The 680-metre (2,230 ft)-high hill there is called Halley's Mount.
Throughout that period, Saint Helena was an important
port ofcall of the East India Company
.
EastIndiamen
would stop there on the return leg oftheir voyages to
British India
and
China
. AtSaint Helena, ships could replenish supplies of water and provisions and,during wartime, form convoys that would sail under the protection of vessels ofthe
RoyalNavy
. Captain James Cook's ship
HMS
Endeavour
anchoredand resupplied off the coast of Saint Helena in May 1771 on its return from theEuropean discovery of the east coast of
Australia
andthe rediscovery of
NewZealand
.
[24]
The importation of slaves was made illegal in 1792. Governor RobertPatton (1802–1807) recommended that the company import workers from China tosupplement the rural workforce. They started arriving in 1810, and theirnumbers had reached 600 by 1818. Many were allowed to stay, and theirdescendants became integrated into the population. An 1814 census recorded3,507 people on the island.
British rule (1815–1821) and Napoleon's exile
In 1815, the British government selected Saint Helena as theplace of
exile
for
NapoleonBonaparte
following his escape from
Elba
; the initiallocation of his forced exile.
[25]
Hewas taken to the island in October 1815. Napoleon stayed at the
Briars pavilion
on the grounds ofthe
Balcombefamily's
home until his permanent residenceat
LongwoodHouse
was completed in December 1815. He died there on 5 May1821.
[26]
British East India Company (1821–1834)
After Napoleon's death, the thousands of temporary visitors werewithdrawn and the East India Company resumed full control of Saint Helena.Between 1815 and 1830, the EIC made the
packet
schooner
St Helena
availableto the government of the island, which made multiple trips per year between theisland and the Cape, carrying passengers both ways and supplies of wine andprovisions back to the island. Napoleon praised Saint Helena's coffee duringhis exile on the island, and the product enjoyed a brief popularity in
Paris
inthe years after his death.
[
citation needed
]
The importation of slaves to Saint Helena was banned in 1792,and the phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves took place in 1827, somesix years before the British parliament passed legislation to abolish slaveryin the colonies.
[27]
Between 1791 and 1833, Saint Helena became the site of a seriesof experiments in conservation, reforestation, and attempts to boost rainfallartificially.
[28]
Thisenvironmental intervention was closely linked to the conceptualisation of theprocesses of environmental change and helped establish the roots ofenvironmentalism.
[28]
Crown colony (1834–1981)
Under the provisions of the 1833 India Act,control of Saint Helena passed from the East India Company to the BritishCrown, and it became a
crown colony
.
[1]
Subsequentadministrative cost-cutting triggered a long-term population decline: those whocould afford to do so tended to leave the island for better opportunitieselsewhere. The latter half of the 19th century saw the advent of steamships notreliant on
trade winds
, as well as the diversion of Far East trade away from thetraditional
South Atlantic
shippinglanes to a route via the
Red Sea
(which,prior to the building of the
Suez Canal
, involved ashort overland section). So the number of ships calling at the island fell from1,100 in 1855 to only 288 in 1889.
[20]
In 1840, a British naval station established to suppressthe
Atlantic slave trade
wasbased on the island, and between 1840 and 1849 over 15,000 freed slaves, knownas "Liberated Africans", were landed there.
[20]
In 1858, the French emperor
NapoleonIII
purchased, in the name of the French government,
LongwoodHouse
and the lands around it, the last residence of
NapoleonI
(who died there in 1821). It is still French property,administered by a French representative and under the authority of theFrench
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
.
On 11 April 1898 American
JoshuaSlocum
, on his solo round-the-world voyage, arrived at Jamestown. Hedeparted on 20 April 1898 for the final leg of his circumnavigation, havingbeen extended hospitality by the governor, His Excellency Sir R A Standale. Hepresented two lectures on his voyage and was invited to Longwood by the FrenchConsular agent.
[29]
In 1900 and 1901, over 6,000
Boer
prisonerswere held on the island, notably
PietCronjé
and his wife after their defeat at
Battle of Paardeberg
.
[30]
[31]
Theresulting population reached an all-time high of 9,850 in 1901.
A local industry manufacturing fibre from
NewZealand flax
was successfully re-established in 1907and generated considerable income during the
FirstWorld War
. Ascension Island was made a dependency ofSaint Helena in 1922, and Tristan da Cunha followed in 1938. Duringthe
SecondWorld War
, the United States built
Wideawake airport
onAscension in 1942, but no military use was made of Saint Helena exceptmaintenance of its defences.
[32]
During this period, the island enjoyed increased revenues fromthe sale of flax, with prices peaking in 1951. However, the industry declinedbecause of transport costs and competition from synthetic fibres. The decisionby the British
Post Office
to use synthetic fibres forits mailbags was a further blow, contributing to the closure of the island'sflax mills in 1965.
From 1958, the
UnionCastle
shipping line gradually reduced its service calls to theisland. Curnow Shipping, based in
Avonmouth
, replaced the Union-Castle Linemailship service in 1977, using the RMS (
RoyalMail Ship
)
St Helena
which wasintroduced in 1989.
The
British Nationality Act 1981
reclassifiedSaint Helena and the other
Crown colonies
as
British Dependent Territories
. Theislanders lost their
right of abode
in Britain. For thenext 20 years, many could find only low-paid work with the island government,and the only available employment outside Saint Helena was on the
FalklandIslands
and
Ascension Island
. The Development andEconomic Planning Department (which still operates) was formed in 1988 tocontribute to raising the living standards of the people of Saint Helena.
In 1989,
Prince Andrew
launchedthe replacement
RMS
St Helena
toserve the island; the vessel was specially built for the
Cardiff
–
Cape Town
routeand featured a mixed cargo/passenger layout.
The Saint Helena Constitution took effect in 1989 andprovided that the island would be governed by a Governor, Commander-in-Chief,and an elected executive and legislative council. In 2002, the
British Overseas Territories Act2002
granted full British citizenship to the islanders, andrenamed the dependent territories (including Saint Helena) the British OverseasTerritories. In 2009, Saint Helena and its two territories received equalstatus under a new constitution, and the British Overseas Territory wasrenamed
Saint Helena, Ascensionand Tristan da Cunha
.
Geography
Located in the
South Atlantic Ocean
onthe
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
, morethan 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) from the nearest major landmass, SaintHelena is one of the most remote places in the world. The nearest port on thecontinent is
Moçâmedes
insouthern
Angola
;connections to Cape Town in South Africa are used for most shipping needs, suchas the cargo boat that serves the island, the MS
Helena
.
The island is associated with two other isolated islands in thesouthern Atlantic, also British territories:
AscensionIsland
about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) due northwest in moreequatorial waters and
Tristan da Cunha
, which is well outsidethe tropics 2,430 kilometres (1,510 mi) to the south. The island issituated in the
Western Hemisphere
andhas the same
longitude
as
Cornwall
inthe United Kingdom. Despite its remote location, it is classified as beingin
WestAfrica
by the
United Nations
.
The island of Saint Helena is 122 km
2
(47 sq mi)in area, and is composed largely of rugged terrain of volcanic origin (the lastvolcanic eruptions occurred about 7 million years ago).
[33]
Coastalareas are covered in volcanic rock and are warmer and drier than the centre.The highest point of the island is
Diana's Peak
at 818 m(2,684 ft). In 1996 it became the island's first
nationalpark
. Much of the island is covered by
NewZealand flax
, a legacy of former industry, but there aresome original trees augmented by plantations, including those of the MillenniumForest project, which was established in 2002 to replant part of the lost GreatWood and is now managed by the
Saint Helena National Trust
. TheMillennium Forest is being planted with indigenous
gumwood
trees.
When the island was discovered, it was covered with uniqueindigenous vegetation, including a remarkable
cabbagetree
species. The island's hinterland must have been a densetropical forest but the coastal areas were probably also quite green. Themodern landscape is very different, with widespread bare rock in the lowerareas, although inland it is green, mainly due to introduced vegetation. Thereare no native land mammals, but cattle, cats, dogs, donkeys, goats, mice,rabbits, rats and sheep have been introduced, and native species have beenadversely affected as a result. The dramatic change in landscape must beattributed to these introductions. As a result, the string tree (
Acalypha rubrinervis
) and theSaint Helena olive (
Nesiotaelliptica
) are now extinct, and many of the otherendemic plants are threatened with extinction.
There are several rocks and islets off the coast, including:Castle Rock, Speery Island, the Needle, Lower Black Rock, Upper Black Rock(South), Bird Island (Southwest), Black Rock, Thompson's Valley Island, PeakedIsland, Egg Island, Lady's Chair, Lighter Rock (West), Long Ledge (Northwest),Shore Island, George Island, Rough Rock Island, Flat Rock (East), the Buoys,Sandy Bay Island, the Chimney, White Bird Island and Frightus Rock (Southeast),all of which are within one kilometre (0.62 miles) of the shore.
The
national bird
ofSaint Helena is the
Saint Helena plover
, knownlocally as the wirebird, on account of its wire-like legs. It appears onthe
coat of arms of Saint Helena
andon the flag.
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