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Timelines for Design of Great Britain Silver Jubilee Issue

There is much information available regarding the design and development of the Great Britain Silver Jubilee issue. My chief sources of information are listed in the bibliography section below. Because of the detail available I have, by necessity, abridged the events and provide essentially a summary below.

The Players

British Post Office
Colonel Donald Banks
- Director General
Sir Stephen Tallents
- Public Relations Officer
General Frederick Williamson
- Director of Postal Services
Sir Kingsley Wood
- Postmaster General
Palace Staff
Sir Edward Bacon
- Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection
Mr. R.H. King
- Assistant Private Secretary to King George V
Colonel Clive Wigram
- Private Secretary to King George V
Others
Lord Kenneth Clark
- Director of National Gallery
Mr. Barnett Freedman
- Artist and Designer
Mr. F.G. Lee
- Colonial Office
Sir Bertram MacKennal
- Australian born sculptor. Designed portrait of
   King George V for use on British stamps


Timelines  

1934
February 10
Lee indicates to British Post Office (BPO) that Crown Colonies planning world wide joint issue for Silver Jubilee. Proposes joint discussions to develop a unifrom design. BPO indicates no plans for an special issue because of "traditional aversion to commemorative stamps."
April 26
Banks indicates to Williamson that government considering a nation wide jubilee celebration. Asks for suggestions from BPO. Williamson recommends a completely new issue.
June 6
R.H. King suggests to Wood that he obtain the king's approval in principle for a commemorative issue.
June 8
Bacon meets with Banks indicating King George strongly in favour of issue.
July 30
Group formed to commission and select design (Banks, Tallents, Clark) draw up instructions for artists
   Four face values ½d; 1d; 1½d; 2½d
   Dimensions: 1.3 x 1.1 inches (height x width)
   Design to include
          space for King's head (to be submitted by BPO)
          word '1910-1935' 'Silver Jubilee' ' Postage'
Decision also made for stamps to be printed in photogravure (First time with a commemorative issue)
Colours to approximate those in use of equivalent definitive
Seven artists invited to submit designs
October 2
None of 12 design essays submitted by September 17 deadline considered acceptable. Artists invited to re-submit. Further 6 artists, including Barnett Freedman approached.
October 25
Total of 22 designs from 2 rounds submitted. Freedman design accepted.
Early November
Harrison & Sons produce essays of Freedman's modification of Engineer-in-Chief's office design with "Vandyk" portrait. Decision to modify stamp from vertical to horizontal format.
November 19
Four imperforate essays of 1½d vertical and horizontal designs prepared - each in 5 colours. Essays used both MacKennal and Vandyk portraits.
November 22
King George approves essays. MacKennal head chosen.
November - January
Minor modifications and colour trials.
Freedman paid
    - 10 guineas  (£10 & 10/-) design on Vandyk portrait essays
    - 10 guineas for designing Silver Jubilee postal order
    - 15 guineas for designing Silver Jubilee stamp booklet covers
    - 250 guineas for the issued design
1935
January 5
Final essay of  1½d approved.
March 28
Final essays for other values completed.
April 23
Press conference at POst Office Headquarters announcing issue of new stamps
May 7
Date of issue.

Bibliographic Sources
Anon. "The King's stamp." Stamp Lover. December 1993. Vol 85. p139
Hacket, Alistair. "The 1935 Silver Jubilee issue of Great Britain." Edinburgh Stamp Shop. 1982.
Mackay, James. "The Silver Jubilee, 1935. Part 1" Gibbons Stamp Monthly - June 1994 p 45-7
Mackay, James. "The Silver Jubilee, 1935. Part 2" Gibbons Stamp Monthly - July 1994 p 39-41
Righo de Righi, A.G. "The Stamps of Royalty: British Commemorative Issues for Royal Occasions 1935 - 1972." Royal Postal Museum. 1973