2016-09-16 Fri

On 2nd September, Great Britain’s Royal Mail released a special set of six stamps to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the catastrophic Great Fire of London. The Royal Mail went one step more innovative in creating designs which depict the sequence of major events that defined the fire in a graphic novel style or comic-book style art. The illustrations for these se-tenant stamps are designed by comic book artist John Higgins who was excited and obliged upon receiving this prestigious assignment. The 1666 fire destroyed almost 80 percent of London and made 100,000 people homeless.

The first pair of non-denominated first-class stamp on the left shows the start of the fire around 2 a.m. on 2nd September, in Farriner’s bakery, featuring Farriner and his daughter escaping through a window. Pudding Lane and Thames Street separates the two stamps.

The next pair portrays the fire engulfing the city and people running towards the River Thames with their possessions. Some witnesses described that poor people stayed in their houses till the fire touched them and later ran into boats or kept moving from one pair of stairs to another by the water-side.

The next two £1.05 stamps portray the fire fighting techniques that were used to put out the fire on 3rd and 4th September. The stamp on the left side depicts houses being pulled down to create firebreaks and three men using a fire squirt which is made of brass acting like a very large syringe. One person is needed to hold the handles and another to push the rod in, squirting the water out.

The next pair of £1.05 stamps illustrates the scene when the fire reached Pater­naster Row on 4th September, as a crowd looks on at the fire taking down St. Paul’s Cathedral which is one among over 80 churches that were set ablaze.

The wind toned down its aggression on the night of 4th September and finally the fire was put to an end during the early hours of 6th September.

The next pair of £1.52 stamps portrays the tragic consequences of the Great Fire of London. One of the stamps depicts a homeless camping in tents at Moorfields on 5th September along with temporary food markets that were set up to help the general public.

The final stamp illustrates the 11th September scene when Architect Christopher Wren presented his plan for rebuilding London to King Charles II. Plans were presented by John Evelyn and Robert Hooke later too.

The 35mm by 35mm square stamps were printed by the International Security Printers printed by offset in sheets of 60. First-day covers, a presentation pack with illustrations by Leigh Gallagher; and six postcards featuring the designs of the stamps are also available.