Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts

Friday, October 07, 2022

Added to my collection October 2022

This will just be a post with all the stamps that I added to my collections in October 2022


October 2nd

Got a bunch of stamps in this envelope (see for stamps further below)
 
Do Not Bend

Notice the "Please Do Not Bend" part? Well the person working for USPS did not notice it and tried to make it fit.... Luckily no stamps were damaged. Also I was wondering how they can still use non Euro denominated stamps to mail these out?


Switzerland 1852 Michel no 12

Switzerland 1852 Michel no 12.. not the best margins….

Michel number 12, Scott number 12 as well

Not the best margins unfortunately…  Hopefully in the future I will get a cleaner specimen


Austria MNH stamps and some used sheets

Austria MNH stamps and some used sheets

Just filling in gaps in my collection  :-)


Switzerland 1999 125 year UPU anniversary

Switzerland 1999 125 year UPU anniversary.. pretty cool design

This is a pretty cool design


Monaco 1983 Europa CEPT mini sheet

Monaco 1983 Europa CEPT mini sheet


This sheet can go in a Monaco collection as well as in a Balloon, Space or Europa CEPT thematic collection 


Switzerland Vignette from year album/yearbook 1999 

Switzerland Vignette from year album/yearbook 1999


October 7th

Germany 1926 airmail stamps 

Germany 1926 airmail stamps Michel 378/84 Scott C27/34


Michel 378/84 Scott C27/34... I always liked this set


October 25th

Netherlands 1967 Amphilex sheets

I have been eyeing these for a while now and they are finally part of my collection

Netherlands 1967 Amphilex sheets

On the sheets are stamps from the first 3 issues


Europa CEPT mini sheets and booklets

Just adding these to complete at least the common issues... still have ways to go

Europa CEPT minisheets and booklets

French Colonies Peace And Commerce 1877

French Colonies Peace And Commerce 1877 Michel 28, Scott 32

I love these stamps from France, I loved them even more when they are imperforated like they were issued for the French Colonies

Michel catalog number 28, Scott catalog number 32


Belgian Telephone tete beche gutter pair stamps

Belgian Telephone tete beche gutter pair stamps

These can't be found in the Michel or Scott catalogs


Luckily I have a buddy that has the Belgian COB catalog

Belgian catalog tete beche gutter pair catalog

Looks like catalog number TE29/TE32.. 


October 28th

Swiss stamps from 1989 -1999

Swiss MNH stamps 1

Swiss MNH stamps 2

Swiss MNH stamps 3

Swiss MNH stamps 4

Didn't have most of these... so this is a good percentage of stamps that I am adding to my Switzerland collection

Friday, September 02, 2022

Added to my collection September 2022

 This will just be a post with all the stamps that I added to my collections in September 2022


September 1st

Belgium 1925 Kings Leopold I and Albert I

Belgium 1925 Kings Leopold I and Albert I

75th Anniversary of Belgian postage stamps. These were sold only in sets and only bu the Administration of Posts, not at all post offices

Scott numbers:  172/184

Michel numbers: 191/203


September 2nd


Germany 1912 Semiofficial Flight Stamp Margateten Volksfest Winged Man 50pf

Germany 1912 Semiofficial Flight Stamp Margateten Volksfest Winged Man 50pf

Michel number 4a

Could these be Daedalus And Icarus? The catalog just says winged man


France 1942 Private Issue Legion Des Volontaires 

France 1942 Private Issue Legion Des Volontaires

Action committee of the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism

Michel II/V


September 12th

Austria number 1

Austria number 1

That completes the first issue for Austria (1-5)

Now my messy page 1 looks like this

Austria Page 1

September 12th

Netherlands 1928 Olympic Games set

NVPH catalog 212/219, finally I completed this set  :-)

I only need 99 stamps to complete Netherlands till 1990 including semi postal stamps...

Netherlands 1928 Olympic Games set  NVPH catalog 212/219

September 17th

Europa CEPT stamps

Europa CEPT stamps from Iceland, Germany, Yugoslavia and Greece

Cept Iceland Germany

Cept Greece

Europa Cept Yugoslavia sheets

Netherlands Booklets

The Tintin (Kuifje) one is my favorite

Netherlands Booklets


France 1949, centenary of French stamps

Scott number 626

France 1949 Centenary Ceres Scott 624

Netherlands William III 1913 5 Guilder

Just missing the 10 guilder from this set now :-)

Netherlands William III 1913 5 Guilder

Franz Joseph stamps from Austria

I already have a bunch of these but I need to check the various types as well as the numerous perforations that exist for these stamps (always a pain in the neck  :-) )

Austria Franz Joseph to check types and perforations


Friday, August 12, 2022

Added to my collection August 2022

This will just be a post with all the stamps that I added to my collections in August 2022


August 1

Bavaria 1911 Prince Regent Luitpold Scott 86/91



Bavaria 1911 Prince Regent Luitpold Scott 86/91

Finally I completed this series of stamps, Already had all the values up till the 1 Mark one earlier


August 12

France Cover with Sc #33 - 20c Napoleon III, Rouen Rodez to Toulouse

France Cover with Sc #33 - 20c Napoleon, Rouen to Toulouse

The seller who sold this to me listed this as Rousen, but it looks like it's from Rodez

You can find all the numbers (Gros Chiffres) for the towns here: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_bureaux_de_poste_fran%C3%A7ais_class%C3%A9s_par_oblit%C3%A9ration_Gros_Chiffres

I also got this comment from a twitter user: It is said, I don't know if it's true, that when a stamp bearing the effigy of Napoleon III was stuck upside down, it meant his disapproval of the political regime in place


France 1856 Folded Letter Sc #15a - 20c Napoleon III St Etienne to Mulhouse

France 1856 Folded Letter Sc #15a - 20c Napoleon St Etienne to Mulhouse

I just love the Napoleon III stamps.... these are my second favorite French stamps, the first beong the Ceres stamps of course 


August 16

1952 British office abroad Tangier Scott 559/575

1952 British office abroad Tangier Scott 559/575

Swapped some German Reich stamps for this set, this will go into my overprints/surcharges collection


August 21

Germany 1936 Olympic Summer Games Scott B82-B89, Michel 609-616

Germany 1936 Olympic Sumer Games Scott B82-B89, Michel 609-616




Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Nobel laureates 1904: Lord Rayleigh, William Ramsay, Ivan Pavlov, Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray, Institut de Droit International

 The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: Nobelpriset, Norwegian: Nobelprisen) are prizes awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in the fields of chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. They were established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which dictates that the awards should be administered by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was established in 1968 by the Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, for contributions to the field of economics. Each recipient, or "laureate", receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money, which is decided annually by the Nobel Foundation

Here is a list of 1904 Nobel laureates  




Physics: Lord Rayleigh, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist and academic

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh(12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919), was a British scientist who made extensive contributions to both theoretical and experimental physics. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Among many honors, he received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies." He served as President of the Royal Society from 1905 to 1908 and as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1908 to 1919.

Rayleigh provided the first theoretical treatment of the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light's wavelength, a phenomenon now known as "Rayleigh scattering", which notably explains why the sky is blue. He studied and described transverse surface waves in solids, now known as "Rayleigh waves". He contributed extensively to fluid dynamics, with concepts such as the Rayleigh number (a dimensionless number associated with natural convection), Rayleigh flow, the Rayleigh–Taylor instability, and Rayleigh's criterion for the stability of Taylor–Couette flow. He also formulated the circulation theory of aerodynamic lift. In optics, Rayleigh proposed a well known criterion for angular resolution. His derivation of the Rayleigh–Jeans law for classical black-body radiation later played an important role in the birth of quantum mechanics (see Ultraviolet catastrophe). Rayleigh's textbook The Theory of Sound (1877) is still used today by acousticians and engineers.

Stamp issued by Guinea Bissau depicting Lord Rayleigh

Guinea Bissau Nobel Prize Physics John William Strutt Rayleigh



Chemistry: William Ramsay, Scottish-English chemist and academic

Sir William Ramsay (2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year for their discovery of argon. After the two men identified argon, Ramsay investigated other atmospheric gases. His work in isolating argon, helium, neon, krypton and xenon led to the development of a new section of the periodic table.

Stamp issued by Guinea Bissau depicting William Ramsay

Guinea Bissau Nobel Prize Chemistry Sir William Ramsay





Physiology or Medicine: Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and physician

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (Russian: ИĐČĐ°́Đœ ĐŸĐ”Ń‚Ń€ĐŸ́ĐČоч Па́ĐČĐ»ĐŸĐČ; 26 September 1849 – 27 February 1936) was a Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning.

From his childhood days Pavlov demonstrated intellectual curiosity along with an unusual energy which he referred to as "the instinct for research". Inspired by the progressive ideas which Dmitry Pisarev, a Russian literary critic of the 1860s, and Ivan Sechenov, the father of Russian physiology, were spreading, Pavlov abandoned his religious career and devoted his life to science. In 1870, he enrolled in the physics and mathematics department at the University of Saint Petersburg to study natural science.

Pavlov won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904, becoming the first Russian Nobel laureate. A survey in the Review of General Psychology, published in 2002, ranked Pavlov as the 24th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Pavlov's principles of classical conditioning have been found to operate across a variety of behavior therapies and in experimental and clinical settings, such as educational classrooms and even reducing phobias with systematic desensitization.

Stamps from Hungary,  Romania, Argentina and Russia depicting Ivan Pavlov

Argentina Physiology Congress Ivan Pavlov

Romania 1952 Ivan Pavlov Russian physiologist

Hungary - 1989 - Ivan Petrovich Pavlov - Medical Pioneers

Russia Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Physiologist, 1969

Ivan P. Pavlov Nobel Medicine Winner, Soviet 1991



Literature: FrĂ©dĂ©ric Mistral, French lexicographer and poet

Frederic Mistral (Occitan: JosĂšp EstĂšve Frederic Mistral, 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was a French writer of Occitan literature and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. Mistral received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist". He was a founding member of the FĂ©librige and a member of l'AcadĂ©mie de Marseille.

His name in his native language was Frederi Mistral (Mistrau) according to the Mistralian orthography or Frederic Mistral (or Mistrau) according to the classical orthography.

Mistral's fame was owing in part to Alphonse de Lamartine who sang his praises in the 40th edition of his periodical Cours familier de littérature, following the publication of Mistral's long poem MirÚio. Alphonse Daudet, with whom he maintained a long friendship, eulogized him in "Poet Mistral", one of the stories in his collection Letters from My Windmill (Lettres de mon moulin).

Stamps from France and Monaco depicting FrĂ©dĂ©ric Mistral

France 1941 Frederic Mistral

Monaco 1964 Frederic Mistral

France 1980 Frederic Mistral


Literature: JosĂ© Echegaray, Spanish engineer, mathematician, and playwright

JosĂ© Echegaray y Eizaguirre (19 April 1832 – 14 September 1916) was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician, statesman, and one of the leading Spanish dramatists of the last quarter of the 19th century. He was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize for Literature "in recognition of the numerous and brilliant compositions which, in an individual and original manner, have revived the great traditions of the Spanish drama".

Theater had always been the love of JosĂ© Echegaray's life. Although he had written earlier plays (La Hija natural and La Última Noche, both in 1867), he truly became a dramatist in 1874. His plays reflected his sense of duty, which had made him famous during his time in the governmental offices. Dilemmas centered on duty and morality are the motif of his plays. He replicated the achievements of his predecessors of the Spanish Golden Age, remaining a prolific playwright.

His most famous play is El gran Galeoto, a drama written in the grand nineteenth century manner of melodrama. It is about the poisonous effect that unfounded gossip has on a middle-aged man's happiness. Echegaray filled it with elaborate stage instructions that illuminate what we would now consider a hammy style of acting popular in the 19th century. Paramount Pictures filmed it as a silent with the title changed to The World and His Wife, and it was the basis for a later film The Great Galeoto. His most remarkable plays are O locura o santidad (Saint or Madman?, 1877); Mariana (1892); El estigma (1895); La duda, 1898; and El loco Dios (God, the fool, 1900).

Among his other famous plays are La esposa del vengador (1874) (The Avenger's Wife); En el puño de la espada (1875) (In the Sword's Handle); En el pilar y en la cruz (1878) (On the Stake and on the Cross); and Conflicto entre dos deberes (1882) (Conflict of Two Duties).

Along with the Provençal poet Frédéric Mistral, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904, after having been nominated that year by a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, making him the first Spaniard to win the prize.

José Echegaray maintained constant activity until his death on 14 September 1916 in Madrid. His extensive work did not stop growing in his old age: in the final stage of his life he wrote 25 or 30 mathematical physics volumes. At the age of 83 he commented:
I cannot die, because if I am going to write my mathematical physics encyclopedia, I need at least 25 more years.

Swedish stamp depicting Echegaray 

Sweden 1964 MNH, Nobel Winners Mistral, Echegaray Literature, Rayleigh Physics




Peace: Institut de Droit International

The Institute of International Law (French: Institut de Droit International) is an organization devoted to the study and development of international law, whose membership comprises the world's leading public international lawyers. The organization is generally considered the most authoritative world academy of international law[by whom?]. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904.



Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Nobel laureates 1903: Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, Svante Arrhenius, Niels Ryberg Finsen, BjĂžrnstjerne BjĂžrnson, Randal Cremer

 The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: Nobelpriset, Norwegian: Nobelprisen) are prizes awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in the fields of chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. They were established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which dictates that the awards should be administered by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was established in 1968 by the Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, for contributions to the field of economics. Each recipient, or "laureate", receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money, which is decided annually by the Nobel Foundation

Here is a list of 1903 Nobel laureates  


Physics: Henri Becquerel, French physicist and chemist

Antoine Henri Becquerel (15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, scientist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie SkƂodowska-Curie (Marie Curie) and Pierre Curie, received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. 

In 1889, Becquerel became a member of the AcadĂ©mie des Sciences. In 1900, Becquerel won the Rumford Medal for his discovery of the radioactivity of uranium and he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour. The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities awarded him the Helmholtz Medal in 1901. In 1903, Henri shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Marie Curie for the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. In 1905, he was awarded the Barnard Medal by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 1906, Henri was elected Vice Chairman of the academy, and in 1908, the year of his death, Becquerel was elected Permanent Secretary of the AcadĂ©mie des Sciences. During his lifetime, Becquerel was honored with membership into the Accademia dei Lincei and the Royal Academy of Berlin.  Becquerel was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1908. Becquerel has been honored with being the namesake of many different scientific discoveries. The SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq), is named after him. There is a crater named Becquerel on the Moon and also a crater named Becquerel on Mars. The uranium-based mineral becquerelite was named after Henri. 

French stamp depicting Henri Becquerel

France Henri Becquerel nobel prize in physics


Physics: Marie Curie, Polish chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Marie SkƂodowska Curie(born Maria Salomea SkƂodowska; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, is the only woman to win the Nobel prize twice, and is the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields. She was part of the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the PanthĂ©on in Paris.

She was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Flying University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her older sister BronisƂawa to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and physicist Henri Becquerel. She won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Her achievements included the development of the theory of radioactivity (a term she coined), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two elements, polonium and radium. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms using radioactive isotopes. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and in Warsaw, which remain major centres of medical research today. During World War I she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals.

While a French citizen, Marie SkƂodowska Curie, who used both surnames, never lost her sense of Polish identity. She taught her daughters the Polish language and took them on visits to Poland. She named the first chemical element she discovered polonium, after her native country.

Marie Curie died in 1934, aged 66, at a sanatorium in Sancellemoz (Haute-Savoie), France, of aplastic anemia from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during World War I

Stamps from Monaco, France and Poland depicting Marie Curie


MONACO 1967 Marie Curie, Chemical Apparatus

France - 1938  Marie & Pierre Curie/Discovery of Radium

France 1967- Scientist - Marie Sklodowska-Curie

1967 Poland full set 3 stamps Birth Centenary of Marie Curie



Physics: Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic

Pierre Curie (15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie SkƂodowska-Curie, and Henri Becquerel, "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel".

French stamp depicting Pierre and Marie Curie

France - 1938  Marie & Pierre Curie/Discovery of Radium

Bulgarian stamp depicting Pierre Curie

Bulgaria  Pierre Curie Scientist



Chemistry: Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist

Svante August Arrhenius (19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1903, becoming the first Swedish Nobel laureate. In 1905, he became director of the Nobel Institute, where he remained until his death.

Arrhenius was the first to use principles of physical chemistry to estimate the extent to which increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide are responsible for the Earth's increasing surface temperature. In the 1960s, Charles David Keeling demonstrated that the quantity of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions into the air is enough to cause global warming.

The Arrhenius equation, Arrhenius acid, Arrhenius base, lunar crater Arrhenius, Martian crater Arrhenius, the mountain of Arrheniusfjellet, and the Arrhenius Labs at Stockholm University were so named to commemorate his contributions to science.

Swedish stamps depicting Svante Arrhenius

Sweden Svante Arrhenius




Physiology or Medicine: Niels Ryberg Finsen, Faroese-Danish physician and educator

Niels Ryberg Finsen (15 December 1860 – 24 September 1904) was a Danish-Faroese physician and scientist. In 1903, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science."

In 1882, Finsen moved to Copenhagen to study medicine at the University of Copenhagen, from which he graduated in 1890. Because he had studied in Iceland before moving to Copenhagen to study, he enjoyed privileged admission to Regensen, which is the most prestigious college dormitory in Denmark. Priotisation of Icelandic and Faroese individuals in the admission process was official Danish government policy that had been put in place in order to integrate the educated elites of its colonies with the university population in Copenhagen. Following graduation, he became a prosector of anatomy at the university. After three years, he quit the post to devote himself fully to his scientific studies. In 1898 Finsen was given a professorship and in 1899 he became a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.

The Finsen Institute was founded in 1896, with Finsen serving as its first director. It was later merged into Copenhagen University Hospital and currently serves as a cancer research laboratory that specializes in proteolysis.

Finsen suffered from Niemann–Pick disease, which inspired him to sunbathe and investigate the effects of light on living things. As a result, Finsen is best known for his theory of phototherapy, in which certain wavelengths of light can have beneficial medical effects. His most notable writings were Finsen Om Lysets Indvirkninger paa Huden ("On the effects of light on the skin"), published in 1893 and Om Anvendelse i Medicinen af koncentrerede kemiske Lysstraaler ("The use of concentrated chemical light rays in medicine"), published in 1896. The papers were rapidly translated and published in both German and French. In his late work he researched the effects of sodium chloride, observing the results of a low sodium diet, which he published in 1904 as En Ophobning af Salt i Organismen ("An accumulation of salt in the organism").

Finsen won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1903 for his work on phototherapy. He was the first Scandinavian to win the prize and is the only Faroese Nobel Laureate to date. In 1904, Finsen was awarded the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh.

Stamps from Denmark and the Faroe Island depicting Niels Ryberg Finsen

Dr. Niels R. Finsen.

Faroe Islands-1983 Europa--Nobel Prize Winners



Literature: BjĂžrnstjerne BjĂžrnson, Norwegian-French author and playwright

BjĂžrnstjerne Martinius BjĂžrnson (8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit", becoming the first Norwegian Nobel laureate. 

He was a prolific polemicist and extremely influential in Norwegian public life and Scandinavian cultural debate. BjĂžrnson is considered to be one of The Four Greats (De Fire Store) among Norwegian writers, the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland. BjĂžrnson is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". Composer Fredrikke Waaler based a composition for voice and piano (Spinnersken) on text by BjĂžrnson.

Norwegian stamps depicting BjĂžrnstjerne BjĂžrnson

Norway Bjornson,novelist,poet,dramatist

Norway Norwegian Nobel Laureates. Bjornson

Norway 1982 BjĂžrnson





Peace: Randal Cremer, English activist and politician

Sir William Randal Cremer (18 March 1828 – 22 July 1908) usually known by his middle name "Randal", was an English Liberal Member of Parliament, a pacifist, and a leading advocate for international arbitration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903 for his work with the international arbitration movement.

From as early as his first unsuccessful run for Parliament in 1868, Cremer had advocated the expansion of international arbitration as peaceful alternative to war for the resolution of disputes.

He was elected as Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Haggerston in the Shoreditch district of Hackney from 1885 to 1895, and then from 1900 until his death from pneumonia in 1908.

Using his platform as an MP, Cremer cultivated allies on both continental Europe and across the Atlantic, including FrĂ©dĂ©ric Passy, William Jennings Bryan and Andrew Carnegie. Using his network of contacts and his talent for organisation, Cremer did much to create and expand institutions for international arbitration, which during his lifetime were successful in peacefully resolving numerous international disputes. This work includes co-founding the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Arbitration League; gaining acceptance for the 1897 Olney–Pauncefote Treaty between the United States and Britain that would have required arbitration of major disputes as the Essequibo territory (the treaty was rejected by the US Senate and never went into effect); and preparing the ground for the Hague peace conferences of 1899 and 1907.

In recognition of his work in the arbitration movement, Cremer won the Nobel Peace Prize, the first to do so solo, in 1903. Of the £8,000 award he donated £7,000 as an endowment for the International Arbitration League.

He also was named a Chevalier of the French LĂ©gion d'honneur, won the Norwegian Knighthood of Saint Olaf and was knighted in 1907.

Stamp issued by Guinea Bissau depicting Randal Cremer

Nobel Peace winner Randal Cremer Member of Arbitration, Guinea Bissau 2009