This card celebrates George Arthur Roberts, BEM, MSM, who was a firefighter, and is commemorated on one of the new first class stamps.
He was born in Trinidad in August 1891, and so was forty-seven when the Second World War broke out. He had already served in the First World War, starting in the Trinidad Army, and working his way across from there to England, where he joined the Middlesex Regiment, as a rifleman. He was wounded several times, including at the Battle of the Somme, but gained a reputation for accurate bombing, being able to throw grenades right back into the enemy lines.
When the Second World War arrived, he was classed as too old, the government only accepted men aged between eighteen and forty-one. However, they soon realised that this exempted many men and women with military training, and so these were re-interviewed to form the Home Guard and other quasi-military posts. One of these branches was the fire brigade, which gained a new sub-group called AFS, or the Auxiliary Fire Service. Mr. Roberts was sent to New Cross Fire Station, where he was an invaluable member of the squad, so much so that he was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1944, "for general duties at New Cross Fire Station, and for his part as a founder and pioneer of the discussion and education groups of the Fire Service."
After the war he was a passionate advocate for inclusion, and also founded a branch of the British Legion near where he lived.
He died on the 8th of January, 1970, and is commemorated by a pair of plaques, a blue one in Camberwell, and a red one on New Cross Fire Station, as well, now, as this stamp.
This set is one of my favourites, and it has a large blog, "A for Air Raid Precautions" devoted to all its permutations, four issuers and nine printings.
The earliest listing of this version of the set comes from our original Wills Reference Book RB.16, part four, issued in 1950, where it is described as :
- 123. AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive texts. Issued 1938.
A. Series of 50, adhesive backs. Home issue. Special album announcement at top of back.
B. Series of 50, adhesive backs. Channel Islands Issue. No Album or I.T.C. Clauses
C. Series of 40, non-adhesive backs. Irish issue. Inscribed at top of back, "Albums for Wills`s Picture Cards can be obtained from tobacconists." Subjects selected from 50 in A. and B.
Similar series issued by Churchman (medium) and Hignett, Mitchell, Ogden (small)
Thanks to a list of printing dates which was provided us by W.D. & H.O. Wills, we know the export version of this set, "B" above, was issued first, in July 1938, with the Home version, "A" following in August 1938. There is, however, no mention of the Irish version "C", which seems to suggest that this was printed in Ireland. Some collectors also believe that this is why that version only has forty cards, for it would have only taken that one change to the artwork, "fifty" swopped for "forty", and the last ten cards not printed, or printed and discarded.
Anyway at this point, as you can see, all three versions were together under that one single code. Then, suddenly, in our original World Tobacco Issues Index of 1956, and continuing in the follow up, the decision was made to split them into three sections.
Our Irish version is listed first, in section 2, for "issues with I.T.C. Clause" and sub section 2.B for "Issues 1922-39. Excluding cards with adhesive backs.". It appears in the original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
- AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. Sm. Nd. (40). Irish issue. See W/123.C ... W62-109
and in the updated World Tobacco Issues Index as :
- AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. Sm. Nd. (40). Irish issue. Special album issued. See W/123.C ... W675-142