The Stamp Designs of David Gentleman 

The 2022 Royal Mail stamp miniature sheet seen here is a compilation of various stamp issues designed by a very special man – David Gentleman, the most prolific and influential stamp designer in UK philatelic history. Below are the original stamp sets:

Above, the 1965 set commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. 

1966 was the 900th Anniversary of the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings.

Historic British Ships, including the Cutty Sark, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s SS Great Britain and the ocean liner RMS Mauretania which, when launched in 1906, was the world’s largest ship.

‘Social Reformers’ set, featuring Thomas Hepburn, leader of the first coal miner’s union in Britain; Lord Shaftesbury, politician, philanthropist and social reformer; Robert Owen, Father of British Socialism; and prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker, Elizabeth Fry.

Artist, illustrator, designer and author David Gentleman is the man who created the artwork for all of the Great Britain stamps featured in this article. Born in 1930 of artist parents, he studied at the Royal College of Art, South Kensington, and has lived in London ever since. He has also travelled widely, drawing and painting throughout Britain, Europe and India. His work is represented in Tate Britain, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Design Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum and private collections.

Here we have stamps from 1972 designed by David Gentleman to represent the start of broadcasting: the development of the microphone (3p), a horn loudspeaker (5p), a colour television camera 1972 (7 1/2p), and a commemoration of Marconi/Kemp experiments in 1897 depicting an oscillator and spark transmitter (9p).

The two outer stamps were designed by David Gentleman, the middle stamp’s designer was graphic designer and illustrator Michael Goaman (1921-2009). Produced to celebrate the first Concorde flight in 1969.

Then to celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of William Shakespeare a festival was held in his birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. Scenes from his plays shown on the stamps are: Puck and Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) 3d, Feste (Twelfth Night) 6d, The Balcony Scene (Romeo and Juliet) 1/3, Eve of Agincourt (Henry V) 1/6 and Hamlet contemplating Yorick’s skull (Hamlet) 2/6.

I fully recommend taking a look at the following by clicking on the link https://davidgentleman.com/film, where you will get a great insight to the great body of work David Gentleman has created.