Isle of Man Post Office is pleased to present a set of six stamps to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the end of World War 1 and the personal contributions of a selection of local soldiers.
The Stamps
30p – Second Lieutenant Roy Corlett lived at 21 Burnside Terrace, Douglas. Upon the outbreak of the war he was studying for entry to the Civil Service. After serving with the Inns of Court OTC in 1916, he was commissioned into the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and posted to the 2nd Battalion in France. He was badly wounded in an attack in November 1916 and taken prisoner by the Germans. He spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp at Bad Colberg.
31p – Second Lieutenant John W Lewis was a native of Devon but attended King William’s College on the Isle of Man. As war broke out Lewis was commissioned into the 8th Battalion Devonshire Regiment, but kept in touch with his Alma Mater via letters to the ‘Barrovian’, the magazine of King William’s College old boys. He went to France in 1915 and took part in the Battle of the Somme and died of his wounds on July 15, 1916.
44p – Pte Joseph Killey was born in Ramsey, the son of a carpenter. In 1915 he enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion and was soon serving with them in Belgium. He was killed in action on July 8, 1915 during the Battle of Boesinghe where British troops had taken over a stretch of front line from the French.
56p – Lieutenant Colonel W.A.W Crellin was born in Ramsey and attended King William’s College. He was commissioned before the First World War into the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) and travelled with them to France in 1914. He was wounded but soon returned to action. He was killed in action in October 1918.
81p – Lance Corporal Thomas Quilliam of 2 Laureston Terrace, Douglas was born in 1890. In September 1913 he enlisted in the 3rd (Prince of Wales’s) Dragoon Guards. He left British shores in March 1915 serving mainly in France until February 1918 when he was wounded. In the resulting operation to remove shrapnel it was necessary to remove his left ear drum. Although he was expected to live only three weeks he lived with his wife in Douglas until his death in 1973.
94p – Pte Robert Oates was born in Douglas. He enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment in 1901 and saw service in South Africa during the closing stages of the Boer War. At the beginning of the First World War he had left the army but was still a member of the Army Reserve. He was recalled and sent to France in late 1914 and was wounded near La Bassee.
