Chairman's Notes March/April 2011 by Melvyn Gallagher

I am pleased to see that my article concerning H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught has generated so much interest! Peter Duck is quite correct regarding the spelling (typo error) and that the Duke was Governor General of Canada, it would seem however that the late Stanley Hunter may have muddied the waters.  As stated in my previous article the Duke pictured on the Newfoundland stamp and the picture with B-P at the 1929 World Jamboree are the same man who was a friend and admirer of B-P and held several senior scouting positions.  He was the third son of Queen Victoria, born in 1850 and dying in 1942.  He had a son (this is where the confusions comes) also named Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught born in 1883 and predeceasing his father, dying in 1938, The biography of the elder Duke in Wickipedia includes mentions of his scouting interests, including opening the 1929 World Jamboree. With reference to John Charcot, there is another more recent issue, a $2 New Zealand commemorative from a miniature sheet of four issued in 1990, also to commemorate the World Stamp Exhibition. I was also interested to read Colin Walker's article in the last Bulletin concerning a letter written by Vere Stent.  I possess a cover written to him within Mafeking.  He was the war correspondent for Reuters, a news agency still going strong and proving that "embedded reporters" are nothing new! For the benefit of those members who have mentioned the bear postcard published by Tuck there is an illustration on the front cover, but it is not for sale.  The question of rarity and value of specific postcards within sets is a good one and I too would like to hear members' views of any others that are elusive.  A prime example would be the set of scouting awards published by Johnson & Sons of Manchester that I feel are the finest set of scouting postcards ever printed again there is a copy on the front cover.  Are any of these "rarer" than others?