150th Anniversary of
The Falkland Islands Company

Issue Date: 10 January 2002









This interesting issue provide an insight to the history of the Company. The official cover depicts a map of the Falkland Islands, showing which part of the islands were owned by the Company, during the time when its land ownership was at its peak. The cover also shows the Company's house flag.

Special thanks go to Frank Mitchell, FIC 1950 - 1987 for his valuable assistance with this issue and for drafting the text of this liner.

The Falkland Islands Company was incorporated in 1851 and received its Royal Charter under the seal of Queen Victoria on 10th January 1852, a prestigious document which granted rights and imposed obligations and which was used to facilitate Britain's overseas expansion during the century.

10p : Coat of Arms and Gathering of Cattle

The Company's original main objective was subduing the wild cattle which abounded in the Islands at the time and which had originally attracted the Lafone Brothers, Liverpool merchants engaged in Montevideo in the killing of cattle for their hides, dried salted beef and tallow, and from whom the Company acquired the contract. The stamp features the Company's Coat of Arms which embodies the objective and shows in the background cattle being gathered.

20p : The Amelia and the Company's house flag

The principal obligation imposed upon the Company by the Riyal Charter was to provide, if possible, regular external postal communication. This was met by the purchase of the brigantine AMELIA which was re-rigged as a schooner and brought into service in 1852. The postal rates for letters was immediatly reduced from 2/7d. to 1/- and the transit time for letters substantially improved. At that time the Governor was complaining that dispatches from London were taking up to a year to arrive. It is not known when the Company's house flag was introduced but it certainly existed in 1868 when it was mentioned by Cobb.

43p : F.E Cobb

The Company met with early trading difficulties and at one time petitioned Parliament for the Colony to become a penal settlement. F.E. Cobb was appointed Colonial Manager in 1867 at the age of 22 and commenced a distinguished career which extended over a period of 55 years in which he rose to chairman. His greatest contribution to the Company was, however during his Colonial Managership which extended from 1867 to 1891 and during which he placed the Company in a sound financial position and acquired the respect of the people of the Colony. He was the type of man who built the British Empire. A man of culture who derived pleasure from writing, particularly his forthright letters to the Board of Directors in London. Among his achievements were the introduction of steam communication for the Islands and the inspired recruitment on his own initiative of Wickham Bertrand.

£1.00 : (William) Wickham Bertrand

At the incorporation of the Company their sheep flock numbered 30 but it quickly expanded following the importation of 46 Cheviot sheep in 1852 and by 1872 sheep numbers had risen to 48,500. The growth in sheep farming enabled the Company and the Colony to flourish with its wool being much in demand in speciality markets.

The growth in sheep farming owed much to the hard work and dedication of the early farm workers with the recruitment of Scottish shepherds being particularly successful.

The main problem with sheep farming in the early days was scab and Cobb's recruitment of the experienced Wickham Bertrand as Camp Manager brought about a rapid improvement. He introduced the first sheep dip at the Company's main farm, Darwin, and got scab under control throughout the Company's land.

Wickham Bertrand settled in the Islands and became a pioneer sheep farmer on West Falkland.

The Company's peak land ownership occurred at the time of its Centenary but today it is primarily a retailing and general trading business following sale and sub-division of its farmland. The first farm offered for sub-division following the Shackleton Economic Report in the 1970's was the Company farm at green Patch, East Falkland.

The Company was taken over in 1972 but has recently regained its independence.



Technical Details

Release Date: 10th January 2002
Designer: Julian Vasarhelyi
Printer: BDT International
Process: Lithography
Stamp Size: 28.45 x 42.58mm
Sheet Format: 50(2x25) Pane: 50 (2 x 25)
Perforation: 14 per 2cms
Watermark: C A Spiral
Values: 10p, 20p, 43p, £1.00.





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