Lanarkshire Philatelic Society

"Serbia 1860 - 1918 & World War 1 in East Africa"

Mr. Iain English & Mr. Derek Wiltshire

Two fascinating displays were viewed at the Lanarkshire Philatelic Society on Friday afternoon.

The first, by a relatively new member to our society, Ian English, was of "Serbia 1860 - 1918".

He reminded all that it was the assassination - by a Serbian student - of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28^th June 1914 that led to the first World War. He then gave an interesting talk of the turbulent history of the country from 1866 when Serbia issued its first stamps.

These showed Prince Michael who reigned until he was assassinated in 1868. The country became a Kingdom in 1881 and here followed much in-fighting between the Houses of Obrenovic and Karadorde. There were many murders and assassinations of the monarchs of the time.

The stamps displayed - from 1860 - showed many of these personalities through the years. It was the assassination of King Alexander I and Queen Draga in 1903 - bringing to an end the House of Obrenovic - and led to the Coronation of King Peter I. A set of stamps showed the obliteration of King Alexander's head by putting the Royal Coat of Arms of Serbia on top! The set of stamps issued for the Coronation of King Peter 1 proved a very interesting view - the heads of King Peter and of Karadorde are shown in profile - and when the stamp was turned upside down the face of King Alexander could be seen in between the two heads! It was King Peter who founded the terrorist group known as the Black Hand ­ which was behind the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

In 1916 the Serbian Government moved to Corfu and some stamps were printed and issued there - these were on view also. A fascinating view of a little known country.

The second display, by Derek Wiltshire, was of "World War 1 in East Africa". This was a wonderful display of historic postcards detailing many events of the war. There was a small German Army in East Africa and British troops set out to defeat this- but met with much difficulty.

There were views of the many ships involved - particularly the German "Konisberg" - a ship which, as it had a very astute German Commander - Col. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck - proved very difficult to capture. This was eventually managed!

But its guns - these supposed to have been landed off the ship- were used against the British trying to land in Tanga. Postcards illustrated the various troops, the armoury involved - and also many showed the Belgian Congo Army which managed to defeat the Germans and occupy one-third of German East Africa.

General Jan Smuts assumed command of the Allied Forces. By 1918 the Germans were surrendering. News of the Armistice reached them and on 25^th November 1918 the Germans surrendered completely.

These postcards were most interesting to view!

A vote of thanks was expressed thanks by Bobby Forrest to both for presenting such excellent talks and truly interesting displays.

Our next meeting in the Caledonian Bowling Club, Motherwell Road, Hamilton, is on Friday, 29th November 2024, at 1:30pm when we'll see displays by visiting members of Borders Philatelic Society.

Anyone with an interest in stamps, postal history, postcards etc is very welcome to attend.