John Harrison Life & Inventions First Day Cover

Commemorate the 250th anniversary of John Harrison’s death with this official First Day Cover, featuring all six stamps from the John Harrison: Life & Inventions issue and postmarked on 20th September 2026.

The cover celebrates the self-taught Yorkshire clockmaker whose determination to solve the longitude problem transformed maritime navigation. The six stamps feature Harrison himself, his H1 marine timekeeper, early wooden clocks, a terrestrial globe and a 17th century French cannon connected with the 1707 wreck of HMS Association.

The accompanying text, by Dr John C Taylor OBE, provides insight into Harrison’s extraordinary career, from his early experiments with precision timekeeping to the innovations in friction reduction and temperature compensation which helped him create increasingly accurate timekeepers.