The postal order would mean I had no bus fare, that I would have to walk to and from school for a week, but I didn't care.
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Plenty of movies unfold from petty sins: the theft of a five-shilling postal order in Terence Rattigan's " The Winslow Boy ," which was filmed in 1948 and 1999, or the prank against a principal that kicks off " Scent of a Woman " (1992).
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There was a total of eighteen denominations issued in this series, which ranged from 20p up to £50. The poundage started at 30p on the 20p postal order, which resulted in the 20p. postal order being withdrawn from issue within six months of the series being issued. The 20p postal order in this series is also a scarce one.
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She produced Back's cashed postal order and stated that only two cadets had visited her that afternoon. However, she claimed the same cadet who had bought a postal order for 15s 6d was also the one who cashed the 5s order.
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A promotional postal order (PPO) is a special type of postal order that is issued in the United Kingdom by various companies in conjunction with the Royal Mail to promote their goods and services. These have been issued at various times since the 1970s.
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A British postal order overprinted for use in Southern Nigeria Five-shilling British postal order overprinted for use in Nigeria used in 1947 - 3d additional poundage to be paid in Nigeria The first Postal orders of Nigeria were issued by the British colonial authorities. Later, Nigeria issued its own postal orders, first in £,s,d, and then in the new currency of the Naira. In 2018, the postal order system was replaced by a cheaper money order system.
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Hong Kong Postal Orders by Wilson Yeung. Pages 19 and 20, Postal Order News Number 70, Volume 18, Part 4, October 2003.
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Irish 9 shilling postal order uprated with additional stamp used in 1969. Used postal orders are seldom seen because most were destroyed when they were redeemed or cashed at the post office or bank The postal order is a direct descendant of the money order, which had been established by a private company in 1792. During World War I and World War II, British postal orders were temporarily declared legal tender to save paper and labour. Postal orders can be bought and redeemed at post offices in the UK, although a crossed postal order must be paid into a bank account.
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The postal order Archer-Shee was accused of cashing. The postal order which Archer-Shee indisputably bought. When the Admiralty wrote to Archer-Shee's father telling him that his son was being expelled for theft, his father instantly responded that "Nothing will make me believe the boy guilty of this charge, which shall be sifted by independent experts". The father's reaction reflected the family's values.
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The theft occurred on 7 October 1908, shortly after the start of the autumn term, when a cadet named Terence Hugh Back received a postal order from a relative for five shillings. On the same afternoon, Archer-Shee had been given permission to go to a post office outside the college grounds to buy a postal order and a stamp because he wanted to buy a model train costing fifteen shillings and sixpence (15s 6d). On returning to the college, he discovered that Back had reported that his postal order had been stolen. Miss Tucker, the elderly clerk at Osborne Post Office, was contacted.
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The Postal Order Society is a numismatic and philatelic society which was established in 1985 by Howard Lunn, who became the first Chairman of the Society.
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The case of George Archer-Shee from 1908, who was expelled from Osborne after being falsely accused of stealing a 5-shilling postal order, inspired the play The Winslow Boy.
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After payment they should be claimed on the Postal Order docket and forwarded to the Metropolitan Office of Account with the other Paid Orders. , no surviving examples of these have been recorded.
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One of the services that is provided by some of the British Forces Post Offices is the issuing and cashing of postal orders. A British postal order issued at a forces post office is very sought after by collectors of postal orders. A postal order issued by a BFPO in a Commonwealth country, such as the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus, is regarded as being a part of the numismatic and notaphilic history of that country.
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The Postal Order Society is today administered by a Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. There are some overseas representatives from New Zealand, Australia and USA. There were 89 members of the society as of February 2011.
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As of 2012, South Africa still uses postal orders. These postal orders are issued by the South African Post Office The South African postal order system is still used as a secure way of sending money to a company or organization. Despite the postal order system still being present, it is mostly used for the less technologically equipped citizens or for those who do not have access to cheque or EFT facilities. Some South African government departments still use the system in place of EFT, for example the South African Council of Educators (SACE).
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Dronfield: West Africa Study Circle. pp. 106-107. New postal orders were issued in 1973, when Nigeria changed over to the decimal currency of the Naira. In 1987, Nipost was charged with providing postal order services within Nigeria under Act No. 18 of that year. In late 2018, Nipost replaced the disused postal order service with a domestic electronic Money Order whose commission is less than the postal orders and can be obtained at any post office or sub-post office enabling rural and urban communities to transfer money easily.
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The first postal notes were issued in 1886. Some of them are known overprinted "SPECIMEN", in 1890. It has been confirmed that the last day of issue was 31 July 1986.Harwood, J. in: Postal Order News, 1987, No. 7, P. 12—15.
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Thus, they received several telegrams in their name, in which they guaranteed that "all documents were safe" and that they would receive a postal order of 200 pesetas. There was never an explanation on which documents or what happened to the money.
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The only draw-back was the need to send an advance to the paying post office before payment could be tendered to the recipient of the order. This drawback was likely the primary incentive for establishment of the Postal Order System on 1 January 1881.
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Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, The Winslow Boy is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name after the boy is expelled from Osborne Naval College for stealing a postal order. To clear the boy's name was imperative for the family's honour; had they not done so, they would have been shunned by their peers and society. The boy's life would have been wrecked by the stain on his character. The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent; the case of George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet.
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With the entrance of the internet in most homes during the late 90s/early 00s, Derann expanded their film sales division online, although they had already been selling to foreign markets via postal order for many years. However, the market for Super 8 was still shrinking, and home electronics soon became their main business. Following the death of founder Derek Simmonds in 2002, his son Adrian Simmonds took over the company, and provided new resources to the film department. Continuing sales online and via postal order, the company continued to produce brand new Super 8 content until 2007,As stated by Adrian Simmonds in an email after which they focused on clearing out old stock from storage.
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The first Irish postal orders was a transitional series overprinted on British postal orders. The Irish inscription ('Irish postal order') was overprinted on the inscription . This series caused a bit of a stir, as the portrait of King George V was not overprinted. These were issued from 4 April 1922.
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These were issued after the majority of the dual-currency issue was exhausted. It is not yet known when these began to be issued. The last day of issue was 17 April 1980. The postal orders issued between 12 December 1979 and 17 April 1980 are quite sought after by postal order collectors.
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A delegation of the Birmingham Chamber went to the annual meeting of chambers of commerce in London and John Skirrow Wright presented the idea, complete with all the details on how it would work including all the postal order values proposed. At first London bankers were against the idea, thinking it would affect their businesses, and the idea was rejected. However, eventually, the bankers realised that the people who would use postal orders were not their customers and therefore no threat to their business. Consequently, at the Annual Meeting a year later John Skirrow Wright presented the idea again and this time it was accepted and the postal order system was started exactly as Skirrow Wright and Birmingham Chamber had proposed.
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The Electronic Indian Postal Order (e-IPO) was introduced on 22 March 2013, initially only for citizens living abroad. The postal orders can be used for online payment of fees for access to information under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The service was expanded to include all Indian citizens on 14 February 2014.
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248x248px In Britain, and elsewhere, the term poundage is used for the charge imposed on the sale of a postal order.Annual Register 1914, p.262. A postal order is a financial instrument usually intended for sending money through the mail. It is purchased at a post office and is payable at another post office to the named recipient.
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Postal orders are gaining in popularity as collectibles, especially among numismatists who collect banknotes. There is an active numismatic organisation in the UK called the Postal Order Society that was established in 1985 with members both domestically and overseas. They hold twice-yearly postal auctions of postal orders and related material from across the British Commonwealth.
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These were of the same design as the early pre-decimal republican ones, but the Irish for 'not negotiable' was changed again to read as . shilling postal order with additional postage stamp used in 1969. Used postal orders are seldom seen because most were destroyed when they were redeemed or cashed at a post office or bank.
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A batch of 2/6 postal orders was printed in 1965–69 with the old Órdú Puist Éireannach and inscriptions, which had ceased to be issued in the early 1950s. These are very sought after by postal order collectors in both Ireland and overseas. These were issued in several post offices in different parts of Ireland.
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A newsletter is published quarterly called Postal Order News, which contains news and articles mostly submitted by members of the Society. Annually, there is a postal auction of postal orders and related items. A sales list is available to sell and buy postal orders. Subscriptions are £5 UK, £7 Europe, Elsewhere £6 surface and £9 airmail.
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Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, The Winslow Boy is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name after the boy is expelled from Osborne Naval College for stealing a five- shilling postal order. To clear the boy's name was imperative for the family's honour; had they not done so, they would have been shunned by their peers and society. Similarly, the boy's life would have been wrecked by an indelible stain on his character which would have followed him throughout adulthood. The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent: the case of Stonyhurst College alumnus George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet.
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These have been confirmed as having been issued at BFPO 567, Nicosia, Cyprus, which has since closed down. A 50 Pence postal order bearing the datestamp 'UN NICOSIA BFPO 567' with the date '04. AP 05' is in a private collection in New Zealand. This unusual date stamp reflects that this particular BFPO was designated as an official United Nations field post office.
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Not used as the recipient was at an RAF base in England and presumably had no ready access to an Australian canteen. A Defence canteen order was a variant of a postal order used in Australia during World War II. Purchased at a post office, it was payable to an enlisted person in goods from a canteen rather than being a cash instrument.
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Postal order collecting has become a branch of notaphily, especially in England since the 1980s. Some countries, such as Basutoland, the British Somaliland Protectorate, and Northern Rhodesia never issued their own banknotes, however, they did issue their own postal orders. Great Britain, the Isle of Man, and Northern Ireland also issued Old Age Pension Orders as well as postal orders. These have become collectible in recent years.
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Until April 2006 they came in fixed denominations but due to increased popularity they were redesigned to make them more flexible and secure. They now have the payee and value added at the time of purchase, making them more like a cheque. There is a fee for using this form of payment. The maximum value of postal order available is £250.00 with the fee capped at £12.50.
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The 1946 play The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan, and the two subsequent films based on it, features the story of a schoolboy trying to clear his name over the theft of a five-shilling postal order. The story was loosely based on the real-life George Archer-Shee case. Postal orders were also referenced by W. H. Auden in the opening words of Night Mail (1936).
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South Africa began issuing its own postal orders sometime during 1933. They are denominated in both Afrikaans and English. It is not yet known what the smallest denomination is in the pre-decimal issue, but after the change over to decimal currency on 14 February 1961, there was a postal order for denominations as low as 1 cent. South African postal orders issued as late as 1997 have been confirmed.
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The main aim of the Postal Order Society is to promote the study of postal orders, postal notes, money orders and related items. The Society is a member of the UK-based Association of British Philatelic Societies (ABPS) and the American Philatelic Society. Meetings are held annually in London at the IBNS venue. Very few members collect only postal orders, but usually add them to their philatelic or banknote collections.
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Postal orders are currently issued in Gibraltar by the Royal Gibraltar Post Office. In accordance with the Postal Order Regulations of 1961, postal orders may be issued for the following sums: #The sum of 50 pence; and #The sum of one pound and any multiple of one pound up to ten pounds The value of a postal order may be increased by affixing postage stamps not exceeding two in number and not exceeding a total of 49 pence or the equivalent in coinage of the country in which the order is issued. Any such stamp may either be a stamp authorized or required to be used for the purpose of the post office or, if the postal administration of the country in which the order is issued so allows, a current stamp for denoting a rate of postage of that country, but no other stamps may be used. A charge for poundage is applied according to the rates applicable when the order is issued.
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The post division offers modern mail service for letters, packets or other postal documents including post boxes, customs clearance, transport insurance or worldwide tracking and tracing.EswatinPosts, Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, retrieved 11. June 2020 EswatiniPost also offers money transfer by Postal order or Money order from person to person through all domestic post offices and also to neighbouring countries like South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana.Financial Services, Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, retrieved 10.
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The voice narrating the poem by W.H. Auden ("This is the Night Mail crossing the border, bringing the cheque and the postal order.") was Jackson himself. He directed a number of documentaries, the first being The Horsey Mail (1938) about the rural postal service in Suffolk. The First Days (1939), co-directed by Harry Watt and Humphrey Jennings, was the first of the wartime documentaries, in this instance concerned with the 'Phoney War' period.
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Since 1945, the use of postal orders has been declining, as postal orders were a popular form of payment for lottery tickets, in events such as the football pools and for payment for bets on horse racing. The postal orders that were issued from a football pools machine have a perfinned series of numbers and letters. Occasionally, these turn up from time to time. These are sought after by postal order collectors.
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George Weidenfeld was born in Vienna, Austria in 1919,Oliver Marre, "A man whose life has been an open book", The Observer, 28 June 2009. He was the only son of Max and Rosa Weidenfeld. Weidenfeld attended the University of Vienna and the city's Diplomatic College. Following the Anschluss (Germany's annexation of Austria) in 1938, he emigrated to London, with limited English and a 16/6d postal order (approximately £32.46 in 2019).
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George Chetwynd (1824 – 3 December 1882) was the Receiver and Accountant General of the British Post Office. He conceived of the postal order in 1874 though it was 1 January 1881 before the first "post office notes" finally went on sale. Chetwynd's scheme was so successful that when the scheme started, around 1.5 million notes were printed by Bradbury Wilkinson but another million had to be printed by the end of 1881. He died at Blackheath, London, aged 58.
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Former students of Osborne included Queen Victoria's great-grandsons, the future Edward VIII and George VI, and their younger brother George, Duke of Kent. Another well-known alumnus of the college was Jack Llewelyn Davies, one of the five Llewelyn Davies boys who inspired J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. The case of George Archer-Shee from 1908, who was expelled from Osborne after being falsely accused of stealing a 5-shilling postal order, inspired the play The Winslow Boy.
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Postal orders were prepared for, but not issued, by the Indian Field Force in Egypt in between 1883 and 1885. Only five extant examples of these unissued postal orders are recorded, all of the 1 Rupee denomination. These bear the serial numbers 00092, 00094, 00210, 00235, and 00238. These are very similar to the Indian postal order issues of 1883-86, which have the British Coat-of- Arms at the top, but are inscribed 'Head Post Master, Indian Field Force, Egypt'.
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The Old Age Pension Order is the close cousin of the postal order that was issued between 1909 and 2005 in the United Kingdom. They were also issued in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, but information about these issues are missing and/or undocumented. The old age pension orders were issued in books to those who were receiving the old age pension. It is entirely possible that other types of pension orders were issued to those receiving other pensions.
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1980 use of postal order 1st decimal issue denominated 15p (decimal currency at right) but the poundage of 4 1/2 pence (pre-decimal currency at left) has been excised. However, when Ireland joined the European Monetary System from 13 March 1979 it was no longer possible to cash Irish postal orders in the United Kingdom and visa- versa as had been the case, because the currencies were no longer at parity and the British post office did not do currency work.
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It began to venture into parcel delivery, registrations, insurance service, transaction of money (postal order & money order) and investment of funds (Post Office Saving Bank). The postal service, then known as Jabatan Perkhidmatan Pos – Postal Services Department (PSD), also began to take over numerous services on behalf of the Government departments. It started to collect payment of electricity bill, sale of dog licence, payment of pensions, sale of television licence and others. In 1992, Pos Malaysia Berhad was corporatised from the PSD.
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Frou Frou also manages to escape, and they all make it home. Frou Frou then reveals himself to be Topper in disguise, and that he and the "mysteriously missing" Smedley are together the Scarlet Pimpernel. Moments away from exposing Edmund's treachery, he accepts Edmund's offer of a glass of wineand dies, Blackadder having slipped another suicide pill into the glass. Edmund convinces the Prince that he is the Scarlet Pimpernel, and collects an "enormous postal order" intended for the hero.
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George Archer-Shee, cadet at the Royal Navy College. George Archer-Shee (6 May 1895 - 31 October 1914) was a Royal Navy cadet whose case of whether he stole a five shilling postal order was decided in the High Court of Justice in 1910. Archer-Shee was successfully defended by barrister and politician Sir Edward Carson. The trial, which became a British cause célèbre, was the inspiration for the 1946 Terence Rattigan play The Winslow Boy, which has been the basis of two films.
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One of the most famous postal orders in history: the one alleged to have been cashed by George Archer-Shee A postal order, postal note or money order is a financial instrument usually intended for sending money through the mail. It is purchased at a post office and is payable at another post office to the named recipient. A small fee for the service, known as poundage, is paid by the purchaser. In the United States, this is known as a postal money order.
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Littlewoods also ran a smaller catalogue that did not offer credit called Index. Unlike goods from the Littlewoods Catalogue, which were purchased via postal order, Index goods could be purchased at Index branches and some branches of the Littlewoods department stores. Unlike Littlewoods, Kays and Grattan, who focused mainly on Clothing, Argos (and formerly Index) focus primarily on furniture, electronics and white goods. In 2001, Argos started a clothing catalogue called Argos Additions, however they sold the brand to Shop Direct Group in 2004.
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A cheque sold by a post office, bank, or merchant such as a grocery store for payment in favour of a third party is referred to as a money order or postal order. These are paid for in advance when the order is drawn and are guaranteed by the institution that issues them and can only be paid to the named third party. This was a common way to send low value payments to third parties, avoiding the risks associated with sending cash by post, prior to the advent of electronic payment methods.
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All the equipment were moved to a building on the recently reclaimed land at Collyer Quay, and staff worked at this temporary post office during the construction of Fullerton Building. The post office was transferred back to Fullerton Building on 23 July 1928 and has remained there since. The latter part of the 19th century marked the modern phase of the development in the history of the Singapore postal service. Services were extended to include a parcel post service, money order and postal order services and a post office savings bank.
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2 Naira Nigerian postal order of 1987 Nigeria became independent from Britain on 1 October 1960 and after then began to issue postal orders in its own right denominated in Nigerian pounds, shillings, and pence, although records at the British Library indicate that these were at first supplied by Britain's Crown Agents. A number of proof Nigerian postal orders dated 1964 and 1965 are contained in the Crown Agents Archive of the British Library Philatelic Collection.Martin, Jeremy, & John Powell. (2010) West Africa in the British Library Philatelic Collections.
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Later that year, as the Dutch translation Tanja Grotter en de magische contrabas was still legal in Belgium, the Flemish publishers Roularta Books decided to print 1,000 copies (and no more) in order to let people decide whether it was plagiarism, hoping that under those circumstances Rowling and her publishers would not sue.'Tanja Grotter' wel in België te lezen , Nieuws.nl, October 23, 2003 Rowling did not sue, but as there was a lot of interest in the book (Dutch people could buy the book by postal order from another Flemish publisher, Boekhandel VanIn), it was soon sold out.
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The next day Baldock visited Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman with Kenney snd Teresa Billington to ask about when Liberals would deal with female suffrage, resulting in Dora Montefiore congratulating Baldock's 'noble stand' in a postcard. Baldock became a paid employee of the WSPU and a mentor to Daisy Parsons, and had a postal order for 30shillings from Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence to cover the costs of attending meetings in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. Speakers invited to address the Canning Town group included Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Annie Kenney and Flora Drummond. Baldock also organised and spoke at an open air meeting in Upton Park.
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The OITC first came to public attention in 2005 with an attempted bid for the failed MG Rover Group in the United Kingdom. The London Daily Telegraph reported that "a Mr David Sale and a Dr Ray Dam claim to have offered to buy MG Rover for $5 billion." The Financial Times reported that the OITC had given the administrators a deposit of one pound, made out as a postal order. According to Sale and Dam, Rover's administrators PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) were refusing to take their bid seriously even though (according to them) Prime Minister Tony Blair had acknowledged it in a letter.
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His father Richard Prosser (1804–1854), engineer and inventor, was heavily involved with the introduction of the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852, and his 700-volume library, combined with that of Bennet Woodcroft forms the basis of the Patent Office Library. 1879: Harry Lucas designs a hub lamp for use in a high bicycle and names the oil lamp "King of the Road". 1881: Birmingham businessman John Skirrow Wright invents the postal order and its use subsequently spreads across the world. Skirrow becomes one of the prominent pioneers and social improvers of the 19th century.
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Through the 1980s he freelanced for BBC, in particular on the BBC World Service, and published a book "The Archer-Shees Against the Admiralty" which was a factual account of the Archer-Shee case upon which Terence Rattigan based his play The Winslow Boy."Crass stupidity, high tragedy", The Catholic Herald, 6 April 1973 His research unearthed the original five-shilling postal order which caused the problem. He also contributed many articles to the classical magazine Music and Musicians. Then in the 1980s he was a reporter for the London commercial news station LBC, mainly of the flagship breakfast-time 'AM' programme.
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The Orange Free State's postal notes are very popular with banknote collectors, and in fact, some denominations are listed in the Pick Specialised Catalogue as banknotes, but it is noted there that the paid postal notes are worth half the listed catalogue value. The two most common denominations that turn up are the 1/- and the 5/- postal notes. A postal note that has been paid in the Cape of Good Hope has a 1d. red postage stamp stuck to the back and cancelled with the paying post office's datestamp in addition to the datestamp being applied to the correct area on the face of the postal order.
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Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, The Winslow Boy is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name. The boy (Ronnie) is expelled from Osborne Naval College for supposedly stealing a five-shilling postal order, without receiving a fair trial. His father (Arthur) and sister (Catherine) lead a long running legal battle, that takes them as far as the House of Commons. The play focuses on a refusal to back down in the face of injustice – the entire Winslow family, and the barrister who represents them (Sir Robert Morton), make great sacrifices in order that right be done.
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The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent; the case of George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet. His elder brother, Major Martin Archer-Shee, was convinced of his innocence, and persuaded his father (also called Martin) to engage lawyers. The most respected barrister of the day, Sir Edward Carson, was also persuaded of his innocence, and insisted on the case coming to court. On the fourth day of the trial, the Solicitor General accepted that Archer-Shee was innocent, and ultimately the family was paid compensation.
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It is Christmas 1911 and Arthur Winslow, a London banker, is making final preparations for a dinner to seal the engagement between his daughter Catherine, an outspoken supporter of the cause of women's suffrage, and Captain John Watherstone. The family and guests are toasting the upcoming marriage when Arthur discovers that his youngest son Ronnie, a 13-year-old cadet at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, is unexpectedly home. Ronnie has been accused of the theft of a postal order. An internal enquiry, conducted without notice to his family and without benefit of representation, finds him guilty and Mr. Winslow is "requested to withdraw" his son from the college (the formula of the day for expulsion).
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He has a letter for his father from the college which he is too scared to give him. He is accused of the theft of a postal order for five shillings (£0.25). An internal enquiry which grants him no chance of defence, finds him guilty and his father, Arthur Winslow (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), is requested to remove his son from the college. Unwilling to accept the verdict, Winslow and his daughter Catherine institute their own enquiries and engage a friend and family solicitor, Desmond Curry (Basil Radford) to assist them, including the briefing of the best barrister in England at the time, Sir Robert Morton (Robert Donat), should the case come to court.
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Five-shilling British postal order overprinted for use in Nigeria used in 1947 - 3d additional poundage to be paid in Nigeria In 1881, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland included Ireland but in 1922, three-quarters of the island became independent as the Irish Free State and began its own independent issues of postal orders. Since 1922, British postal orders have been issued in the four parts of the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales). In the 1880s and 1890s, the issue of postal orders spread to most parts of what was then the British Empire. As time went on, the issue of postal orders declined in most parts of the British Empire, later the British Commonwealth.
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Postal orders are now becoming increasingly popular as a form of payment, thanks to the auction websites such as eBay, and it is much safer for the seller than paying by cheque, as postal orders cannot bounce. The vendor does not have to wait for clearance, which happens with cheques. In April 2006, the postal order system underwent a revamp, enabling individual post offices to print postal orders on demand in any value from 50p through to 250 pounds, instead of the previous 50p to 20 pounds fixed range. As a result, single postal orders can now be purchased for odd denominations such as 66p or 99p, rather than having to make up odd amounts through a combination of pre-printed denominations and affixed stamps.
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Ronnie Winslow, a fourteen-year-old cadet at the Royal Naval College, is accused of the theft of a five-shilling postal order. An internal enquiry, conducted without notice to his family and without the benefit of representation, finds him guilty, and his father, Arthur Winslow, is "requested to withdraw" his son from the college (the formula of the day for expulsion). Arthur Winslow believes Ronnie's claim of innocence and, with the help of his suffragette daughter Catherine and his friend and family solicitor Desmond Curry, launches a concerted effort to clear Ronnie's name. This is no small matter, as, under English law, Admiralty decisions were official acts of the government, which could not be sued without its consent—traditionally expressed by the attorney general responding to a petition of right with the formula "Let Right be done".
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The Independent obituary, 19 March 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2010 North landed the role of Ronnie Winslow in The Winslow Boy, a drama based on a cause célèbre of 1908 when George Archer-Shee, a 13-year-old schoolboy, was expelled from Osborne Naval College after being accused of stealing and cashing a postal order for five shillings (25p) that had been sent to a fellow pupil. The film was a high-profile production starring some of the most respected names in British film and theatre, including Robert Donat, Cedric Hardwicke and Margaret Leighton. The film proved to be a box- office success and North's performance was widely admired, notably in a famous scene with Donat in which the latter (cast as a barrister) harries and bullies the boy to satisfy himself of the boy's innocence before agreeing to accept the brief.
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After aggressively interrogating Ronnie over discrepancies in his recollection and his habit of copying his friend's signature (which purportedly could have been used to steal the postal order), Sir Robert is convinced Ronnie is innocent and agrees to take the case. The government is unwilling to allow the case to proceed but yields after heated debates in the House of Commons, and the case does come to court. Morton is able to discredit much of the supposed evidence, and the government finally withdraws the charges against Ronnie. Although the family wins the case, each of them has lost something along the way: Dickie Winslow (Jack Watling) has been forced to leave Oxford out of lack of money, Catherine (Margaret Leighton) loses her marriage settlement and subsequently her fiancé, John Weatherstone (Frank Lawton), and Arthur Winslow loses his health.
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