Links with the U.K. - Stamp World London 1990
 
            3 May 1990         80c, 90c, $1.05, $1.30                                 Mint and CTO        $4.05
                                                                                                             FDC                       $4.55
Technical Details

        Release Date:                    3 May 1990
        Tablet Values:                   80c, 90c, $1.05, $1.30
        Artist:                                David Ashby of The Garden Studio
        Printer:                              The House of Questa Limited
        Process:                            Lithography
        Paper:                               CA Watermark
        Stamp Size:                       28.45 x 42.58 mm
        Perforation Gauge:            14 per 2 cm
        Pane Format:                    50 (2 x 25)
        Mint and CTO:                 $4.05
        First Day Cover:               $4.55

It is rare for the Pitcairn Islands Post Office to issue stamps to mark a philatelic exhibition.  London 1980 springs to mind as the first such event until now to have been so commemorated.  It is appropriate, therefore, that another exhibition in the United Kingdom, ten years on, gives cause for this issue; thus, STAMP WORLD LONDON 1990.

Since Carteret's re-discovery of Pitcairn in 1767 (it was certainly known to Polynesian voyagers and possibly visited by the Spaniard de Quiros in 1606) there have been many events connecting the island and the United Kingdom.  By far the best known of these was the settlement of Pitcairn by some of the Bounty mutineers.  Since 1990 was the bicentenary of that event it seemed fitting that this connection be illustrated in a stamp issue; hence, LINKS WITH THE U.K.

80c stamp:  Peter Heywood - from Emmerdale, Cumbria.  Born 1772, died 1831.  The seventeen year old acting midshipman was sentenced to death at the court martial in England of the mutineers apprehended in Tahiti.  However, the Court recommended mercy and in due course he was pardoned.  Heywood went on to a distinguished career in the navy retiring from active service in 1816.

90c stamp:  John Adams - from Hackney, London.  Born 1767.  Known as Alexander Smith on the Bounty he reverted to his given name some time after reaching Pitcairn.  By the end of 1800 Adams was the only surviving adult male on the island.  He died in 1829 and his, of all the original male settlers, is the only known grave.

$1.05 stamp:  William Bligh - from Plymouth.  Lieutenant Bligh of the Bounty; born 1754, died 1817.  A favourite of biographers.

$1.30 stamp:  Fletcher Christian - born at Moorland Close near Cockermouth in Cumberland in 1764.  Went to sea at eighteen and before joining Bounty sailed at least three voyages aboard vessels on which William Bligh aso served.  His story is recounted in many books.  Died 1790(?) 1793(?).