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Message:: [QUOTE="De Orc, post: 285257, member: 4408"]A couple of quite different notes for your viewing pleasure today LOL the first is something rather special as it was only in circulation fro a couple of days before been withdrawn cus the serial number could be rubbed off LOL & the second is a rather nice note from Latvia <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> £5 21.05. 02 BlueChief Cashier Merlyn Lowther 1999-2003Front QEIIRev Elizabeth Fry, Reading to prisoners in Newgate Prison. #HB34 128010  Series E Withdrawn 22/05/02 Elizabeth Fry was a well known advocate of Prison reform & helped bring about improvements in the penal system. Latvia50L 1934 Blue/Red/GreenFront Value & Portrait of Prime Minister K Ulmanis Rev Value in corners Ornate frame & Coat of Arms top centerWatermark a headP20a Bit of History LOLKārlis Vilhelms Augusts Ulmanis Born September 4, 1877 in Bērze, Latvia – Died September 20, 1942 in Krasnovodsk prison, Soviet Union Ulmanis studied agriculture at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and at Leipzig University, Germany, and then worked in Latvia as a writer, lecturer, and manager in agricultural positions. He was politically active during the 1905 Revolution, was briefly imprisoned in Pskov, and subsequently fled Latvia to avoid incarceration by the Russian authorities. During this period of exile, Ulmanis studied at the University of Nebraska in the United States, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. After working briefly at that university as a lecturer, Ulmanis moved to Houston, Texas, where he had purchased a dairy business. Ulmanis returned to Latvia from exile in 1913 Ulmanis was the first Prime Minister of a Latvia which had become independent for the first time in 700 years. He also served as Prime Minister in several subsequent Latvian government administrations during the period of Latvian independence from 1918 to 1940. In addition, he founded the Latvian Farmers' UnionOn May 15, 1934, ostensibly to protect the country from a coup by right-wing extremists Ulmanis as Prime Minister dissolved the Saeima (Parliament) and established executive non-parliamentary authoritarian rule.The incumbent President Alberts Kviesis was allowed to serve the rest of his term until 1936, after which Ulmanis unconstitutionally merged the office of President and Prime Minister in his own person. Kārlis Ulmanis instituted what he called a “Nationalist Dictatorship,” crowning himself as "Tautas Vadonis" (Leader of the Nation) and "Father of the Nation"Following a Soviet ultimatum in 1939, Ulmanis had to allow Soviet military bases in Latvia, and in June 1940, Latvia was completely occupied by the Soviet Union. Ulmanis ordered Latvians to show no resistance to the Soviet Army. The phrase "I will remain in my place and you remain in your places" from his radio speech on this occasion is still famous, and may have saved lives. On July 21, 1940 Ulmanis resigned and asked the Soviet government for a pension and to allow him to emigrate to Switzerland. Instead, he ended up in Stavropol, where he worked in his original profession for a year. In July 1941, he was imprisoned. A year later, as German armies were closing in on Stavropol, he and other inmates were evacuated to a prison in Krasnovodsk in the present Turkmenistan. On the way there, he contracted dysentery and soon died on 20 September 1942. Ulmanis had no wife or children, as he used to say that he was married to Latvia. To view please just click on the link in my sig, I hope that you like them  <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]

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