Recently I acquired the fifty pence bearing the signature of Harold Theodore Rowlands. This note is dated 20.02.1974 and I have re-posted the other 50 pence here dated 05.09.1969 bearing the signature of Leslie Charles Gleadell.
The Falkland Islands have been a self-governing British Overseas territory since 2009, with the British government responsible for its foreign affairs and defense of the islands.
As mentioned above, the two notes posed here bearing the two signatures of:-
These are the only two 50 pence notes issued since converted to the decimal currency system in 1971. The previous notes were issued with the face value of ten shillings. These two notes were circulated together with the £1, £5 and £10, with some of these notes issued prior to 1971.
Whilst my sites are all about banknotes collection, I personally sometimes find the signatures behind these notes are just as interesting as the note itself. Both notes are signed under their position as the Commissioner of Currency.
Leslie Charles Gleadell
Leslie Gleadell was the third generation Falklander, originally descended from a Lincolnshire family in England. During his time as a civil servant in the Falkland Islands, he also briefly served as the acting Governor of the Falkland Islands from September 1966 to October 1966. Whilst he was the acting Governor, he faced a challenging task when a flight from Aerolineas Argentinas was hijacked while en route from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos in Argentina. The flight was then redirected by the hijackers and the plane landed in the Falkland Islands. After two days of negotiation, the hijackers surrendered on condition that they will be returned to Argentina to stand trial as they do not recognise the British rules on the island. Despite the peaceful end of the hijack, the Argentina press had not forgotten him and pursued him while he travelled to Uruguay for medical treatment. A few years later whilst representing Falkland Islands in a trade delegation to South Argentina, a warrant was issued for his arrest, which forced him to return to Falkland Islands via Chile. Fearing for his family, Leslie Gleadell and his family emigrated to Auckland New Zealand and worked as an Accountant. He retired in the 1980s, and died in 2009.
Back - Guilloche patterns
Printer - Thos De La Rue & Co Ltd LONDON
Sizes - 146mm x 92.5mm
Harold Theodore Rowlands
Harold Theodore Rowlands, with only basic education, joined the Falkland Islands government service in 1948 as a boy, reached the rank of Financial Secretary in 1972 and retired in 1998. A lifelong stalwart of the administration of the Falkland Islands, he died in the house overlooking Stanley Harbour where he had been born. During Argentina's invasion in April 1982, he was the most senior administrator left on the island, after the Argentinians deported Governor Rex Hunt, First Secretary Michael Growcott and Chief Secretary Dick Baker. During the brief occupations by the Argentinians, he constantly find excuses not to cooperate with the invasion forces, and the Argentinians nick-named him Beethoven because of his heavy blonde hair and he also resemblance to the famous German Composer. Harold Rowlands's grandfather was Swedish born. Harold Rowlands was never married and died at the age of 72.
