Born in Portadown in 1835, British Diplomat Sir Robert Hart became Inspector General of China’s Maritime Customs Service during the Qing Dynasty.

Crucial to the modernisation and administration of the entire Chinese Empire, he died in September 1911, honoured by China and many other countries.

Brought up by devoted Methodist parents in Dungannon in the 1870s, Margaret Elizabeth Noble went to India, became a disciple of Swami Vivekananda (who named her Sister Nivedita), ran a school for Hindu girls and aided the sick and poor during rampant disease, floods and famines.

She died of malaria, aged 43, near Darjeeling.

I discovered these two remarkable people - and many other historic local folk, special places and significant events - on commemorative postage stamps, thanks to the annual Portadown Stamp Exhibition and Collectors Fair held every September in Portadown Town Hall.

This year’s is on the last Saturday in October, lockdown permitting, and as well as an awesome display of postage stamps there’ll be post cards, first day covers, bank notes, medals and coins.

John Proctor, Secretary of the Portadown and District Philatelic Society which hosts the Fair, tells me his colleague collectors, along with members of the Lisburn and North of Ireland Philatelic societies, have been holding an online exhibition every Friday during the coronavirus pandemic.

They’ve also marked the centenary of Northern Ireland (NI 100) with an online display of stamps and cards highlighting our unique history and culture.

All very appropriate as it was Irish-man Henry Archer who invented the perforating machine in 1848 that enabled the Post Office to mass-produce stamps.

The State Opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1921; the official opening of Stormont in 1932; the signing of The Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985; Devolved Government in 1999 - these historic occasions were marked by stamps, commemorative covers and/or postcards in the online display.

The intriguing tale of the Irish Moiled Cow, depicted on a specially issued stamp and envelope in March 1984, is also included - the rarest remaining indigenous breed of Irish cattle and the only surviving livestock native to Northern Ireland.

From rare animals to rural architecture, celebrated across the UK in 1970 with stamps issued about historic buildings.

Ours was the iconic Ulster Thatch.

The 1/6 pence stamp depicts the Linen weaver’s thatched cottage from Waringstown, County Down, reconstructed in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

Celebrating the Centenary of the Royal National Rose Society in June 1976 were local stamps depicting two ‘home-grown’ roses - ‘Elizabeth of Glamis’ and ‘Grandpa Dickson’, raised in Northern Ireland by the famous multi-award winning McGredy and Dickson families.

Britain’s National Trust properties were celebrated on stamps in 1981, so our Trust-owned Giant’s Causeway appeared (not for the first time!) on both a 22p stamp and a first day cover.

When the Royal Mail focussed on British Army Regiments

in 1983, the Irish Guards featured on a 28p stamp showing two soldiers with rifles, one in vintage and the other in modern uniform.

The first day cover showed the guards on parade with their Irish wolfhound mascot proudly leading the regimental band.

British Landscapes were celebrated in 1966, with a

6d stamps showing the Vale of Glenarriff.

A number of paintings by Prince Charles HRH The Prince of Wales were reproduced on postage stamps in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his investiture.

The 30p stamp was adorned with Prince Charles’s wonderful painting of the Mourne Mountains.

The original canvas is in Hillsborough Castle.

St John’s Point Lighthouse was included in a 1998 series of stamps celebrating the UK’s most famous lighthouses and a 27p stamp depicting the spectacular coast road just outside Portrush was issued to celebrate British Coastlines in 2002.

Great British Cathedrals were marked in 2008 with a range of magnificent buildings, the 48p stamp showing the interior of Saint Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.

There were two special series of stamps issued in 2011 and 2012 collectively called “An ‘A’ to ‘Z’ Philatelic Tour of the UK.”

It was hailed as the Royal Mail’s “dramatic 26-stamp, alphabetical odyssey around the UK that features iconic landmarks across all four countries.”

‘A’ was for sculptor Antony Gormley’s 66-feet-tall steel-sculpted Angel of the North located just outside Gateshead.

‘B’ was for Blackpool Tower and ‘C’ was for Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, County Antrim.

Made of planks and wires, originally used by salmon fishermen, the rope bridge is now crossed by thousands of tourists every year - when Covid-19 permits!

Northern Ireland’s only other alphabetical participant in the ‘A’ to ‘Z’ was Narrow Water Castle, in Warrenpoint, County Down, but two out of 25 for the whole of the UK is no mean feat!

To view the online NI 100 stamp and card display, contact jjproctor@googlemail.com for details.