Gibraltar Banknotes 10 Pounds banknote 2002 Queen Elizabeth II
Issued by The Government of Gibraltar
This 10 Pounds bank note was dated 10th September 2002, which is Gibraltar's National Day. On 10th September 1969 Gibraltarians voted to remain British, thus exercising self-determination. The date was selected as Gibraltar's National Day.
Obverse: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Initials ER. Coat of arms of Gibraltar at left; Lighthouse Europa Point & Downwards firing cannon (Koehler Depression Gun Carriage, of the type developed during the Great Siege) invented by Lieutenant George Koehler in front of the Health Centre in Gibraltar. Dated 10 September 2002. Signature of Timothy J. Bristow (as Financial and Development Secretary). Windowed security thread with demetalized text on front. Two 6-digit serial numbers with single-letter prefix on front, the horizontal one with numerals of ascending size and the vertical one with numerals of the same size.
Reverse: An aerial view of Main Street or Casemates Square in Gibraltar, the focal point of National Day celebrations year after year and arguably the focal point of Gibraltarian society today. Two Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio machaon) and two Barbary partridges (Alectoris barbara) at upper left.
Watermark: Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
Original size: 143 x 75 mm.
Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited, London England.
Texts: Government of Gibraltar. Currency Notes are Legal Tender in Gibraltar for the Payment of Any Amount; Ten Pounds Sterling. Under Authority of the Currency Notes Ordinance.
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Gibraltar National Day
Gibraltar National Day, celebrated annually on 10 September, is the official national day of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The day commemorates Gibraltar's first sovereignty referendum of 1967, in which Gibraltarian voters were asked whether they wished to either pass under Spanish sovereignty, or remain under British sovereignty, with institutions of self-government.
In 1992, the then Chief Minister of Gibraltar Joe Bossano, travelled to the United Nations to argue for the right to self-determination inspiring the formation of the Self Determination for Gibraltar Group (SDGG) which was at the time headed by Dennis Matthews, a one-time active member of the Integration with Britain Party (IWBP). In order to generate popular support for self-determination they held the first National Day at John Mackintosh Square (the Piazza) on 10 September 1992 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the day the 1967 sovereignty referendum was held on. Coincidentally, the 10 September was also the day the Gibraltar Legislative Council became representative and responsible for internal affairs in 1964.
The first National Day was so successful that the avalanche of people that spontaneously turned up could not fit into John Mackintosh Square. The Government then took the responsibility of providing some help organising the event, since it fostered the right to self-determination that the Gibraltarians had been demanding at the United Nations since 1963. Therefore, the Government declared the 10 September a public holiday and gave the SDGG a grant for them to administer. In 1993 the venue was changed to the larger Grand Casemates Square, until it was again changed in 1998 to the even larger Naval Ground.
National identity
The active opposition of the Spanish Government to self-determination combined with the negative posture of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, strengthened the resolution of the vast majority of the Gibraltarians to press ahead for their decolonisation by the year 2000 in accordance with the high principles of the Charter and the target date set by the United Nations to eradicate colonialism.
Instead, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, proposed joint sovereignty with Spain, which further intensified the sense of national identity reinforced by the National Day.
The 10th National Day, held in 2001 included a speech by William Serfaty, the then lease of the SDGG, which stressed the themes of national identity, unity, resisting Spanish pressure and decolonisation.
The 2002 National Day was closely followed Gibraltar's second sovereignty referendum in which the proposed plan for shared sovereignty was overwhelmingly rejected by the Gibraltarians.
Koehler Depressing Carriage
The Koehler Depressing Carriage was a novel type of gun carriage invented in 1782 by Lt George Frederick Koehler of the Royal Artillery. It was devised to enable cannons to be fired at a steeply downward-facing angle and was made necessary by the peculiar circumstances that the British Army faced during the Great Siege of Gibraltar between 1779–1783. The carriage saw active service during the siege, when it was used to support the British counter-bombardment of Spanish and French artillery batteries during the successful defence of Gibraltar. Its success made Koehler famous and has been commemorated in a number of different forms over the last 230 years.
During the Great Siege, the British garrison of Gibraltar faced a French and Spanish army entrenched on the low ground of the isthmus that links Gibraltar with Spain. The British controlled the high ground of the Rock of Gibraltar, which reaches a height of 411.5 metres (1,350 ft) at its north end. Although this was a major advantage for the British gunners, as it gave them an increased range and a clear view of the enemy, it also posed significant problems. Enemies close to their positions could not be targeted as existing gun carriages would not allow the amount of vertical depression required to hit such a close target. Gunners tried to deal with this by propping up the rear of the carriages, but this was a clumsy solution that fixed the guns in position. It consequently exposed them to severe danger as they had to load the guns in full view of enemy counter-fire, rather than out of sight in an embrasure or battery.
Koehler's invention
Depressing carriages had been invented before – in the 15th century, a German engineer had devised a platform for a culverin that had four wheels and could be moved in two arcs for adjusting the elevation – but Koehler found a simple and effective solution that solved both the problems of elevation and recoil. It was based on an existing garrison carriage, a type of heavy gun carriage mounted on small wheels known as trucks. Koehler split the carriage in two horizontally, joining the two parts with a hinge created with a spindle at the front. This allowed the gun to be depressed to an angle of between 20 and 70 degrees. The cannonball and powder were held in place using wadding to secure them in the bore.
Koehler's design had the further advantage of absorbing the recoil caused by firing the gun. Ordinary carriages had no mechanism to absorb this recoil. The entire gun and mount would jump violently, causing the gun crew to have to reposition it before they could fire the next shot. Koehler's carriage mounted the gun on a sliding bed attached to the main body of the carriage via a vertical spindle. Firing the cannon forced the bed to slide upwards, rather than making the entire carriage recoil. As an eyewitness, John Drinkwater, noted, "the carriage, when the gun was depressed, seldom moved; the gun sliding upon the plank to which it was attached by the spindle, and returning to its former place with the most trifling assistance." This system was a forerunner of the recoil systems that are standard features of modern artillery pieces. The gun could be reversed on the carriage and fired upwards at angles of up to 45°, though according to Drinkwater "in that state [it] did not particularly excel." The design also enabled gunners to reload the cannon without exposing themselves to enemy fire, by rotating the sliding bed sideways.
The carriage was first put into operational use in the afternoon of 15 April 1782, when Koehler demonstrated it to the Governor of Gibraltar, General George Augustus Eliott, and other officers of the garrison. The target chosen was San Carlos Battery, a Spanish position some 1,400 yards (1,300 m) distant in the Lines of Contravallation. Drinkwater recorded that out of thirty rounds fired, twenty-eight hit the target. Koehler's carriage became a key advantage for the defenders of Gibraltar, contributing to the accuracy and speed of the British artillery, and became one of the most famous and successful examples of a special gun carriage. However, it had a significant flaw in that the angle of depression could only be adjusted in a number of large 'steps', making it difficult to aim at certain angles. This was resolved by an 1870s update to the design which saw the addition of a large wheel at the back, connected to a screw mechanism, which enabled fine tuning of the angle.