Christopher Ironside OBE, FRBS (11 July 1913, London – 13 July 1992, Winchester, Hampshire) was an English painter and coin designer, particularly known for the reverse sides of the new British coins issued on decimalisation in 1971.
Life and career
Ironside began his career as a painter, studying at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. During World War II he served in the Directorate of Camouflage, working for the Air Ministry in Leamington Spa.
After the war he worked for the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, as Education Officer for the Council of Industrial Design, but gave up the post in 1948 due to increasing design commissions. His subsequent known work included: 1951 design contributions to the Festival of Britain, South Bank Exhibition; 1952 ballet stage and costume design with his brother for Sylvia, the revival production choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, first choreographed by Louis Merante to music by Leo Delibes in 1876; 1953 design for Pall Mall for the coronation of Elizabeth II; 1964 he collaborated with his brother Robin on the Shakespeare commemoration issue of stamps and first day covers. He taught part-time at the Royal College of Art from 1953 to 1963. His paintings were exhibited at two main shows, shared with his elder brother Robin, at the Redfern Gallery in 1944 and at Arthur Jeffress in 1960. He received an OBE in 1971.
Ironside designed various coins for the Royal Mint, including the reverse of the pre-2008 British 50 pence, ten pence, five pence, two pence, and one penny coins, as well as the former half penny coin. He designed coins for the Isle of Man, Singapore, Tanzania, Brunei, Qatar and Dubai. He designed commemorative medallions including: the Britannia Commemorative Society's Medallion No.7 "The Spanish Armada" and No.42 "The Royal Navy"; the medal for the 1974 Centenary of Sir Winston Churchill's birth "This was Their Finest Hour"; the brass relief memorial for the Earl and Countess Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey; and, the brass relief for the 16th Duke of Norfolk in Arundel Castle (Fitzalan Chapel).
In 2013 the Royal Mint issued a 50 pence coin with one of his designs on the reverse to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.
His collection of earlier concept sketches, plaster moulds and submission entries for the decimalisation competition are now housed in the British Museum.
He was married twice: to Janey Acheson (one daughter, the journalist and novelist Virginia Ironside); and, after that marriage was dissolved in 1961, to Jean Marsden (two daughters and one son).
Coins
Bahrain (1965) In the beginning of the 1960s, there was a proposal by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee for a joint currency for Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The committee had at this stage appointed Christopher Ironside on a term contract and asked him to provide prototype designs for these coins. Three sets were prepared and presented, the first set depicted each denomination within its own geometric Arabic design which was favoured by the committee; the second set, which was a thematic set depicting a goitred gazelle (Arabian gazelle now extinct), a peregrine falcon, a local fish, a mosque, an Arab dhow, oil derricks, and a date palm; and, a third set of Arabic designs. A file note, dated 24 February 1966, says: "The project for a common Gulf currency looks like being shelved for the time being and instead Qatar and Dubai are aiming to issue a joint currency in the near future."
The designs that were presented in the three sets were labelled as "Designs for Arabian Gulf coins", but were never taken further.
Tanzania (1966) After World War I, the territory of Tanganyika became a mandate territory of the United Kingdom and its monetary system was aligned to that of Kenya and Uganda, through the establishment of the East African Currency Board (EACB) in December 1919. Following independence, the decision to dissolve the EACB and to establish separate Central Banks in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, the Bank of Tanzania Act, 1965, was passed by the National Assembly in December 1965, and the Bank was opened by the first President of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, on 14 June 1966.
Tanzania's first set of coins was issued in 1966, with a portrait of J. K. Nyerere on the obverse and African wildlife animals on the reverse. This set included circulation and commemorative sets. The last circulation coins with this first portrait were dated 1984. All regular types with this portrait have the word "TANZANIA" and the date above the portrait and the Swahili words "RAIS WA KWANZA" (roughly meaning "First President") below. Both the obverse and reverse were designed by Christopher Ironside.