Revenue stamps of the United Kingdom
When Ireland was partitioned into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland in 1921, separate revenue stamps were issued for both entities. Southern Ireland stamps saw little use since that political entity was quickly superseded by the Provisional Government of Ireland and later the Irish Free State (both of which applied overprints on various British and Irish revenue stamps). However, Northern Ireland continued to use separate revenue stamps until the 1980s. Northern Irish revenues include Civil Service, Dog Licence, Excise and National Insurance stamps, among many others.
History of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom (although it is also described by official sources as a province or a region), situated in the northeast of the island of Ireland. It was created as a separate legal entity on 3 May 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The new autonomous Northern Ireland was formed from six of the nine counties of Ulster: four counties with unionist majorities and two counties, Fermanagh and Tyrone, which had slight Irish nationalist majorities (of 53.6 and 54.6 per cent respectively in the 1918 election). The remaining three Ulster counties with larger nationalist majorities were not included. In large part unionists, at least in the northeast, supported its creation while nationalists were opposed.