PHILATELIC FOCUS
The Royal Philatelic Society has a long and distinguished history, stretching back long before it added the prestigious ‘Royal’ to its name. Nicola Davies, Head of Collections at the RPSL, looks back on the career of one of the Society’s most celebrated m
Your guide to collecting the British stamps of Edward VII, a biography of perhaps the most famous stamp collector of them all, and a look back on the life of RPSL member Sir Edward Denny Bacon. Plus, the latest exhibition news, courtesy of FEPA
The Royal can boast an illustrious list of former members and many of their philatelic achievements are recorded in the society’s collections, as Nicola Davies, Head of Collections, reveals
Edward Denny Bacon received this silver salver on 8 May 1930 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of joining the Royal Philatelic Society London. Bacon was certainly an active member and at various points held every executive office of the Society, including President from 1917 to 1923. He was one of the initial members of the Expert Committee and its chairperson for many years.
Known as ‘Denny’ to his family, Bacon was born in 1860 in Stockwell and collected stamps as a boy. He followed his father into business but, after the company was dissolved in 1895, he dedicated the rest of his life to philatelic work.
The first of the significant curatorial positions Bacon held was (with Miss Jane Hamilton) arranging the Tapling Collection for the British Museum. In 1901, Bacon became curator for Earl of Crawford’s literature collection, work that culminated in the publication of Bibliotheca Lindesiana, vol.vii, A Bibliography of the Writings General, Special and Periodical forming the Literature of Philately. From 1913 until his death in 1938, Bacon was Curator of the king’s philatelic collection. It was for this work that he was made Knight
Commander of the Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1932 and his badge and breast star are on permanent display in the RPSL’S museum.
Bacon was one of the initial signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (1921), the highest accolade in philately. He received the Crawford Medal (1921) for his publication: The Line Engraved Postage Stamps of Great Britain printed by Perkins Bacon & Co. and the Tapling Medal (1933) for his paper: 1d and 6d Stamps of Victoria 1860-66. In 1906, he received the prestigious Lindenburg medal from the Berlin Philatelisten Klub. However, on the outbreak of war in 1914, Bacon returned his medal; he re-accepted the medal in 1931.
Although Bacon was the first RPSL member to achieve fifty years at the Society, he was certainly not the last. As of 31 December 2020, 42 current members have completed over fifty years membership to the Society, including four who have been members for over seventy years.
For more information about the RPSL and its collections visit: http://www.rpsl.org. uk/home.asp or follow us on Facebook @ royalphilsoclondon and Twitter @THE_RPSL. Please send enquiries regarding the library, museum and archives to research@rpsl.org.uk