Lawrence Arthur Burd

FRHistS The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

FRPSL The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...

(sometimes "Laurence"; 1 June 1863 – 12 April 1931) Obituaries: Mr. L.A. Burd. in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 9 May 1931, p. 14. Retrieved 9 May 2014. was a British

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled after B ...

, expert on the works of

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

, and also notable as a

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

Education and career

Burd was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

under Dr. Percival and attended

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. He received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1885 and his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1888. He spent a year travelling as a tutor to Lord Acton's son and in 1886 joined the teaching staff of

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, ...

where he stayed until he retired in 1923, becoming the Classical Sixth Form master."Occasional Notes" in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. 40, No. 472, April 1931, p. 88. He stocked, almost from scratch, the school library there, making it one of the best in the country, and the Repton library building is still known as the Burd Library. Burd remained an active historical scholar throughout his teaching career. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

and he produced a new edited edition of Machiavelli's ''Il Principe'' (''

The Prince ''The Prince'' ( it, Il Principe ; la, De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of ''The ...

'') (1891) which was highly praised in '' The English Historical Review'' and described as leaving nothing to be desired. He also wrote the chapter on "Florence and Machiavelli" in Lord Acton's '' The Cambridge Modern History'' (Volume 1, 1902).

Hobbies

''The Times'' commented, in its obituary for Burd, that he was "a man of many hobbies - fishing, the 'cello, stamp-collecting, cycling and portrait photography - but he took them up one at a time until he had achieved success in each". In philately, Burd specialised in early Great Britain, particularly

pre-adhesive mail Pre-adhesive mail, also called pre-stamp mail, are letters carried in mail systems before the issuance of postage stamps. A stampless cover is another description and generally also refers to any item of mail sent before the issuance of postage st ...

. He was an early student of plating and was one of a small group of dedicated collectors who succeeded in plating the

Penny Black The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. ...

. In 1922 he reminisced in '' The London Philatelist'' about the task of which he said "To most observers it must have appeared a visionary undertaking, the self-imposed task of quixotic idealists, whose conclusions could admit neither verification nor refutation." He described the painstaking nature of the activity: "year by year the work was carried forward-patiently, methodically, cautiously: perplexities were disentangled, hypotheses discarded or confirmed, until at length, in the fullness of time, the goal has been reached: a task, too great for the span of any single mind, has been completed". His collection of 8,000 Penny Blacks, each "scientifically classified and indexed", was sold to the stamp dealer Charles Nissen in 1919.''Who Was Who in British Philately''

Association of British Philatelic Societies The Association of British Philatelic Societies, commonly known as the ''ABPS'', is the British national association of philatelic societies, regional philatelic federations, and specialist philatelic societies.Archived here.
/ref> Burd was a member of the Royal Philatelic Society London from 1918 and signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1924.
Background notes on The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists September 2011
', Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Trust, London, 2011
Archived here.
/ref>

Death

Burd died at home, at The Pastures, Repton, on 12 April 1931 aged 67. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Selected publications

*
Il Principe
' by Niccolò Machiavelli. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1891. (Editor) (Introduction by Lord Acton)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burd, Lawrence Arthur Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists 1863 births 1931 deaths British philatelists Schoolteachers from Derbyshire People from Shrewsbury Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People educated at Clifton College Fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society