Penny Postage Jubilee by W A S Westoby 1891

William Amos Scarborough Westoby M.A. (1815–1899)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.philatelist who was one of the "Fathers of Philately" entered on the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their n ...

in 1921. His obituary in The London Philatelist stated that he had "...fairly earned the title of the Grand Seigneur of Philately.""The Late Mr W. A. S. Westoby."' in '' The London Philatelist'', Vol. VIII, No. 95, November 1899, pp. 283-284. By profession, Westoby was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

Early life

Westoby was born in 1815 at

Emberton Emberton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is near the borders with Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, just to the south of Olney and four miles ...

, Buckinghamshire, the son of Amos Westoby who had graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford and been ordained the previous year; his mother Mary (née Swannell) died in 1818. He received his M.A. in 1839 from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

Philately

Westoby began collecting stamps in 1861 or 1862. He was resident in Paris for some time where he met his lifelong friend Frederick Philbrick in 1863. He discovered the first known copy of the Spanish 2r 1851 error of colour in 1867. He was not a founder of ''The Philatelic Society, London'', now

The Royal Philatelic Society London 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 ...

, but was a member from at least November 1869, shortly after the Society's founding, when he read a paper titled "Envelopes of Germany". At one point he resigned and was later re-elected, possibly because membership of the society was at one time limited to residents of London. de Worms, Percy. ''The Royal Philatelic Society London 1869 - April 10 - 1919''. Bath: 1919, p. 19. Westoby was a prolific contributor to philatelic journals under the pen name "A Parisian Collector", including ''The Philatelist'' and ''The Stamp-Collector's Magazine''. He was the editor for four years of ''

The Philatelic Record ''The Philatelic Record'' was an important early Philatelic literature, philatelic magazine published in 36 volumes between February 1879 and 1914. It was originally published by Percival Loines Pemberton, Pemberton, Wilson and Company of London ...

'' and also of Alfred Smith & Co.'s ''Monthly Circular'' from 1878. When his European collection was dispersed, many fine items found their way into the Tapling Collection.

Selected philatelic publications

*''The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of Great Britain''. London: The Philatelic Society, London & Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1881. (With F.A. Philbrick) *''Penny Postage Jubilee: a descriptive catalogue of all postage stamps of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland issued during fifty years''. London: Sampson Low, 1891. *''The Adhesive Postage Stamps of Europe: a practical guide to their collection, identification, and classification ... Volume 1: Alsace and Lorraine - Ionian Islands''. London:

L. Upcott Gill Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1898. *''The Adhesive Postage Stamps of Europe: a practical guide to their collection, identification, and classification ... Volume 2: Italy - Wurtenburg''. London: L. Upcott Gill, 1900.

Legal works

Westoby was a

and wrote a number of legal books including guides to the laws of Belgium and France for foreigners resident there and a guide to the Wills of British subjects made abroad.

Personal life

Westoby was married, firstly, in 1841, to Mary Frances Baldock, the only daughter of Edward Holmes Baldock, the prominent London dealer in French 18th-century furniture and reproductions. She died in 1842, aged 28. He married, secondly, in 1849, Lucy Acriss or Aycriss Studley, only child of William Studley of Kennington.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westoby, William Amos Scarborough 1815 births 1899 deaths British philatelists British barristers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fathers of philately People from the Borough of Milton Keynes